Politics on the Hudson

Rockland Democratic Committee Chairman Vincent Monte is holding a press conference tomorrow to announce the party’s new position—but we ain’t waiting.

Kenneth Ingenito, former County Legislature chairman and chief of staff to the late Assemblyman Kenneth P. Zebrowski, will now work for the party (in an unpaid position) as the executive director of strategy and policy.

Ingenito said today that he was approached by party leaders with the thought that the county party needed to have more unity within its ranks.

A lot of division has grown within the party, Ingenito said, evidenced by the many primaries held earlier this month.

Instead of working together, he said, “it’s just individuals who are seeking out some personal or private agendas.”

“It ends up creating a worse situation in your own party,” he said.

So Ingenito, who has been active with the party and in Democratic politics for decades, will act as a spokesman for the party on these issues. Monte was unavailable for comment this afternoon.

Rockland County Legislator Connie Coker is doing something a little bit different to promote herself in the upcoming election. Instead of doing the palm card, glossy mailing, bumper sticker or pen-with-her-name-on-it bit, Coker’s drawing on a bit of life experience.

She’s handing out scrubs. Yup- as in the medical kind. But I guess it’s only natural given her career as a nurse midwife.

(Photo by Peter Carr/The Journal News)

The cranberry-colored scrubs, which she showed me at a recent candidates’ forum, say “Midwife Legislator Connie Delivers” on the front and “Rx: Vote for Legislator Coker” on the back.

Coker said she got the idea from the California Nurses Association who designed similar scrubs to promote filmmaker Michael Moore’s most recent movie, “Sicko.”

Coker, D-South Nyack, is being challenged by Republican businessman Paul Valentine.
Coker supporters can buy the scrubs for $15. Call 845-348-1525 for more information.

A short film has been circulating around The Journal News’ Rockland office. And it starts Republican Ramapo town supervisor candidate Anthony Mele.

The 2004 film, “A Dream Day,” was shot in black and white and is set in Nyack. Mele stars as a cop who gets with the wrong girl. The film can be found on the “Kondor Films Web site.”:http://www.kondorfilms.com

“To me that was a fun thing,” Mele said today.

Mele has been a longtime friend of “A Dream Day” director Patrick Klein. The two met while on business in Africa, he said. Klein is now out in California producing an animated film that will feature the likenesses of real people, including celebrities and Mele.

“I’ll be a bodyguard in that one,” he said.

Though not a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Mele has had roles in movies and television including the Howard Stern flick “Private Parts” and the TV show “Law and Order.”

Mele said he got into acting when he was working on sets to make sure the weapons used in filming were safe and secure.

Mele is looking to unseat Democratic Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence.

Somehow I knew Ryan Karben knew how to throw an impressive party.

From the red and white checkered tablecloths on the outdoor dining tables to the waitresses serving multi-colored mojitos and fruit kabobs, patrons of the Karbens’ backyard barbecue all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

And that was before the caterers busted out the burgers and hot dogs on a grills just slightly smaller than the average twin-sized bed.

And those patrons just kept coming. By night fall, Karben’s street and surrounding neighborhood were packed with cars. Hopefully, the neighbors were too busy enjoying the party to notice.

Though Karben has been hinting at a return to politics via a run for Ramapo Town Board, there were no announcements tonight. Instead he addressed the crowd from his back deck, thanking his former Assembly colleagues Adam Bradley and Amy Paulin for coming and paying tribute to late Assemblyman Kenneth P. Zebrowski.

The Rockland County Legislature has a new picture up on its Web site with all the legislators and with everyone’s head on his or her body.

Several media organizations—starting with The Journal News, thank you very much—got a chuckle last week out of a doctored Legislature portrait that had new Legislator Jay Hood Jr.’s head put on former Legislator Roman Rodrigue’z body.

You can compare the pictures and read more about that on this Inside Rockland blog.
I think the new picture looks nice. It was taken before this week’s Legislature meeting in the new chambers. Everyone’s smiling and most everyone is color coordinated (Ilan Schoenberger and Teddy Dusanenko didn’t get the memo about dark suits!)

