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Log Cabin Republicans Raise For Skelos, Senate GOP
May 3rd - 4:01 pm
The Log Cabin Republicans’ PAC is hosting a fundraiser “celebrating” Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his fellow Republicans at the Brown Derby in Albany next Monday.
That just so happens to fall on the eve of the Empire State Pride Agenda’s annual lobby day (Tuesday, May 8), which is also known as “Equality & Justice Day.” ESPA is going to make a big push for GENDA, the Gender Expression Nondiscrimination Act, a transgender rights bill that passed the Assembly for the fifth time last week.
This isn’t the first time the Log Cabin Republicans have held a fundraiser for Skelos et al. In fact, it was at a Log Cabin event back in October 2010 that Skelos – then the minority leader fighting to regain the majority – said that he would recommend his conference let a same-sex marriage bill come to the floor for another up or down vote.
And last summer, after much tortured and behind-the-scenes deliberation and negotiation, Skelos did just that. And we all know how that one turned out.
Court Of Appeals: 63rd Senate Seat Constitutional
May 3rd - 9:38 am
Another day, another victory for the Senate GOP.
This time in the realm of redistricting.
The Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court ruling that the Republicans’ creation of a 63rd seat – a move the Democrats insist was motivated solely by the GOP’s desire to maintain the majority – is indeed constitutional, despite the fact that they employed two different methods for determining representation.
The court writes:
“We find that petitioners have failed to satisfy their heavy burden of establishing the unconstitutionality of this legislation and we therefore affirm.”
“…It is not our task to address the wisdom of the methods employed by the Legislature in accomplishing their constitutional mandate.”
“Rather, here, we consider only whether the methods chosen amount to “a gross and deliberate violation of the plainintent of the Constitution and a disregard of its spirit and thepurpose for which express limitations are included therein.”
“…Therefore, despite petitioners’ assertions, we cannot say that consistent application of one method of calculation is required, given the Constitution’s silence on this issue and our recognition that the Legislature must be accorded a measure of discretion in these matters.”
Update: Senate Democrats issued a statement saying they hold out hope the redistricting plan will be tossed out through their final legal challenge:
“While we are disappointed with today’s decision, we are hopeful that remaining legal challenges will overturn the unfair State Senate maps,” said spokesman Mike Murphy. “In any event, Senate Democrats remain confident that even if the existing gerrymandered maps are ultimately upheld, Democrats will gain seats and retake the majority in the State Senate this November.”
No Senate Run For Rudy
May 2nd - 3:25 pm
Rudy S. Giuliani has decided to take a pass on challenging Democratic Sen. Tony Avella, telling me in a brief phone interview this afternoon that “it just didn’t feel like the right time.”
The 28-year-old second cousin of former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he was “flattered, humbled even” to be asked to run by the Senate GOP, and surprised by the encouragement he received.
After much consideration and discussion with his family, however, he decided that this isn’t his year – in part because he hasn’t had sufficient time to put together the kind of campaign he want to run some day. (And, having worked on several – including his uncle’s failed presidential bid in 2008 – he has a pretty good idea of what an unsuccessful campaign might look like).
“I was concerned about the timing,” the younger Giuliani said. “It didn’t feel right, and my heart wasn’t 100 percent there yet. If i’m going to go through this, I want to be 100 percent sure.”
“…People told me: This is the year. But I never prepared for a run, never had a team assembled, and when we sat down – it’s doable, don’t get me wrong – but, especially with the attention my name is going to generate, I want to be 100 percent ready to go.”
“Senator Skelos was extremely nice, and offered to help any way he could. But I want to have my own team, my own money.”
Apparently, the Senate Republicans have been trying to get Rudy S. Giuliani to run for something for a while now. Sen. Marty Golden, in particular, brings it up quite a lot.
But, it sounded to me like the younger Giuliani, who is currently working for NYC Council Minority Leader Jimmy Oddo, might be mulling a run closer to home sometime in the not-so-distant future. He told me he really enjoys working at City Hall, adding: “I like city government; it’s what I know best. I’m happy now doing what I’m doing. That all factored in there as well.”
Former Sen. Frank Padavan, who was reportedly mulling a re-match against Avella, is also taking a pass. So it looks like the GOP is back to the drawing board on this race.
NYC GOP Chairs Meet With 2013 Hopeful Allon, Express Support For Catsimatidis
May 2nd - 1:30 pm
Four of the Five NYC GOP county chairs met last night with self-decribed “social liberal/fiscal conservative” Tom Allon, a long-shot contender in the 2013 mayor’s race who has been flirting with the idea of following the Mike Bloomberg model and running as a Republican to improve his chances in a crowded field.
The chairs, released a statement saying that Allon, who (like Rudy Giuliani, back in the day), also has the Liberal Party’s support, is “without question the most moderate, pro-business candidate in the Democratic field,” but it sounds like they’re keeping their options open, which makes sense, considering the fact that the election is still well over a year away.
