Spin Cycle

Realignments are under way in New York politics -- made all the more urgent by a global financial crisis that sets the interest groups on edge, especially in Albany.

Nowhere are new alliances more unusual than in the ad hoc movement against the Great Power Grab carried out recently when Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council changed local law to allow themselves to seek three consecutive terms instead of two.

For one thing, the federal complaint filed Monday aimed at voiding this term extension is signed by two well-known lawyers: Randy Mastro, former deputy mayor and Rudy Giuliani loyalist (at right in photo at left), and Norman Siegel (at right in photo at right) who with the New York Civil Liberties Union in the 1990’s fought what he saw as numerous Giuliani administration impingements on the U.S. Constitution.

The plaintiffs represent an even more unlikely alliance: the groups US Term Limits and NYPIRG, very Republican Staten Islander Guy Molinari and very Brooklyn Democratic City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long and pro-gay-rights Council candidate Ken Diamonstone, not to mention a multi-ethnic array of Council candidates.

The complaint states in part that the Great Power Grab “permanently chills political speech by sending the unavoidable message that the democratic exercise of initiatives and referenda (two prior citywide votes for a two-term limit) can be disregarded by public officials” contrary to the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment.

If this lawsuit falls short and Bloomberg -- who ran twice as a Republican -- does get another shot, this could be a starting point for how an opponent might fight the incumbent in next year’s campaign – through an unusual coalition that cuts across party lines.

Post-election pressure is mounting from within on state and county GOP chairman Joseph Mondello as he acknowledges the need to rebuild. The Schwartz Report has this posting, of which excerpts are included below:

Dear Friend:

... We have all heard the empty excuses that have come out of Post Avenue regarding the reasons for the failures of the organization to be competitive in recent years....

....The same old excuses, reported in the local newspapers after this year’s utter failure, should compel you to action, on behalf of your Party.

.....Mr. Mondello is responsible for carrying out many important matters on behalf of the Republican Party. However, his inability to lead our party invariably has resulted in failure.

For example, Mr. Mondello’s failure to employ new strategies, develop an attractive message or counter Democrat voter registration efforts....His failure to support and grow the Young Republican organization, once a farm system for future Republican leaders and candidates, has caused the Party difficulty in attracting this important segment of our County. The failure to reach out to Latino voters, and other minority groups and their voters, has caused our Party to surrender the support of those voters to the opposition.

...Despite his long-held public stance against judicial cross-endorsement, he has been forced to give Party endorsement to Democrat and minor party judicial candidates in exchange for endorsement of a few Republican judicial candidates.... The Party should never be in a position of endorsing candidates who do not adhere to important elements of our Party’s philosophy.

The Republican Committee has failed to expend sufficient resources to wage aggressive and successful campaigns in many races....

Mr. Mondello’s complete lack of responsiveness to the executive committee, his failure to adjust our Party’s message and approach to changing times and demographics, and his general failure of leadership, have made it clear that he can no longer effectively function as the Chairman of the Nassau County Republican Committee.

I hope you agree that the future of the Nassau County Republican Party depends upon the selection of a new, dynamic and energetic leader. ....

Sincerely,

COMMITTEE FOR
NASSAU COUNTY
REPUBLICAN PARTY REFORM

Gov. David Paterson, in Puerto Rico, says Medicaid and school aid will be on the chopping block.

The long-term nonaggression pact between Suffolk Democrats headed by Richard Schaffer and Republican Sen. Owen Johnson has no future now that that house has flipped, and Joe Mondello talks of a comeback, Rick Brand reports here.

Where is the economy going and what can the presidents do, Henican asks.

Jim Sleeper takes on the wider meaning of Hussein-the-middle-name in this interesting piece.

Call it congestion pricing, call it Manhattan tolls, or call it East River bridge tolls. The idea keeps popping up as if it's a game of Whack-a-Mole. Now for the bridge-toll permutation to make a comeback.

Rookie Sen. Brian Foley of Brookhaven, joining the new Democratic majority in January, faces big pressure to deliver, Patrick Whittle reports here.

