Spin Cycle

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

James Garner, the former Republican mayor of the Village of Hempstead, will run again next year — for the job he lost to Demcorat Wayne Hall in 2005.

Garner was the first black mayor in the predominatly black community and he served for 16 years.

Former Village attorney W. Charles Robinson — now Garner’s business associate — filed papers with the Village last month to start a fundraising committee for the race.
The campaign treasurer will be Geraldine Barrows, Garner’s former special assistant in the Village.

Eden Laikin

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, after today’s report on Carol Hoffman leaving the firm Jaspan, Schlesinger Hoffman LLP, from which she was a focus of the pension-abuse uproar — and where Sen. Craig Johnson is now “of counsel” — Johnson challenger Barbara Donno is slamming him again.

Last week she released an ad that reached beyond the facts as reported to tie the Port Washington Democrat to the mess, even though from all available evidence he joined the firm after Hoffman’s controversial activities had taken place.

In her latest news release on Monday, Donno charged: ““Carol Hoffman’s decision to leave before she was originally scheduled to retire in December is an obvious political maneuver designed to distance Craig Johnson and his law firm from the 'double dipping' scandal...While the offender at the middle of this scandal is gone, Craig Johnson continues to collect a paycheck from them and he has remained silent. Residents deserve an explanation and Craig Johnson should denounce his law firm and its involvement in this scandal.”

While the Jaspan firm has several Democratic Party contacts, the glass-house aspect merits repeating: This scandal has actually been quite bi-partisan. Denouncing Donno’s campaign as promoting lies, and saying "no one here ever double-dipped," Steven Schlesinger (in photo), a partner who is counsel to the Nassau County Democrats, has pointed out, for example, that state and GOP chairman Joseph Mondello is of counsel to the law firm Berkman, Henoch, Peterson, and Peddy. There, as Newsday reported, partner Gil Henoch was improperly reported for two decades as a school-district employee.

The Johnson camp last week called for Cablevision News 12 to stop running the Donno ads but was rejected. “First, Craig Johnson and his law firm tried to strongarm a media outlet
into shutting down free speech, and now has forced Carol Hoffman out for
political expediency," Donno said in her news release. "These attempts to hide the truth are disgraceful, and speak volumes about Craig Johnson’s character, judgment, and
temperament.”

Dan Janison

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.

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

The latest development in the furor over public pensions for people who weren't even on public payrolls: Gil Henoch, Garden City attorney, has his revoked on orders from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Sandra Peddie's latest story is here.

For those unfamiliar with the Long Island political-celebrity scene, Brad Blakeman is a lawyer and political commentator -- as well as the brother of Bruce Blakeman, a member of the Port Authority board, and one-time GOP presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature.

Newsday's Celeste Hadrick brings to our attention that TMZ has this snarky piece on Brad Blakeman, who is suing people involved in the movie 'Swing Vote' in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, reportedly alleging that he gave a copy of his script "Go November" in spring 2006 to actor Kelsey Grammer "in confidence" -- and essentially had the work ripped off. TMZ's catty take is that the lawsuit "may be considered the worst career move ever" since the movie was such a "clunker."

Hempstead Village Trustee and Deputy Mayor Henry Conyers dropped his Democratic primary bid against Assemb. Earlene Hooper on Tuesday amid a court review of his challenged nominating petitions.

Conyers’ withdrawal clears the nomination for Hooper, a 20-year Assembly veteran. Earlier, Nassau’s board of elections commissioners had ruled Sergio Argueta of Uniondale off the ballot.

Conyers filed more than 900 signatures, better than 400 above the number required. But during the line-by-line review of petitions at the county board in Mineola, conducted by court-appointed referee Eugene Shifrin, Conyers’ lawyer Genevieve LoPresti conceded that her client did not have enough signatures to qualify.

Rick Brand

Supporters of Assemb. Earlene Hooper have filed objections to the petitions of both her oppoinents, Hempstead Village Trustee Henry Conyers and anti-gang advocate Sergio Argueta.

The specific objections to Argueta’s petitions, filed Friday, claimed that of Argueta’s 918 signatures, 724 were invalid, leaving him with only 193 qualified signatures -- far below the 500 minimum required by law.

Hooper backers also filed specific objections against Conyers' 968 signatures, claiming 648 were invalid, leaving him with only 338 legitimate sigantures, not enough to qualify. However, since Hooper backers did not take the preliminary step of filing general objections to Conyers' signatures, William Biamonte, Nassau’s Democratic elections commissioner, said the board of elections will not rule on the specifics and Hooper forces will have to take their challenge to court.

Earlier in the week, a campaign finance filing showed that Hooper had raised $4,326 in the past six months and had $6,108 cash on hand while Conyers raised $10,021, but had only $4,421 on hand after expenses.Conyers' filing shows that $8,771 came from his village campaign fund and the bulk of his $5,600 in spending went to pay campaign manager S. Eric Blackwell. Argueta’s fundraising committee has filed no report.

