The region’s largest business group, the Long Island Association, will pump big money from its political action committee into local races to keep the State Senate’s GOP majority. Matthew Crosson, LIA president, said the PAC will pump $75,000 to $100,000 – triple their normal amount – in both money and their own ads to help [...]
It was an evening of showmanship and pandemonium at a Bronx Democratic Party’s gathering on Sunday. But by night’s end, competing meetings by rival factions left it unclear who was in charge of the borough’s Democratic machine. A group of elected officials that opposed the leadership of Assemblyman José Rivera, the Bronx Democratic chairman, came [...]
The Republicans’ plan to retain control of the state Senate is simple: defend incumbents, win an open seat in western New York and pick off a few vulnerable Democratic lawmakers, including in Westchester and Buffalo. The playbook for Democrats includes knocking off some long-serving Republicans, winning that same western New York seat and keeping their [...]
How do you get from New York City to Albany? For most state lawmakers, the fastest and cheapest way is either by train or by car. For the Democratic speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, the answer is a drive to La Guardia, a shuttle to Washington, D.C., an hour of waiting, a flight to [...]
Congree Sunday shelved a $10.9 billion bill to provide health care and compensation for Ground Zero workers, at least in part due to opposition from Mayor Bloomberg. The House of Representatives failed to vote on the bill after City Hall objected to a provision that would have required the city to pay 10% of the [...]
A growing number of apartment buildings in the city are at risk of going into foreclosure, making thousands of tenants the next potential victims of the mortgage crisis, housing activists warn. Nobody knows precisely how many tenants are at risk, but advocates say a minimum of 580 buildings, containing 40,000 units, have one or more [...]
John McCain will attend the first presidential debate against Barack Obama and resume all campaign activities, his campaign said Friday. The Republican candidate will participate despite the absence of an agreement in Congress on the federal government’s financial bailout package, a condition he had originally set when he called Wednesday to delay the first presidential [...]
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver surprised fellow Democrats and Republicans alike Thursday by abruptly revealing he supports reinstating the commuter tax he helped kill in 1999. The unexpected announcement comes as the city is reeling from the Wall Street crisis and in desperate need of cash. Mayor Bloomberg, who has often been at odds with Silver, [...]
Jamaica Hospital’s ties to state Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio (D-Richmond Hill) were established well before the corruption case against the 30-year lawmaker was unveiled last week. The U.S. attorney in Manhattan accused Seminerio of taking more than $500,000 in illegal payments, including $310,000 from an unnamed hospital, which is widely believed to be Jamaica Hospital. Seminerio [...]
Governor Paterson plans to meet with legislative leaders next week in a public session to deal with losses of tax revenue and jobs from Wall Street’s meltdown. The public leaders’ meeting October 3 in Manhattan will be days after the administration receives the second quarter fiscal report that is expected to show steep declines in [...]