A revised bailout package for AIG is coming, the WSJ reports.

Our initial numbers on the 6th Senate District from election night were off. Our Newsday chart had Kemp Hannon, the Republican incumbent, winning with his usual 56 percent, and that's what we were going by in this posting earlier today. But as Nassau Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs points out, the official numbers from the county elections board show that first-time Democratic challenger Kristen McElroy came much closer to pulling her upset than first projected. Hannon for the moment shows 51.5 percent and McElroy 48.5 percent, or 56,880 to 53,524. There will be a recanvass of machines on Monday, with absentee and affidavit ballots still to be counted.

Stay tuned. There might have been more to that Democratic drumroll in and around Garden City after all. And with the jury still reported out on Frank Padavan v. Jim Gennaro over in Queens, the Albany Gang of Four might have to try some recruiting if things break a certain way. That is, Malcolm Smith's majority could grow.

John Pinto, a Democrat on the ballot for Assembly today in the 17th district, which covers parts of the towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead in Nassau County, received a campaign contribution from a lawyer who was forced to relinquish a state pension in the recent crackdown. The previous account is here.

For Tuesday's election, Friends of Tom McKevitt (in photo) has done negative mailings, obtained by Newsday's Eden Laikin, that scream: "John Pinto was Caught Red Handed ... We Can Do Better Than John Pinto's Pay-to-Play Politics." Both Pinto and the attorney Albert D'Agostino said when we first reported the matter that they didn't see what the issue was ... Sounds a little like those Donno ads against Johnson -- a lot of sizzle.

At least one high-ranking Republican official was more than peeved that two nights before an election that threatens to blow up the GOP's last bastion of state power -- the Senate majority --Sen. Alfonse D'Amato was raising big bucks for Democratic Gov. David Paterson and praising him to the skies. (D'Amato has been quoted elsewhere as saying that he believes the crew headed by Majority Leader Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre will hang on, so not to worry). Echoing the McCain theme, the former senator blasted Wall Street greed -- even though several previous reports have noted that D'Amato as a consultant has himself been hired by Freddie Mac and AIG.

Two days before a hotly contested national and state election, the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce annual dinner was the scene of uncommon mutual expressions of admiration between Democrats and Republicans, Newsday's Sid Cassese informs us. He files this report:

Democratic Gov. David Paterson, a Hempstead High School graduate and the chamber’s Man of the Year, praised his former community neighbor Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre, the Republican State Senate Majority Leader, for his leadership in addressing — along with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) — the state’s budget crisis in an early session of the legislature.

Skelos, a re-election candidate sitting in the audience of about 1,000, simply nodded his head. But later, Republican Congressman Pete King of Seaford, also up for re-election, praised Paterson. “I’m proud to say that David Paterson is our Governor,” he said. “I’m proud to have him come before Congress and represent New York State, and I’m proud to stand with him.”

Former Republican U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato, who was part of a team that hosted a fundraiser Sunday for Paterson in Island Park at a minimum of $1,000 a plate, praised the governor for his decisive action in dealing with the state’s budget crisis.

“You are standing up for what is right,” he told Paterson. “We can’t continue to do business as usual.” Former Long Beach Democratic Chairman and current chamber chairman Larry Elovich told the audience to vote for Pete King.

Now Democrat Kristen McElroy, bolstered by a lot of buzz around her chances in the 6th S.D., is attacking her opponent Sen. Kemp Hannon with the charge that he and the GOP Senate majority are "a big part of the reason" for unaffordable health insurance premiums.

For the full text of the statement, click "continued" line below. The essence of the claim is that HMO rate deregulation spearheaded by the house majority years ago caused premiums to rise faster than paychecks and Hannon and others received big contributions from drug companies and other health-care interests. Hannon chairs the Senate health committee.

"When I go to work in Albany, I'm going to work for the families and small businesses here in Nassau County," says McElroy in a statement. "HMOs got their loopholes, and Kemp Hannon got his money. That's got to change."