Rick Brand

The jackpot prize for the political lottery ticket held by Roy D. Simon Jr. surged three weeks ago when Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) became Senate majority leader.

Odds against him remain gargantuan.

Simon, 59, of West Hempstead, is due to launch his first run for public office today as a Democrat challenging Skelos, a 24-year incumbent and now one of Albany’s three most powerful men. And with a relatively miniscule $25,000 raised so far for a race that’s on few radar screens, Simon isn’t quitting his day job as Howard Lichtenstein Distinguished Professor of Legal Ethics at Hofstra Law School.

Simon says schools can improve while property taxes are curbed. He pitches his longshot scenario this way: Democrats hold a modest enrollment edge in the district, Skelos faces harder public scrutiny as top Senator, and a big presidential tide might lift all Democrats. “We’ve never had a presidential race like this before,” he said cheerfully Friday.

Top-dog Skelos today holds a golf fundraiser at the Woodmere Country Club.

Dan Janison

Nassau Assessor Harvey Levinson, a Democrat, has publicly railed against Republican-controlled Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency projects, complaining that wealthy businessmen and successful companies are getting unnecessary tax breaks through IDA assistance.

If a developer wants to buy the Garden City hotel, “it’s a business judgment,” Levinson said. “This is money they don’t need,” Levinson said of IDA assistance that was requested by the firm with a stake in the race horse Big Brown, for a new equine medical facility near Belmont Park.

But Levinson has never said a public word against similar tax breaks granted by the Nassau IDA, which is controlled by Democrats, even though its projects involve successful companies like OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc., in Uniondale, and The NPD Group Inc., in Port Washington run by wealthy businessman Tod Johnson.

“The difference between the county and town IDAs is that the county asks for my input and analysis; the towns do not, nor do they notify me of any impending hearings,” Levinson said. “My objections are based on property tax analysis, not politics.”

Celeste Hadrick

State and Nassau GOP chairman Joseph Mondello has friends all over.

When his future son-in-law needed a job in 2005, Mondello’s law associate Michael Axelrod gave the young attorney’s resume to the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor. There, executive director Thomas DeMaria – a local Republican committeeman – helped Christopher Ostuni, two years out of law school, get a $75,000-a-year job as his “confidential assistant.”

In March, when the Waterfront commission was under investigation and DeMaria needed a new job, he landed a $120,000-a-year position as Hempstead’s public safety commissioner.

DeMaria and Mondello both denied having had any influence over the hirings. DeMaria said he can’t recall if the then newly-created waterfront assistant job was advertised. He said he recommends candidates for the bi-state agency, but its two commissioners do the hiring. Axelrod, the New York commissioner, gave the commission Ostuni’s resume, DeMaria said.

Mondello said through a spokesman that Ostuni “was extremely well-qualified.” “He was recruited for the job by the Waterfront Commission,” he said. “I had no involvement in his employment whatsoever.”

The state Inspector General’s office is probing the commission for possible "favoritism” and “financial irregularities," sources said.

Eden Laikin

The race for mayor of Hempstead has lost one strong potential Democratic candidate, with Kevan Abrahams, D-Hempstead, at left, emphatically rejecting a possible run against incumbent Democratic Mayor Wayne Hall.

“Sure I was asked,” Abrahams, the legislature’s deputy presiding officer, said last week without naming who asked him. “But I don’t want the job. First, my wife is expecting, and, second, I don’t need that kind of headache. In addition, I support the current mayor.”

Village trustee Perry Pettus, a Democrat and local businessman who ran against Hall as an independent in 2005, has already declared he is seriously considering another try for the job. “I’m not even sure Wayne [Hall] will run again,” he said.

But Hall said he is definitely seeking re-election and has never indicated otherwise. “I intend to run — and win,” he said.

There are at least two potential candidates on the Republican side — it’s called the Unity Party in the village.

There is former 16-year mayor James Garner, Long Island’s first black mayor, who has all but announced....

Sid Cassese

Two losing candidates in last year’s local elections have landed jobs at the Nassau Elections Board — not an unusual outcome for loyalists who take on strong incumbents at their party’s request.

Elizabeth Faughan, a Republican Oyster Bay Town Board member who challenged the Nassau Legislature’s Presiding Officer Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) last fall, was hired last month as a $50,000 fulltime administrative assistant in charge of the GOP board efforts to comply with the Help America Vote Act. Republican Elections commissioner John DeGrace said of Faughnan, an attorney, “She’s an outstanding employee. We’re very happy to have her.”

Also moving to the board recently was Democrat Kevin Gorman, who will be heading up the Democrat’s HAVA efforts for a salary of $82,500. Gorman, who previously worked at Nassau’s Off-Track Betting Corp., has been a perennial Democratic candidate who last year stepped in to challenge Hempstead Republican Supervisor Kate Murray when the party’s first choice dropped out of the race.

