Crossing endorsements

Daily Point

Check your alignments in CD3

The 3rd Congressional District this season is a hub of competing Democratic ambitions. Rep. Tom Suozzi is leaving the seat to run in the June 28 primary for governor against Gov. Kathy Hochul and NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. The Nassau County party chairman, Jay Jacobs, who is also state chairman, supports Hochul; he tried but failed to persuade longtime ally Suozzi to seek reelection.

Due to the court’s intervention in redistricting, the House contests will be on an Aug. 23 ballot. As a result, internal party alliances between congressional and statewide candidates may have some unusual timing.

Longtime party activist and fundraiser Robert Zimmerman so far is the only candidate in the district who has endorsed Hochul. He did so last year after she succeeded Andrew M. Cuomo. Zimmerman hails her as a leader on abortion rights, climate change and gun violence, and as having “the experience, passion and commitment Long Islanders need and deserve” from a governor.

Hochul has yet to make an endorsement in the race.

Port Washington progressive Melanie D’Arrigo, also running on the Working Families Party line, is politically aligned with Williams, the WFP-endorsed candidate for governor. Last month, she accepted WFP support saying: “If we want to build a New York for the many, we need to elect representatives who are unbought by corporate PAC money and undeterred in the fight for working families.”

D’Arrigo met publicly early on with Williams in a bid to galvanize local progressive activists.

For the other two Democratic CD3 contenders, Nassau Legis. Josh Lafazan and former North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman, the state endorsement picture looks less clear. Lafazan has ties to Suozzi, and Kaiman is a longtime ally of the congressman. Suozzi’s campaign confirms to The Point that neither of these would-be successors has yet issued an endorsement.

Kaiman said he nonetheless has been “speaking consistently on Suozzi’s leadership skills and his ability to govern based on our work together over the last two decades.”

Regardless of how Suozzi does in two weeks, those running to succeed him in Congress could plausibly seek his support in August.

At any rate, the congressional candidates won’t face the voters until two months after the governor and lieutenant governor nominations are decided — making some insiders wonder what advantage there may be to endorsing in a race that will be decided before they’re on the ballot.

Not everyone sees value in such endorsements.

In a neighboring race in CD2, Robert Cornicelli, running as a party insurgent against incumbent Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino, said when The Point asked his GOP preference for governor: “I have yet to endorse. I'm only a candidate. My endorsement is no more important than any other American.”

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Talking Point

When old predictions come true

Ever since the Long Island Rail Road released its proposed new schedules that would include service to Grand Central Terminal, residents of one particular Long Island community have expressed anger and concern.

Those who live in Port Washington have found that East Side Access isn't likely to increase their service the way it might for other commutes or even on some other stops on their line. In some cases, express trains leaving from Port Washington have been replaced by slower local service that will make more stops. Even though some trains will be going to the new Grand Central Madison terminal, service overall isn’t increasing.

The explanation for the peculiarities in Port Washington dates back more than a decade, to 2008, when representatives from the LIRR first met with officials from the Town of North Hempstead to present plans that would allow for the expansion of the Port Washington rail yard. It was one of many East Side Access readiness projects being proposed and planned across Long Island.

Two options were presented. Both would have required the use of parking lots and the potential loss of some spots. One would have required the town to sell some land to the LIRR, while the other would have exclusively used LIRR land, but would have involved the loss of far more parking. The option involving town land was preferred — and that’s the one the Metropolitan Transportation Authority pursued.

Two years later, a memorandum of understanding was drawn up and presented to town officials.

For the next seven years, the LIRR tried to negotiate with the town. But residents and town officials balked at the expansion effort because it would take up existing parking spaces. Three different LIRR presidents — Helena Williams, Patrick Nowakowski and Phil Eng — tried and failed. Even after mitigation plans were developed that would have offset the parking loss, the town never agreed to allow the yard expansion to move forward.

Now, East Side Access is here. And of all the readiness projects across Long Island, the Port Washington rail yard is the only one that never got done, MTA sources tell The Point.

Without the rail yard expansion, it’s impossible to store more trains before the morning rush begins and that means the MTA can’t increase service from Port Washington. But in part because other projects did get done, like a pocket track in Great Neck, the MTA can deliver on promised increased service on other parts of the line. For instance, under the proposed schedules, there will be a train leaving Great Neck at 7:21 a.m. and arriving at Grand Central Madison at 7:57 a.m.

New North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said she is planning to meet with MTA and LIRR representatives to discuss what can be done now.

“What I hope is we’re going to sit down and look at the concerns of our residents who have been relying on the train service we’ve had and look at what they’re losing and what we can do that will help them to continue their lives as they’ve known it … and also look into what new planning we need for the future,” DeSena told The Point. “If some conversations didn’t work out well in the past that’s unfortunate, but we still can sit down and do the best we can for the future now.”

Could North Hempstead agree to do the expansion now? Perhaps, if a town board and town supervisor that have disagreed on nearly everything would agree on that. But here’s the problem: The money that had been budgeted for the project has been reallocated. And there’s no guarantee funds would be available in a future MTA capital program — especially given the MTA’s tight financial situation.

During a 2013 news conference posted with a local Patch article about the project, then-LIRR president Helena Williams was asked what would happen if the Port Washington rail yard wasn’t expanded.

“What we would end up doing, just hypothetically, is reducing the current service and diverting trains,” so that some could still go to Grand Central, Williams said at the time.

Little did Williams know how right she’d be.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Pencil Point

Politically correct?

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

Final Point

Follow the money, find the favorites?

Now that the Democratic and Republican fields in New York’s gubernatorial race each have a full-field televised debate under their belts, the analysis and prognosticating are getting serious. And while debates present a playing field of equal opportunity, the polls mostly disagree, painting Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep. Lee Zeldin as favorites cruising through the final three weeks of the primaries.

Certainly, the betting markets predict the front-runners are going to bring home the nominations without breaking a sweat.

In the most recent polling of the Democratic primary, from Emerson College/PIX 11/The Hill, Hochul is beating Glen Cove Rep. Tom Suozzi by 40 points, 57% to 17%, with progressive Jumaane Williams at 6%. When undecideds were asked how they lean, then added in, Suozzi gets within 38 points of Hochul.

But on PredictIt.org, the betting site where investors buy shares of candidates at prices from one cent to 99 cents, and receive $1 per share if they triumph, Hochul is selling for 98 cents. Her lowest price in the past 30 days was 96 cents, while Suozzi’s highest was four cents.

On the Republican side, the polls, and coverage of them, have been more confusing. Andrew Giuliani, son of former NYC mayor and Donald Trump acolyte Rudy Giuliani, has fared well at times in measurements of name recognition. The Emerson poll found Zeldin at 34%, former Westchester County executive Rob Astorino at 16%, business owner Harry Wilson at 15%, and Giuliani down to fourth with 13%. When undecideds are added in, the proportions stay about the same.

But on PredictIt, Zeldin also looks like a lock, with a price of 96 cents a share. Giuliani is at three cents, while no other candidate is above a penny. It’s worth noting, too, that the betting sites mirror the donations.

On the Republican side, Zeldin raised just over $3 million in the most recent filing period, while Astorino brought in $600,000 and Giuliani nabbed $220,000. Wilson did raise nearly $10 million, but about $8 million of that he loaned to himself.

On the Democratic side, Hochul brought in about $10 million between late January and mid-May, tripling Suozzi’s haul. Williams raised $250,000.

And while the primary is still two weeks away, time is shorter than ever for candidates now: Early voting begins Saturday for the June 28 primary.

— Lane Filler @lanefiller