Making the necessary changes

Daily Point

Using robocalls for good

Here’s a lesson on the power of incumbency. CD3’s Tom Suozzi is the odds-on favorite to win reelection this fall and his plan for Thursday night to reach out to his constituents is one of the reasons why.

On Wednesday evening, 100,000 households, about a third of Suozzi’s North Shore district, got a “Be Prepared, Not Scared” robo call. The Democrat told them that at 7 p.m. Thursday he would host a virtual town hall with Northwell Health chief executive Michael Dowling, not exactly someone who has a lot of free time these days, and Dr. Maria Carney, who was Nassau County’s health commissioner when Suozzi was county executive.  

Suozzi had to use a different vendor to make such a large call and said the event came together in about 24 hours. He called Dowling, whose flagship hospital is in Suozzi's district,  and he readily agreed to do it, as did Carney, who is now Northwell’s head of geriatric care.  

But there has been such interest in the event that the lines now will also be open to people outside the district who can call (518) 241-1623 to join the town hall. 

The callers will be screened to ensure questions are about the outbreak and are not repetitious. A spokeswoman said they first thought of limiting the questioners to CD3 residents, “but then we figured everyone would just say they were from Glen Cove.”

—Rita Ciolli @RitaCiolli

Talking Point

Adapting to the times

For some elected officials with competitive races, like CD1 Rep. Lee Zeldin and CD2 hopefuls and state assemblymen Andrew Garbarino and Mike LiPetri, the government jobs are taking precedence. 

“The campaigning has really taken a back seat,” Garbarino told The Point. 

Bridget Fleming, a Suffolk County legislator in the Democratic primary for CD1, is giving regular COVID-19 Twitter video updates plus online meet-and-greets, and meetings. 

Other challengers without government jobs are still trying to campaign as creatively as possible. Perry Gershon, another CD1 Democrat, held a Wednesday Facebook Live town hall featuring his aunt, Dr. Robyn Gershon, a clinical professor of epidemiology at NYU School of Global Public Health. 

The Gershons answered practical and scientific questions about coronavirus and self-quarantining and pretty ably navigated the Zoom video conference technology that might be a make-or-break campaign item in 2020.

The candidate said, “We're going to try to keep tonight as apolitical as possible," but was able to throw in some teed-up jabs like one about President Donald Trump’s habit of calling COVID-19 the “China virus.”

“If you call this the China virus, you're being racist," Gershon said, sitting on a brown couch flanked by campaign posters. 

There are other ways to reach voters, like text messaging, which Stony Brook scientist Nancy Goroff has been increasingly using. Goroff, another CD1 Democrat, has had her campaign send about 19,000 text messages as of Wednesday with what her campaign says is a 14 to 15 percent reply rate. 

The texts can be sent by staff and volunteers, said Goroff, not fully automated robots.

Sometimes it’s a simple exchange. One texter asked whether the recipient had heard of “Nancy Goroff, the scientist running for Congress to beat Lee Zeldin.” 

“She has our vote,” came the answer. “Stay strong!”

Asked about issues that matter, one respondent said, “I am a great-grandma and I worry about saving our planet for future generations,” according to texts shared with The Point. 

Sometimes things get pretty informal, when internet jargon meets campaigning. “Give me that tea,” said one text recipient. “Who is Nancy.”

—Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Pencil Point

Stay safe!

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Final Point

The dealer busts

Just a few weeks ago, Suffolk County expected to receive $20 million from the Suffolk Off-Track Betting Corp. in 2020, thanks to the hugely profitable Jake’s 58 slot parlor in Islandia. The state, too, was getting a cut, about $9 million a month, from the operation. The future was so rosy that Suffolk OTB was looking to emerge from bankruptcy protection this summer. And its 300 employees had plenty of work keeping one of the state’s busiest gambling parlors running and operating the legacy horse book.

Jake’s 58 is the home of the 1,000 busiest video lottery terminals in the state, with each of its machines winning an average of more than $658 a day from players this year. That’s not surprising, considering its geographic monopoly.

Now, due to the coronavirus outbreak, Jake’s is closed, employees are being furloughed or working part time, the county can’t be sure what it will get from the OTB, the state’s cut of daily profits is zero, and an already-anemic horse business is on its last legs.

No one knows how long social distancing will last, so how does the future look now? Suffolk OTB is guaranteed about $500,000 a month from Jake’s operator, Delaware North, which also owns the property that was formerly a Marriott. But Suffolk OTB pays almost all of that back to Delaware North in rent for the casino.

There is no money coming in from machines, and almost none from horses. Suffolk OTB spokesman Jon Schneider said the OTB parlors are closed, and phone and internet wagering are way down, not least because only eight tracks are open in the country. The OTB’s Qwik Bet terminals are mostly in (currently closed) bars, though a few are in convenience stores. But Qwik Bet's volume of $88,000 on March 14 sank fast to only $7,700 by Tuesday.

Schneider said Suffolk OTB has enough money to operate “for the foreseeable future,” and would be OK for at least a couple of months. The hope is that if the crisis passes and Jake's reopens soon, Suffolk OTB could still emerge from bankruptcy by the end of the year.

And Suffolk OTB creditors and employees, as well as state and county bean counters, are very much hoping that’s the case.

—Lane Filler @lanefiller