Just received the following statement from Sen. Johnson's office:
"I've reserved comment on the gravely serious situation surrounding Senator Monserrate until Senate Leadership decided how to proceed. Now that a review panel has been formed, and the Senate Standing Committee on Investigations and Government Operations will not be referred this matter, I believe it is now appropriate to share my personal point of view. I join my colleagues in calling for Senator Monserrate to resign his position. Domestic violence is a horrific crime. As a husband and a father, I simply do not believe that someone convicted of assaulting a woman should be a member of this chamber. However, I also support due process. I am confident that this panel will conduct its work in a fair, impartial, and swift manner."
Remember, if you haven't signed the petition to remove Senator Monserrate, do it now and tell your friends that domestic violence is a terrible crime and it has no place in the lives of our elected officials.
The signatures will be delivered to Senator Monserrate's office as well as those of the Senate Leadership...and to the committee for good measure.
Yesterday I wrote about the hold-up in Governor Paterson's "Quick Fix" plan to plug the gap in MTA funding. As you may remember, MTA is on the brink of massive rate hikes and service cuts. Governor Paterson's proposal would plug the funding gap through a 1% payroll tax on businesses in the metropolitan New York area. Yesterday I reported that four suburban Senators were holding up the plan. At the time it looked like Senators Stewart-Cousins and Oppenheimer agreed to support the plan but Senators Foley and Johnson had not.
Thankfully, after a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, it appears that Senator Foley and Johnson will support the plan.
MTA is heading for a major problem. The failure of the Legislature to pass any sort of plan earlier in the year is coming back to bite us all, and the proposed rate increases are staggering. Currently Governor Paterson is pushing a quick fix plan that will utilize a 1% payroll tax on businesses in the metropolitan counties. There was also a compromise plan that would lower the rates paid by a county the further they are away from the city. Furthermore, school districts are promised a reimbursement to avoid unduly increasing property taxes.
Four Democrats are the on-record holdouts to this plan. Their names might surprise you, as you'll find over the fold.
Dean Skelos really hates Craig Johnson.
So much so that he dropped over $1Million into Barbara Donno's flailing campaign from the Republican Senate Campaign Committee.
And it wasn't just a loss, it was a big loss 56-44.
So how much did it cost Donno to get creamed like that?
The final financial filings aren't in yet but her run so far cost $1,395,432. That ends up at $28 per vote for 49,050 votes.
Craig Johnson's re-election cost $657.052 which is $10 per vote for 63,470 votes.
I'm sure Upstate and Queens republicans would like to know if a personal grudge was worth the expense.
Skelos and crew dropped more than $800,000* on Barbara Donno's bid against Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington). She lost Plandome Manor, where she's mayor, early tallies say.
I'm sure Frank Padavan thanks you, Senator Skelos.
The new Siena Polls on four state Senate Races are out this morning and it is a decidedly mixed bag.
7th SD - Nassau County - Craig Johnson (D, incumbent) vs. Barbara Donno (R)
Johnson has a 50-35 percent lead over Donno, down from a 49-25 percent lead in the previous Siena New York Poll. Johnson has the support of more than three-quarters of Democrats, while Donno has the support of more than two-thirds of Republicans. Johnson has a nearly two-to-one lead among independent voters, 50-28 percent, up from 36-24 percent in the last poll. Donno's overall gain in the poll comes largely from Republican voters, where she went from leading 47-28 percent, to now leading 68-19 percent.
Johnson is viewed favorably by 40 percent and unfavorably by 28 percent of voters (36-17 percent last poll). Donno currently has a 29-23 percent favorable rating (16-9 percent last poll).
...
37th SD - Westchester County - Suzi Oppenheimer (D, incumbent) vs. Liz Feld (R)
Oppenheimer has maintained a large 64-29 percent lead over Feld, down slightly from 61-24 percent in the previous poll. While Oppenheimer has support from 88 percent of Democrats, Feld is only winning among Republicans 64-30 percent. Oppenheimer has a better than two-to-one, 59-28 percent, lead among independent voters. Oppenheimer leads in every region and with virtually every demographic group.
...
56th SD - Monroe County - Joseph Robach (R, incumbent) vs. Richard Dollinger (D)
Robach leads Dollinger 52-39 percent, edging up slightly from 49-38 percent in the last poll. Robach has the support of 84 percent of Republicans and 34 percent of Democrats in this district with a large Democratic enrollment edge. Dollinger has the support of 55 percent of Democrats and 13 percent of Republicans. Robach leads among independent voters 56-37 percent, up from 46-34 percent. Dollinger leads by 11 points in Rochester and eight points in Brighton, however, Robach leads 67-27 percent in Greece and Parma.
...
