Politics on the Hudson

I’ve been hearing it from both sides of the political aisle — former Assemblyman Ryan Karben want his old County Legislature seat back.

But Karben said today that’s not true. Actually, he’s supporting the re-election of Legislator Philip Soskin, D-Monsey.

But people have asked him to consider it.

“My family commitments and my professional commitments don’t make that race viable right now,” he said.

(Vincent DiSalvio/The Journal News) 

Karben, who resigned from the Assembly on May 18, 2006 amid allegations of unwanted sexual advances toward a male intern, has it pretty good right now.

He’s got a lot of work as a private attorney, he’s working as Spring Valley’s deputy attorney, he’s holding the reins on a wealthy environmental PAC, he’s still “in” with Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Hearing Karben talk you’d think the only thing he needs is a white picket fence.

But Karben said he is flattered that people would think of him for the Legislature seat, even if it isn’t going to happen—this year.

Governor Eliot Spitzer has made a lot of elections officials happy and signed a bill to change the date of primary election from Sept. 11 to Sept. 18.

Local Board of Elections workers have expressed their frustration, not about the specific date of the primary, but about the delay in finalizing the political calendar. Typically the calendars are released by the beginning of April.

“I’m very happy,” said Ann Marie Kelly, the Rockland Board of Elections’ Democratic commissioner.
“It’s all done, the calendar’s all set,” she said.

Because the primary has been postponed by a week all other dates and deadlines have also shifted. Potential candidates are now scheduled to begin circulating their petitions on June 12.

Read more on this story here.

The 2007 political calendar can be viewed here on the state Board of Elections Web site.

Vice President Dick Cheney today warned West Point graduates that the terrorists are “feverishly” looking for new ways to attack the U.S.

“America is the kind of country that stands up to brutality and terror and injustice,” he said. “And you are the kind of people we depend on to get the job done.”

He made no policy announcements in his speech, instead choosing to talk about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the need for the U.S. to stay on the offense during the war on terror.

He spoke for just under 22 minutes with his wife Lynne and daughter Liz looking on. Cheney also granted amnesty to the remaining cadets that have incurred minor disciplinary actions, a popular move based on the roar from the crowd.

Protesters both for and against the war in Iraq gathered in Veterans Park outside West Point’s Thayer Gate. Their court appeal to protest within the gates of the military academy had been denied.

Right now Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef has been charged with bringing Republican county executive’s together as a vice chairman in presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani’s statewide campaign.

And while it could lead to bigger prospects within the campaign, Vanderhoef said he doesn’t expect his new non-paying job with New York City’s former mayor to interfere with his paying job in Rockland.

“It’s an honorary role,” Vanderhoef said today. “I’m not a worker bee.”

Vanderhoef and Giuliani have been friendly since before Giuliani was elected mayor of New York City. And Vanderhoef’s predicting good things for his buddy in next year’s primary.

“I think he’s in remarkably good position,” he said.

“He held the hand of America, almost single-handedly, after 9/11,” Vanderhoef said, but added that Giuliani’s leadership should be graded on his work in pre-9/11 New York as well.

County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef and former County Executive John Grant will chat on Vanderhoef’s televised “County Executive’s Forum” tomorrow about the leadership post.

Grant, a Democrat, was elected Rockland’s first county executive in 1985. He served for seven years before Vanderhoef, a Republican, beat him in the 1993 election. The two will discuss the county’s transition in the 1980s to a county executive form of government and the effect it has had on Rockland.

The show will air at 7 p.m. tomorrow on Cablevision channel 78. It will be re-broadcast at 7 p.m. every Wednesday in May and June.

Former President Bill Clinton will be on his own tomorrow at a fundraiser for his wife’s presidential campaign. Scheduled for 6 p.m. at the New City home of Democrat Rosina Rubin, tickets to the event range from $1,000 a person to just under $5,000.

“But there’s not many $1,000s. They aren’t encouraging $1,000s,” Vince Monte, the Rockland County Democratic Committee chairman, said today.

Monte, one of the dinner’s hosts, said he’s expected between 75 and 100 people to attend.

“There’s a lot of money going out of the county tomorrow,” he said.

Kenneth P. Zebrowski is Rockland County’s newest assemblyman. He easily defeated Republican opponent Matt Brennan tonight to take the 94th District seat.

With 100 percent of the districts reporting, unofficial results from the Rockland County Board of Elections show Zebrowski, a Democrat, with 3,598 votes to Brennan’s 1,181.

 The 94th Assembly District seat has been empty since the March 18 death of Assemblyman Kenneth P. Zebrowski, father of tonight’s winner.

Zebrowski was all smiles at Rocco’s in New City, walking through a crowd of people who were eager to shake his hand or give him a hug.

“We did it!” he announced.

Later, after his victory speech, Zebrowski said he visited his father’s grave before coming to the celebration and said he’d have bittersweet feelings walking into the Assembly chambers for the first time.

But he wasn’t planning on celebrating for long tonight. He’s due in Albany at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Brennan said he was shocked how few people turned out at the polls, but wished Zebrowski good luck.

“It seems like a big waste of taxpayer money,” he said of the election. “Maybe next time the governor should appoint someone.”

In Rockland, that is. Tomorrow, May 1, voters will fill the 94th Assembly District seat, left empty since the March 18 death of Assemblyman Kenneth P. Zebrowski.

The candidates are Matt Brennan, a Republican, and Kenneth P. Zebrowski, the late assemblyman’s son, a Democrat. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow. The district includes Clarkstown, Haverstraw and parts of Ramapo. For more information on polling locations, visit the Rockland County Board of Elections Web site or call 845-638-5172.

WESTCHESTER

Here’s the list: (more…)

As usual, the Assembly Democrats got more money to spend on pet projects this year—commonly referred to as “pork,” but Republicans got more this year than last. About $2 million to be exact.

For more information on pork spending and the specifics of the statewide trends, click here for our recent Lohud.com story.
In Rockland, the late Assemblyman Kenneth P. Zebrowski, D-New City, secured the most pork funding—$153 million—to be spent on things like a new van for the Helen Hayes Hospital Foundation and new computers for Meals on Wheels.

Nancy Calhoun, R-Blooming Grove, came in second for the Rockland Assembly members, but out of $121,000, only three items totaling $17,000 were set aside for Rockland, not including money for the Ramapo-Catskills Library System which includes both Rockland and Orange counties.

Calhoun’s district includes all of Stony Point.

Annie Rabbitt, R-Greenwood Lake, set aside $18,096 and just four items of her $103,000 total for Rockland items, not including the Ramapo-Catskills Library system. Her district includes part of Ramapo.

Freshmen Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, brought home a total of $110,000 for things like renovations at the Airmont community center after school programs at the Nyack Center and the Martin Luther King Center.

Below is a full list of the Rockland Assembly pork: (more…)