Congressman John Hall, D-Dover Plains, will hold a town hall meeting with constituents in Yorktown Heights on Sept. 8.

The meeting is sponsored by A Better Way, an unaffiliated grass-roots group of senior citizens founded in 2004 at Heritage Hills. The Somers Democratic Town Committee is the co-sponsor.

The free event, open to all, starts at 10 a.m. at the Yorktown Stage at 1974 Commerce Street at Veterans Road in Yorktown Heights.

For rides to and from the meeting from Heritage Hills call 914-276-2381.

Frustrated by their inability to reach a new contract with Westchester County, CSEA Unit 9200, which represents about 4,000 workers in clerical and middle-management jobs, is taking its beef directly to the county executive’s house.

Union members are planning to gather across the street from Andrew Spano’s home in Yorktown Heights Thursday evening. The union’s last contract expired at the end of 2005 and negotiations with the Spano administration have proven fruitless.

It’s uncertain, though, whether Spano will be home at the time of the protest. He’s spending at least part of the week at his vacation home near Saratoga.

Mount Vernon Mayor Ernie Davis is expected to pick up the endorsement of several area police organizations in an 11:30 a.m. event tomorrow on the steps of City Hall.

According to the Davis campaign, the Mount Vernon P.B.A., the Westchester County P.B.A., the New York State Fraternal Order of Police, the Westchester/Rockland Guardians, and the Westchester Hispanic Association of Police will all announce they are supporting his re-election bid.

Davis faces County Legislator Clinton Young, D-Mount Vernon, in the Sept. 18 Democratic primary.

Young, for his part, took time yesterday to blast Davis for hiring an outside auditor to evaluate how much money the city’s Urban Renewal Agency owes the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Young, in a press release, called the expense “an insult to the people of Mount Vernon.” He suggested the money was an unnecessary expense when the URA continues to struggle to pay its health insurance premiums. Young also questioned whether the audit could be properly completed, given city officials’ statements that some of the agency’s documents remain in federal hands.

“This ill-conceived and costly audit is just another election-year smokescreen, like the repainted intersections, the cut trees, and other constituent concerns that have been ignored up to now, not unlike the same old empty development plans that surface every four years,” Young said.

Rudy Giuliani will help read victims’ names speak at the sixth anniversary commemoration of the World Trade Center attack, according to The Associated Press.

(fixed) Giuliani, now a GOP presidential candidate, will participate in the roll call of the nearly 3,000 victims, perform a reading at the ceremony, a spokesman for current NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg clarified. (He said the mayor misspoke earlier when he said Giuliani would read victims’ names.) This year, the names are being read mostly by first responders such as firefighters, police officers and other rescue workers. Interestingly, some firefighters have been openly critical of the mayor for restricting access to the debris during the recovery effort. Giuliani also voiced support for victims’ families who objected to Bloomberg’s decision to hold the memorial ceremony in a park next to Ground Zero, rather than at the site itself (the families have since worked out a compromise with the city that will give them some access to the site).

Bloomberg will also read some victims’ names, take part in the ceremony and New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, New Jersey Gov. John Corzine and Spitzer’s predecessor, Gov. George Pataki, were  invited to participate, Bloomberg said in a radio appearance. The former mayor also read names at the first anniversary of the attacks, according to the AP.

Bill Clinton will be a guest on Oprah Winfrey’s TV talk show next Tuesday as he promotes his new book “Giving,â€? which is mostly about philanthropy and civic action, according to the Associated Press.

Clinton’s appearance was announced in an e-mail — â€Å“The first interview about his new passion!â€? — sent to members of Winfrey’s book club.

While the book is mostly about philanthropy, Clinton also reportedly uses the book to defend his administration’s attempt to reshape the nation’s health care system, saying the effort â€Å“was killed by politics, not the plan’s particulars.â€?

He also disputes the Bush administration’s skepticism about the effect of carbon emissions in producing climate change, calling the scientific evidence â€Å“overwhelming.â€?

Capitol Confidential reported today that Darren Dopp, the aide who was suspended by Gov. Eliot Spitzer for his role in Spitzergate, will soon be receiving his taxpayer-supported paycheck again.

There was no official word today from the Spitzer administration about where or when Dopp will resume work. He had been one Spitzer’s closest aides and was serving as communications director when he was suspended.

As one might have guessed, word of Dopp’s return sparked a negative reaction from the state GOP.

“Darren Dopp’s actions have shattered the public’s faith in the Spitzer administration and New York State Government,” said Matthew Walter a spokesman for the Republican State Committee. “Returning Mr. Dopp to the public payroll — funded by the taxes of hard working New Yorkers — is arrogant and an insult to the people of this State. It would further undermine people’s trust in Governor Spitzer.”

UPDATED: A spokesman for Gov. Eliot Spitzer confirmed to The Associated Press that Dopp will return to the state payroll tomorrow. According to the AP, Spitzer spokesman Jeffrey Gordon “said Dopp will use vacation time before resuming work and would not return as communications director on Tuesday. Gordon wouldn’t comment on what job Dopp would have, or if he would be demoted.”

Via Yonkers reporter Ernie Garcia:

Yonkers City Council candidate Jodi Mosiello is accusing Yonkers Councilman John Murtagh, R-5th District, of flouting election law by not filing his campaign disclosure forms with the state.

â€Å“As an attorney and an elected official, you’re held to a higher standard,â€?said Mosiello, who will face Murtagh in the Sept. 18 Republican primary. â€Å“I’m a first-timer and I read the handbook.â€?

