Pascale, Pelosi, Clinton and AOC

Winner of '2022 Best Newsletter' — Press Club of Long Island

Daily Point

Mailboxes heat up 

The nastiest primary contest so far on Long Island is taking place in one of its most low-profile races: Suffolk County Clerk.

Republican incumbent Judy Pascale, who lost the backing of the county party in her bid for a fifth term, is being targeted by county GOP chairman Jesse Garcia, who supports Conservative Vincent Puleo. 

“It’s like an all-out war, it’s horrible,” Pascale told The Point.

One of Garcia’s attack mailers puts Pascale’s face in a collage with the Holy Trinity of Democratic women that Republicans demonize: Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It’s part of Garcia’s strategy of painting Pascale as a liberal Democrat. Other flyers note that she ran on the Democratic line, which she did twice in 2010 and 2014 as part of overall cross-endorsement deals with the Republicans that included other candidates as well. She acknowledges that she gave $10,275 to the Suffolk Democratic Party at the urging of the GOP because “that was what you did.” The GOP flyers claims it is $20,000,

Asked whether it was a stretch to paint Pascale as a Democrat, Garcia said, “I am a very aggressive chairman.”

But the mailers are also drawing some concern because they intersect with the GOP gubernatorial primary that also will be held on June 28.

On the reverse side of the mailer from the Pascale attack is glowing praise of Puleo along with a photo of former President Donald Trump and the words “Trump Conservative” depicted as a stamp of approval if not a general endorsement. The flyer also notes that Puleo supports the gubernatorial ambitions of Lee Zeldin and is part of his “team.”

But some who support Zeldin say the attacks on Pascale could hurt Zeldin in his own primary, especially against Andrew Giuliani who also is seeking the path in the far right lane. “Linking Zeldin to Puleo when some of the patriot groups are supporting Pascale could hurt Lee,” said one GOP insider. 

To even get on the GOP primary ballot, Pascale needed help from Suffolk’s law enforcement unions and the Long Island Loud Majority, which just sent out its own social media post touting awards the clerk’s office has won under Pascale.

Garcia said the party flyers were ”informational” and not inflammatory. He said Pascale’s claims that he wants to destroy her by kiboshing appearances at local GOP clubs or telling her usual sign-maker and printer of campaign materials to not take her business are words of “desperate people who want to cling to power.” The GOP chairman said he won’t know how much the party is spending on the mailers until the mandatory campaign expenditure disclosures are filed. “I don’t keep track,” he said.

Asked if Gov. Kathy Hochul’s photo was not used on the flyer with Clinton, Pelosi, and Ocasio-Cortez so as not to give any prominence to the leading Democratic nominee for governor, Garcia said simply, “It was a design choice.” 

— Rita Ciolli @ritaciolli

This item was updated after the newsletter was sent out to reflect that Pascale gave $10,275.

Talking Point

Partnership at Penn? 

It felt familiar.

The podium with a sign proclaiming “A NEW PENN STATION.” The video, complete with history, New Yorkers’ voices, images of today’s dark corridors, and bright renderings of plans for the future. The introduction of each dignitary. Plenty of applause.

And an announcement of a “significant milestone” — in this case, the start of the design phase and a request for proposals to solicit architecture and engineering firms. Bids are due at the end of July, and the state hopes to pick a firm by early fall.

There have been plenty of Penn Station news conferences over the years with similar elements. But the Thursday morning Penn Station news conference was a bit different. It wasn’t surprising to see Gov. Kathy Hochul, quoting both Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Langston Hughes in the course of one short speech. It wasn’t surprising to see Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief executive Janno Lieber, a longtime proponent of significant renovation at the existing Penn Station.

But the event, held at Moynihan Train Hall, also included New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New Jersey Transit chief executive Kevin Corbett, and Amtrak Chairman Anthony Coscia.

Those players haven’t always been on the same page when it comes to redeveloping Penn Station, or on how to prioritize improvements to transit infrastructure. There have been times with more finger-pointing than handshaking.

But Thursday, there was talk of “partnership” and a “shared vision.” And each voice talked of the need for a remake of Penn.

“This Penn Station development is crucial for us,” Adams said. “It’s our Empire State Building moment … I’m happy to be among the partnership that’s going to make this happen.”

Coscia in particular seemed to recognize what made the moment different and gave credit to Hochul and Murphy.

“They put us here today. They realized that by putting these various entities together and making them resolve their differences and come to a conclusion, we will actually accomplish something,” Coscia said.

But not everyone is on board the Penn train. Gubernatorial candidate Tom Suozzi emerged with a statement Thursday criticizing the Hochul event, saying the governor was prioritizing the developers over Penn itself. 

“Today we got another Penn Station pronouncement, yet we still don’t have a plan on how to fund the $7B in renovations,” Suozzi said. “Typical.” 

And careful listeners would notice slight shifts in the speakers’ focus. While Lieber and Hochul drilled down on Penn itself, Murphy, Coscia, and Corbett talked about the station, but also cited the importance of the larger Gateway project to replace the tunnels under the Hudson River and a key rail bridge in New Jersey. Hochul and Lieber previously have emphasized how moving forward with Penn’s remake shouldn’t wait for the longer-term Gateway effort.

Perhaps the question, then, is whether Hochul, if elected, will be able to keep Thursday’s kumbaya moment on track.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Pencil Point

Now Playing: Jan. 6 Hearings

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

Reference Point

60 years of LIRR woes

Another year, another LIRR fare hike, another round of complaints.

It has been a Long Island tradition seemingly since there was a Long Island Rail Road, which is to say, since 1834.

It certainly was the case in 1962 when Newsday’s editorial board carped about — take a deep breath — an expected fare increase of 2 to 3 cents.

In a June 9 editorial headlined, “Ye Gods! Another 2¢!”, the board lamented, “Every time we all settle back to enjoy the improved service on the Long Island Rail Road, something happens to spoil things. This time, as usual, it is another fare increase.”

The board said it didn’t blame the railroad, citing a new wage agreement that gave “off-train employees” an increase of 10.2 cents per hour. But, it observed colorfully, “Somewhere, somehow, the money has to be found — and as usual the commuter gets it in the neck.”

And with that, the board keenly described what was to become an essential truth about LIRR fares. “This is expected to be a temporary step until Jan. 1, when a pending tax relief bill goes into effect,” the board wrote. “But since this bill has not yet passed Congress, it’s still a case of wishful thinking. Fare increases, once established, seem to stay with us always.”

The tax cut to which the board referred was a proposal from President John F. Kennedy which eventually did pass — in 1964, with a push from President Lyndon B. Johnson. 

But the board’s major complaint was that “all these dribs and drabs of relief” did not really address what it called the root of the problem for any commuter railroad in the United States:

“Either there should be an outright federal subsidy for the railroads, or the Eastern seaboard states served by commuter lines should get together and form an authority to operate them. This cliff-hanging is getting everybody down.”

Three years later, in 1965, the state bought the LIRR and placed it under control of the Metropolitan Commuter Transit Authority, which was rebranded as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1968 when it assumed control of several other metro-area transit agencies.

So the editorial board got its authority, and the MTA’s stewardship did indeed bring some improvements, but an end to fare increases was certainly not among them. 

— Michael Dobie @mwdobie and Amanda Fiscina-Wells @adfiscina