Expect delays

Daily Point

Superblock blocked, but picks up powerful support

The latest iteration of “Let’s Make a Deal: Long Beach Superblock” stalled out Monday afternoon when Nassau County Industrial Development Agency Chairman Richie Kessel and his board postponed a meeting scheduled for Tuesday night to discuss developer Engel Burman’s request for a $52 million tax break. 

But the latest Superblock attempt also picked up valuable support from a local power broker, former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, who had railed against, and even sued over, the last Superblock plan and its requested $109 million tax break.

Read the full details about Monday's Superblock developments here.

—Lane Filler @lanefiller

Talking Point

The counting continues

Monday saw an auspicious event in Suffolk County: just short of two weeks after the June 23 primary, the count of absentee, affidavit and unscanned ballots for the 1st Congressional District began. 

The long wait was expected. Absentee ballots — tens of thousands of which were requested on Long Island due to the pandemic — could be received by the Board of Elections until June 30. Suffolk CD2 and CD3 ballots were counted first and are finished. But the Democratic primary for the right to take on Rep. Lee Zeldin in CD1 in November is still up in the air. 

Businessman Perry Gershon and scientist Nancy Goroff were within 200 votes of each other after election day. After East Hampton votes were counted Monday morning, the race got even tighter. The town is part of Suffolk County Legis. Bridget Fleming’s legislative district and in paper ballots she more than doubled next-closest contender Gershon there, according to numbers from the Suffolk BOE.

That leaves Gershon, Goroff, and Fleming separated by a few percentage points with thousands more paper ballots to count. 

The closely watched Republican primary for CD2, on the other hand, came to a close when State Assemb. Mike LiPetri conceded last week. That leaves fellow Assemb. Andrew Garbarino to try to follow in the footsteps of retiring Rep. Pete King.

To mark the occasion, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put out a memo last week entitled “The Case Against Andrew Garbarino,” which labels him an “establishment” and “career” politician. In Democrats’ opening salvo in this relatively moderate suburban district, the memo hardly mentions President Donald Trump and focuses on health care, economic, and environmental issues, citing Garbarino’s votes including this year against New York State budget bills which contained Democratic priorities like paid sick leave.

For their part, Republicans are looking to tie Jackie Gordon, a retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, to “socialism.” Gordon, who has far outpaced primary opponent Patricia Maher in the ballot count in both counties, was the subject of a Monday morning statement from National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Tom Emmer, who called Gordon “a far-left radical candidate whose support for dangerous liberal policies like bail reform has earned her the endorsement of the socialist ‘Squad.’” 

Asked about Gordon’s position on state bail laws, her campaign pointed to a February Politico interview in which she said she believed there was room for changes to the law and cited the importance of “public safety.” 

Gordon has received support from left-leaning sources like “Squad”-member Ayanna Pressley, but also proudly notes on her website the endorsements of more centrist House Democrats like fellow veteran Max Rose of Staten Island and fellow Long Islander Tom Suozzi.

—Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Pencil Point

We're all in this together

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

Quick Points

• Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is scheduled to visit President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday. Any chance each country’s bungled COVID-19 response is on the agenda?
• President Donald Trump wants to undo Obama-era fair housing regulations intended to desegregate communities, rules put on hold in 2018 by HUD Secretary Ben Carson who said the regulations requiring local government reports on patterns of poverty and segregation are “burdensome” and cost “a lot of money and man hours.” He’s right – doing the analysis and compiling the report is harder than just letting people become segregated.
• When asked repeatedly about President Donald Trump’s false claim that 99% of coronavirus cases are totally harmless, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said, “I’m not going to get into who is right and who is wrong.” Except that, by saying that, he did.
• Officials in Texas, Arizona and Florida now say their states’ continued record-breaking increases of COVID-19 cases is because their states reopened too early. Cue the chorus: “Told you so.”
• NBA and MLS teams are getting ready to resume their seasons at Disney World in Florida, which has one of the nation’s worst coronavirus outbreaks. Fans are thrilled that professional sports are returning to the so-called happiest place on earth, but they should also recall it’s essentially a land of make believe.
• President Donald Trump’s derogatory nickname of “Sleepy Joe” for former Vice President Joe Biden apparently is not sticking with voters so Trump is in search of a new one. Here’s a radical suggestion: How about Vice President Biden?
• Film composer Ennio Morricone — who wrote iconic scores for the Clint Eastwood-Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns and hundreds of other films, and introduced the world to the distinctive wail of the ocarina — has died. RIP, Maestro Morricone.

—Michael Dobie @mwdobie