According to The New York Post’s Fred Dicker, Republicans in the State Senate are considering a secret plan to retain their control of the chamber without cutting a deal with a caucus of four independent Democrats. The plan, according to Mr. Dicker, would require Republicans to hold off seating two new Democrats whose razor-thin victories Read More
Kirsten Gillibrand was an obscure U.S. representative from upstate when then-Governor David Paterson selected her to fill Hillary Clinton’s old Senate seat in 2009. In the years since, Ms. Gillibrand has done much to raise her profile and to establish herself as more than an accidental senator.
She deserves a new, full term of her own. The Observer endorses her candidacy over that of her Republican opponent, Wendy Long.
There is much to recommend about Ms. Gillibrand. Read More
For the past few weeks, longshot “Occupy” Senate candidate Scott Noren has been at war with the state politics blog and TV show Capital Tonight with angry ads on Albany politics sites and supposedly plans to fly a plane over the capitol. Today, Mr. Noren published a series of emails he claims inspired the feud. Mr. Noren became enraged with Capital Tonight host Liz Benjamin, one of the pre-eminent reporters on the Albany beat, after receiving what he described as a “less than professional” response from her following “several attempts to get media coverage on Capital Tonight.”
“You have come across as the most arrogant local newscaster I have ever encountered,” Mr. Noren wrote in the missive he released today. Read More
Increasingly it seems like New York, which we sometimes think of as a world leader in governmental dysfunction, may well be a shining city on a hill when compared with Washington, D.C.
Even as Albany continues to bask in the glow of a newly passed tax reform package, even as the city sets a course to leadership in the 21st-century economy, the folks on Capitol Hill simply cannot put aside their partisan bickering for the good of the country. Doing so risks further damage to a less-than-robust economy, and thus making life worse, not better, for those individuals and families still suffering from unemployment and underemployment.
For a moment over the weekend, it seemed as though Washington was about to take a page from Albany. Read More
Eric, a beefy Long Islander with legs like a running back’s and platinum blond hair that enhances his Jersey Shore tan, locked up with his opponent, John. It was the second fight of the night at the Underground Combat League, one of the busiest promotions putting on mixed martial arts fights in New York, where the sport is illegal.
A crowd of around 100 people were crowded into a well-lit basement gym in Manhattan (the organizers asked us not to disclose its name for legal reasons), pushed up against a chain-link cage watching the action. Wrestling mats covered the floor and heavy bags hung from the ceiling. A burly bouncer stood by the front door to make sure no one arrived uninvited.
The two fighters pressed each other against the chain-link cage, exchanging knee strikes to the abdomen. With a surge, Eric threw his opponent to the ground, mounted him, perched on his chest and began raining down blows. Read More
Former New York State Assembly member Frank Seddio told The Politicker this afternoon that he spoke with indicted State Senator Carl Kruger last week after an associate of the Brooklyn lawmaker said he helped Kruger and his top aide solicit bribes.
“I didn’t do a thing. [Chief of Staff] Jason [Koppel] didn’t do a thing. Read More
Today, the world’s greatest deliberative body — the U.S. Senate — is conducting an inquiry into the foreclosure crisis and the robo-signing scandal. And as with many congressional proceedings, the chamber was naturally afforded the respect it is due:
David Lowman, CEO of Chase Home Lending: What you’re seeing –
Random Yelling Guy: He Read More
Eleven of the nation’s largest online publishers — including Yahoo, AOL, News Corp. and The New York Times Co — have explained to the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus why, try as they might, they can’t keep unwanted tracking software from following their readers around and targeting them with ads.
“[T]hey say that eliminating tracking is Read More
Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement director Robert Khuzami today said that his agency has made great improvements since allegedly screwing the pooch when investigating suspected Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford.
Khuzami said that his agency is “also vigorously pursuing its case against Stanford and the others charged in this massive Ponzi scheme.” He pointed to Read More
In a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee today, Securities and Exchange Commission Inspector General David Kotz gave lawmakers an earful about the SEC’s handling of the alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme run by Allen Stanford.
According to Kotz’s report, which was released in April, the Fort Worth office of the SEC examined Stanford four Read More
