NY's only statewide political program
2010 Gov Race
Manhattan Madam Off Probation
Nov 9th - 12:54 pm
Kristin Davis may have missed the mark in her quest to win 50,000 votes for her protest gubernatorial campaign and establish the Anti-Prohibition Party, but she did get some good post-election news today.
Davis, AKA the “Manhattan Madam,” announced on Facebook this morning that her 2.5-year stint on probation following the four months she served on Rikers Island for promoting prostitution has come to an end.
(NOTE: Davis was initially sentenced to five years probation, which she started in October 2008 after her release from jail).
“For the last couple of years I have met and complied with the stringent probationary demands placed on sex offenders,” Davis wrote in a statement she plans to post on her Website.
“I have checked in with my PO weekly in a visit that takes 4 hrs on average, attended over 70 sex offender therapy sessions, been randomly drug tested and submitted to surprise home visits.”
“I have also been subjected to sitting in a room for hours with ‘real’ sex offenders and listened to their horror stories and been hit on.”
“Today I am free. Thanks to my excellent attorney, Dan Hochheiser, and the fair judge, Justice Thomas Farber – I have been released from probation.”
“Running for governor while on probation proved to be a challenge, but I am proud of the pro-freedom agenda I ran on. Politics in New York needs more feminists. It cannot help but occur to me that Eliot Spitzer paid no such penalty for his crimes while I received a sentence, which seems quite harsh for a first-time, non-violent offense.”
Now that she’s off probation, Davis no longer has to submit to regular drug testing and doesn’t have to get permission from her PO to travel. And, she added in an e-mail to me: “I get my dignity back!”
Davis, who ran on a platform of legalizing gay marriage, casino gambling and marijuana, said she plans to visit Albany to lobby for the same-sex marriage bill and also draw public attention to the “conditions and atrocities going on at Rikers Island.”
Davis received about 22,000 votes last Tuesday. She ran some TV ads in the final days of the campaign (most memorable slogan: “Vote Homo, Not Cuomo“) and was largely bankrolled by GOP consultant Roger Stone, who spent his final days of the campaign attacking Libertarian candidate, Warren Redlich.
Sympathy For Paladino
Nov 4th - 4:21 pm
Democratic Assemblyman Sam Hoyt today had some rare kind words for his fellow Buffalonian, Carl Paladino, following the businessman’s big loss to Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo in Tuesday’s election.
Hoyt, who came within just over 200 votes of losing his own seat in the Sept. 14 primary, is a longtime Cuomo ally. He and Paladino have a love-hate relationship, according to the Buffalo News. As Hoyt put it, the two have been both “the best of friends and the worst of enemies.”
“I’ve known Carl forever,” Hoyt told me during an interview this afternoon here at the Somos conference in Puerto Rico. “…He’s supported me. He’s aggressively supported my opponents.”
“…I’m saddened by, you know, how Carl has been portrayed and the difficult moments he’s had being in the spotlight, the national spotlight, the New York City spotlight that he wasn’t ever familiar with.”
“And, you know, something that he might say to a friend, you know, jokingly, is then statewide fodder …and I feel bad for the guy. I don’t know that he knew what he was getting into, and I think he’d tell you that today as well.”
Andrew Cuomo’s Day
Nov 3rd - 6:11 pm
In 2006, Eliot Spitzer’s first day as governor-elect had him holding a news conference with his soon-to-be-predecessor and huddling with leaders from labor and business.
Fast forward four years.
The 2010 governor-elect Andrew Cuomo spent Nov. 3 holed up in his office, making no public appearances, NY1′s Josh Robin reports.
The governor-elect, according to a source briefed on his day, was on the phone for much of the noontime hour. He chatted with President Obama briefly (presumably Obama, who made his gubernatorial preference clear long ago), and had a longer talk with outgoing Gov. David Paterson on the transition and the budget.
“The Governor and AG Cuomo had a long and productive conversation today – for more than and hour – about transition,” said Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook. “Governor Paterson offered any help the Attorney General may need to ensure a smooth transition of state government.”
Also on Cuomo’s call list: Dean Skelos, the Republican State Senate leader (and maybe Majority Leader, though it’s too soon to tell). A Senate Democratic source said Conference Leader John Sampson called to congratulate the governor-elect this morning, too.
Cuomo spoke with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver last night. Aside from pleasantries, the budget is a top agenda item. The deficit is inching dangerously close to the $10 billion level and even before the official victory, Cuomo has been preparing for tackling the morass.
Expect a formal news conference announcing transition information as early as tomorrow.
Lazio: Wilson Would Have Won With Me
Nov 3rd - 6:06 pm
Now that he is formally no longer a judicial candidate after taking what he laughingly described as a “brutal” beating in the Bronx state Supreme Court race, Rick Lazio is “freed” – as he put it – to tell us how he really feels.
And he’s not holding back.
“(Carl) Paladino performed, it seems to me in terms of numbers, about as well as Jay Townsend,” the ex-gubernatorial candidate said, comparing his erstwhile primary foe to the little-known Republican trounced by Sen. Chuck Schumer yesterday.
“To win statewide, you have to be credible at showing balance,” Lazio continued. “You can’t veer off into the far corners of either ideological extreme and expect to do well. It pretty much played out the way I expected in the governor’s race. It has to be pretty painful for Harry Wilson, having gotten as close as he did, to come up so short.”
I asked Lazio if he thought Wilson would have won had he been the GOP/Conservative standard-bearer instead of Paladino, and he replied:
“I think he would have won, yes. I think I would have provided a lift in the suburban areas; I would have run more competitively statewide, too.”
Hawkins Paves The Way For Next Group Of Green Party Candidates
Nov 3rd - 4:01 pm
He didn’t get the notority that some of his third-party colleagues received after the only gubernatorial debate, but Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins did manage to accomplish a great feat for his party Tuesday.
