The DN's Erin Einhorn reports Administrative Law Judge Robert Beltrani - the Republican running against Hiram Monserrate and Assemblyman Jose Peralta in the March 16 special election for Monserrate’s seat - attended the event at City Hall.
“I'm here...to support this measure and to bring attention to the seriousness of the domestic violence issue, and to let people know that the people in government, in courts, are here to stand up and protect both men and women but more often than not we hear about the women,” Beltrani said.
After, the press conference, Beltrani made the (rather obvious) point that domestic violence is an issue in the 13th SD race.
...In 2007, Erika Delia was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. Beltrani and Ortiz were joined by members of Erika Delia's family, including Forest Hills Republican leader, Dee Maddis who was Erika's Aunt...
In a demonstration of how the Teachers Union make critical personnel decisions nearly impossible to make at the Department of Education, the NY Times describes the slow process of removing public school teachers from the City payroll...
The city’s effort includes eight full-time lawyers, known as the Teacher Performance Unit, and eight retired principals and administrators who serve as part-time consultants to help principals build cases against teachers. Joel I. Klein, the schools chancellor, said that the team, whose annual budget is $1 million, had been “successful at a far too modest level” but that it was “an attempt to work around a broken system.”
Mr. Klein and his boss, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, said they were hampered by cumbersome state laws that had been heavily influenced by the teachers’ union here, although many of the rules that govern the cases were agreed to by the city.
“The process makes it virtually impossible to remove a teacher within a reasonable amount of time,” Mr. Klein said in an interview. “Nobody thinks that the number of cases is reflective of the teachers who should be removed.”
...the story continues with the Union leaders chiming in...
Posted by: The Editors in Untagged on
Feb 26, 2010
It is now being reported that the Governor will step aside and not run for re-election. An announcement is expected soon...
Gov. David Paterson has told Democratic leaders that he won't seek election to a full term amid a roiling scandal over whether he and his troopers intimidated a woman who'd reported domestic violence against one of his top aides, The Post has learned.
Paterson communicated his intentions to top advisers and supporters, saying he'll make an announcement today, multiple sources said -- confirming a Post report.
Paterson, who took over the state's top spot when Eliot Spitzer resigned after it was disclosed that he had sex with a prostitute, is expected to say he won't resign.
...this clears the field for Andy Cuomo to run for the highest office in the state. The attacks, both internal and external, from national Democratic leaders have finally hit their mark. Will there be political payback for their actions in the minority community? Seems that Mr. Paterson was "embattled" since he stepped into Eliot Spitzer's black socks shoes. The story continues and the only question remaining is whether or not he'll be able to finish out his term..
Posted by: The Editors in Untagged on
Feb 16, 2010
In a surprising move, US Senator Evan Bayh resigns from office, opening up speculation and an opportunity for the GOP to pick up another seat...
The Democrats today suffered a further blow in the runup to the midterm Congressional elections after another of the party's senators, Evan Bayh of Indiana, announced he will stand down.
The resignation greatly weakens the Democrats' chances of holding on to the seat, which will now become a prime target of the Republican campaign to win back control of the Senate in November.
Bayh, a former state governor who was considered a possible vice-presidential running mate for Barack Obama, denied that his decision not to run again after 12 years in the Senate was prompted by the declining popularity of the Democrats amid continuing popular disillusionment over the economy.
But it will contribute to the perception that the party is on the retreat as he becomes the fifth Democratic party senator to stand down, while others are fighting to retain seats that they won four years ago.
...and it now appears to be much more than a "perception" that the Democrats are in "retreat." With moderate voices in the Democratic Party, like Bayh, abandoning the battle-field, it will make it much harder for Obama, Reed, Pelosi and the Congressional Left, to pass their radical agenda. The story continues...
Although Special Elections often don't get much attention paid to them, it seems the Assembly Special Election in Queens for the 24th AD just got moved onto the front-page - yet for all the WRONG reasons. From Liz Benjamin's blog at the Daily News...
Several readers have now forwarded this rather stunning piece of mail that slams Bob Friedrich, who will face off Tuesday against David Weprin in a special election to fill the Queens Assembly seat vacated by Weprin's now-councilman brother, Mark.
The mail features a Swastika superimposed over a generic photo of police tape. It arrived in mailboxes in Glen Oaks, a 10,000-person co-op on the Nassau/Queens line that is heavily Jewish.
As you can see from the mailer that appears in full after the jump, Friedrich himself was on the mailing list.
The piece accuses Friedrich, who, like Weprin, is Jewish, of being an "extremist" who is "out of touch with our community's values." According to Friedrich's campaign manager, Jay Golub, this stems from comments Friedrich made that murder should carry a heavier penalty than hate crimes.
The mailer - at least the one I've got - doesn't indicate who paid for it. But Golub sounds certain it was Weprin's campaign.
"This was so haphazardly done that he didn't even take Bob's name off the list," Golub told me. "We're offended by this and the community is offended by this. I'm not even certain what the message is supposed to be...A guy with a German last name is anti-Jewish? It's so over-the-top that I'm dumbfounded. I don't know what to say."
Alternatively slinging barbs and touting their records, the two candidates vying for an Assembly seat in Queens made the most of their first and only debate before next week's special election.
Civic leader Bob Friedrich slammed former City Councilman David Weprin as a clubhouse politician, while Weprin dismissed Friedrich as a "perennial candidate" during Monday's hour-long slugfest at the Queens High School for Teaching.
The two face off at the polls Tuesday in a contest for the 24th Assembly District seat.
Friedrich criticized Weprin as a "tax-and-spend" politician, and repeatedly hammered him for signing on to an 18% property tax hike in 2002. Mayor Bloomberg had asked the City Council for a 25% hike to balance the budget.
Posted by: The Editors in Untagged on
Jan 20, 2010
We wanted to put this up as it's own stand-alone piece...
While liberal Democrats and media pundits try to spin the Scott Brown Senate victory into insignificance, it should be noted that moderate Democrats everywhere are breathing a sign of relief. The election of a conservative to the US Senate in left-leaning Massachusetts will almost certainly subdue the Democratic Congress, and slow its Left-wing policy assault on free-market capitalism. That, ironically, may save the careers of more than a few Blue-dog Democrats who have had to hold their noses while voting for the Obama, Reid, Pelosi agenda. It was the overreaching of the Leftist agenda of the Obama administration and Congress that gave Brown the victory. That agenda is simply out of favor with the American public and it is now finished. So, too, is the masquerade that President Obama would bring a new kind of "bipartisan politics" to Washington. Only an honest politics of interests and values vying for power remains, which is not more to be despised for being so, as it substitutes for guns in settling differences, just as the Founders designed...
The Herd: Have Your Say
Although Special Elections often don't get much attention paid to them, it seems the Assembly Special Election in Queens for the 24th AD just got moved onto the front-page - yet for all the WRONG reasons. 
