Westchester Republican District Attorney candidate Dan Schorr today announced his plan to tackle gang violence in the county, especially in Yonkers and Mount Vernon, where murders and gun violence are high.

If he unseats incumbent Democratic District Attorney Janet DiFiore, he said, he would:
• Assign experienced prosecutors to high-crime jurisdictions for longer periods of time.
• Establish a Zero Tolerance Policy for gang-related and/or violent offenses involving handguns. If a criminal is convicted of a violent gun crime, (s)he would go to state prison, not the county jail. Repeat violent offenders would get consecutive, not concurrent sentences.
• Assign the same prosecutor or team of prosecutors from beginning to end, instead of changing at different stages of the case, so help them understand the complexities of a case and complicated nature of gangs.
• Hold off on giving plea deals until notifying the arresting officer(s).
• Send prosecutors and criminal investigators into local schools to teach a comprehensive anti-gang program to increase gang awareness and point out the legal punishments for gang offenses.
• Combat the “anti-snitch” attitude on the street, in part by reinvigorating the Crimestoppers program and developing a stronger witness protection program.
• Work with the corrections and probation officers to identify and monitor known gang members, as well as those at high risk of joining a gang.
• Hold convicted gang members responsible for violating probation curfews, drug use, and other criminal activity.
• Develop standard questions for police to ask anyone they arrested to determine if the arrestee is part of a gang or has information about gang activity.
• Improve ties with federal law enforcement agencies that have the resources and intelligence to help investigate gang activity in Westchester.

“This plan to reduce gang violence is a result of my experience prosecuting violent crime in New York City and Westchester, and from talking with local police, community, and religious leaders to create a realistic and achievable approach to making our streets safer from gangs,” Schorr said. “We can’t bury our heads in the sand from this growing problem, and I’m confident that a multi-pronged solution such as the one I’ve proposed will result in a real reduction of dangerous gang activity in our county.”

And here is what DiFiore thinks of Schorr’s plan:

“Dan Schorr displays a complete lack of understanding of how gang-related violent crime is currently handled by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and, indeed, how cases are investigated by the police and prosecuted by my office. Just as he fails to grasp the facts of cases he continually comments on in this race, his so-called plan demonstrates he has no idea what has been going on in the law enforcement community over the last four years.”

The 166-member Greenburgh Democratic Committee will meet at Town Hall to choose one of three candiidates vying for the part-time position.

Attorneys Arlene Gordon-Oliver from Harrison and Frank Apicella from Greenburgh’s Poets Corner neighborhood have already met with the party’s executive committee and are official candidates.

But Ardsley Village Justice Walter Schwartz, who narrowly lost Tuesday’s Democratic Primary for Greenburgh Town Justice, is asking for another chance. For Schwartz to become a candidate, a district leader will have to nominate him from the floor and another district leader else will have to second the nomination.

Whoever is chosen will run on the Democratic line unopposed in November and serve with judges Doris Friedman and Sandra Forster, both of whom won the Democratic primary on Tuesday.

Lowey, a Democrat from Harrison, said she helped secure $8 million from the feds for flood relief in Westchester County, including around the Saw Mill, which is being studied by the Army Corps now.

Elmsford Mayor Robert Williams got some face time with the congresswoman, as did a few local merchants, who shared with her stories of evacuating employees when there’s even a threat of a heavy storm.

“This is a major problem for this community, and for many community that border the Saw Mill,” Lowey said after the meeting.

Their opponents, Steve Bass and Eddie Mae Barnes, mailed out a campaign flyer this week saying that Morgan and Brown were not “real Democrats” because they are not “100 percent” in support of abortion rights or “100 percent” against Indian Point. Read the story here.

Meanwhile, Barnes and Bass announced via e-mail this morning that they will hold a 3 p.m. press conference at the Greenburgh Health Center, 330 Tarrytown Road, “to illustrate their opponent’s anti-choice record.” Bass will not attend because he is observing Rosh Hashanah.

UPDATE: Bass and Barnes changed the location of the press conference to the Planned Parenthood office, 175 Tarrytown Road.

Morgan and Brown are running on a slate with eight-term Town Supervisor Paul Feiner in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. Bass and Barnes are running with Suzanne Berger, the chairwoman of the Greenburgh Democratic Committee who is trying to unseat Feiner.

In an e-mail, Morgan described the flyer as a “gross misrepresentation” of his and Brown’s positions on abortion. He and Brown will be filing a formal complaint with the Greenburgh Ethics Board against Barnes and Bass, the incumbents.