Obama has a commanding 61-32 percent lead over McCain.(!)
Volker has a 50-39 percent lead over Konst, down six points from the last poll, when he led 50-33 percent. Volker has the support of three-quarters of Republicans, while Konst wins among Democrats 60-28 percent. Konst now leads among independent voters 47-40 percent, after trailing with these voters 43-28 percent previously. Volker has a small three - point lead in the Erie County portion of the district and a large 23-point lead in the Livingston/Ontario/Wyoming Counties portion of the district.
Much, much work to do. If you are in or near the 56th or the 59th, now is the time to get off the bench. I still think that the Rocbach/Dollinger race is going to turn largely on the Obama GOTV effort. Obama leads McCain 2-1 in that district and the urban parts of Rochester are going to be key. If you are anywhere near there, now is the time to get involved. This is a winnable race, folks.
(Dear Senator Skelos, please keep spending big money on this race. Thanks so much. - promoted by phillip anderson)
Skelos is pulling out all the stops for Donno to defeat Craig Johnson. According to the 11 Day Pre-General filing, Dean through the republican senate campaign committee paid for ads and such with $244,294.00 for Babs on October 20th. That's $882,821 total in cash from Albany.
But wait! There's more!
In October she got even more money in direct contributions to her campaign!
10/2/08 - $89,900
10/9/08 - $29,370
10/15/08 - $85,000
The GRAND TOTAL is $1,087,091
For a candidate who says she isn't a "typical politician" and promises to "... work to be your voice in Albany", taking over a MILLION DOLLARS from Albany isn't the way to do that.
We're looking at over 90% of Donno's campaign money coming from Dean Skelos and the Albany republicans.
Donno is bought and paid for by Dean Skelos so don't expect her to do anything except be what Skelos wants her to be.
(It's all they've got left. - promoted by phillip anderson)
"God help the people of Long Island if the Democrats from New York City got control of the Senate"
That's how Skelos began his summation at his News12 Debate.
From start to finish, Skelos played the fear card and made New York City the big boogey-man.
He says "We know how they like to suck the money out of our pockets on Long Island..." even though NYC gives Albany $11Billion more than it gets back every year.
For the slow-witted Skelos, I'll explain that that means NYC is not "sucking" any money from Long Island or anywhere else. In fact, money is being sucked out of NYC.
Did Skelos try to play the homophobe card too? When Skelos ticks off the names of who from NYC would be in charge in the State, Skelos made sure to be specific that the openly gay Senator Tom Duane was from Greenwich Village. He gave no specific location for anyone else, just saying "the Bronx", Manhattan" or "New York City."
Skelos is on the ropes and he knows it. Skelos may be telegraphing his final weeks attacks in his debate. I don't doubt that Babs Donno will throw the "New York City" junk at Craig Johnson or Hannon at McElroy and Trunzo at Foley. The funny part is that upstate republicans have slammed Long Island for taking their money. When the republicans do lose the Senate, expect the long knives to come out for Dean. He won't be Minority Leader in January.
Skelos has nothing to use but fear and lies to try to remain in the senate.
Below is a video of Skelos trying to scare Long Island voters into voting for him.
To say that GOP money sop Barbara Donno's ridiculous ad released yesterday a was a "streeeeeetch" woul be something of a rather profound understatement. The Donno ad was simply beyond ridiculous, though I'm beyond happy that Dean Skelos continues to dump big bucks into this race. Srsly, Dean, you rule.
Craig Johnson is out with a new ad of his own today and it is remarkable for ads in this race in that it appears to be rather free of complete and utter BS.
Port Washington cops last night arrested a 22-year-old man who's been paid as a campaign consultant to Nassau Republican Senate candidate Barbara Donno (left), charging him with the theft of re-election signs for her opponent, Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington).
He's identified as Vincent Jeffrey, 22, of Manhasset.
Donno campaign spokesman Bryan Hurst described this as the action of "an overzealous campaign supporter" who has been suspended from the campaign without pay and who he said "obviously" wasn't acting on the orders of higherups.
The Johnson campaign gives this account, calling it a "new low" for Donno: "A Johnson campaign volunteer caught a person matching Jeffrey's description attempting to take a sign from Port Washington Blvd., just north of Wakefield Avenue, during Thursday's morning rush hour. The campaign later discovered that 70 to 100 Senator Johnson signs, many along Port Washington Blvd. and Searingtown Road, turned up missing within that same time period. Nearly all of them were replaced by Donno signs."
"The campaign volunteer was able to get the license plate number from the silver convertible the person was driving and a complaint was filed with police... Jeffrey was found with some of the missing signs in his possession and placed under arrest, according to Port Washington Police. Records on file with the New York State Board of Elections show that Jeffery has been on the Donno campaign's payroll since at least June 19."
