Spin Cycle

This is the week of the broken alliance.

So on Wednesday, as noted here, the state Working Families Party, which went all out for the Eliot Spitzer-David Paterson ticket two years ago, launched an advertising assault against the new governor’s proposal for a 4 percent cap on school-related property tax increases.

“Tell David Paterson,” urges the narrator of one ominous 30-second spot, “hurting schools is the wrong answer.”

Despite this verbal whack, the minor party is backing a number of candidates this fall who support the cap. And it is too late in the election calendar for WFP to cancel endorsements for lawmakers who voted for it.

“This is a disagreement on principle between us and the governor. It’s not the first, and we had them with Spitzer as well,” said Dan Cantor (left), the party’s executive director. “If the governor continues to drift away from working families, he’s going to keep hearing about it from progressives like us.”

When money gets tight, coziness becomes the first casualty.

On the heels of last week’s Senate vote for the tax cap, the 600,000-member New York State United Teachers broke from past practice and refrained from endorsing the Senate Republicans, who backed the tax-cap.

NYSUT president Richard C. Iannuzzi ....

Dan Janison

Democrats today vigorously denied GOP allegations of a “secret deal” to get Jimmy Dahroug to drop out of the primary for Senate so that Brookhaven Supervisor Brian Foley becomes an undisputed challenger to Sen. Caesar Trunzo in November.

At a press conference where Dahroug endorsed Foley, where they were joined by Democrats including county chairman Richard Schaffer and Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington), all said it was up to the judge in the now-defunct petition-challenge battle, Acting Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Arlen Spinner, to explain why he ordered the case record sealed. Dahroug also denied he was coerced into to dropping out — saying he did so afer weighing the costs of going forward and the good of the party. Schaffer said he has a future in the party.

Allegations otherwise were issued by Brookhaven GOP Chairman Jesse Garcia. The Democrats are seeking to unseat 34-year veteran Sen. Caesar Trunzo as part of their drive to win a state Senate majority for the first time in a generation.

Foley also is running in November on the Working Families Party line — yet has declared support for the controversial 4-percent tax cap as well as an alternative “cicruit breaker” to limit increases based on income. He said he agrees with the WFP line on most issues. He also called it a plus for his candidacy that New York State United Teachers has chosen to stay neutral in the district race — citing the same property-tax issue — because Trunzo has long benefited from the union’s support.

Details, quotes and responses upcoming.

Update: Here's what Schaffer volunteered at the press conference before any questions were asked:

"For Jesse Garcia to be commenting on a judge’s decision on how he handles his court calendar and how he handles his courtroom, he needs to take that up with the judge. Judge Spinner was very clear that there was no fraud committed here (in Dahroug's petitions). He did not find any truth to any allegations of fraud and he himself decided to close the records. So if Jesse Garcia has a problem with that, he should take it up with the judge who is on his party line this year running for re-election." (Spinner has been cross-endorsed on the Democratic and Republican lines).

The Working Families Party ad whacking Gov. David Paterson for the proposed property tax cap, posted below, is an odd creation. For one thing, a number of the candidates running this year with WFP support have either voted or voiced support for the measure -- which would limit annual increases in the school-related tax to 4 percent -- since the issue is so volatile that to oppose it in a contested district could be self-destructive. That is, outside New York City, which is unaffected, and where a majority of the 20 'no' votes came from in the Senate when the bill was voted on last Friday. It is also unusual because WFP was a big supporter of Spitzer-Paterson and a key ally of the administration in its provocative effort to install a Democratic majority in the state Senate for the first time in a generation. More as it plays out, but this can all be treated as a hypothetical exercise as long as Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver stands in the way of the cap.

The court case that has knocked Sen. Craig Johnson off the Working Families Party ballot line was brought by a Republican resident of Westbury whose address is also that of a now-you-see-it-now-you-don't civic "committee" -- which sent out letters attacking Johnson shortly after he was elected last year.

Senate GOP Majority Leader Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre has made no secret of his special desire to unseat Johnson, the only Democrat in Long Island's 9-member Senate delegation. The Senate Republican Campaign Committee donated $5,000 last year to the North Shore Committee for Truth, whose treasurer was listed as Christine A. Nagy.