Celeste Hadrick

The scoop on how cops in Malverne, L.I. get time-off credit for "special observance" days -- commemorating Gerald Ford, Shirley Chisholm, Haym Solomon and a wild roster of others -- becomes the latest poster child for the Island's local-government extravagances and irregularities. Read the piece by staff writer Andrew Strickler all the way through, here.

The latest twist in Newsday's lawyers'-on-the-pension-rolls coverage: One of them tried to withdraw, saying he doesn't want to collect -- and was denied. The piece, with links to related information, is here.

The citizens' alliance that in the end got Gov. David Paterson to squelch the controversial Broadwater LNG project did it through hard pushing -- prompting some critics to claim, of course, that they did so at the risk of local energy needs. Rick Brand tells it here.

Speaking of political fights over infrastructure, the LI Regional Planning Board endorsed the LIRR third-track project, as reported here.

The step back by Paterson into more of a closed-door process to finish the Albany budget prompted criticism, as Mr. Madore tells us here.

Hempstead Republicans are taking on Nassau Legis. Jeffrey Toback (D-Oceanside) over his vote to approve a sewer consolidation plan that calls for sewage now processed in Lawrence and Cedarhurst to be pumped to the county’s Bay Park treatment plant in his district.

At a stormy first meeting of the legislature this year, the 10-vote Democratic majority approved the plan over objections of residents from Bay Park and East Rockaway, both GOP strongholds.

Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray and Town Board member Anthony Santino wrote Toback, in photo at left, asking him to change course. They also issued a news release announcing a petition drive against the plan as well as a protest rally on March 1 at the entrance to the Bay Park plant.

“Residents of Bay Park and East Rockaway already are burdened with a large volume of sewage being pumped into their neighborhoods along with accompanying odors and health concerns,” said Murray. “Enough is enough.”

Toback responded, “It is unfortunate that Hempstead officials routinely use taxpayer funds for political purposes.” He said he had invited Murray to a briefing on the issue but had received no response.

“Our mutual constituents will be well served when their elected officials work together to build bridges rather than burn them down,” he said.

Celeste Hadrick

In the first 24 hours after Hofstra University was designated as a presidential debate site, the university was deluged with “several hundred calls” requesting tickets, said university spokesman Stuart Vincent.

He said calls came from political staffs, alumni, university staff, local officials and the public. “We told them all the same thing,” said Vincent. “We don’t’ control the tickets, the commission does. We anticipate we will get some tickets, but we don't know how many or when, and most of those tickets we get will go to the students.”

Rick Brand

Confirming reports that were circulating, US Sen. Chuck Schumer has issued a press release announcing that Hofstra will host one of the 2008 presidential debates right here on LI. The date will be Oct. 15 -- and, naturally, Sen. Never-shy Schumer wants everyone to know that he deserves credit for making it happen:

"Schumer has led the fight to bring a presidential debate to Hofstra."

Also, he gives props to the university: “This is great news for Long Island and for Hofstra. It shows the importance of the suburban middle class vote and further strengthens Hofstra as a national and international center of excellence.”

It's the third, and last, presidential debate, by the way. Full text of the release after the jump.

The Town of Hempstead Democratic committee has launched a last-minute campaign effort urging residents to vote in Tuesday’s election and end a century of Republican control in Hempstead.

A newsletter targeting Democrats who don't usually vote in off year elections and a biting radio ad, both lob charges at the town’s Republicans, including allegations of patronage, excessive salaries and building department corruption.

"These are all issues that have come before and everybody knows about it, but it hasn't galvanized the voters to come out to stop it," said Hempstead Democratic leader John Lewis. "That's what this is for, to remind people why they should come out and vote against 100 years of one-party rule."

Here's a question just for the chat of it: If building inspections in Hempstead are this inconsistent and unreliable, who is ultimately responsible and what is the timetable for change? Could an election actually hinge on such a bread-and-butter issue or must there be negative attacks on the souls of individuals?

Don Ryan is having second thoughts about just how precious his vote really is.

Ryan is a trustee in the Village of Hempstead, and the budget that took effect Friday became law after four village trustees voted against it and only Mayor Wayne Hall voted for it.

“It is illogical,” Ryan said. And he promises a fight — uphill he concedes — to change the state law which mandates that a village budget become law if a majority of trustees cannot agree on an alternative budget.

Ryan’s proposal:

Bill Murphy

How much is your vote worth?

It’s valuable, we know. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau successfully prosecuted a score of officials in District Council 37 for rigging their union election a few years ago. The theory — rather simply put — was that a union member’s vote was a thing of value, and stealing it was crime.

A veteran of Hempstead government was pondering the school board budget vote on Long Island week, and was wondering how much a vote was worth — in some odd theoretical way.

Well, there were 433 votes in favor and 402 votes against the $135,298,926 spending plan.

Bill Murphy