UPDATE: Joe Conway, spokesman for the state Senate Republican campaign committee, replies, "Everyone knows that no one fights harder to protect the rights of patients throughout New York State than Senator Kemp Hannon.

"From requiring independent appeals for health care coverage, to banning drive-through deliveries, to expanding coverage for mammography and other life saving procedures, Kemp Hannon has helped improve the quality of health care for millions of New Yorkers.

"In contrast, no one seems to know much at all about Kristen McElroy, but she certainly seems to have a double-standard.

"While raising virtually no money from within the district, Kristen McElroy has received thousands of dollars in contributions from liberal special interests from outside the State. She herself said, in an on-line interview, 'Lucky for me I know the right people.'"

New York’s Independence Party has launched an all-out mail blitz for veteran State Sen. Caesar Trunzo (R-Brentwood), in photo at left, in his re-election bid.

But the state party, which has Trunzo on its ballot line, says it will not disclose how it is financing the mailings or how much it is spending on them until January. Three mailings have already gone out and more are likely, though party officials didn’t give specifics. Party sources say Trunzo is the only Long Island GOP Senator for whom the minor party is doing mail, but sources say GOP veteran Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City), in photo at right, may also get help.

The tag line on the mailings is “State Senator Caesar Trunzo Independent For Us.” The pieces praise Trunzo for supporting the tax cap, keeping property taxes down, and keeping the cost of living down. No piece solicits votes for Trunzo but invites residents to call the senator at 631-360-3236 and “tell him to keep fighting” for them. Party officials say the mailings are funded out of the party’s housekeeping account and they are “issue advocacy” pieces.

Because the mailings do not urge votes for a candidate, party officials say they do not have to report the fundraising or expenditures until January. Mailings that solicit votes must report their spending and fundraising 32 and 11 days before the election, and 10 days after. “We’ve done everything by the book,” said Frank MacKay, state chairman. But Doug Forand, Senate Democrats campaign consultant, said Trunzo is the minor party’s candidate and MacKay is “jumping though hoops” to “clearly try to evade” campaign finance laws.

Rick Brand

Maybe the Garden City law firm Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein can start sharing office space with the New York State executive branch.

The resignation of Charles O’Byrne as Gov. David A. Paterson’s top gatekeeper on Friday made William Cunningham III, the firm’s former managing partner, the new number-two on the Capitol’s second floor.

This happened days after the buzz began that Nassau Executive Thomas Suozzi — whom Cunningham served as top deputy — could become Paterson’s running mate, for lieutenant governor, in 2010.

And Meyer, Suozzi is the firm where Joseph Suozzi, father of the county executive, and Basil Paterson, the governor’s father, hang their hats.

“All this could make things simpler around the holidays,” a longtime Democratic operative said lightheartedly.

Assuming Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli seek re-election, Paterson’s picking Suozzi for lieutenant governor would put three downstate Italian-American candidates on the same statewide ticket.

Dan Janison

U.S. Sen. George McGovern faced the rejection of powerful Democratic Party players in 1972 and lost big to President Richard Nixon. Some in the GOP now fear Sen. John McCain could be undercut, or “McGovernized,” by a kind of self-fulfilling gloom within his party, despite his surviving chances. Add to that an evident rift with “rogue” running-mate Sarah Palin. Bottom line: National parties don’t always coalesce behind their candidate’s agenda. Watch for the Republican schism to be a big story no matter who wins.

As noted in this space before, Los Angeles Police Chief Bill Bratton has a rare condition by which he breaks out in hives if he hasn't been in the national news for a while. So it came as no surprise when reports spread that the former NYC police commisioner had taped robo-calls on behalf of Barack Obama just as his old boss/nemesis Rudy Giuliani was stoking fear on behalf of John McCain regarding Obama and sex offenders. Are either of these Big Apple celebs of the 1990's swaying votes on the American landscape?