According to their statement, the chairs – Queens’ Phil Ragua, Brooklyn’s Craig Eaton, Manhattan’s Dan Isaacs and Jay Savino of the Bronx (Staten Island’s Robert Scamardella was unable to attend last night’s get-together) – have been meeting on an almost monthly basis to discuss prospects in the upcoming citywide races.
After 16 years of Republican rule (and then semi-Republican, after Bloomberg changed his enrollment and became an independent) at City Hall, the chairmen are very concerned that control might revert back to the Democrats.
In a city where enrolled members of the GOP are an endangered species, it has long been a point of pride for these party leaders that the mayor had to come to them every four years and receive their blessing to run.
“Any candidate wanting to run on the Republican line for a Mayor or other citywide posts will ultimately need the support of the five chairmen, whose organizations will be critical when it comes to getting on the ballot and other grassroots functions of the campaign,” the statement asserts
“The Chairmen have met routinely with leading New York businessman and philanthropist John Catsimatidis and have also indicated an interest in talking with Ray Kelly, who, like Allon, is not currently a registered Republican. They discussed a wide variety of issues to make certain there is a synergy between their hopeful candidate and the Party base, and to make sure there will be a strong working relationship between the candidate and the Party leadership.”
“Recent news accounts have reported on efforts by some in the Republican Party, including former state GOP Chairman William Powers, to recruit Kelly. Meeting with the five chairmen will be a critical step for Kelly or any prospective candidate if he or she is serious about the possibility of running.”
“Likewise, the Chairman have discussed the pros and cons of others who’s names have been bandied about in the press as potential candidates from time to time including Diana Taylor, Dick Grasso, State Sen. Marty Golden, Eva Moskowitz and Adolfo Carrion.”
The chairmen have been “encouraging” billionaire (read: self-funder) John Catsimatidis to run. Catsimatidis, another Democrat-turned-Republican, switched his enrollment in preparation for a 2009 run for mayor, but then dropped his bid after Bloomberg announced he would seek to extend term limits and run for re-election himself.
Catsimatidis, the owner and CEO of the Red Apple Group and Gristedes Foods, has strong ties to the Queens GOP (Executive Vice Chair Vince Tabone works for him). He’s also related to state GOP Chairman Ed Cox through the marriage of his daughter, Andrea, to Cox’s son, Chris.
For several years now, Catsimatidis, who is a frequent donor/bundler for both parties at the national level, has given quite generously to the state GOP and local organizations.
Catsimatidis has said he is urging Kelly to run, but also says he will run himself if the commissioner does not. Apparently, the chairs aren’t in any rush to choose a favorite. They’re kind of enjoying this in-between stage when candidates come to seek their support.
“The chairmen hope to settle on their candidate before the fall, giving whoever the candidate is plenty of time to prepare a campaign against the eventual Democrat nominee, who is certain to be to the left of the average city voter,” the chairment stated.
“Another topic of discussion centered on whether there would be a special election for NYC Comptroller in the near future and the importance of restoring integrity and competence to that office.”
(Note that little zinger at the end directed at NYC Comptroller John Liu. There would only be a special election if he were to step down between now and 2013 – something that might occur if he’s swept up in the fundraising scandal that has yet to touch him personally. Liu has insisted he’s clean, and also said this week he plans to go “all the way” in 2013 – whatever that means).
The Ghost Of Katz Lives Through Wagner
May 2nd - 8:37 am
Just when you thought the 40th Senatorial District race would be dull, thanks to the departure of Assemblyman Steve Katz, comes a new YouTube video from Democrat Justin Wagner that indicates the general election might well turn out to be as wacky as the now-fizzled primary.
Wagner channels Katz, who dropped his primary challenge to incumbent Republican Sen. Greg Ball last week, picking up where the assemblyman left off in criticizing Ball’s taxpayer-funded mailers.
“I couldn’t agree more with Assemblyman Katz and the Journal News Tax Watchdog with respect to the absurdity of Senator Ball’s practice of spending huge sums of taxpayer money to send campaign-style mail,” Wagner said in a press release.
“Senator Ball is using taxpayer funds to send glossy color pictures of himself and it’s nothing but typical Albany politics that puts politicians ahead of taxpayers.”
“I believe this practice to be an abuse of public funds and in the coming days I will outline a proposal to bring more transparency to the process and cut spending on these wasteful campaign-style mailers.”
In his “parody video,” Wagner deemed Ball “the postal bully” in his video, which includes a clip from The Marvelettes’ hit, “Please, Mr. Postman.”
Assembly Candidate: Cut My Pay 10 Percent!
