Politics on the Hudson

Bob Cohen, a 55-year old real estate professional from Scarsdale, was officially nominated last night as the Republican candidate for state Senate in the 37th District. He will face incumbent Suzi Oppenheimer, D-Mamaroneck, in November.

 “While I am out there talking to our neighbors, and yes even Democrats, they all seem to be saying the same things.  Taxes are too high, businesses and jobs are being chased out of New York, Albany is dysfunctional, and that it is time we make changes, its time we get some new people in elected office,” Cohen said in a statement. “It’s time to do something about the mess, the embarrassment of our dysfunctional state government. And my experience as a self-made businessman, as a community activist and concerned citizen, as a father have put me in a position to do something about the problems that we all know exist in our state.”
 
According to his campaign bio, Cohen, who is also an attorney, runs a real estate and construction company in Manhattan. He has been a volunteer firefighter in Scarsdale for 17 years and is a member of the non-partisan Town and Village Civic Club Education Forum.

The 37th Senate District is comprised of Harrison, Mamaroneck, New Castle, most of New Rochelle, North Castle, Ossining, Rye Town, Rye City, Scarsdale, and White Plains.

Mark Jaffe, a Democrat from West Harrison, is running for the 89th Assembly District seat in the November election. The seat was formerly held by now-White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley, and has been held since February by Robert Castelli, a Republican who won a special election to fill Bradley’s term. The district includes all of Harrison, most of White Plains, and also New Castle, North Castle, Pound Ridge, Lewisboro, Bedford, and Mt. Kisco.

Jaffe is the President & CEO of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and former Treasurer of the Manhattan Borough Development Corporation. He attended Dobbs Ferry public schools, graduated cum laude from SUNY Albany, studied business at the University of Utah and earned a law degree from NYC’s Cardozo Law School. He has lived in West Harrison for a decade, and is married with three children.

Look for more on his platform in a future edition of The Journal News and on LoHud.com.

Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone released this statement on today’s corruption indictments of a former city councilwoman and two others, connected to her votes on two city developments:

“I am deeply disappointed with today’s indictments of individuals who, if proven guilty, have brought shame upon themselves, their positions of public trust and the people they represented. Those of us who have endeavored tirelessly to build a better future for this city, and who have done so with integrity, condemn such criminal actions in the strongest possible terms and urge a swift and appropriate administration of justice. As always, we will continue to run an honest and ethical city government so that the people of Yonkers may be assured that the few who seek personal gain over the public good are just that—-a shameful few.”

We’re out in the field gathering information on indictments in a long-running Yonkers political corruption investigation. Former council Majority Leader Sandy Annabi, former city GOP chairman Zehy Jereis and attorney Anthony Mangone are expected in court this afternoon in a case tied to Annabi’s votes on development deals for Ridge Hill and the Longfellow School. Read the full indictment, and the story so far, on the main web site here.

Politico.com’s gossip columnist has a funny bit on the Web today about a certain U.S. Senator from New York, who “regrets” his choice of words after a flight attendant told him to turn off his cell phone on a recent trip. Check it out here.

Westchester County Legislator Pete Harckham, a Democrat who represents the Bedford area, plans to announce tomorrow that he’s running for the state Assembly seat being vacated by Adam Bradley. The announcement regarding the 89th Assembly District is set for 1:30 p.m. at the county Democratic Committee headquarters in White Plains.

Jon Bandler reports:

A week ago, Tony Castro was touting himself as the real Democrat in the race for Westchester District Attorney.

Tonight, he hopes for a nomination to run for state Supreme Court on the Republican ticket.

If he gets the nod, it will end his third bid for District Attorney. He would have to give up the Independence and Working Family lines that he held in the DA race.

After he lost to incumbent Janet DiFiore in last week’s Democratic primary, Castro suggested he would bow out of the race if he was convinced he couldn’t win and if it would help Republican Dan Schorr beat DiFiore in November.

Castro could not be reached for comment today. But Doug Colety, chairman of the Westchester Republican party, said he expected Castro would be nominated tonight at the party’s judicial convention in Poughkeepsie.

Colety said he wasn’t dissuaded by the fact that Castro was a Democrat.

“He reached out to us to be interviewed. We found him qualified and it wasn’t like we were bumping anyone else,” Colety said.

Four state Supreme Court judgeships are up this year in New York’s 9th Judicial District, which covers Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange and Dutchess counties. In addition to Castro, the Republicans are expected to nominate incumbent Orazio Bellantoni, a Supreme Court justice since 1996; Yonkers City Judge Charles Wood; and Terry Stewart, a lawyer from Pawling in Dutchess County.

The head of the Westchester Democratic party, Reginald Lafayette, said Castro was a hypocrite for running with the GOP for judge after complaining about DiFiore’s 2007 switch from Republican to Democrat.

“It shows the intent to put him in the DAs race was to beat up on Janet DiFiore,” Lafayette said. “He spent the whole time complaining that she switched parties, that he was the true Democrat. Doesn’t it show the height of hypocrisy? At least Janet stood by her convictions. She said she switched for ideological reasons.”

The Democrats will hold their judicial convention tomorrow night in White Plains.

BEDFORD — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi may be calling Bedford home while at the United Nations General Assembly this week, setting up his famous Bedouin style tent down the road from Martha Stewart, ABC News reported today.

He was barred from setting one up in Manhattan’s Central Park, and Englewood, N.J., after officials and residents fought his plans to stay there.

Bedford police Sgt. Thomas Diebold would not comment, referring media inquiries to the U.S. Secret Service.

“We were notified by the Secret Service earlier this morning,” Diebold told The Journal News this afternoon. “We have no comment on it from our end.”

Read the rest of Shawn Cohen’s story, which we’ll continue to update, here.

County Executive Andrew Spano released this statement (using an alternate spelling): ” “I have heard unconfirmed reports that Khadafy may in fact be staying in Westchester. There is no legal way to prevent this as he is a head of state, despite the fact that he has a long history as a terrorist.  However, from my point of view, he is not welcome in Westchester.”