Dan Janison

Predictably, perhaps, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is doing negative robo-calls for the McCain campaign, accusing candidate Barack Obama of not wanting to do the right thing on sex offenders. Greg Sargent at TPM posts it here and critiques the distortion in this script:

"Hi, this is Rudy Giuliani, and I'm calling for John McCain and the Republican National Committee because you need to know that Barack Obama opposes mandatory prison sentences for sex offenders, drug dealers, and murderers."

"It's true, I read Obama's words myself. And recently, Congressional liberals introduced a bill to eliminate mandatory prison sentences for violent criminals -- trying to give liberal judges the power to decide whether criminals are sent to jail or set free. With priorities like these, we just can't trust the inexperience and judgment of Barack Obama and his liberal allies. This call was paid for by the Republican National Committee and McCain-Palin 2008 at 866 558 5591."

For nostalgia's sake, here's one of Rudy's much more famous phone conversations:

At one point during the scripted frivolity of her most-hip appearance on Saturday Night Live, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told Alec Baldwin that his actor sibling Stephen was her favorite Baldwin brother. Below, it is easy to see why: Just as Alec is the family liberal, Stephen is the reflexive family conservative, and he reliably calls Barack Obama a "cultural terrorist" on abortion.

In fact, as you'll hear when you click on this much-watched video, Baldwin does something that could help legitimize the Christian conservative movement in blue-state domains: Prove once and for all that celebrities who identify with its precepts can be every bit as vain and predictable as their most preachy lefty-chic counterparts. Too bad we no longer have Merv Griffin around to admiringly get right up in his face as he once might have done with Virginia Graham and say of Badwin's strident utterances: "Oooooohhhhh.....FAAAAAHHH-scinating....We'll be right back."

How ironic was it that Sen. John McCain chose the Town of Hempstead as the place to start making “Joe the Plumber” into a campaign legend as he attacked Sen. Barack Obama’s tax plan in their final debate?

It turned out that tradesman Joe Wurzelbacher of Ohio, at right in AP photo, lacks a plumber’s license. Well, if either presidential candidate wanted to find a place where plumbing licenses and politics can turn controversial, they could have stuck around Hempstead, America’s largest township.

On June 11, Kathleen Gavin of Massapequa delivered a bold public speech to Nassau County legislators. She’s been supporting a bill to impose a countywide licensing system for the plumbing trade, sponsored at the state level by Assemb. Charles Lavine. The measure
has stalled, presumably due to a lack of home-rule support from the affected localities.

“It would open a window into the closed worlds of the local
Plumbers Examining Boards, who currently operate as they see fit,” Gavin
said. “They alone decide who gets licensed, who gets permits...They
enforce codes. They handle complaints. They are a one-stop shop — a closed
shop.”

“The members of these boards are, by and large, owners of large plumbing companies in Nassau County, yet they are also compensated by the Towns in which they work — creating conflicts of interest...so glaring that they cry out for reform,” she said, alluding to
Oyster Bay and North Hempstead as well.

As she and husband Ed Gavin described in detail her son, a licensed plumber elsewhere, encountered an irregular obstacle course when he sought a Hempstead plumber’s license. The Gavins see this is a wrenching example of a locally-enforced business cartel -- whether your name is Joe, Josephine, or Sam.

Dan Janison

UPDATE: For a relevant rebuttal, see plumbing contractor Pat Dolan's response in the comments below.

Taxpayer-paid mailings from Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) arrived in his district just this month, boasting that he’s “Delivering for the Five Towns.” Question: Could a Democrat in the Senate -- or for that matter a Republican in the Assembly -- have sent out the same mailing at the same time?

Attorney Carol Hoffman, who was stripped of nearly 15 years of pension credits last month after it was determined she’d been improperly listed as an employee of four Nassau County school districts, is moving on. Hoffman, 57, was a partner in the Garden City law firm of Jaspan Schlesinger Hoffman LLP until Newsday reported on the pension system abuse. She’s been on unpaid leave since May 1. She’s due to move into an office on South Street in Oyster Bay Nov. 1, with her name to be dropped from her former firm -- which includes several Democratic Party players from Nassau -- around then.