UPDATE: In another e-mail, Brown fumed about having to explain the negative flyer to her distraught 8-year-old daughter: “I did my best to explain … that only the most despicable politicians would knowingly lie and try to scare innocent families. I could tell that my eight-year-old’s sadness was quickly turning into anger.”

Berger’s campaign took names and addresses from her official alumnae directory book and mailed some alumnae information about her campaign, asking for their support.

Apparently, this was a no-no. Michael Feierman, general counsel for Barnard College, said he told Berger’s campaign manager that the directory should not be used for commerical or political uses, and that he had received complaints from some alumnae over the mailing.

Berger said she thought she could use the directory to help her campaign because the 2006 editon does not prohibit political uses. She said she couldn’t understand why the college would have a problem with her asking other alumnae for support: “It’s called networking.”

Feierman said the 2006 edition was “more generic” in its description of prohibited uses because another vendor handled its printing. He said past editions of the alumnae directory clearly stated that it could not be used politically and said the online version still lists all of the restricted uses.

One of the people who called Barnard to complain was alumna Linda Garfunkel, the wife of Richard Garfunkel — Feiner’s campaign manager. Linda Garfunkel said she never got a copy of Berger’s campaign letter but that she heard about the alumnae-targeted letter from another alumna.

“For me, using college lists for personal gain is a violation of the honor code that we lived by as students,” Garfunkel said. “It really is taking private property that does not belong to the alumna. That is what my Barnard education meant to me — adhering to a strict code of conduct.”

Feierman, trying his best to escape the matrix of Greenburgh politics, said that Barnard does not feel “aggrieved” by Berger’s actions, and that both she and Garfunkel are valued alumnae.

Now that’s diplomacy.

Both groups announced their endorsements today at 1 p.m. at Town Hall, 177 Hillside Ave.

The endorsements come exactly one week before what could be a close Democratic primary in Greenburgh. Feiner is being challenged by Suzanne Berger, the chairwoman of the Greenburgh Democratic Committee. Both candidates are running unopposed on minor party lines, meaning they will face off gain in November, no matter who wins next Tuesday’s run-off race.

Feiner, Greenburgh’s long-time supervisor, and his running mates are going to hit the campaign trail on a four-seat bicycle that was custom made in Maryland. The quartet of Feiner, Town Board candidates Kevin Morgan and Sonja Brown, and Town Clerk candidate Judith Beville will launch their bike tour Saturday afternoon at Anthony F. Veteran Park.

“If we can pedal together, we should be able to solve every major problem around town,” Feiner said in an e-mail today.

Morgan, a retired Greenburgh detective, picked up the bicycle yesterday in Baltimore and said his family already has been teasing him about the publicity stunt: “I’ll never live it down.”

Slate-on-a-bike is the brainchild of Feiner campaign worker Scott Schindler, who designed the green and white “I’m with Paul” campaign signs that are all over town. While Feiner is no stranger to, ahem, unique ideas (he once tried to launch a dating service out of Town Hall), seeing the four candidates on two wheels is bound to get a reaction — either for being environmentally conscious or enormously clownish.

Some people might even start singing this song:

Feiner, Feiner,
You’ve staged some strange stunts before
But are you crazy
Taking your slate on tour?
You already have the money
To buy signs, so why be funny?
They could say you’re all wrong
When you’re riding along
On a bicycle built for four.

“I’ll be sitting this one out,” the Yonkers Democrat said.

Stewart-Cousins said she has a “good history” with both Berger and Feiner. Berger, the former chairwoman of Greenburgh’s Democratic Town Committee, has been one of Stewart-Cousins most ardent supporters, helping her raise money for two hard-fought campaigns against former state Sen. Nick Spano. Meanwhile, Stewart-Cousins office has been working with Feiner on helping the flood-damaged businesses on East Hartsdale Avenue.

“Whoever wins the primary is my candidate,” she said.

However, Stewart-Cousins has endorsed Town Clerk Alfreda Williams and Town Board members Steve Bass and Eddie Mae Barnes in their re-election bids. She said their incumbency, coupled with the Democratic Town Committee’s backing of the trio, led to her endorseme the underticket.

Feiner has the incumbency but Berger has the Democratic Town Committee’s designation. Apparently, a candidate needs both — or a primry victory — to win Stewart-Cousin’s support.