Records show Nagy, 35, is registered to vote under that name, and did so in 2007, but on other records is Christine A. Imrie, who made the successful application to challenge Johnson's petitions. Meanwhile the "truth" committee's Web site, active a year ago, seems to have gone off-line, though you can see some of the content by clicking this Google-cached item. Phone numbers that are listed under both of the petitioner's names seem to be disconnected.

Meanwhile, the earlier gambit by which Patrick Lilavois, also of Westbury, gathered 44 signatures for the WFP line -- with help from North Hempstead Republicans -- seems to have paid off for the GOP as a tactical move. If a party member signs two candidate petitions, only the first one counts. In some cases, Lilavois got to the doors of party members first, helping Johnson's foes' efforts to winnow down his number of valid signatures and thus aid the prospects of keeping him off the WFP line. Some earlier partisan analysis from the Johnson side is here.

Leaders of the WFP, of course, back Johnson as part of the minor party's continuing role in looking to snare a Senate majority for the Democrats. If this latest ruling by Justice Karen Murphy is upheld on appeal, Plandome Manor Mayor Barbara Donno would be running on the Republican, Conservative, and Independence lines for the seat, while Johnson's name will appear solely on the Democratic line (the party with the larger enrollment in his district).

(That's the party's familiar logo as published all over the Web).

Ruling that Sen. Craig Johnson’s campaign violated proper petitioning practices, State Supreme Court Justice Karen V. Murphy has thrown the Nassau Democrat off the Working Families Party’s November ballot line. If the ruling stands, it will be the second time this election season that Johnson lost a minor-party endorsement that he'd appeared to have secured. The first occurred when the GOP-aligned state Independence Party recently changed its bylaws as a prelude to overruling its county committee to nominate the Republican challenger, Barbara Donno.

This time, there seems to be a richer and more personal back story. At the outset of the court action that led to this ruling, the Democrat’s attorney, Steven R. Schlesinger (in photo), asked Judge Murphy, a Republican who was the elected county clerk until 2005, to recuse herself.

Schlesinger cited past “antipathy” between herself and Johnson when he was a county legislator, including “vituperative attacks” over her having removed certain files from that office. Schlesinger also said on the record that Murphy's law secretary was someone who had been “unceremoniously let go” from D.A. Katherine Rice’s office -- with Rice having come from his firm, Jaspan Schlesinger, when she became D.A.

But Justice Murphy denied the motion from Schlesinger — who not only is law chairman of the county Democratic committee but heads the firm to which Johnson, as a private practitioner, is of counsel. Murphy noted those matters came up “many years ago” and she harbored no doubt she could be “fair and impartial in hearing this case.”

Objections to the Johnson petitions -- he handed in 35 when the minimum requirement was 17 -- involved proper authorization of the documents under oath. Also, some of the signatures were from WFP members who'd already signed for a rival candidate believed to have been encouraged to run by the county Republicans. Therefore, the signatures for Johnson don't count.

The conclusion of Murphy’s 16-page decision, dated Friday, is sharply worded: “’Disenfranchising’ voters is not just a new buzzword or catchall phrase to cover up sloppy petition-gathering practices. The (election law) requirements...

Dan Janison

Former Senate Minority Leader Martin Connor (D-Brooklyn) -- a veteran lawmaker who was unseated from the post by now-Gov. David Paterson earlier in the decade -- is getting what seems to be a serious primary from Dan Squadron, a fellow Democrat whose endorsement by the Working Families Party has been touted in repeated mailings. The latest public development is reported in detail by the Observer's Azi here.

Behind the scenes, a "Central Research Company" over the weekend was phoning residents of the district and asking their impressions of the two candidates. Survey respondents who said they were tending toward Connor were then asked to respond to several questions with premises pointedly suggesting that Connor was less than worthy -- that he sided with developers, supported a legislative pay raise, had tax-filing problems, is not well-known in the district. Respondents were also asked their sexual orientation, their union membership, and -- at the outset -- whether they worked for the news media or elected officials. When asked, a surveyor offered no information about the identity of Squadron or his well-remembered father, the late politically influential lawyer Howard Squadron. So, call it a "push poll" or a "message poll," the questioning seemed, to one solicitee, designed to guide the respondent toward a Squadron vote -- regardless of who might have paid for it.

The winner of the primary also has a Republican opponent this year, John G. Chromczak.