Earlier today Murtagh said he was not aware that his campaign is required to file with the state board of elections in addition to the county board of elections. (State law requires candidates who raise or spend more than $1,000 to file; the law went into effect last year.)

â€Å“We make all our filings with the (county) Board of Elections in White Plains and if there was a requirement to file in Albany we’ll certainly do that,â€? said Murtagh, noting that his campaign treasurer is currently preoccupied with a family medical crisis.

UPDATED: A quick check of the state Board of Elections Web site this afternoon indicated that every sitting Yonkers city council member has filed disclosures with the exception of Murtagh and Councilman Dennis Robertson, D-3rd District, who is running for mayor.

Robertson’s mayoral campaign filings, as well as those of Mayor Phil Amicone, are also missing from the state board’s online database do not appear if you search by the mayor’s race in the state board’s online database, but do appear if you search by each candidate’s name. Republican mayoral candidate Vincenza Restiano’s documents can be found through either type of search. (end UPDATE)

State board of elections spokesman Lee Daghlian said that counties are responsible for informing the state elections office about who must file so that the state can monitor compliance—but that process has not gone smoothly. The maximum penalty for not filing campaign disclosure forms with the state is $500.

While not minimizing his campaign’s filing lapse, Murtagh said Mosiello should focus on more substantive issues. Murtagh said Mosiello is avoiding debating him at the Northeast Yonkers Republican Club’s meeting at 7:30 on Wednesday night at the Asbury Crestwood United Methodist Church at 167 Scarsdale Rd.

Mosiello said a scheduling conflict will prevent her from appearing at the event, which she said was organized before she could consent to it. She said she will debate Murtagh on a WVOX radio show on Sept. 11.

SECOND UPDATE: Murtagh called us less than 24 hours later, on Tuesday morning (8/28) to say he had filed the duplicate papers in Albany.

On Saturday, it was Martha’s Vinyard and a star-studded fundraiser with the likes of Carly Simon and actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen.

Today, Hillary Clinton’s campaign opted for more low-key venues to raise money. Bill Clinton, according to an Associated Press story, hosted a string of private receptions in Albany, Rochester and Buffalo.

Guests paid a minimum of $1,000 to attend the fundraisers, according to the AP story.

Hilllary Clinton, meanwhile, was headed to New Orleans to mark the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

You can count Rep. Nita Lowey’ among those elected officials – especially Democrats – who will not be shedding a tear over the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

“The attorney general’s resignation is overdue,” Lowey said at a press conference this morning. “We need an attorney general who respects the law, administers the law and doesn’t use the law for political purposes.”

Lowey added that recent hearings in the both the Senate and House had revealed that the Bush administration had used the attorney general’s office for political purposes and that Gonzales’ resignation was necessary to restore some credibility in the office.

“There was no way the attorney general could retain his position,” Lowey said.

Lowey spoke about Gonzales during a press conference in which she announced her plans to sponsor legislation this fall boosting protections against what she called abusive debt policies by credit card companies.

The legislation would would prohibit creditors from increasing interest rates based on the status of other accounts, a practice known as â€Å“universal default;â€? and require creditors to provide consumers with a clear monthly statement of the minimum payment, the percentage of the balance that the minimum payment represents, and the number of months it would take to pay the balance if only the minimum payment is made each month. 

Joan Gronowski, one of two Democratic candidates for the Yonkers City Council District 3 seat, thinks city government is taking up too many parking spaces at the Government Center Garage, next to City Hall.

Gronowski said in a press release today that the garage “bears the caption ‘Public Parking for a Growing City’ but the only thing that seems to be growing is the list of assigned parking spaces for government officials, which now totals 66 spaces.” She said the lack of parking at the garage for the public is an oft-cited complaint on the campaign trail but one that could be easy to remedy by giving back some of the spots now reserved for city officials and staff. Alternately, she suggested, city officials could move to spots lower in the garage, leaving the most convenient spots for citizens.

UPDATE: Mayor Phil Amicone’s spokesman, David Simpson, emailed this response late this afternoon:

We are aware of the need for additional public parking at the government center and Mayor Amicone already has a plan to address that need. The existing garage (543 public spaces) was built several decades ago and no longer meets the demand for spaces. That’s why Mayor Amicone has partnered with the SFC development team to include in their downtown redevelopment project a 1,250 space garage that will replace the existing garage and will be large enough to meet the current and future parking needs at the government center and the commercial site. This plan is presently before the City Council awaiting EIS approval. I would encourage Ms. Gronowski to examine the plan, especially since she’s running for a seat on the Council.

As for employee spots… The City of Yonkers is no different from any other place of employment in that many of our employees drve to work. That means we have to provide them with parking spots. Even as we move forward with a plan to increase parking, I’m sure the public is understanding of the fact that the people who work hard to provide their services need a place to park as well.

UPDATE 2: Gronowski points out Simpson hasn’t answered some of her questions. In an e-mail, she writes:

“A not-yet-built parking structure has no bearing about the fact that these 66 spaces are still reserved for the city hall hierarchy at the most convenient area of the garage. No one has said that these personnel shouldn’t park in the garage. I question the privileged location of their assigned spaces, and more importantly, Simpson in no way answered whether or not these 66 people are exempt from paying monthly parking fees for these privileged spaces, which include numerous clerical staff from the offices of the mayor, city council and city council president. If these spaces are indeed “free” this is an insult to the taxpayer and to all other rank and file employees who must park at this structure.”

Gronowski’s list of currently-assigned parking spaces, and their locations, is after the jump. Read more of this entry »