Meanwhile, Berger and her slate have been endorsed by Brodsky (another candidate she raised money for), County Executive Spano, George Latimer, Amy Paulin and Adam Bradley, Westchester County Clerk Tim Idoni, County Board Chairman Bill Ryan and Westchester County Legislators Lois Bronz and Ken Jenkins.

Feiner, who is running for a ninth term as town supervisor, sent out an e-mail yesterday offering the reward for any photos or videos that lead police to capture the scofflaws. He claims more than 100 of his green and white signs, which say simply “I’m with Paul,” have been removed or vandalized in the past week.

Feiner claims that his signs were stolen within a few hours after his campaign placed them along roadways, and that lawn signs were removed from people’s private property. Signs hung on telephone poles have been vandalized, he said.

Feiner is offering the reward with his three running mates: Town Board candidates Kevin Morgan and Sonja Brown and Town Clerk challenger Judith Beville. Morgan posted pictures of two vandalized signs, covered with the word “greed” and the symbol for anarchy, here.

Morgan, a retired Greenburgh police detective, filed a formal complaint with the police department on Sunday, Feiner said. In the e-mail. Morgan called the thefts and vandalism “a political hate crime.” Feiner’s e-mail also includes statements by Brown, urging the Town Board incumbents to discourage sign theft and vandalism; and a statement from Beville challenging every incumbent and candidate to issue statements urging fair elections.

Feiner encouraged his supporters to carry a camera when they drive around town, especially at night. He said photos and videos can be sent to Paul Feiner, P.O. Box 718, Hartsdale, NY 10530. Residents call also call Feiner at 478-1219. Those who catch the thieves and vandals on tape must agree to testify in court, Feiner said.

The endorsement came this afternoon at St. Francis/St. Martha’s Church on Tarrytown Road in Greenburgh.

Berger, a Dobbs Ferry lawyer who is the head of Greenburgh’s Democratic Town Committee, was chosen as the town party’s candidate over Feiner, who has clashed with the town’s Democratic leadership over the years.

Spano also endorsed Berger’s running mates for the Town Board, Steve Bass and Eddie Mae Barnes. Both Bass and Barnes have the Democratic Town Committee’s support.

Spano was joined by county clerk Tim Idoni; county legislators Lois Bronz, D-Greenburgh and Ken Jenkins, D-Yonkers; and Assembly members Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh and George Latimer, D-Rye, according to Bass.

Bill Ryan, a White Plains Democrat who chairs the county Board of Legislators and Assembly members Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, and Adam Bradley, D-White Plains, did not attend the event but sent written remarks supporting the slate, Bass said.

Suzanne Berger said today that her campaign website, friendsofsuzanneberger.com, should launch by the end of the month. Berger is the Democratic Town Committee’s designated candidate to unseat eight-term supervisor Paul Feiner.

Feiner’s new re-election website, paulfeiner.com, is already up and running. His old re-election website, www.feiner.org, is still on the web.

The self-promoting supervisor also has his own blog, feiner.blogspot.com, and his own Wikipedia entry.

UPDATE: Berger’s site has been launched.

Schwartz, a village justice since 1982, plans to challenge longtime town justices Doris Friedman and Sandra Forester in the Sept. 18 Democratic primary. The 69-year-old grandfather described himself as an “independent Democrat” who is ready for the challenge of the Town Court, one of the busiest in Westchester County.

“I have the enthusiam for it,” he said.

Schwartz need to collect 1,000 signatures from registered Democrats in Greenburgh to get on the ballot. As of yesterday, he had 60. But he has until July 19 to get the rest.

Valhalla school board member Judith Beville announced today that she will try to unseat Alfreda Williams, who has been town Clerk since 1993.

According to her press release, Beville is a former regional director with the New York State Mentoring Program who is going for her second master’s degree at Mercy College. She lives in the Parkway Homes/Parkway Gardens neighborhood.

Beville joins a growing number of people trying to boot Greenburgh incumbents: retired Greenburgh cop Kevin Morgan and Greenburgh PTA officer Sonja Brown are trying to unseat Town Board members Eddie Mae Barnes and Steve Bass. Democratic Town Committee chairwoman Suzanne Berger and 2005 Town Supervisor candidate Bill Greenawalt are duking it out to see who will oppose Town Supervisor Paul Feiner in the Democratic primary.

Berger and Greenawalt, as I previously posted, are vying for the party’s designation. Technically, so is Feiner, but the chances of him being named the party’s candidate of choice are slim to none, considering the Democratic committee backed Greenawalt two years ago and the party’s executive committee is backing Berger now.