May 1st - 4:43 pm
Here’s an interesting consequence of the whispers over whether lawmakers will boost their own $79,500 base pay after Election Day: a Republican Assembly candidate says not only does he oppose the idea, he’ll take 10 percent cut if elected.
“I don’t think there should be a pay raise. In fact, I think the size of state government should shrink by 10 percent,” Kieran Lalor said. “I learned as a Marine Corps infrantyman that you always lead from the front. I think lawmakers should take a 10 percent pay cut.”
But doesn’t stop there. He says he won’t take a pension, a lulu or even a per dim.
“If we’re reforming pensions for cops and firemen and things like that, other state workers, again I wouldn’t accept a pension on that,” said Lalor, who launched an unsuccessful bid in 2008 for the House seat now held by Rep. Nan Hayworth.
Lalor says he would give the money either to charity or back to the state’s treasury.
Lalor’s potential Republican primary opponent is former assemblyman and one-time gubernatorial hopeful Pat Manning in the Dutchess County district.
Flanagan Predicts Med-Mar ‘Absolutely’ Will Be On Next Year’s Agenda
May 1st - 1:22 pm
ICYMI: Within hours of the Senate’s passage of his bill that would ban the sale and posession of synthetic marijuana, Sen. John Flanagan predicted during a CapTon interview that the issue of legalizing “natural” (for lack of a better word) pot for medical use will “absolutely” be on the Legislature’s agend next year.
There was a brief flurry of interest in the so-called med-mar bill this year after Sen. Diane Savino, an IDC member, announced she would be sponsoring the measure. The Aseembly has passed legislation several times now, but the Senate has never taken it up – not even during the brief period when the Democrats were in the majority.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo nipped that in the bud, however, saying there isn’t enough time remaining in this session to address an issue that, in his opinion, has “tremendous risks” and requires more study.
Flanagan told me he agrees with Cuomo that there is no way med-mar will be addressed before this session ends. Next year, however, is a different story entirely.
As I said, nothing’s going to happen this year in my opinion, the Long Island Republican told me. “Looking forward to next year, do I think it will be part of the debate as we go over legislative policy and public policy in the new session? Absolutely.”
Flanagan himself seemed open to at least considering a “yes” vote on med-mar, provided sufficient safeguards are put in place to avoid abuse and that law enforcement officials have input into the legislation.
“You know, I have grave concerns about something like that,” Flanagan said. “But, I remember the first time I saw legislation on this, basically it allowed people to become dealers and distributors, you know, growing pot plants in their backyard, and I’m not talking about a little ounce bag.”
“So a lot of it depends on what the details are. If I were listening to health professionals and law enforcement personnel at the same time and trying to figure out how that would work in an appropriate fashion, I believe it would be irresponsible of me not to listen in earnest and see if there is some appropriate balance, but right now I don’t see it.”
NRCC Slams Maloney As ‘Ultimate Insider’
Apr 30th - 12:53 pm
Now that state Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs has made clear the party prefers Sean Patrick Maloney of the five Democratic hopefuls in NY-18, the Republicans have wasted no time in teeing off on him.
Within several hours of my post this morning highlighting a portion of my interview with Jacobs last Friday at the DRC meeting in Corning, NRCC spokesman Nathan Sillin sent out a statement accusing the Democrats of “annointing” Maloney instead of waiting to see who the voters chose in the June 26 primary.
Sillin seized on my characterization of Maloney as having long-standing Democratic connections as proof that he is “a party insider who will put partisan politics before voters” and a member of the “establishment.”
“It’s not shocking that the Democrat machine would try to rob voters of a real choice in June,” Sillin said.
“Independent minded folks in the Hudson Valley don’t want an insider anointed by party bosses who will put partisan politics ahead of voters’ interests, but that’s exactly what they will get with Sean Patrick Maloney.”
I’m sure there’s a lot more where this came from, assuming Maloney manages to defeat his fellow Democrats on primary day.
The Republicans clearly intend to expend some energy to defend Hayworth. How much they’ll spend in terms of resources remains to be seen, but former Gov. George Pataki, who helped Hayworth defeat Democratic former Rep. John Hall in 2010, can be counted on to help the congresswoman out again – this time through his new super PAC, Tipping Point.
Ulrich Blasts Addabbo’s Gay Marriage ‘Flip-Flop’
Apr 25th - 7:33 am
ICYMI: NYC Councilman Eric Ulrich didn’t need much urging during a CapTon appearance last night to blast his new Democratic target, Sen. Joe Addabbo, for changing his mind on same-sex marriage – a move Ulrich predicts will cost the senator votes in the fall election.
Addabbo, as you’ll recall, was one of three Democrats who voted “no” on the same-sex marriage bill in 2009, contributing to its demise, and then changed their votes – at Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s urging – to help the measure pass last summer.
“I think that his flip-flop on gay marriage is going to hurt him,” Ulrich said. “I don’t believe that I’ll have to bring that up. I think that that’s clear as day.”
