Week in Review

Monday, December 12,
56 of our 62 New York State Republican County Chairman met in Albany to cast ballots for the GOP Gubernatorial candidate.

23 Chairs voted for William Weld

23 Chairs voted for John Faso

2 Chairs voted for Randy Daniels

8 Chairman abstained from the vote

State Chairman Stephen Minarik had the votes weighted, which bases the value of the vote on the number of registered voters who voted republican in 2002.

43.2% for William Weld

10.2% for John Faso

1.1% for Randy Daniels

45.5% were abstemious

The vote helped officially launch William Weld’s website as the leading Republican candidate for Governor.

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Hundreds rallied in Chinatown on Sunday to celebrate 6 million Chinese people who have renounced their membership to the Chinese Communist Party. State Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, along with representatives of several human rights groups spoke at the rally, which culminated with a parade through Chinatown.

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Two City Council members are urging parents to be careful when buying video games this holiday season. Democrats Eric Gioia of Queens and Gale Brewer of Manhattan published a list of the 10 best and worst video games on the market for children.

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A new group, People to Stop a Self Serving Council, is banding together to resist the NYC Council’s effort to extend Term Limits. PSSSC is the first New York group established to oppose the council on its term-limits initiative.

It’s three founding members are active in their communities. Kenneth Moltner is a lawyer who says the council is “shunting democracy for their own self-interests.” Frank Scala, a barber who is co-chairman of Community Board 6 says he “believes in the word of the voters.” Joe Metzger, a political science and history major at New York University says many of the current council only have their job because of term limits and don’t deserve to change the law. A national organization Don’t Touch Term Limits is working to unite all organized groups defending the voice of the people.

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Tuesday, December 13,
The City Council is planning to pass a resolution condemning the proposal of President Bush’s advisory panel on tax reform to abolish the federal deduction for state and local income taxes and limit the deductions for home mortgages. David Weprin of Queens and candidate for Speaker, as well as outgoing Speaker A. Gifford Miller, said the proposal would harm high tax paying states like New York and California.

Lawmakers said the new proposal would increase the amount of money New York sends to the federal government by $10 billion. New York already sends $13 billion more in taxes than it gets back in federal spending.

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Councilwoman Letitia James of Brooklyn, has offered a bill for vote that would impose stiffer restrictions on the use of eminent domain. The bill expresses support for two bills - that have already been presented in the two State Houses - that would mandate a local review process before government could take control of a private property.

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Wednesday, December 14,
Congressman Anthony Weiner of Queens is urging Harvard and Georgetown Universities to return $20 million donations they received from a member of the Saudi royal family, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Alsaud. The democrat from New York’s 9th Congressional District chastised them for “accepting gifts from a family that bankrolls terrorist organizations.”

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The New York Sun editorial page lauds the opportunity for a Republican Primary after the results of Monday’s meeting in Albany among State County Chairman. The paper believes New York republicans will appreciate the chance to choose the candidate they feel best represents their values in the polls.

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Thursday, December 15,
The mayor decided not to veto a bill that will increase the amount of money labor unions can donate to candidates running for office. As a result, the bill will quietly become law next month.

Chairman of the Campaign FInance Board, Frederick Schwarz Jr., said in a statement: “The Board is very disappointed and does not believe that the Administration has fully appreciated the ramifications” of this bill.

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Friday, December 16,
Democrats worry Spitzer’s enemies could haunt his campaign. The New York Sun reports Eliot Spitzer has made more enemies than the average public official, and some democrats are worried those he investigated for corporate corruption may come back to haunt him as he runs for governor.

Nassau County Executive, Thomas Suozzi, has emerged on the sidelines as a potential challenger to the Democrat designate for Governor, and is expected to start raising money for a statewide bid after he is sworn in to his second term.

Yesterday, two county leaders - Robert Brehm of Schenectady County and Richard Schaffer of Suffolk - sent a letter to Suozzi demanding he disassociate himself with Kenneth Langone, a former director of the NY Stock Exchange, who is a target of an investigation by the Attorney General. The letter stated Suozzi should not be associating with someone who contributes to ‘radical right wing candidates.” Mr. Langone has contributed in the past to “right wing radicals” such as Sen. Charles Schumer and Sen. Joseph Biden.

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Two State Legislators are going “phishing” for Internet scam artists. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Democrat of Westchester, and Senator Charles Fuschillo, a Republican of Long Island, plan to introduce a bill that would target the practice by allowing the attorney general, industry, and non profits to bring civil cases against Internet “phishers,” a practice where an email is sent to someone using the same font and interface of a legitimate institution. The recipient is informed their account information is suspended or has become inactive and in order to correct matters, they must click a link and provide their personal information to update the records. “This is theft. This is theft of the worst kind,” said Mr. Brodsky, who is running for Attorney General. There were more than 15,000 “phishing attacks” in the month of October alone.

The House of Representatives approved a resolution aimed at protecting “The symbols and traditions” of Christmas. By a vote of 401 to 22, the House said that it “recognizes the importance of the symbols and traditions of Christmas” and that “it strongly disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas.”

Most members of New York’s congressional delegation voted in favor of the resolution, however, Rep. Gary Ackerman, a Democrat of the 5th District, voted against the bill, and Rep. Steven Israel, a Democrat of the 2nd District, chose to abstain from the vote.