Big dollars from big donors for Gordon

Daily Point

CD2 open congressional seat: Day 82

Given his long tenure and ability to grab headlines, Rep. Pete King’s seat in Congress had a national platform. It looks like that won’t change even as he heads into retirement. Democratic hopeful Jackie Gordon has raised a substantial chunk of money from prominent national groups in her bid to replace King. 

Federal campaign finance filings posted Friday show that about a third of the former Babylon Town councilwoman’s receipts last quarter came from political groups and PACs. 

Those include prominent liberal groups like Elect Democratic Women and the anti-gun violence Brady PAC, plus members of Congress like South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn and impeachment manager Val Demings, of Florida, and the Congressional Black Caucus’ PAC. 

Those contributions helped Gordon, who was little known as a political figure outside her town, bring in $261,856. She has close to $300,000 on hand going into the heat of the election season. 

It was a big week for Gordon, who was named one of the first members of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue support program. 

She released a new ad highlighting her background as a veteran and educator “challenging the old boy’s club.”

The Republicans’ congressional campaign arm took note, with a spokesman sending a note to reporters asking where Gordon stands on hot-button local issues like bail reform and driver’s licenses for people here illegally — already ratcheting up the pressure in a competitive race before the Republicans choose their nominee.  

Asked about Gordon’s early and enthusiastic support from outside groups, Steve Israel, the former DCCC head, was bullish.

“It’s a very strong indicator of national support,” said Israel, who now directs Cornell’s Institute of Politics and Global Affairs. “The DCCC sees a path.”

—Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Talking Point

Elmont Station: On time

By the start of October 2021, the Long Island Rail Road’s first new station in more than 80 years will open and operate an eight-car platform for eastbound trains.

The rest of the platform, which will eventually serve 12-car trains and westbound service, must be operating by the end of 2022, at the same time that the MTA’s third-track project is completed. 

Those are among the promises built into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $65 million contract with Judlau Contracting.

And in separate interviews this week, MTA chairman Pat Foye and LIRR president Phillip Eng assured The Point that the Elmont station won’t get caught up in the problems and lengthy delays that Judlau was known for in its subway station work of the past. 

Judlau came under fire for delays and problems in the construction of Second Avenue Subway stations and in the repairs and renovations to the Cortlandt Street subway station.

The Elmont station will be Judlau’s first foray on Long Island, Eng said. The use of the more streamlined design-build process, which combines the designing and construction of the station into one contract, will help get the job done faster and better, the MTA executives said. And changes in how the MTA operates will help, too, Foye added.

“We’ve got a better, stronger team in place,” Foye said. “If a contract … goes awry, we’re going to know about it in real time … It’s not going to fester for three months or six months or 12 months.”

Eng said the MTA would be more aggressive about making sure the work gets done, and providing the tools, workers and space the contractors need to get it done, even if that means occasional weekend service changes. And even though the station’s construction falls under the authority’s capital construction division, Eng said he expects to be involved to make sure the station’s construction gets done on time.

“I need them to be successful for me to be successful,” Eng said.

Amid the uncertainty surrounding New York City Transit president Andy Byford’s departure, Eng assured The Point that he has no plans to leave the LIRR.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I’m having too much fun.”

—Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Pencil Point

Too fast, too furious

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/opinion

Final Point

A second chance for plastic bags?

Tensions between the business and environmental communities are commonplace, and a big one is playing out in Albany with the approach of the March 1 date when a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags goes into effect.

Retailers and manufacturers have lobbied heavily for loopholes in the regulations that will implement the law. And they may be having some success. The state Department of Environmental Conservation, which writes the regs, is proposing to allow thicker plastic bags of 10 mils or more. One mil is equal to 0.001 inches.

Allowable bag thickness is one of three areas of the law that need clarification, environmentalists say. An exemption for restaurants needs to include a definition of a restaurant, and exemptions for kinds of stores not spelled out in exact language must be specified — for example, pet stores that put goldfish in plastic bags.

But the thickness issue is the attention-grabber, judging from a public hearing in the state capitol earlier this week. Most supermarket plastic bags are 0.5 mil. Municipalities that have defined reusable plastic bags set limits in the range of 2.25 mils (California) to 4 mils (Connecticut).

Some environmentalists in New York, including a group representing more than 60 organizations that rallied in Albany on Friday, argue against the 10-mil carveout. To them, plastic is plastic is bad. Others say a 10-mil bag is really a reusable bag. Then the question is whether the consumer looks at the thicker bag as being reusable or tosses it out after one use out of habit.

So how will it all play out?

“It’s difficult and expensive for stores to give out bags thicker than 10 mils. We believe stores will not be willing to incur that expense, and therefore switch to selling reusables,” Citizens Campaign for the Environment executive director Adrienne Esposito told The Point. “It’s not the ideal proposal but it’s not awful.”

—Michael Dobie @mwdobie