The school districts — Bethpage, Lawrence, East Rockaway and Plainedge — improperly reported Hoffman as an employee for three to six years each, while she was an independent contractor. Two of the districts also paid millions in retainer fees to the law firm. Hoffman solicited two other Nassau school districts in writing to be put on their payrolls, but was turned down.

In a TV ad last week, Republican Barbara Donno’s state Senate campaign sought to tie the scandal to incumbent Craig Johnson, who became of counsel to the Jaspan firm in 2006 — after the controversial activity involving Hoffman, according to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Johnson aides hotly denounced the commercial as false.

Eden Laikin

Democrats are suing the treasurer of Dean Hough’s campaign committee to force disclosure of what was raised and spent in Hough’s primary bid against Assemb. Patricia Eddington (left). Hough was knocked off the ballot over a residency issue.

Attorney Kathleen O’Keefe is seeking a court order after Alan Stein, Hough’s treasurer, claimed “no activity” from mid-July to mid-September when Hough’s committee posted nine newspaper ads, two newspaper inserts, and five mailings lambasting Eddington.

O’Keefe also said some of Hough’s ads contained graphics identical to those of Eddington’s GOP foe Scott Salimando. The only expenses Hough’s filing reveals is for gathering petitions to qualify.

“There’s an essential contradiction here,” said O’Keefe of the campaign reports and campaign material Hough sent out. If Salimando’s campaign provided some of Hough’s graphics, it should have been listed as an in-kind contribution.

She also expressed suspicion about contributions that may have exceeded the legal $3,800 limit — that “some deep pocket” is involved. Thomas Spargo, Stein’s attorney, said he expects a court hearing in the next several weeks.

Rick Brand

Electoral politics routinely meshes with public school management.

On Aug. 12 — just two weeks before Albert D'Agostino had his $106,700 pension revoked by the state — he was re-appointed as an attorney by one of the school districts that had improperly listed him as an employee.

On Sept. 12, the long-time Republican gave a $250 campaign contribution to a board member of that district, who is running on the Democratic line for state Assembly.

D’Agostino made the donation to John Pinto in the name of a realty firm he co-owns. Pinto, who is challenging Republican incumbent Tom McKevitt (above), is a registered Republican.

Neither he nor D’Agostino see an issue. “The Board of Education made the decision to rehire Mr. D’Agostino,” Pinto said. D’Agostino added he personally did not give the money to Pinto. “It was for two tickets to a fundraising event,” he said.

Eden Laikin

The presidential debate on Wednesday will be the first in New York State since Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy met in a television studio in 1960.

That setting 48 years ago didn’t allow for many people, beside journalists, to witness the exchange in person. So, then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller wasn’t in attendance, according to press reports.

But Gov. David A. Paterson is expected to be inside the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex at Hofstra University tonight, along with other state officials, including Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

James T. Madore

Immigration policy has drawn remarkably little mention in this huge general-election campaign — and some want to see the presidential candidates confront the issue in their final debate Wednesday at Hofstra University.

One year ago, nothing in politics was as explosive as Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s controversial plan to allow undocumented immigrants to apply for drivers’ licenses. The perceived presidential front-runner, Democrat Hillary Clinton, caught heat for her qualified support. But rival Barack Obama also expressed support — and it seemed then as if any GOP candidate would certainly be using this to drub the nominee this fall.

But John McCain faced fire from within the GOP for having supported President George W. Bush’s sweeping immigration bill last year. Condemned by foes as amnesty for illegal aliens, the bill died in the same type of backlash that killed Spitzer’s license proposal.

“It’s interesting,” says Patrick Young, director of the Central American Refugee Center in Hempstead and Brentwood. “Essentially, you had the two most pro-immigrant candidates win each of their parties’ nominations.”

On the GOP side, he said, “I think it’s been kept off the radar screen to give McCain some sense of cover.” As for Democrats, he observed, “Obama has made maybe only three statements on immigration since he became the nominee apparent in June.”

