Rockland’s Law Enforcement team – known individually as District Attorney Michael Bongiorno and Sheriff James Kralik – have taken to the Internet by sending out e-mails to potential voters in the Nov. 6 election.

In their joint e-mail this week, the two Republicans remind voters that they both are committed to ensuring the county remains one of the safest places to live and – surprise – they are both running for re-election. They also share what they called their achievements, including crime reduction numbers in Rockland and their anti-crime programs and agencies.

Their e-mail includes praise from others, such as Brian Costello, president of the Rockland Correction Officers Benevolent Association, supporting Bongiorno’s work and former FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrum speaking highly of Kralik’s anti-terrorism efforts.

For more information on their positions and programs, go to James Kralik at www.SheriffKralik.com and Michael Bongiorno at www.Bongiorno2007.com

Kralik is being challenged by Stony Point Councilman/Clarkstown Police Detective Tim O’Neill at www.oneilforsheriff.com

Bongiorno is being challenged by Democrat Tom Zugibe at zugibe4da.com

Rudy Giuliani indicates he turned down last night’s PBS debate moderated by Tavis Smiley because he is in a fundraising mode trying looking to maximize donations before the Sept. 30 end of the third quarter.

The debate, which focused on issues important to blacks and other minorities, also was boycotted by Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, John McCain and Fred Thompson.

“We gotta’ raise money by Saturday and Sunday and I knew that for a long time,’’ Giuliani told the Christian Broadcast Network in a taped interview. “And these fundraisers have been scheduled for three, four months. It would have been inconceivable that we could have done any debate during this time, so people can say anything they want, but that’s just the reality of it.’’

Giuliani also talked about his prayer life and his family during the interview with Christian Broadcast Network correspondent David Brody. The interview can be found on the Internet at http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/blogs/brodyfile/

After Sunday’s Columbus Day Parade through West Haverstraw, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., will stop marching and hand-shaking long enough to endorse two Democrats for local offices in the Nov. 6 election.

The senator will put his name behind Thomas Zugibe for Rockland district attorney and Tim O’Neill for sheriff.

Schumer will meet with the two candidates at 3 p.m. in front of the school district building on Railroad and Cosgrove avenues near the firehouse.

In the November election, Zugibe is looking to unseat Republican District Attorney Michael Bongiorno, while O’Neill is taking on Republican Sheriff James Kralik. Zugibe is a former prosecutor and West Haverstraw village justice. O’Neill is a Clarkstown detective sergeant and Stony Point councilman.

Zugibe was pleased with the campaign boost.

“Sen. Schumer is one of the most respected members of the U.S. Senate,” Zugibe said. “I am very honored to receive the endorsement from a man of his stature.”

Looking for someone to have coffee with? Assemblyman George Latimer and County Legislator Judy Myers will hold open office hours tomorrow at a pair of local coffee shops.

The first stop runs from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the On the Way Cafe, located at Playland Parkway at Forest Avenue in Rye. They will follow that up from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at The Nautilus Diner on Boston Post Road in Mamaroneck.

A week later, he will join County Legislator Marty Rogowsky, D-Harrison, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Port Chester Coach Diner.

Former President Bill Clinton says Rudy Giuliani “has proved more durable than I thought he would” in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television that airs tonight at 11 on the program, “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” the former president also comments that Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona is “an admirable human being” who “deserves to be a major candidate.”

Susan Elan reports:

Putnam County Executive Robert Bondi underwent emergency angioplasty at Danbury Hospital yesterday.

The procedure was “a complete success” and Bondi is expected to be discharged soon, Deputy County Executive John Tully said this morning.

Bondi underwent a stress test at Putnam Hospital on Thursday and was immediately referred by the attending physician to Danbury Hospital where the procedure was performed, Tully said.

Doctors have prescribed two weeks of rest but Bondi will remain in contact with his staff, Tully said.

During Bondi’s absence, management responsibilities will be shared by Tully and Lisa Denig, Bondi’s chief of staff.

Under the county charter, Personnel Director Paul Eldridge, the first acting county executive, would sign legal contracts.

Bondi is a five-term Republican. His illness comes in the midst of a contentious process with the largely Republican Legislature to finalize a 2008 county budget.

Reps. John Hall of Dover Plains and Kirstin Gillibrand of Hudson, the Hudson Valley’s two freshman Democrats in Congress, have known since they were elected last November they would be among the top targets of the Republican Party in 2008.

But Democrats also have several Northeast Republicans they think they can unseat in the next election, including three in upstate New York, noted Congressional Quarterly in an analysis published yesterday. The targets: Reps. Jim Walsh, Randy Kuhl and Tom Reynolds.

CQ rates Hall and Gillibrand as facing races that “lean Democratic’’ at this point. Walsh and Kuhl have races that “lean Republican,’’ while Reynolds has a “Republican favored’’ race.

According to CQ, “The ratings ‘leans Republican’ and ‘leans Democratic’ mean that the named party appears to have at least some edge in the contest, but that an upset is a realistic possibility.’’

Republicans are stepping up their assault on Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to let New Yorkers obtain driver licenses without regard to immigration status.

The Assembly Republicans vowed this morning to sue Spitzer if his plan takes effect, while Senate Republicans say they will submit legislation that would prohibit illegal aliens from getting driver’s licenses.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has also expressed concern about the plan. Yet Spitzer fired back during a visit to Rochester on Thursday that Bloomberg is “wrong at every level—dead wrong, factually wrong, legally wrong, morally wrong, ethically wrong.”

Spitzer’s plan calls for allowing illegal immigrants to use foreign passports as proof of identity, instead of other documents that show legal immigration.

Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, accused Spitzer of putting “politics above public safety,” saying Spitzer is trying to court votes from immigrants.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton wants to make is easier for blacks and other minorities to vote.

She would make Election Day a holiday, allow same-day voter registration, enact mail-in voting, require a paper trail for recounts and allow ex-convicts who have served their time in jail to vote.

Clinton told several hundred people attending a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation forum she also would favor Internet voting once technological issues are resolved.

The New York senator said she favors more incentives for saving money, including a proposal that would give every newborn child $5,000.

Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama are the two Democratic presidential candidates speaking to the group today at the Washington Convention Center.

Obama spoke this morning at nearby Howard University, outlining his plan for overhauling the Justice Department and allowing some nonviolent drug offenders to serve their sentences at rehabilitation centers.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been splitting their endorsements. Eleven black lawmakers in the House have endorsed Clinton, including four from New York. Ten have endorsed Obama. Two are supporting former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

Westchester County Democratic Party Chairman Reginald LaFayette will be among the guest speakers at the state Democratic Party’s annual fall meeting on Long Island on Monday.

The event will be held at the Garden City Hotel in Garden City. Other speakers include Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Lt. Gov. David Paterson, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo and State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.