Suffolk Conservative chairman Edward Walsh, who filed general objections to District Court Judge Hertha Trotto’s Conservative petitions, said he will not follow up with specific objections.
“They did a good job ,” said Walsh, who added that Trotto circulated petitions mainly in Holbrook and Ronkonkoma, so there were few if any duplicates from petitions the party carried for their designees, Legis. Cameron Alden and Jennifer Henry, through the rest of the town.
Trotto filed 240 signatures and needed 175 to qualify to run a primary on the Conservative ballot Sept 9. The top two vote-getters will win the party’s nomination.

Rick Brand

After Nassau Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs blasted the “setup” by which Republican Barbara Donno is getting the Independence nod for her Senate run, we reached Bobby Kumar, the Nassau party chairman, who’s been out of town, and he responded:

“I understand his (Jacobs’) disappointment and I respect him. He has every right to be mad. So do I - I’m mad too. Put it as bluntly as you want, I am absolutely disappointed. Craig is my guy through and through. I’ll work as hard as I can to get him elected.”

Kumar said state Independence chairman Frank MacKay (in photo at left) “had told me he would suport me to the last minute” before the party’s executive committee voted 24-1 to back Donno instead. MacKay expressed concern about the governor’s office, the state Assembly and the Senate ending up in Democratic hands.

Kumar said he’d been unaware until before the party acted that a crucial party rule on cross-endorsements had been changed, and Kumar heatedly insisted that he did not know ahead of time that he was to be overruled.

Said Kumar: “I wish that rule had not been changed, and we would not be discussing this, and Craig Johnson would have the line, I wouldn’t have compromised it no matter what... I understand (Jacobs) has reason to be disappointed and angry, but I know the truth -- and I’m as angry and disappointed as he is with my own party as well as with the Republicans.”

And speaking of the never-ending 7th S.D. race (a.k.a. the Jarndyce v. Jarndyce of electoral contests):

As previously reported here, the Independence Party ditched what had been its indicated support for the one-year incumbent, Craig Johnson -- and instead endorsed the Republican candidate, Barbara Donno (left).

This was to some Democrats reminiscent of the machinations that led to David Mejias’ losing Independence support, after Democrats' dealings with Bobby Kumar, chairman of the minor party in Nassau.

Jay Jacobs, the Nassau County Democratic chairman, condemned the latest turn and said “It has proven to me that promises that are made to me by the Independence Party are not worth the breath that carries them.”

“I don’t want to get into he-said she-said with Kumar and (state chairman Frank) MacKay," Jacobs added. "This was a setup. I’m many things -- but stupid is not one of them.”

Dan Janison

Something not so funny happened to John Zaher on his way to filing petitions to run against Assemb. Patricia Eddington on the Independence Party line.

Zaher, who works as a consultant for Gershow Recycling, nemesis of the Eddingtons, thought he had filed 201 signatures when he droipped off petitions last Thursday. When he called to check aobut his opponent’s petitions the next day, he said he was told his own petitions were short of the 130 signatures required. It turns out that that 83 of his signatures on pages five through 15 were missing from the bound petitions he had filed a day earlier.

Zaher said he cannot explain what happened to the missing pages and is reviewing his legal options. He is also considering filing petitions to do what is known as an Opportunity To Ballot, which would allow him to run a write in campaign for the Independence line.

Rick Brand

Overruling Nassau Chairman Bobby Kumar, the state Independence Party’s executive committee is backing GOP state Senate candidate Barbara Donno against Democratic Sen. Craig Johnson.

The panel, meeting in Albany, voted 24-1 for Donno one day after Frank MacKay, state and Suffolk chairman, said he’d support Kumar, who’d petitioned for Johnson. (See previous post here).

"It was decided that this is in the best interest of the state," said MacKay, an ally of Senate Republicans who are fighting to keep a majority. "Having a government with checks and balances is more important than anything else."

Several sources say the Independence Party fears Democratic state domination would curb minor-party power by banning cross-endorsements. "I love New York City," McKay said. "But I don't want the whole state controlled by one party in New York City."

Republicans circulated a nominating petition for a 24-year-old friend of Donno’s son -- who dropped out hours after petitions were filed. Doug Forand, Democratic Senate campaign committee spokesman, accused GOP leaders of “starting their dirty tricks campaign early.”

