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2010 Gov Race
Cuomo On Campaign, AEG, And Hevesi
Oct 30th - 9:14 pm
Andrew Cuomo wouldn’t say if former Comptroller Alan Hevesi should go to jail during a brief gaggle with reporters in Saratoga County today. The Democratic Gubernatorial candidate was asked about a wide range of topics from the negative tone of the campaign, to AEG, and his investigation into the pay-to-play scandal involving Alan Hevesi.
“He [Hevesi] is cooperating with an ongoing investigation. And we will let that investigation proceed and then see where we are,” is all Cuomo would say on the matter.
On the investigation into AEG, Cuomo said the federal government launched their probe into Aqueduct before he was aware of any wrongdoing, so he felt it was best to let them finish their investigation before getting the Attorney General’s office involved.
Cuomo also weighed in on the negative tone on the campaign, saying “politics isn’t for the faint of heart,” and rejected the suggestion that labor unions are discouraged from turning out on election day.
Duffy Attacks Paladino Over Haggarty
Oct 30th - 1:48 pm
Andrew Cuomo’s running mate has once again assumed the role of attack dog. In a statement, Lt. Governor Candidate Bob Duffy slams Paladino for hiring John Haggarty as his senior advisor, in light of yesterday’s reports that Haggarty admitted to lying and misleading Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign.
Haggarty was indicted earlier this year and charged with stealing nearly a million dollars from Bloomberg’s campaign.
“Carl Paladino has been asleep at the switch and ignored these serious allegations against one of his top aides yet he continues to rail against the system and make spurious allegations saying others are soft on crime,” Duffy said. “Mr. Paladino, if you can’t come clean with the people on this how can you clean up government?”
Duffy’s full statement is after the jump.
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Paging Mr. Paladino
Oct 30th - 1:36 pm
The Cuomo campaign is gleefully forwarding around this clip from a Vermont station TV of Carl Paladino getting huffy during a live interview and walking off, leaving a female reporter high and dry.
The moment occurred when WCAX TV 3 ‘s (aptly named, in this case) Kristin Carlson, the station’s senior political reporter, was pressing Paladino on whether he believed his comment about Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand being Sen. Chuck Schumer’s “little girl” was sexist and if he worried it would hurt him with women voters – a key segment of the voting public.
The interview didn’t start well, as the station was experiencing some technical difficulties while trying to conduct what we in the bizz call a “talk-back” with Paladino, who was campaigning in Plattsburgh).
Carlson also didn’t beat around the bush, asking the candidate why he was bothering to stump in an area already considering GOP territory, adding: “Is this a sign of a campaign in trouble?”
The Gillibrand question was Carlson’s second. Paladino first said he didn’t want to talk about NY’s junior senator. But then responded that he didn’t regret his comment and didn’t believe it was anti-woman, saying:
“I was referring to the fact that Miss. Gillibrand seems to vote exactly as Mr. Schumer directs her to. She doesn’t show any mind of her own in voting, and that’s why I referred to her that way.”
When Carlson presisted on the subject of sexism and Republican concern about his comments, Paladino lost patience, saying “absolutely not” and asking to discuss “issues.” He then added: “Are we going to talk issues, or am I leaving you right now?”
Carlson insisted “Well, I think this is about issues, sir.” Paladino apparently disagreed, because he took out his earpiece, saying “you have a nice day, Kristin, OK?” As he walked away he muttered: “I think we’re done talking to this lady.”
(WCAX is a CBS affiliate based in Burlington, but it also airs in the New York North Country).
Paladino’s Last-Minute Cash Infusion
Oct 30th - 10:21 am
Carl Paladino invested another $500,000 in his campaign yesterday to fund his final push to Election Day.
The Buffalo businessman wrote two $250,000 checks to his committee, Paladino for the People, according to the 24-notice list on the state Board of Elections Website.
I asked Paladino during a CapTon interview last week whether he would indeed end up spending all the $10 million of his own money he said at the outset of this campaign that he would be willing to invest in his first – and he insists only – statewide run. He wouldn’t go into specifics.
In the 11-day pre-general filing, Paladino reported owing himself about $1.2 million. He had spent just over $3 million by the Sept. 14 primary, but we won’t know until the last post-election filing what the final number is.
Happy Paladino Halloween
Oct 29th - 4:35 pm
Carl Paladino’s campaign manager Michael Caputo sent a photo of the trick-or-treat bags being distributed by the Buffal businessman along with the message: “Just in time for Election Day! Err… Halloween.”
When your campaign colors are black and orange, what choice do you have but to embrace the holiday?
Caputo told Newsday that the candidate will be following a family tradition this weekend which requires him to don a surprise costume selected by his daughter, “no questions asked.”
No word on what Duke’s costume will be. Something tells me whatever it is won’t be nearly as elaborate as this.
Gothamist had some fun not long ago advising readers how to dress up like Paladino, an ensemble that “can easily become an Emperor Palpatine costume if you find yourself in possession of a cape instead of a suit.”
Redlich Falsely Accused In Sex Offender Mailer (Updated)
Oct 29th - 11:37 am
Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Warren Redlich is the target of one of the most extreme smear campaigns I’ve seen in 15 years of political reporting via a mailer that falsely labels him a “sexual predator.”
A number of readers have forwarded the mailer, which not only includes a large headshot of the Republican Guilderland Town Board member and reveals Redlich’s home address, but also urges recipients to “call the police” if they see him near a “public school,” “in your neighborhood” or “near your family.”