“They have the mainstream immigration-rights position,” said Young, who follows the issue closely and writes blog posts on it. “Protect the border, legalize those who are not criminals, deal with the future flow.”

An active Republican, who declined to be identified, believes...

Dan Janison

Former Republican U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato is apparently playing a major role in organizing a fundraiser for Democratic Gov. David Paterson — to be co-hosted by a bi-partisan myriad of Long Island developers, lawyers, doctors and top executives, at the Coyote Grill in Island Park.

While D'Amato's name doesn’t appear on the invitation to the $1,000-per-plate fundraiser, set for Nov. 2, guests are told to respond to D'Amato's executive assistant, Dana Weisberg, in care of D'Amato's consulting firm, Park Strategies. Neither D’Amato nor Weisberg returned calls for comment.

Of 15 names on the invitation, seven are registered Republicans, two are Democrats, three are blanks and three could not be determined.

The invitation lists: former Nassau County Executive Thomas Gulotta; Gary Melius, owner of the Oheka Castle Hotel in Huntington; Scott Rechler, who’s partnering with Charles Wang on the Nassau Coliseum-Lighthouse project and has been listed as a finance co-chairman for Sen. John McCain’s campaign; two Park Strategies’ executives, and Robert Catell, executive director at National Grid.

Eden Laikin

Suffolk’s Democratic County Executive Steve Levy wants to install former Republican Islip town board member Pamela Greene as the county’s new $107,000 a year consumer affairs director, according to several political sources.

Levy aides are circulating a discharge petition to allow a vote Tuesday to reinstate the consumer affairs post. Levy earlier told Democrats in caucus that he has someone in mind for the job, but wouldn’t tell lawmakers his choice. Levy, however, maintains he has chosen no one and is considering three or four names. He won’t say if Greene is among them, but added he thinks highly of her.

Greene, who also declined comment, lost the town supervisor race to Democrat Philip Nolan two years ago and was rumored to be in line for a job with Levy shortly after her loss. Greene and her new husband, political consultant Michael Dawidziak, are friends of Levy and his wife Colleen, and the strategist has done campaign work for Levy.

Levy needs to recreate the job, because Charles Gardner who ran the department until retiring last summer, worked under his civil service title as director of weight and measures, which gave him job protection a political appointee does not have.
While he proposed making the job a director of consumer affairs in his office, eliminating the need for legislative confirmation, Levy said he has “no problem” creating a commissioner’s post which would require appointees to get legislative approval.

Rick Brand

As widely reported, John McCain’s campaign has demanded Barack Obama’s ties to ACORN, an activist organization that runs voter-registration drives, be probed. Registration cards submitted by the group prompted fraud investigations in Nevada, Connecticut, Missouri, and at least five other states — including some in the name of Dallas football players.

Bertha Lewis, ACORN executive director well known in New York City politics, issued a detailed rejoinder with Steve Kest, saying status quo forces were playing up isolated irregularities to deter voter registration.

Just to help keep the players straight: Lewis has been co-chair of the state Working Families Party. She drew paparazzi-style notice in 2005 by grabbing Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s face and kissing him on the lips when ACORN and the city reached a certain participation deal with developer Bruce Ratner on Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project. That deal, preceding Bloomberg's last election, looked at the time like a nice deflection of support against the city's majority Democrats.

Seems like Bloomberg's found his own alliances with ACORN -- and Liz B reported last week that he's had his associates contributing to WFP too. Not to be New York-parochial, but should those links be investigated as well? Or does the McCain-Bloomberg cordiality rooted in the mayor's immense wealth bring with it an automatic immunity -- with ethics laws not yet caught up to the prospect of corrupt money flowing from, rather than to, the public official? The McCain people in the state were expressing concern about the group months ago but now its role is of course part of the GOP artillery. Interesting to see where it leads both before and after this election...

The photo's from a past cover of 'City Limits', whose Web site is here.

Slated to appear in Saturday's Newsday:

Nassau Senate rivals Craig Johnson and Barbara Donno agreed in a debate taped Friday that state spending on schools and health care should be shielded from cuts. But they clashed on who’d be more independent and responsive — and traded shots on who’d be a better advocate of lowering local taxes.