Forand added, "This show that the Independence party is either independent nor a party, but a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Republican Party. (Majority Leader) Dean Skelos and (state and Nassau GOP Chairman) Joe Mondello are starting their dirty tricks campaign early. It is unfortunate that Barbara Donno is allowing herself to be used in this way." Donno, he noted, has been promoting herself as not a typical politician.

Last year, the GOP candidate against Johnson, Maureen O'Connell, had the Independence endorsement.....

Rick Brand

Republicans have filed petitions for candidates who have never voted to run primaries against freshman State Sen. Craig Johnson on the Independence and Working Family party lines.

But Nicole Gadaleta, 23, of Manhasset, who filed 531 signatures to get on the Independence ballot line, more than double the 255 she needed, declined the nomination just before the end of the day Friday, leaving it to a party committee on vacancies to fill the line. Democrats say her Facebook listing indicates she is friends with Republican candididate Barbara Donno’s daughter.

The GOP also circulated petitions for Patrick Lilavois of Westbury to run on the Working Families Party line. He filed 44 signatures, and needed only 17. Among those who circulated petitions in an attempt to deny Johnson the minor parties' lines were GOP heavyweights, including North Hemsptead GOP leader Frank Maroney, Nassau GOP elections commissioner John DeGrace, former town supervisor John Kiernan, and Mineola Republican leader Jacki Carway, whose husband John ran for North Hempstead supervisor last year.

“I am very disappointed if the Republicans tried to do this,” said Bobby Kumar, Nassau Independence chairman, who supports Johnson. But it is state chairman Frank MacKay who has the power authorize for non-party members to run on their ballot line. MacKay said he “will follow” Kumar’s lead on who to back.

Dan Cantor, the WFP executive director, called the move “the start of a new Republican dirty tricks campaign” and said the GOP “should be ashamed of themselves.“

Rick Brand

The State Senate's lightning-quick election this week of Dean Skelos as majority leader prompted a standard wave of verbal salutes and fond greetings from prominent labor union officials.

From the AFL-CIO to the Civil Service Employees Association, top operatives expressed hope and even faith of retaining the same access and consideration they enjoyed under fellow Republican Joseph Bruno.

"I know Dean very well," said Denis Hughes, the state AFL-CIO president. "He's been in the legislature a long time, and I've been up there a long time. We're friends." Hughes cited Skelos' 95 percent rating from the organization's political-education arm.

But behind the scenes, the fast transition also unleashed whispers, twinges and suspicions that some understandings and alliances crafted during Bruno's 13-year rule could change.

A close observer of the legislature speculated that Skelos, of Rockville Centre, is at least a bit more likely than Bruno to react angrily if, say, a teachers' union becomes "overbearing" in its dealings with the Senate. A Capitol political veteran added that under Skelos, "certain public-sector unions do not have the same influence - today - that they had with Joe."

Some of the buzz is reflected in this previous post.

But don't bet on Skelos' rise to prompt an instant shift in loyalties across the board. Labor organizations such as CSEA, for example, which has concentrations of members in heavily Republican districts such as Skelos', realize that "a Democratic Senate would be very New York City-centric," a former labor official said.

And before we all start singing "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Bruno Last Night," remember that coziness with selected client-unions who perhaps could reciprocate was part of the Bruno profile. Federal investigators have been probing his role in an investment firm's dealings with unions that had business before the Senate. And for years, Bruno's links to a Capital District restaurant workers' local raised eyebrows, for levers he pulled within state government.

Fault lines between business and labor, and between government and its employees, sometimes present politicos with the threat of having to take sides in a fight between key constituencies. This month, for example, the movement for a cap on property-tax increases quickly met heated resistance in Albany from teachers' unions.

Skelos appears well aware of the terrain.

"He has set two priorities," said a colleague of Skelos'. "Restraining property taxes, and creating jobs. He has directed staff to look at the property-tax issue, the options available, and come up with something that can get done. He's done the same with jobs."

"Dean has always said that to get things done we'd have to have a great relationship with labor and with the business community - and it's got to be both," the associate said.

"On a personal level," an influential union chief said, "I'm still reeling from the abrupt timing.....

As partners in the Democrats’ drive to take the state Senate, the state Working Families Party has endorsed on Long Island Democrats Brian Foley, Kristen McElroy and Sen. Craig Johnson. In the Assembly, the party included five Republicans among its 16 endorsements. And, the WFP backs Henry Conyers, Hempstead Village deputy mayor, against incumbent Assemb. Earlene Hooper (D-Hempstead).