Hawkins goal was to gain at least 50 thousand votes — guaranteeing his party a line on the ballot in all elections in New York for the next four years. And, it’s a goal he reached. At last check with 97 percent of the precincts reporting, Hawkins garnered 57,083 votes.
Without a lot of cash, Hawkins campaign relied on shoe leather. In fact, the Central New York native took ten weeks off from work to run for the state’s highest post.
“We can call a meeting in early June and have people fill out our petitions and we’re done,” said Hawkins.
“We’ve got the signatures we need, instead of waiting until July, turning them in in late August, getting challenged and, by the time the process on the challenges is completed, it’s early October, often, before we’re certified on the ballot.”
Hawkins says the easier ballot procedures moving forward will allow the Green Party to run hundreds of candidates for offices on both the state and local level.
Meanwhile, the Libertarian candidate, Warren Redlich, saw a surge of support after the debate from Republicans that were unhappy with their party’s nominee, Carl Paladino. However, Redlich came just short with about 45 thousand votes.
And despite becoming a folk hero and internet sensation overnight following the October debate, Jimmy McMillan also failed to reach that 50k mark, which means it’s back to the drawing board for candidates in the future seeking to run on the “Rent is 2 Damn High” party.
Paladino Calls Off His Press Conference
Nov 3rd - 12:26 pm
….The vanquished baseball bat-wielding mad-as-hell man from Buffalo was supposed to have a press conference this afternoon at the Ellicott Square Building – the same place where he launched his long-shot run for governor ‘lo those many moons ago.
But he has apparently thought better of it, calling off the event with less than an hour to go.
Even though he pledged New York – and Democratic Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo – hasn’t heard the last from Carl Paladino, we won’t be hearing from him today.
No word yet from Cuomo, but given his habit of providing reporters with just a few hours notice prior to his public appearances, it’s entirely possible we’ll be seeing him at some point later today.
Carl: Take The Bat, Andrew (UPDATED)
Nov 3rd - 1:47 am
Carl Paladino ended his first run for office the same way he came in: unapologetic and unpredictable.
In his concession speech this evening, Paladino thanked his supporters, including members of the Tea Party movement, who inspired him to take on the Republican establishment and make it to the finish line in the general election.
“Last year with the unexpected and remarkable ascent of the tea party we saw the passion of regular people spill into the streets,” said Paladino.
“I shared their feelings; we’re frustrated with big government, we’re tired of our politicians spending like drunken sailors and giving us weak elected representatives, we’re tired of backroom deals and contempt for the people of the people…and yes i joined the tea party movement for the same reason I joined the united states army because I love my country and I’m passionate about new york state and saving it.”
Paladino’s entire speech is after the jump:
More >
Green Party Secures Ballot Status
Nov 3rd - 1:31 am
With almost 90 percent reporting the Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins, is the only one with more than 50,000 votes, which means the party can claim official ballot status.
Liz B points out to me that they’ve actually had the status before when they ran “grandpa” Al Munster (no joke) in 1998 and got more than 52,000 votes. However they lost it in 2002 when they ran CUNY professor and labor advocate Stanley Aronowitz, campaign finished in 5th place, receiving 41,797 votes
Other third-party candidates fared well, but it doesn’t look likely the Anti-prohibition Party or the Rent is 2 Damn High Party will secure ballot status this year. Next time, Jimmy!
Here are the results with 88.29 percent of the precincts reporting:
Howie Hawkins: 52,370
Warren Redlich (Libertarian) 40,671
Jimmy McMillan (Rent is 2 Damn High) 36,064
Kristen Davis (Anti-prohibition) 21,092
Charles Barron (Freedom) 19,217
Cuomo: Mandate Tonight Is To Clean Up Albany (UPDATED)
Nov 2nd - 11:40 pm
Andrew Cuomo took the stage around 11 p.m. promising to clean up Albany, saying the people of New York want the government changed in Albany.
“That’s what they’re going to get. The mandate tonight is to clean up Albany and to have elected officials who represent the people of this state and not the special interests and not the lobbyists,” said Cuomo. “The people want a government of competence and performance and integrity and can balance a budget just the way that they balance their budget at home.”
Cuomo had a lot of people to thank, including campaign staffers, volunteers, and the labor movement. However, he didn’t have much to say about his opponent, Carl Paladino.
UPDATE:
From NYPIRG’s Blair Horner
While many precincts have yet to report numbers, the results currently available have Cuomo on pace to finish this election with the 4th largest margin of victory in a NYS gubernatorial race since 1800. He will almost certainly finish in the top ten.
The other nine candidates on this list all won in years in which their parties had significant national gains – Cuomo will thus be the only gubernatorial candidate to finish in the top ten and defy national trends.
Sampson Lends His Support To Cuomo
Nov 2nd - 10:10 pm
Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson released a statement a short time ago congratulating Andrew Cuomo on his projected win in the race for governor.
“New York needs strong leaders in hard times to make the tough decisions. Governor-Elect Andrew Cuomo and Lieutenant Governor-elect Robert Duffy have the independence to do what is right and the experience to get it done.
“If 2008 was about the changing of the guard, then 2010 was about the guarding of the change. Working with Governor-elect Cuomo, Lieutenant Governor-elect Duffy we stand ready to continue what we started and build the New York we can be, should be, and will be.
“Throughout his career, he has tackled big problems and always put the people of New York first. From job creation, to property tax relief, to reducing the cost of government, I look forward to working side-by-side with Andrew Cuomo and Robert Duffy to deliver the change New York needs and the government our state deserves.”
Take Capital Tonight and the State of Politics blog with you everywhere you go with our iPhone app! The mobile application features our blog posts, interviews, and a report news tool to send us your political news tips.