Apparently, that claim all grew out of a blog post Redlich wrote about Miley Cyrus and her risque photo spread, in which he said:
“Another take is the notion that men who find teenage girls attractive are perverts. If you look at literature like Shakespeare, and at some historical figures like Sir William Johnson (a prominent pre-revolutionary leader in New York), you get the impression that it used to be normal for men, even much older men, to be interested in teenage girls.”
A YNN employee received the mailer and was outraged by it, saying she believed it was a real sex offender alert and had been initially concerned about her kids.
Mermel Urges Republicans To ‘Stand Up Red’
Oct 29th - 8:57 am
Former LG/gubernatorial hopeful M. Myers Mermel has launched a new 527 that aims to raise money for Republican candidates and has already netted more than $46,000 through a new Website, StandUpRed.com.
The site, which also includes a blog (basically an aggregator of pro-GOP news stories) and profiles of Republican candidates, is intended to be an alternative to the Democratic fundraising site ActBlue.com, Mermel said in a press release this morning.
“StandUpRed’s mission is to create opportunities for individuals to quickly identify New York State Republican candidates they wish to support and provide these donors with fundraising technology which is easy and efficient and allows them to recruit others with similar interests,” the release states.
“StandUpRed assists candidates by providing online fundraising technologies to the Republican candidates on the site, without any cost to them for the site development, maintenance, or donations. Also, the Website will not charge candidates for detailed listings of the candidates including biography, link to the candidate’s website, and contribution and fundraising portholes.”
Mermel raised eyebrows when he abruptly dropped his LG bid to join the gubernatorial fray shortly before the GOP convention. He failed to get onto the ballot, and threw his support behind former GOP nominee Rick Lazio, despite the fact that he had voted in favor of a primary between the ex-congressman and Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.
Since then, Mermel has tried to help the party’s standard-bearer, Carl Paladino, organizing the Buffalo businessman’s first Manhattan fundraiser and contributing $21,000 to his campaign.
Bringing New Meaning To A ‘Smear Campaign’
Oct 29th - 8:41 am
Carl Paladino’s campaign HQ in suburban Rochester was defaced by vandals who smeared custard on the windows and wrote the words “homophobe” and “racist” in the sticky mess.
Captain Robert Clien with the Brighton Police Department confirmed the incident with YNN’s Casey Bortnick, saying it had occurred early Wednesday morning. In addition, according to Clien, several phone calls that were “threatening in nature” were made to the Paladino campaign office.
“There was some campaign workers, or a campaign worker, who was there until about 2:00 a.m. and they expressed to us that they have received a number of phone calls potentially from the same person,” Clien said.
“But that hasn’t been determined yet, whether it was all from the same person or if there could have been other people involved as well. I can not confirm whether or not a specific death threat was made to him. Just threatening in general.”
Clien called the custard incident “very unusual,” and said the department usually doesn’t seen any election season incidents beyond some run-of-the-mill sign stealing.
“Obviously because of the nature of the campaign, maybe, this one is a lot more high profile than others in the past and that may have caused some tensions in the community, on both sides of the fence,” the captain said. “So, this is very unusual. ”
“I think anytime there’s a threat made and there’s potential damage to someone’s property, whether there a politician or just a member of the business community or just a resident, we have to take every threat seriously. We’ll do what we can to investigate any leads that come up and see if we can move forward with it.”
Clien noted there’s a 24-hour TOPS Market next door to the Paladino HQ on South Clinton Avenue, but it doesn’t sell buckets of custard like the one that was used here.
“If it’s a commercial-type bucket of pudding that someone would get there hands on we’re not sure,” he said.
“It’s a little unusual because it’s not something that you can buy in the supermarket. At least it took the means of being able to get your hands on the pudding and then decide, ‘This is what I’m going to do with it,’ versus using spray paint or some other type of available resource.”
There was no immediate comment from the Paladino campaign.
The Cult Of McMillan
Oct 28th - 12:18 pm
Could it be that Jimmy McMillan’s 15 minutes of fame are only just beginning?
Several readers have now forwarded me the Herobuilders.com link at which one can purchase a McMillan action figure – $39.95 for the standard model, $49.95 for the talking version, which says (what else?): “The Rent Is Too Damn High!” and also that breakfast-lunch-and-dinner gem from the seven-way “debate.”
The NYT’s City Room also reviewed McMillan’s first album, entitled (again, what else?) “The Rent Is Too Damn High,” which is serendipitously (or maybe not) scheduled to be released next Tuesday.
…which has to make you wonder whether this whole running for governot thing is just a publicity stunt designed to boost sales? Then again, McMillian has a track record of running for office, so it’s not like he hasn’t done this sort of thing before.
I’m taking bets on whether McMillan manages to hit the 50,000 mark and land the “Rent Is Too Damn High” Party official ballot status.
If he does, and there’s a primary in four years between all three of the people who are enrolled members already, McMillan will need a Wilson Pakula if he wants to be the standard bearer again. He’s a Democrat.
McMillan, unsurprisingly, already thinks he’s got this election in the bag. He told NY mag’s Dan Amira:
“I will win…The people have already chosen me to be their leader, it’s just a matter to go through the election process before I am pronounced the governor of the state of New York on November 2.”
Manhattan Madam On The Air
Oct 27th - 6:38 pm
Kristin Davis, the Manhattan Madam and Anti-Prohibition Party gubernatorial candidate, is up on the air with two TV ads – one airing in NYC and the other upstate.
The downstate version focuses on gay marriage and has the tagline: “Vote homo, not Cuomo.” (That, if you’re not aware, refers to this).
The upstate version, which appears below, highlights Davis’ economic plan, which includes a proposal to legalize gambling to generate new revenue for the state.
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