Spin Cycle

Last-minute efforts to get incumbent Republican Appellate judge Robert Lifson the Independence Party line fell apart Monday night.

Despite calls from numerous top Republicans -- including former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato -- Frank MacKay, Suffolk and state Independence Party chairman, said he balked at backing the former Huntington Republican chairman because a long time Lifson ally, Robert Garfinkle of Huntington, had created too many enemies for himself.

While he said he "likes Garfinkle personally," MacKay said that giving Lifson the nomination would have been "disrespectful" to other political officials he has worked with for a long time. Although MacKay would not mention those officials by name, Garfinkle warred with Suffolk Republican chairman Harry Withers until he was forced out as county elections commissioner.

Attorney Garfinkle also incurred the wrath of Suffolk Conservative leader Edward Walsh by representing former Smithtown Conservative chairman Jimmy Tsunis in a lawsuit against the party leader. "It was the political equivalent of horsing around with a hunting rifle and inadvertantly shooting your best friend," said MacKay.

On the Republican ballot in November, Lifson will be third in line under Jerry Garguilo, a close friend of County Executive Steve Levy and a Republican running on the Demcoratic, Conservative and the Independence Party lines. Lifson has the Republican and Working Families Party lines. Islip District Court Judge Patricia Filiberto has only the GOP line, but has the first ballot position.

In addition to Garguilo, the Independence Party, at its convention at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Holtsville, nominated Republican incumbent Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Davis, assistant Suffolk District Attorney Hector LaSalle, and Conservative William Condon.

Rick Brand

Abuse of the state’s public employee retirement plan by Long Islanders – and Newsday’s exposes of the problem – have yielded legislation expected to be voted on this week by the State Senate and Assembly before they recess.

AG Andrew Cuomo reached agreement with lawmakers on the package of measures, as reporter Sandra Peddie details here in the newspaper and on the main newsday.com Web site.

UPDATE: The state Senate has approved the legislation unanimously, sending it on to the Assembly.

In a bit of irony, the bill - sponsored by Senators Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) and Assemblymen Robert Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst) and Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) – is numbered 11743 in the Assembly, which also is the Zip Code for Huntington.

James T. Madore

( Editors' Note: Comments welcome from numerologists...)

The presidential primary turned nasty last week as two top Huntington Democratic officials clashed over allegations of anti-Semitism.

Suffolk Legis. Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor), a supporter of Barack Obama, said Huntington town board member Susan Berland heckled him from the back of the room while he spoke on behalf of the Illinois Senator, and later approached him, asking “How can you support Obama? He is an anti-Semite.” Cooper, who like Berland is Jewish, said her claims about Obama were untrue and she should apologize.

The exchange occurred Tuesday night at a Huntington Democratic Committee meeting attended by more than 100 at the American Legion Hall in Halesite. When first contacted, Berland, a supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton, declined comment and charged that Cooper cursed at her husband, baited her and bashed Clinton — which Cooper denied. Several hours later, she acknowledged making the anti-Semitism charge — and apologized to Cooper and Obama for her “inappropriate remark.” Berland explained.....

Rick Brand

Testing of a voting machine that produced 40 extra phantom votes in a disputed Huntingon town board election will not take place until Monday.

The testing, which had been scheduled for Friday, was put off because one of the two chief mechanics from the Nassau Board of Elections could not make it. Although lawyers were supposed to return to court Monday, that appearance will likely be delayed, though no new date has been set.

The race involves Democratic incumbent Glenda Jackson, who was leading in the unofficial count by 23 votes, not counting the extra votes on the vexsome voting machine. That machine also had Jackson in the lead 107 to 89. Democrats say the case is moot ...

Rick Brand

The normally placid Huntington town board meeting was full of excitement for a change last night. Before a vote to discontinue health benefits for part-time board appointees, a contentious debate among board members ensued after Councilwoman Susan Berland announced she was abstaining from the vote. Berland said there had not been enough public discussion on the issue and complained she didn’t know the board had planned a vote on the issue that night.

The measure passed 4-0.

A few minutes later, on a call for a vote to schedule a public hearing to extend a moratorium on the town issuing approvals, grants and permits to private golf courses for an additional six months, Councilman Mark Cuthbertson asked for a last minute amendment to exclude the Hollow Hills Golf Course on Ryder Avenue in Dix Hills. Berland called the last-minute amendment request a “disgusting,” “blatant” surprise attack against her and voted no for the amendment.

Deborah S. Morris

Gov. Eliot Spitzer travels to Nassau County tomorrow to give voters his side of the dispute over the campaign financing system. He is visiting the districts of members of the Senate GOP majority -- which has scuttled some of his proposals to change the rules governing the funding of elections.

He also has an abortion-rights speech scheduled for 12:30 p.m. in Manhattan.

James T. Madore

UPDATE: Spitzer is expected to disucss his "campaign finance and reform agenda for One New York" at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow at President Theodore Roosevelt's Sagamore Hill home in Oyster Bay - in the district of Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset). A spokesman for Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi said he would be attending.

Huntington town councilwoman Glenda Jackson was in the spotlight earlier today in Albany at the annual conference of black and Hispanic lawmakers. She was honored at a luncheon for being the first black to sit on the Huntington board in the town’s 350-year history.
Receiving a plaque from luncheon organizer Assemb. Earlene Hooper (D-Hempstead), Jackson said of her history-making role, “This isn’t an easy task but it’s something we have to do.”
Joining in the ceremony were Nassau Legis. Roger Corbin (D-Westbury) and the new state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, a former Assemblyman from Great Neck.
More than 100 people attended the buffet lunch in the Legislative Office Building, across the street from the State Capitol. Hooper said she’s been hosting the event for years to bring together Long Islanders who attend the annual conference.

James T. Madore

With Huntington Town Supervisor Frank Petrone’s aspirations for a state appointment from the Spitzer administration so far unfulfilled, the veteran town official is holding his annual birthday fundraising bash later this month.

The $200-a-head event will be held Feb. 27 at the Huntington Hilton and is expected to draw 300 to 400 people and add to his campaign coffers that already have $362,000.

Since late last year, local rumors have circulated that Petrone, who has been supervisor for 13 years, might be in line to get the top job at Battery Park City, a post that former Brookhaven Supervisor John LaMura once held. However, Petrone said he “hasn’t heard a word” and is holding his annual bash in case he has to run again for supervisor in three years. “There’s no reason to do otherwise,” he said.

Rick Brand