Politics on the Hudson

The White Plains Conservative Party announced today they are backing the Republican slate of candidates for Common Council and the Westchester County Board of Legislators.

The council candidates are James Arndt, Richard Cirulli, Michael Donnelly and Terence Guerriere. Arndt is running for Mayor Thomas Roach’s unexpired term against Democratic Councilman John Martin, who was recently appointed to the job. The other three are running for full four-year terms against Council President Benjamin Boykin, incumbent Milagros Lecuona and newcomer Dennis Krolian, all Democrats.

The Conservatives also backed Iris Pagan, the Republicans’ candidate for the 5th Legislative District race. She will be running against long-time Democratic Legislator William Ryan.

The Independence and Working Families parties are endorsing the Democratic slate.

Here are the 2011 active enrollment figures for White Plains voters, from the county Board of Elections:

Democrat: 15,446

Republican: 6,891

Conservative: 241

Working Families: 48

Independence: 1,176

Green: 36

No party: 6,541

A bill to dedicate a portion of Route 119 in White Plains after fallen Detective Michael Perry passed unanimously in the state Assembly this week.

Perry, a Yorktown resident, was a White Plains officer for seven years. Last year, he suffered a fatal heart attack after chasing down a larceny suspect with 300 prior arrests. He was posthumously given the rank of detective.

Around the first anniversary of his death, White Plains dedicated a portion of Court Street where part of the chase occurred as Michael Perry Way. Building on that work, the state may name the section of 119 from Route 100 to Main Street as the Detective Michael Perry Memorial Highway.

The Assembly bill was sponsored by Robert Castelli (R-Goldens Bridge), who represents part of White Plains, and cosponsored by Amy Paulin and Steve Katz. The Senate version was sponsored by Greg Ball and is in committee.

“Designating state Route 119 helps us to honor the memory of Detective Michael Perry,” Castelli, a  state police veteran, said. “Detective Perry died in the line of duty while serving the community he loved. For his actions and service to our community we are eternally grateful.”

White Plains Democrats gathered Monday night to approve their slate of candidates for November’s city and county elections.

Dennis Krolian, a 59-year-old trial attorney, was chosen to run as the newest Democrat on the Common Council. Krolian is a former Bronx County assistant district attorney and was heavily involved in the effort to pressure former Mayor Adam Bradley from office. He has worked in the city party since 2007 and has never run for elected office.

He joined incumbents Milagros Lecuona and Council President Benjamin Boykin, who will all run for four-year terms. John Martin, who was appointed to the council last month, was nominated to run for the two-year unexpired term of Mayor Thomas Roach.

County Legislators William Ryan and Alfreda Williams were also chosen to run again for their seats.

No Republican candidates are yet known, but GOP Chairman Brian Maloney has said there are many potential candidates looking to run under the Republican banner.

The White Plains Council of Neighborhood Associations and White Plains Concerned Citizens for Open Space will sponsor a mayoral debate on Wednesday, March 23. The event will be held at Ridgeway Elementary School auditorium, 225 Ridgeway, at 7:30 p.m.

Republican candidate Bob Hyland, Democrat and acting Mayor Thomas Roach and independent Glen Hockley are vying to finish out the term of resigned Mayor Adam Bradley, a Democrat.

Questions asked by moderator Pat Casey, publisher of the White Plains Times, will be based on topics submitted by the public. To suggest a topic or question, email debate@wpcna.org by 5 p.m. this Thursday. The special election will be held on March 31.

Assemblyman Robert Castelli, R-Goldens Bridge, will be holding two town hall-style meetings along with GOP U.S. Congresswoman Nan Hayworth and other local elected officials this Saturday.

The first meeting is scheduled from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at the South Salem Fire Department, 1190 Route 35 in South Salem. The second will be from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at Fox Lane Middle School, 632 South Bedford Road in Bedford.

The same day, Republican Assemblyman Steve Katz will be holding a similar event with Hayworth at 11 a.m. at Patterson Town Hall.

For more information, contact Castelli’s office at 914-686-7335.

This one goes out to all my biggest fans, the ones who never miss a story and post regularly. You know who you are—VforVendetta, WPWalden, mama3wp, wpny914 (perhaps you’re the same person—I’ll never know). RecallBradley, an up-and-comer, welcome to the crew.

I wrote a Sunday story on Mayor Adam Bradley’s campaign fund spending over the past year. The basic takeaway was that nearly all the mayor’s campaign spending in 2010 went to a crisis management team and legal representation for a city ethics probe.

I noticed several commenters were confused, wondering how Bradley could have spent campaign donations on his criminal defense, which would likely be an illegal personal use. To clarify, he didn’t, according to his disclosure filings.

While he does have different lawyers representing him on his divorce and criminal trial for spousal abuse, he spent campaign money only on lawyers for his ethics probe—a separate matter entirely. (Yes, I know what you’re thinking: He’s got a lot of lawyers.)