Hurst of the Donno campaign said: "This was an overzealous campaign supporter who acted obviously outside the campaign...He has since been suspended without pay.
"Previous to this incident, the Town of North Hempstead Republican Party filed a complaint with the Port Washington Police Dept. stating that our signs had been stolen."
Normally, it would be easier for me to swallow the whole "overzealous staffer" thing. But, given the overtly dishonest campaign Donno has so far run, I'm not so sure.
(It's what they do. - promoted by phillip anderson)
The ever-desperate campaign of Babs Donno trips over itself again and again. This time Donno comes out swinging at the wind attacking Craig Johnson over Assembly Speaker Silver talking about bringing back the communter tax. Never mind that Johnson opposes the commuter tax. Donno never lets a fact get in her way.
Senate candidate Barbara Donno doesn't identify herself as a republican. You 'd be hard pressed to find it spelled out on her website or mentioned in her TV ads or in her mailings. On election day, she'll have the word "Republican" spelled out under her name.
How can republican candidates like Donno run like mad from her party name and still have a party designation?
Do what Gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is doing in Washington State.
The Siena polls released today have created quite the buzz. No one said this New York State Senate fight would be easy, but it certainly is quite intriguing. These polls showed that these races are going to be very competitive in some places and not-so competitive in others.
But how seriously should we take these polls? Let's use this disclaimer from the poll to get this analysis started:
These SRI surveys were conducted from September 11-17, 2008 by telephone calls to likely registered voters in each State Senate district. For the 3rd SD, 405 voters were called, with a margin of error of + 4.9 percentage points. For the 7th SD, 402 voters were called, margin of error + 4.9. For the 15th SD, 401 voters were called, margin of error + 4.9. For the 48th SD, 437 voters were called, margin of error + 4.7. For the 56th SD, 429 voters were called, margin of error + 4.7. For the 61st SD, 450 voters were called, margin of error + 4.6. Data was statistically adjusted by respondent age - and in the 3rd SD, party - to match likely voters.
Phillip mentioned the high margin of error earlier. I would also like to point out that only 400-plus voters were surveyed in each district. That is a very small sample when you take into consideration how many voters each senate district contains.
There also some questions I had after looking at the crosstabulations for each poll. Take SD-56's crosstabs, for example. Sen. Joe Robach had a favorable rating in Greece/Parma of 71 percent. That is Robach's turf, but 71 percent still seems high to me considering Rick Dollinger had a 56 percent favorable rating on his turf in Brighton. Those numbers tell me that when they conducted this poll and especially when they called voters in Greece, they called more Republicans than Democrats. That Greece/Parma portion of the poll just seems to be inflated to me. This race isn't a double-digit race. We are talking single-digits, if not a dead heat.
The SD-3 crosstabs also boggle my mind. Trunzo is viewed favorably by 54 percent of Democrats? Really? That seems very high to me, especially since this guy is in hiding somewhere. Also, Trunzo is viewed more favorably than Brian Foley in Foley's hometown of Brookhaven. That doesn't sound right to me. And Trunzo is viewed more favorably among people ages 18 to 34? I'll have to take you word for it.
I will echo what Phillip said earlier and that is take these results with a grain of salt. Overall, I think SD-15 and SD-61 are about right. It would make sense that both of those races are tied at the moment. I do think SD-3 is much closer than that and I would even bet Foley is leading. The SD-56 poll also doesn't show how close that race truly is. Again, it depends on your sample. If your sample leans one way or another, that's the way the poll will lean. I'm not accusing Siena of anything (they do great work there) but the sample you have is the sample you work with.
What the Siena polls did tell us today is that we have a fight on our hands. But it also gave the Republicans a nice warning shot across the bow. We are coming for them with everything we have. To think, we could have four races (SD-3, SD-15, SD-56 and SD-61) in play and the Republicans are spending their resources in two races (SD-7 and SD-48) where our incumbent senators are up by double-digits.
November 4 is going to be very, very good for us. But we still need to work hard. There are other races throughout the state we should keep an eye on and work just as hard in. This election is ours for the taking. So let's take it.
As if you needed any more proof this week that Republicans can't handle money, take a look at where Dean Skelos has been blowing his campaign committee's money so far this cycle. He's spent close to $1.3 million on Barbara Donno ($650K in SD-7) and David Renzi ($600K in SD-48). The result? Their candidates are being crushed by 20 points or more. It seems that Skelos just can't let the SD-7 race go, as he continues to pour money into a vendetta race against Craig Johnson. As for SD-48, I guess they just can't get over the fact that they lost a seat they'd held since the 19th century and must feel that they are owed it or something. Darrel Aubertine appears to have sealed the deal with the good people of the district and even $600K doesn't seem to have changed that perception all that much.