Endorsements in other races have yet to be made...For the full WFP endorsement list released last week, click continued bar just below.

Gary Melius, owner of the late tycoon Otto Kahn’s Oheka Castle, and a poker buddy of super-lobbyist and former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, has a new title — as “chief advisor” to Frank MacKay, chairman of the Independence Party of America. In a letter naming Melius to the unpaid post, MacKay, who also heads the state and county Independence Party, said: “Your commitment to furthering the goals of the national party and your invaluable counsel on independent politics were all key considerations in this key leadership appointment.”

Melius, who was also County Executive Steve Levy’s biggest donor in his first four years at $51,200, joins Jimmy Tsunis, former Smithtown Conservative leader and for years a formidable GOP fundraiser, who earlier this year was named a national vice chairman/finance director of MacKay’s national party and a vice-chairman of the local party. Melius, a longtime Republican, will change parties, said MacKay, and will be involved in building the party organization and professionalizing its structure so the party can attract a national candidate of its own down the road.

Rick Brand

Independence Party leader Frank MacKay brought more than three dozen supporters to presidential candidate John McCain’s town hall meeting Thursday night at Federal Hall in Manhattan that was televised on the Fox cable channel. MacKay, who has made no endorsement decision, sat in the corner, but major Long Island political fundraiser Mark Broxmeyer took a seat right behind McCain on the dais.

Rick Brand

While issuing its decision on the Working Families Party fight, the state's highest court today also unanimously upheld Independence Party officials to the extent that the legal issue was the same.

One year ago the party's state committee adopted various amendments to its party rules that allowed authorizations for cross-endorsements for all public offices in New York City to be made by its state committee. Chairs of the county committees in four of the five boroughs sued, contesting the amendments.

Earlier, a mid-level appellate panel found that the state committee could authorize candidacies in non-citywide public offices within the city, though not for city-wide offices. The state Court of Appeals in Albany has now agreed.

These authorizations, known as Wilson-Pakula certificates, are for non-party members who are looking for cross-endorsements. This is the main role that the minor party plays, as a second or third ballot line for major-party candidates of their preference.

Bottom line: State party committees have had a key portion of their authority endorsed by the court.

Click here for the high court ruling in the case.

Dan Janison

The state's highest court has ruled that the statewide committee of the Working Families Party determines which candidates receive WFP endorsement

Hailing the 7-0 decision issued today by the Court of Appeals, party officials say it will halt efforts in Suffolk to buck the state committee's wishes.

"Suffolk County has seen repeated efforts, usually by Republican candidates, to obtain the Working Families line despite the state committee's decisions in favor of the Democrats," said a press release from Brian Schneck, co-chair of the Working Families Suffolk Chapter.

"This is a big relief. We were up against some big-shot Republican lawyers," Michele Lynch, also co-chair of the Suffolk chapter, is quoted as saying in the release.

The ruling could bar Republican Sen. Caesar Trunzo from getting the line for his re-election run this year. The contestants in the case were Robert Master, co-chair of the state party, and Charles J. Pohanka III, the party's renegade Suffolk chairman with whom state leaders have long been battling.

Pohanka says his attorney is evaluating options, warning: "This deicsion is a major blow to every county chair of every political party. Now if they don't like you, they can eliminate (local control)...It elminated primaries, everything."

Full eight-page text of the opinion is here.

Dan Janison

Last year Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington) faced Nassau Clerk Maureen O'Connell, a Republican opponent with both Conservative and Independence Party endorsements, for what was then an open seat.

His GOP foe this time, Barbara Donno, snared the Conservative line after some push-and-pull.

But Johnson is about to get the Independence endorsement, said Bobby Kumar, the party’s county chair — who added Donno “did well” in screening interviews “but he (Johnson) did better.”

Dan Janison

At around the same time tonight, just a few blocks apart, the state's Republican and Conservative parties will be holding separate dinners - a pretty glaring conflict given their overlapping sources of support.

Organizers say the simultaneous scheduling was accidental. But things sometimes play out that way for the Republicans and the spinoff Conservatives, who for 46 years have positioned themselves as the rightward conscience of the New York GOP.

Vice President Dick Cheney will address the Republicans, convened by state and Nassau Chairman Joseph Mondello, at the New York Sheraton in Manhattan. So will former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno - Republicans who have had their own famous collisions with the Conservatives.