The ethics probe involves a potential conflict of interest the mayor may have been involved in when he moved out of his marital home following his two arrests and into an apartment on Hall Avenue. He set up and attended a meeting for his new landlord with top city officials soon after he moved in. Also, his rent at the apartment has never been made public. The city ethics board has been reviewing the matter for the past seven months.

Hope that clears things up.

I was thinking over the weekend that some folks may want to see a breakdown of the $36,910 Bradley spent in 2010 on crisis communications and legal fees. Here it is:

$24,500—Strategic Political Group, a White Plains crisis management and political consultancy (roughly $12,000 spent per six month period).

$7,500—Jeffrey Binder PC, the law firm of White Plains attorney Jeffrey Binder, who is representing Bradley in the ethics probe. (Binder, by the way, is also co-owner of Strategic Political Group.)

$4,000—Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, a Chicago-based national law firm. Binder said this payment was a retainer for advice he required on ethics matters.

$910 – Richard Meltz, a White Plains lawyer. Binder said this payment was also for ethics advice.

$360,000—- abouse how much money Bradley still has in his two campaign funds.

All 38,871 ballots have been counted in the 89th Assembly District race, and the margin between winner and loser is 0.29 percent. Despite that tiny amount, it appears Assemblyman Robert Castelli will be the winner.

Reginald LaFayette, the Democratic Board of Elections commissioner, said today that Castelli was ahead by 111 votes, following weeks and weeks of counting ballots. A recanvassing will happen Thursday to certify the election, but LaFayette said it is unlikely the numbers would change significantly.

“I don’t expect any major shift of 100 votes,” he said.

Castelli and Roach said they would respect the process and everyone involved and wait for the recanvass before making any statements on the race.

Assemblyman Robert Castelli’s camp reported late yesterday that special ballots in the exceptionally tight 89th Assembly District race have started to be counted, after an impound order was lifted. As of this morning, Castelli still leads, by only 72 votes, with a count of 18,996 to 18,924, according to the Westchester County Board of Elections website. Here is the Castelli release:

Today, the ballots cast into handicapped accessible machines in the 89th Assembly Distrt were read electronically. According to preliminary results from the Westchester County Board of Elections, out of 951 Plan B ballots cast, Robert Castelli received 495 votes to 456 for Thomas Roach, which brings Castelli’s overall lead to +111 votes out of some 38,774 votes cast.

The next step will be to count emergency ballots, on Friday, November 19th. There are 1,342 emergency ballots in the 89th Assembly District. Absentee and affidavit ballots are set to be counted on Tuesday, November 23rd. … There are 502 affidavit ballots in the 89th Assembly District.

On Wednesday, November 24th, the Westchester County Board of Elections will begin a process known as the 3% audit, a hand count which will randomly recanvass 3% of the 1,033 voting machines in Westchester County.

A canvass of the voting machines netted more complete numbers in the 89th Assembly District race, but it’s still too close to call.

As it stands, Republican Assemblyman Robert Castelli has 18,924 votes to Democratic challenger Thomas Roach’s 18,782—a margin of 142 votes.

Emergency, absentee and affidavit ballots still have not been counted. All paper ballots were impounded throughout the state, so those ballot will be counted under court supervision, potentially starting a week from now.

Democrat Thomas Roach, the White Plains Common Council president and contender for the 89th Assembly District seat, is far behind Republican Assemblyman Robert Castelli in the money race, according to new campaign filings that were made public Friday.

Castelli, who was heavily endorsed by labor and law enforcement groups, has brought in $92,713 in contributions, not including $57,000 in personal loans he’s given the campaign.

Roach has raised $51,140, including a $12,000 transfer from his Common Council campaign fund.

Thanks in part to an Oct. 18 campaign loan of $35,000, Castelli is coming into the general election home stretch with $60,358 cash in hand. Roach has only $7,792.

Meanwhile, almost immediately after Castelli announced his backing by the New York Taxpayers ballot line, Roach started using it as a weapon against him.

Roach sent off a stinging (and rare) press release, calling the Lewisboro assemblyman to drop the ballot line, because it was founded by none other than gubernatorial lightning rod Carl Paladino.

“Carl Paladino’s racist, sexist, discriminatory views have no place in politics,” Roach said in the release, issued quickly after Paladino sparked outrage this month for making anti-gay statements before Hasidic Jewish leaders in Brooklyn. Paladino has since apologized. “As a former police officer, Assemblyman Castelli should know that such behavior creates an atmosphere of intolerance, which can lead to hate crimes. I urge the assemblyman to take a stand against such behavior and renounce this line,” Roach continued.

Roach also announced his first round of endorsements, receiving nods from several pro-choice groups: Westchester Coalition for Legal Abortion-Choice Matters, Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice New York.

The 89th includes Bedford, Harrison, Lewisboro, Mount Kisco, New Castle, North Castle, Pound Ridge and White Plains. The general election will be on Nov. 2.