“People know that he voted against it first, and then voted for it two years later…He’s never revealed what his personal opinion is.”
“And I think that with the conservative voters, particularly the Orthodox Jewish and the Catholic community, people who don’t agree with same-sex marriage, that they feel betrayed, that he was trying to have his cake and eat it too.”
“So, people remember that. I’m not going to have to remind them of that. That’s still fresh in people’s minds – especially in parts of the new district.”
Addabbo, who is a former NYC Council member, came under fire from the gay community after his “no” vote in ’09, although advocates did not target him as they did others (like, say, former Sen. Bill Stachowski, who was ousted by a “yes” voter, Democratic Sen. Tim Kennedy, in 2010).
Liberal Democrats had supported Addabbo’s successful push to oust former GOP Sen. Serphin Maltese in 2008. They felt betrayed by Addabbo’s “no” vote, but he insisted it was consistent with what his constituents wanted.
He made the same argument after his “yes” vote, even as he intimated – but never explicitly stated – that he personally opposes gay marriage.
Interestingly, while the four Republicans who crossed the aisle to vote “yes” and push same-sex marriage over the finish line last summer have received massive financial support in the form of campaign contributions from the gay community, the three Democrats have not experienced the same largesse.
As a result, Addabbo has about $1,600 in his campaign account, though the Democrats insist he’ll have what he needs to fight a spirited campaign against Ulrich.
Ulrich admitted his challenge is an uphill battle, even though the district has been redrawn to be less Democrat-dominated.
He did note that he’s able to run this year without the risk of losing his current job on the Council, and so there’s very little downside to his bid, which came as something of a surprise to those of us who were pretty sure he wouldn’t run.
The councilman also told me he’s more than willing to take the pay cut (the Council’s base salary is $112,500 a year, compared to the Legislature’s $79,500) and the Queens-to-Albany commute if he wins.
Ulrich, as you’ll recall, headed up Mitt Romney’s NYC campaign. Even though he criticized Addabbo for flip-flopping on gay marriage, he defended Romney’s shifting of positions, insisting that’s what all presidential candidates must do after playing to their respective bases during the primaries.
Demos Goes After Altschuler In ‘Winner’ Ad (Updated)
Apr 24th - 12:46 pm
Things have taken in ugly turn in the NY-1 GOP primary as George Demos released a TV ad attacking Randy Altschuler, noting Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop managed to defeat the businessman by highlighting the outsourcing past of his former company and warning that he’ll do it again this fall.
“An outsourcer like Randy Altschuler can’t win,” the ad declares. “This time nominate George Demos, a proud conservative Republican. He’s a winner, not a loser.”
The ad is running on cable channels on Long Island. The buy, according to Demos’ campaign, is about $100,000.
Unlike in 2010, when Republicans and Conservatives were deeply divided over who should challenge Bishop, both parties have united behind Altschuler this time around. Two years ago, Altschuler, who largely self-funded his campaign, defeated Demos and Chris Cox (son of state GOP Chairman Ed Cox) in the primary, and then went on to lose in a tight general election to Bishop.
Demos clearly thinks going negative is the only shot he has at taking Altschuler down a few pegs prior to the June 26 primary.
At issue is Altschuler’s company, Office Tiger, which, in his own words, was “earliest companies providing high-end outsourcing services in India to major American and European companies.” The company was acquired by RR Donnelley in March 2006 an all-cash deal reportedly worth $250 million.
According to the first quarter FEC filings, Demos has $221,615 on hand, Altschuler has $775,357 and $500,000 in debt. Bishop is winning the fundraising race with $1.2 million.
UPDATE: Altschuler’s campaign is accusing Demos of “misleading voters” by using Bishop’s doctored footage of an Altschuler interview in his ad.
In the Demos ad, Altschuler is shown bragging about how Office Tiger “is really about Sri Lanka and the Philippines; wherever we can find the best talent.” According to Altschuler’s campaign, the unedited footage from the “Office Tigers” documentary shows Altschuler saying the company “is really about Sri Lanka and the Philippines; Salt Lake City; wherever we can find the best talent.”
Altschuler’s campaign says Office Tiger was New York based and created 750 American jobs – including 250 in this very state – and the rest in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Dallas and Salt Lake City. Jobs were also created overseas in Asia and Europe, as well. Since Altschumer sold Office Tiger, he has formed a new company, CloudBlue, which the campaign says has created hundreds of American jobs.
“Clearly, doctoring the footage to remove the words ‘Salt Lake City’ change the entire meaning and context of Randy’s comments,” said Altschuler’s campaign manager Diana Weir.
“Hard-hitting, tough ads are one thing, but this goes beyond the pale. It’s flat out dishonest, deceptive, and quite possibly, defamatory. The Demos campaign should take it off the air.”
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