For Conservatives, the headliner at the New York Athletic Club is Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana), the former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House Republicans. Pence has called himself "a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order." The event is a tribute to the late William F. Buckley Jr., the national conservative icon.

Political intimacy creates a certain type of tension. For local endorsements, the strains - and intense negotiation - have been evident.

For starters, take a look here at Rick Brand's story on how Suffolk Republicans seem to have responded to prodding from Suffolk Conservatives and done an about-face on their judicial nominations.

And, in Nassau, as reported earlier, a frantic series of back-channel, multiway talks has lasted for several days between county Conservative leaders - who were balking at endorsing Republican Senate nominee Barbara Donno - and the Senate's Deputy Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre). Nassau Conservative Chairman Roger Bogsted said he expects to decide on a candidate today.

Mike Long, the state Conservative chairman, was asked yesterday if his organization was committed to keeping the GOP majority in the Senate. "Yes, we are," he said, "but we are saying the candidates have to be acceptable. And I have had some private conversations....

Dan Janison

With Conservative Party officials evidently unsold on an endorsement of Plandome Manor Mayor Barbara Donno for state Senate, following their interview with her on Thursday, she has released a lettter sent to Roger Bogsted, the third party's Nassau chairman, pitching her credentials as a small-c conservative, citing what she deems to be important philosophical differences on fiscal and social issues with her opponent, the incumbent Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington).

In it Donno, who supporters acknowledge differs from the Conservatives' "pro-life" plank, warns Bogsted: "Should Craig Johnson and the Senate Minority gain control of the State Senate, New Yorkers will lose their last line of defense against a variety of measures that are unrepresentative of the vast majority of state residents and anathema to the Nassau County Conservative Party’s principles."

No prognosis yet on whether she'll succeed. Her most prominent backer from inside the Senate is Deputy Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre). For full text of the letter click "continue" bar just below.

Dan Janison

Nassau Conservatives on Thursday interviewed Republican Senate candidate Barbara Donno, mayor of Plandome Manor, who’s challenging Democratic incumbent Craig Johnson. We've heard conflicting accounts of how she was received. Some said just fine -- others said the alienated third party wants someone else. Both Johnson and Donno face screening for the Independence nod this week. Last year Republican Maureen O’Connell got 4,168 votes from the ‘C’ and ‘I’ lines in the special election for the former Mike Balboni seat.

Dan Janison

Nassau Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs will be meeting with the party’s legislators this afternoon, after a mini-insurrection last week prior to a Judiciary Committee vote.

Lawmakers demanded a face-to-face with Jacobs after complaining to Presiding Officer Diane Yatauro during a closed-door caucus that they weren’t being told the reasons behind political deal-making, even as they were asked to approve the deal.

In this case, several groused, they didn’t know why they were being asked to vote for Robert Bruno, a registered Conservative, for district judge, other than that the chairman wanted it. Most observers assume this was the last leg of an already-done deal, in which Bruno ran as a Conservative candidate against Democratic County Executive Thomas Suozzi three years ago as a way to drain votes from the Republican challenger.

“I think people mouth off all the time, that’s the nature of people, not just politicians,” Jacobs said, when asked about the complaints. “I’ll be in the room... Let’s see who has something to say and I’ll listen.” Jacobs added that Democrats are always unhappy about something. “Now it’s communication. My suggestion is you get to the office and you walk in to Diane Yatauro and ask, ‘What’s cooking?’”

Celeste Hadrick

It’s not official yet, but you can pencil in July 29 for the special election to fill the 15th District seat of Suffolk Legis. Elie Mystal (left) who departed amid questions about his residency. A resolution setting that date is expected to be acted on next month by the legislature.

Democrats have settled on Duwayne Gregory, who was Mystal’s aide, as the candidate to succeeed him. Harry Withers, Suffolk Republican chairman, said his party will consider several candidates, including Edward White of Copiague of the Independence Party who opposed Mystal last year.

While the GOP has no candidate yet, Withers said he is “optimistic” because Gregory, as Mystal’s aide, “knew full well where Mystal was living and covered it up.” Richard Schaffer, Suffolk Democratic chairman, called Wither’s charge a “complete falsehood... Legislative aides don’t monitor where legislators sleep.” Schaffer added: “I don’t think Harry has any idea where his legislators are sleeping.”