The point is that that money is gone. It's not coming back. Dean has dropped well over million bucks on two long shots and has gotten two blowouts in return.
Of course, this all pales in comparison to the nearly $1 million, give or take a cup of coffee or two, that Dean has dumped into defending Serph Maltese. That's a lot of money and it's only September. The result? A dead heat against 20 year incumbent. A million bucks and Maltese is still in real serious trouble.
With mad fiscal skillz like these, is it any wonder our state budget is in such a mess?
Republican challenger to Sen. Craig Johnson has received $462,000 in direct contributions from the New York Senate Republican Campaign Committee so far.
There is also the money spent by the SRCC on Donno's behalf which adds up to $196,527.
(The latest from Barbara Donno, our very own Sarah Palin. - promoted by phillip anderson)
For someone who says "I'm not your typical politician" and "I learned that we are all fed-up with politics as usual, partisan sniping and outright character assassination- especially when that's what we get instead of progress" she sure doesn't live up to that.
For a local race, Donno has brought sleaze to a new level. And considering her party in Nassau, that says alot.
I caught up with our good friend Senator Craig Johnson this morning at the Sheraton in downtown Denver, the home of the New York delegation. Take a look:
Yesterday we reported on the minor party ballot line shenanigans in SD-7, where two parties, the Working Families Party and the local Independence Party both wanted Freshman Senator Craig Jonson on their lines only to end up with Johnson off the WFP line and with challenger Barbara Donno taking the Indy line at the insistence of the state Indys. WFP chief Dan Cantor released this statement late yesterday afternoon:
"Senate Republicans used the courts to circumvent the democratic process and the will of Working Families Party members in the 7th Senate District."
"Senator Johnson has been a champion of middle and working class values, and has worked tirelessly to make sure that their issues and concerns are heard in Albany. No matter what line his name will be on in November, he will continue to have the support of the Working Families Party, and more importantly, the support of the hard-working men and women in his district."
"We have no doubt that Craig Johnson will be re elected to the State Senate."
More fun with minor party ballot lines in the 7th. Liz is reporting that the Appellate Division 2nd Judicial Department has ruled unanimously that freshman Senator Craig Johnson will be kept off the Working Families line. This is ironic in that the WFP is a big reason why Johnson is a Senator today and they endorsed him again 2008. The court also ruled that his challenger, Barbara Donno, will keep the Independence Party line even though the local IP has endorsed Johnson as well.
You remember the "North Shore Committee for Truth", don't you? It's the Republican Senate Campaign Committee funded astroturf entity that I wrote about last summer that sprang up shortly after Craig Johnson won the SD-7 special election. The website for the "committee" now seems to be defunct (what did they spend the $5K Bruno gave them on anyway?), but the woman who is at least nominally behind that effort, one Christine A. Nagy (or Christine A. Imrie, depending on what documents you are looking at) is also the woman behind the apparently successful (for now, anyway) effort to keep Johnson off the WFP line this November. Spin Cycle has the goods:
The court case that has knocked Sen. Craig Johnson off the Working Families Party ballot line was brought by a Republican resident of Westbury whose address is also that of a now-you-see-it-now-you-don't civic "committee" -- which sent out letters attacking Johnson shortly after he was elected last year.
Senate GOP Majority Leader Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre has made no secret of his special desire to unseat Johnson, the only Democrat in Long Island's 9-member Senate delegation. The Senate Republican Campaign Committee donated $5,000 last year to the North Shore Committee for Truth, whose treasurer was listed as Christine A. Nagy.
Records show Nagy, 35, is registered to vote under that name, and did so in 2007, but on other records is Christine A. Imrie, who made the successful application to challenge Johnson's petitions. Meanwhile the "truth" committee's Web site, active a year ago, seems to have gone off-line, though you can see some of the content by clicking this Google-cached item. Phone numbers that are listed under both of the petitioner's names seem to be disconnected.
Just in case this tactic didn't work, Nassau Republicans also sent out one Patrick Lilavois to collect petition signatures for a WFP candidacy that only ever existed as a means for denying Johnson the ballot line.
Meanwhile, the earlier gambit by which Patrick Lilavois, also of Westbury, gathered 44 signatures for the WFP line -- with help from North Hempstead Republicans -- seems to have paid off for the GOP as a tactical move. If a party member signs two candidate petitions, only the first one counts. In some cases, Lilavois got to the doors of party members first, helping Johnson's foes' efforts to winnow down his number of valid signatures and thus aid the prospects of keeping him off the WFP line. Some earlier partisan analysis from the Johnson side is here.