FOLLOW-UP: Thanks for pointing out the error, Bob. A tired reporter trying to do 8 things on a Friday afternoon sometimes slips up.

Feiner says that a number of residents have contacted him about how they could help the residents of the community with almost the same name. The weekend tornado destroyed more than 90 percent of the small Kansas town and has claimed 10 lives so far.

Similar efforts are happening in like-named communities nationwide. Yesterday, local officials in Greensburg, Pa., near Pittsburgh, met to talk about what they could do for their Kansas namesake. Read more about those efforts “here”:www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_506536.html.

Feiner is urging people to visit the “American Red Cross website”:www.redcross.org. He also suggested sending donations to the American Red Cross, Westchester County Chapter, 106 North Broadway, White Plains, NY 10603 or to the national headquarters of the Red Cross, 2025 E Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20006.

Meanwhile, Feiner pledged to keep looking for other ways residents can help. Anyone who would like to organize a local community outreach effort or who would like to know about such efforts can e-mail him at pfeiner@greenburghny.com.

“It’s a going to be a fight, but I think I will prevail,” he said this afternoon.

Greenawalt, who came within 200 votes of beating Supervisor Paul Feiner in the 2005 Democratic Primary, said the executive committee’s endorsement of Suzanne Berger — the party’s chairwoman — doesn’t mean she will win the majority of votes at the party May 24 convention.

“They’re independent people,” he said, referring to other party members.

According to her campaign spokesman, Berger got 15 out of 24 votes from the executive committee to be the party’s choice for supervisor. Three committee members did not attend the meetong.

Bill Greenawalt, the party’s choice to topple Feiner two years ago, got 6 votes.

No one voted for Feiner, who has been Town Supervisor for 16 years and who has locked horns with the party leadership in the past. Feiner said he would run as an independent if he loses the primary.

Feiner was the only incumbent who didn’t get the committee’s support. The executive committee backed Town Board members Eddie Mae Barnes and Steve Bass, Town Clerk Alfreda Williams, Town Justice Doris Friedman and county legislators Lois Bronz and Tom Abinanti.

The entire Democratic Town Committee will meet on May 24 to choose the party’s official designations for the Sept. 11 primary.

This time, he’s going at it alone.

Morgan, a retired Greenburgh police detective who lives in the North Elmsford section of town, said he will run independently if not endorsed by the Greenburgh Democratic Town Committee, who are expected to endorse incumbents Steve Bass and Eddie Mae Barnes.

Morgan said he believes he lost last time was partly because “some people thought I’d be a rubber stamp for Paul.” He said he wants to put a stop to the bickering on the Town Board.

“You can’t keep on governing by fighting,” he said.

That brings to 4 the total candidates for the Town Board. Greenburgh school administrator and community activist Sonja Brown says she will collect signatures to get on the ballot.

Feiner has yet to announce who, if anyone, he will choose as his running mates.

The Town Board has recommended changing the town ethics code regarding campaign contributions from anyone with applications before town boards or from their representatives. This would mean candidates for town office who accepted campaign money from developers or their lawyers would be an ethics violation.

Feiner has come under fire for accepting such donations from such applicants.

“I’m saying they have nothing to do with each other,” Bass stated. “Other council candidates have done it as well. I think it’s wrong.”

Bass added that the Town Board did not “reject” Feiner’s proposal to ban campaign contributions from Greenburgh’s municipal unions and to limit who can donate town political parties. The board “tabled” the item indefinitely.

Longtime councilwoman Eddie Mae Barnes and fellow incumbent Steve Bass sent out a joint statement yesterday about their plans to seek another four-year term on the ever-lively Town Board. Barnes, the Director of Nursing at Rye Hospital, has been on the board since 1991. Bass, an aide at the Westchester County Board of Legislators, has been on the board since 200?, when he was appointed to fill an unfinished term.

Barnes and Bass are not the biggest fans of Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, who often finds himself at odds with them and the other two council members on the Town Board.

The contentious nature of Town Board meetings has led Greenburgh school administrator Sonja Brown to announce her bid for a board seat last week. Brown is well-known in social-service circles. She is a member of a half-dozen school and town committees and has served on at least that many town, county and community boards. She plans to run as an independent, since the powerful Democratic Town Committee will almost certainly will endorse Bass and Barnes.

We’re still waiting for Feiner to announce his Town Board running mates. The pair who ran with him two years ago got thumped at the polls, but Feiner squeaked out a victory in the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election.