Rick Brand

Nearly 400 from both major and minor parties showed up last week for a record-breaking Independence Party fundraiser that brought in a record $78,000.

The event, held at Venetian Shores catering complex in Babylon, exceeded the $60,000 raised by the minor party last year. Chairman Frank MacKay credited for the overflow turnout both new party vice chairmen -- Anthony Manetta and former Smithtown Conservative chairman Jimmy Tsunis, who's also finance director of the Independence Party of America.

Rick Brand

Below is ABC's Diana Williams interviewing MacKay last year:

As expected, the Working Families Party and the Paid Family Leave Coalition were joined by the "Paid Family Leave Stork" at a news conference -- in Sen. Kemp Hannon's district -- to bring a bill mandating paid family leave to a vote.

Hannon's is one of the seats targeted by the WFP, in tandem with Democrats, for takeover on Long Island.

A measure that would mandate 12 weeks of paid leave to care for care of a newborn or sick relative was approved in the Assembly last year, including up to $170 per week from a state fund, to be paid for by a 45-cents-per-week payroll deduction. It died in the GOP-run Senate.

Dan Janison

Suffolk Conservatives officials expect as many as 500 to show up for their spring fundraiser tonight at Venetian Yacht Club in Babylon, honoring Long Island's eight Republican state senators as well as two leading Democrats: Islip Supervisor Philip Nolan and the legislature's Presiding Officer William Lindsay.

For the second year in a row the event is likely to overshadow the county Republican fundraiser held last week, in part because the minor party attracts officials and candidates from both major parties as well as their own members. Suffolk GOP chairman Harry Withers said his event drew 200, and raised aobut $30,000, but some set the number who showed at below 100. Conservative officials, citing the sagging economy, are predicting they will raise about $80,000 at the $300 per head event; last year, the minor party brought in $100,000.

Beforehand, party officials will gather with GOP congressional nominee Lee Zeldin and black conservative cable commentator Mychal Massie, the party's "man of the year" designee.

Rick Brand

Suspended Smithtown Conservative Party leader Jimmy Tsunis appears on the verge of jumping to another minor party and dropping his lawsuit against Suffolk Conservative officials who were in the midst of ousting him.

Tsunis signed papers to change his voter registration to the Independence Party and gave the form during a diner meeting in Hauppauge to local, state and national party boss Frank MacKay.

MacKay, who has yet to file the papers with the county board of elections, said he “certainly welcomes” Tsunis to his minor party and has offered him a post as a county party vice chairman anmd would recommend Tsunis to the national party in May as their vice chairman/financial director.

However, MacKay added....

Rick Brand

The Independence Party of America, looking to launch a third-party presidential candidacy, and whose national chairman is Suffolk resident Frank MacKay, announced leadership positions.

"We've made no secret of the fact that we hope that candidate will be Mike Bloomberg. We will be ready to support an Independent entering the race," MacKay said.

The appointments as announced:

Tom McLaughlin as party Vice Chairman. He's chairman of the Independence Party of America, an affiliate of The Reform Party of Pennsylvania. Also the former Vice Chairman of the Reform Party USA and "well-respected for his ballot access initiatives," MacKay said.

Tom Connolly, as national director for ballot access, who according to MacKay "helped build and expand the Independence Party of America to over 400,000 Party Members. He is also a founding member of the Independence Party of America and has over 30 years experience in the field of ballot access."

Anthony Manetta, director of political communications, from Roosevelt Strategies on Long Island, "will lead the national IPOA political operation with his local, state and federal campaign management experience."

Dan Janison

From the "strange bedfellows" department: Democratic Rep. Steve Israel played host earlier this week to Suffolk Conservative Chairman Edward Walsh, who was his front-row balcony guest at Repubican President George W. Bush's last State of the Union address.

"It was like the Super Bowl of politics," said Walsh, who had a bird's eye view of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama avoiding eye contact as both presidential contenders were ushered into the chamber-- Clinton with Sen. Joe Biden (D-Delaware) and Obama with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D- Ma.). While Suffolk Conservatives have never endorsed Israel, the minor party was instrumental in his first election because it put up its own candidate in the race rather than endorse Islip's Republican then-town clerk, Joan Johnson.

Not long after the speech, Walsh also got a call from local party members who told him he was named the state party's "Conservative of the Year," which is also known as the Daniel Mahoney Award, named