Politics on the Hudson

Former Republican Gov. George Pataki will endorse state senator candidate Bob Cohen Tuesday in his bid to offseat longtime democratic incumbent Suzi Oppenheimer.

Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, D-Mamaroneck, is running for her 14th term against Republican Bob Cohen, a Scarsdale real estate executive. The 37th District covers parts of New Rochelle, Mamaroneck, Rye, Harrison, White Plains, Scarsdale, Ossining, New Castle and North Castle.

Pataki will join Cohen in White Plains Tuesday during a press conference at 10 a.m. outside the Westchester County GOP headquarters. Following the conference, the two will take on a walking tour down Mamaroneck Avenue through downtown White Plains.

Last week, current gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo backed Oppenheimer.

In what’s probably one of her biggest endorsements to date, State Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer picked up an endorsement today from state Attorney General and Gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo.

“Senator Oppenheimer has established a stellar record of accomplishment as a true public servant,” Cuomo said in a statement. “…Because of her proven ability to build coalitions and get results, I need Suzi as a partner in making government more effective.”

Election season is in full swing and next week the League of Women Voters will hold candidate debates in New Rochelle and Mamaroneck next week. Expect fun sparks to fly.

On Oct. 20, New Rochelle will host a debate featuring City Council Candidates Jared Rice and Peter Parente. Four state Legislature Democrats — Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, Assemblyman George Latimer, Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer and Sen. Jeff Klein — will also square off against their respective Republican challengers — Rene Atayan, Bill Reed, Bob Cohen and Frank Vernuccio Jr.

The New Rochelle debates will take place at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 in the City Council chamber of City Hall.

On Oct. 21, Lattimer and Oppenheimer will again square off with their respective challengers in Mamaroneck. That forum will also feature the Mamaroneck Board of Trustees race between Democrats John Hofstetter, Toni Ryan and Sid Albert versus Republicans Marianne Ybarra, Gregory Sullivan and Mary Polanco Vozza. Hofstetter, Ryan and Ybarra are the incumbents.

The Mamaroneck debates will take place at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21 in the Town of Mamaroneck courtroom.

Much has been made about Democratic state Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer’s ads against her Republican opponent Bob Cohen this election season, alleging that the real estate executive from Scarsdale is a “slumlord” that runs sketchy New York City buildings riddled with violations and criminal activity.

Cohen filed a complaint with the independent group the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee, his campaign confirmed this afternoon. The independent group will evaluate the fairness of Oppenheimer’s ads during a hearing on Thursday evening.

Stay tuned as we will update you guys with the results of that hearing as we receive the information.

The race for the 37th State Senate district is getting nasty as incumbent Democratic Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer is getting ready to accuse her challenger, Scarsdale real estate executive Bob Cohen, of being a sketchy building landlord.

(UPDATE: Oppenheimer’s camp has launched the attack including this video and this site.)

The state Democratic Campaign Committee said today they’re getting ready to bring forward allegations the Manhattan properties Cohen has run over the years are rampant with building violations, extensive tenant complaints and criminal activity.

“The public record is clear, Bob Cohen is a slumlord whose made himself rich while jeopardizing the lives and safety of children’s and seniors,” said Austin Shafran, spokesman for the state Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. ”…I think if you look at Bob Cohen’s record as a slumlord, it clearly shows he is unfit for office. If Bob Cohen can’t keep drug dealers out of his houses, he can’t clean up Albany.”

The Journal News is investigating the merit of these claims and will be reaching out to Bob Cohen directly on Wednesday to discuss these attacks. In the meantime, Cohen has fired back with a video ad dismissing the allegations that he’s a slumlord.

This week, the Westchester Coalition for Legal Abortion endorsed state Sens. Suzi Oppenheimer and Andrea Stewart-Cousins in their democratic bids for re-election.

“Suzi Oppenheimer and Andrea Stewart-Cousins have spent their careers fighting for women’s reproductive freedom and—as some of you may know—freedom does not come cheap,” the coalition’s president Catherine Lederer-Plaskett said. “We need these women! They have put their political capital on the line for us and now we need to make sure they are returned to the New York State Senate this November.”

Senate Republican candidates Bob Cohen of Scarsdale and Liam McLaughlin of Yonkers will hold a joint press conference Thursday denouncing the state bringing back the clothing tax on Oct. 1.

The 4% tax is on all clothing purchases under $110. Cohen in a release said “The regressive new tax will add a cumulative burden to lower and middle income families with children.”

The event will take place at 1 p.m. Thursday outside the Galleria Mall in White Plains.

State senate candidate Bob Cohen is asking his incumbent opponent Suzi Oppenheimer to return the contribution given to her by Adam Bradley, the White Plains mayor accused of assaulting his wife.

Cohen, a Scarsdale real estate executive, questions how can Oppenheimer call herself a women’s rights advocate when she accepted a $1,000 contribution from Bradley’s campaign in 2008.

“Senator Oppenheimer is using taxpayer dollars just weeks before Election Day to appeal to a specific demographic and divert attention from her failure on issues that we all care about,” said Cohen. “The problem here is that she’s aligned herself with the politician most identified with disrespect and violence toward women.”

It should be noted that Bradley’s contribution to Oppenheimer came in 2008 and Bradley didn’t face domestic violence charges until earlier this year.

UPDATE: Oppenheimer’s spokesman Tony Kelso provided this response:

“Once again, mud-slinging Scarsdale Republican boss Bob Cohen is all talk and no substance. Suzi Oppenheimer has been in the forefront of attacking domestic violence. Just this year, Suzi sponsored a new law that prohibits landlords from evicting domestic violence survivors who must leave rent-controlled apartments to escape abuse. She also co-sponsored and supported new domestic violence protections that strengthen the laws on obtaining orders of protection, shield survivors’ locations from their abusers and dramatically increase the criminal penalties for strangulation, an often lethal form of domestic abuse. Suzi is saving lives, successfully passing new laws, even as Bob Cohen engages in mindless distractions. Bob Cohen should be asked to comment on these new laws and whether he would have voted for or against them.”

State Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, D-Mamaroneck, will hold an event Tuesday to urge Gov. David Paterson to enact new laws protecting domestic violence victims.

Joining Oppenheimer during the event will be representatives from My Sisters Place, a Westchester County domestic violence shelter as well as other groups such as the Pace Women’s Justice Center.

The event will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Preston Hall’s Tudor Room at Pace Law School, located at 78 North Broadway in White Plains.

The Mamaroneck Village Board of Ethics decided this month that trustee Louis Santoro’s son getting a job in the village Department of Public Works isn’t a conflict of interest.

“No evidence was presented to the BOE which demonstrated that Trustee Santoro or anyone acting on his behalf sought to influence the hiring of Nick Santoro by the DPW,” the ethics board wrote in a memo sent to the Board of Trustees late last week.

Santoro’s son Nick works part time for the Department of Public Works cutting grass.  It created some heated discussion at the time and it took the ethics board multiple meetings to come to the conclusion.

The full memo from the ethics board is below the jump.