So not exactly hard hitting new here, but three members of the Rockland County Legislature are celebrating a birthday today!

• Ed Day, R-New City, is the youngest of the three. He’s 56.

• VJ Pradhan, D-Nanuet, the “middle” child so to speak, is the big 6-0.

• Gerold Bierker, C-Bardonia, turns  68 today. No worries—you don’t look a day older than 67!! Ha!

Their birthdays aren’t all they share. Bierker and Day were quick to point out this week that they both graduated from Brooklyn Tech.

August is a popular month for Rockland County Legislature birthdays.

We’ve also got:

• Bruce Levine, D-Montebello: 8/1

• Phil Soskin, D-Monsey 8/10

• Connie Coker, D-South Nyack: 8/13

It’s not unusual for rumors to start swirling about Ryan Karben’s candidacy any time a political seat is up for election in the district he lives in.

Such was the case with the vacancy on the Ramapo Town Board, created by Saturday’s death of Board Member Harry Reiss.

But while the former assemblyman fully denied any interest in challenging Legislator Phil Soskin for his seat (another rumor), he’s not taking the same stance with the Ramapo opening.

“The answer isn’t yes and it isn’t no,” he said today. “It was not something I had planned for at all,” he said. “I think we all hoped Harry would make a recovery.”

Reiss suffered a stroke in March 2006 and hadn’t attended a Ramapo Town Board meeting since.

Looks like the Free Political Forum found the blog I originally posted on the Inside Rockland blog and added its own information.
Click here to read their take and some info on Karben’s fundraising.

The Daily News also reported Ryan’s considerations in this blog item.

When asked about the seat, Karben sent an e-mail with this statement to the Daily News.

“I’m thankful for the support of my neighbors and political leaders who have encouraged me to return to elected office. But my law practice is doing very well and I’m enjoying a lot more time with my family, so I need to make a judgment as to whether this opportunity makes sense right now. There is plenty of time to decide.”

I figure Ryan’s got another month or so to be coy (never his strong suit, by the way.) He’s having a barbecue in August—seems likely he could be doing more there than tending to the grill.

I just got my invitation in the mail today. They better be serving up cheeseburgers!

UPDATE:

Ryan just e-mailed me to let me know that cheeseburgers aren’t kosher. Bummer.

Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith was up in Rockland today to announce alongside local Democrats that the 38th Senate District seat would be targeted in 2008 in hopes of getting the Senate under Democratic control for the first time in more than 40 years.

The seat is now held by Thomas Morahan, R-New City, an amazingly popular senator who has gotten a lot of Democratic support from voters and politicians.

But Smith also took time to address the feud between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, calling their sniping “productive friction.”

“When you come to make change, someone is going to resist,” Smith said.

But what exactly has been so productive about this?

Smith said the two now have a better working relationship and that the spat has been a lot less intense than what the media has reported.

Still, it doesn’t seem like the two are heading to any Yankees games together any time soon.

I cover most of the naturalization ceremonies in Rockland County. They are held every two months and inevitably someone will mention how tough the exam was to become a U.S. citizen.

So for this Fourth of July, I dare you guys to take a sample INS quiz —and post your scores. I scored an 85 percent, getting three wrong answers out of 20.

The quiz was found on MSNBC.com.

Jay Hood Jr. may be jumping the gun a bit. He sent out an invitation today for his swearing in as the District 3 Rockland County legislator.

But to be sworn in, you need to have been voted in.

In all fairness, the Democrats do hold the majority on the Legislature and are likely to vote in the Democratic Haverstraw Town Board member, who would fill the vacancy created by Roman Rodriguez, D-Haverstraw. Rodriguez resigned today.

But I wouldn’t completely count on a clean sweep of the minority-party legislators.

We try very hard to stay away from cliches here at The Journal News (at least the really obvious ones) but maybe Hood shouldn’t count his chickens before they hatch?