As economic distress dominates local and national campaigns, both emphasized the pressure that high taxes present for residents of the Seventh Senate District. Johnson (D-Port Washington) defended a three-part proposal for capping tax hikes, slicing mandated spending and a new “circuit breaker” system of breaks for older and poorer homeowners.

The debate airs Oct. 23 on Cablevision News12 Long Island, at 4 p.m. and at 11:30 p.m.
Donno, the Republican mayor of Plandome Manor, slammed Johnson’s preferred plan as “shallow,” costly and harmful to some beneficiaries of the current STAR rebate program. She challenged his claim to independence from the Democratic Party line in Albany, citing an instance in which he did not break from Gov. Eliot Spitzer on proposed health care cuts in 2007.

“Unfortunately, my opponent is running the continuous, same old, distorted, negative campaign we’ve seen in the national campaign as well as here,” Johnson said, countering her claim to be “not a typical politician.” They disputed his record on school funding.

Johnson won a special election for the seat last year, making him the only Democrat among Long Island’s nine state senators. That’s been a sore point for new Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), who’s backing Donno vigorously as he fights statewide this season to keep GOP control of the house.

Johnson said a Democratic majority in the Senate would “absolutely not” hurt Long Island — and Donno said it “absolutely” would.

Rick Brand reports from the Foley - Trunzo debate at Channel 12:

In their first and probably only public debate of the election campaign, Republican State Sen. Caesar Trunzo (l) and his Democratic foe, Brookhaven Supervisor Brian Foley (r), clashed today over how Albany works, and how it doesn’t.

Touting his his 37 years experience, Trunzo, 82, maintained Senate Republicans have done “an awful lot” and he has brought home “a tremendous amount” to the third Senate District -- funding that he said Foley won’t be able to match.

“God forbid he should win the Senate seat and the Democrats take over,” said Trunzo, the most senior of GOP senators. “He’ll run into a situation where he’ll be a junior member...Rather than getting any of the funding that’s necessary, he’ll be at the bottom of the list. I know the system -- It's being there a long time and seniority has a lot to do with what you get.”

Foley countered that Trunzo is part of a “system that everyone knows is that is broken” and promised to “repair that system,” nationally known for its “dysfunctional” ways.
“Contrary to the doom and gloom Caesar is describing I will be able to deliver for Long Island as [freshman] Democratic Sen. Craig Johnson will be able to deliver for Nassau County,” said Foley. “We’ll be the new Long Island voices in Albany and we are going to make a difference.”

The lanky Foley, 50, and the short, barrel-chested Trunzo were a stark contrast in the 30-minute confrontation that was taped in News 12 Long Island's Woodbury studios. The debate will air Oct. 21 at 4:30 p.m. and 12 a.m. and will be repeated over the Oct. 25 and 26 weekend.

At times, Foley, who carried a briefing book, appeared stiff, while Trunzo sometimes mangled syntax and drifted, not unlike Sarah Palin -- once saying he helped an immigrant become a “senator,” before correcting himself and saying “citizen.”

The debate could become pivotal in the....

Gov. Paterson endorsed Brookhaven Supervisor Brian Foley for state Senator at the Suffolk Democratic dinner Wednesday night at Villa Lombardi's in Holbrook -- and more importantly, County chairman Richard Schaffer announced a $10,000 donation to Foley's campaign.

"If everyone paid for their ticket tonight, a little more may be coming," Schaffer added.
More than 400 party fairthful showed up for the fall dinner, where party treasurer Jeff Casale raised $150,000 and netted $120,000 after expenses.

While relations between Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and the governor have been cool since the two split on the state takeover of the highway patrol, Levy, who spoke before Paterson, said that protesters outside the dinner were aimed at him, not the governor.

Despite the differences, Levy said, "The important thing we have in common is being executives in these very difficult financial times. And in these kind of times, the people want their leaders to lead."

-- Rick Brand