NYaltnews Reports: Rockland County Republican Chair Vincent Reda says the GOP will field a strong State Senate candidate to run against David Carlucci in New York’s 38th State Senate district. Reda recently told City & State that three well-known local figures, Rockland County Legislator Ed Day, Clarkstown Town Councilman Frank Borelli, and recently ousted Orangetown Supervisor Paul Whalen have shown interest in entering the race.

However, a local Republican insider told NYaltnews that… “We understand that Carlucci is extremely popular, and it’s hard to find issues with his many of his votes. Even his liberal votes—like LGBT marriage—might not be battles worth fighting.” Read more »

If Democrat Lois Frankel and Republican Adam Hasner end up facing each other in the race for a Palm Beach-Broward congressional seat, Hasner can count on the support of Frankel’s first campaign manager.

Judy Hasner, Adam’s mom, ran Frankel’s first state House campaign in 1986, then went to work for Frankel as her legislative aide. Adam Hasner was a teenage Republican at the time. While his mother was helping send Frankel to Tallahassee, Adam Hasner said he was helping send a Republican to Washington by volunteering on former GOP Rep. Tom Lewis’ 1986 reelection campaign. – Report by Palm Beach Post

The State Column Reports: Rasmussen Reports released a survey of 500 Ohio voters Friday, that showed Senator Brown  garnering 44 percent of the votes, leading Mr. Mandel who finished the survey  with 40 percent of the votes.

Mr. Mandel, the current Ohio State Treasurer has not yet formally announced  that he will be running against Mr. Brown, however he did file with the Federal  Election Commission recently. Read more »

Politicker Reports: At a heated debate Thursday night between Councilman Charles Barron and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, both of whom are attempting to unseat Brooklyn Congressman Ed Towns, Mr. Barron leveled a big charge against Mr. Jeffries over his campaign contributions from the Police Benevolent Association, calling them “blood money,” a phrase he repeated to The Politicker this afternoon.

“You can’t criticize stop-and-frisk while taking money from the PBA,” he said, chastising the NYPD for some of their controversial shootings. Read more »

This is the script of the robo call made available by the Lew Fidler campaign: Read more »

Senator Eric Adams at a Press Conference

Politicker Reports: State Senator Eric Adams put an end to speculation about which office he would seek, announcing in an email to supporters this afternoon, “At the behest of many of you, Eric has decided to pursue his dream to run for the office of Brooklyn Borough President in 2013. ”

Mr. Adams had been rumored to either be a  BP candidate in 2013 or make a run for Public Advocate, but the email today–sent by his chief of staff, Ingrid Lewis-Martin–makes plain that he has decided to go with the former.

“The road to Borough Hall is long and can be rocky, but with your continued support we can pave the way and set a smooth course,” the email reads. Read more »

The Brooklyn Paper Reports: Veteran Rep. Ed Towns (D–Fort Greene) raised almost a quarter of a million dollars in the last three months of 2011 — building an impressive war chest that proves that the 76-year-old lawmaker isn’t retiring and will fight for his job.

Towns pulled in $233,472 after boasting a bank account of just $11,240 last fall — a figure so low that some political observers thought the longtime legislator would hang up his hat and let state Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D–Fort Greene) and Councilman Charles Barron (D–Canarsie) duke it out for his seat. Read more »

David Freedlander Reports: It is now the second week of February and due to some colossal inertia in Albany, if you were a citizen who dreamed of service in the Legislature, you would likely not know a) which district you live in b) whether or not that district has a sitting lawmaker and c) when, precisely, election day is.

In other words, New York is about to embark on an election season as chaotic and unpredictable as any in memory… Read more »

AP Via VIN Reports: A bill that would allow religious congregations to continue renting New York City public schools for worship services has passed the state Senate, but it’s unclear whether the state Assembly and Gov. Andrew Cuomo will approve it.

The city has told congregations that this coming Sunday, Feb. 12, is the last day they can worship in its public schools. Read more »

Duane Jackson

AP Reports: A Times Square street vendor who alerted police to an attempted car bombing in 2010 said Tuesday that he is running for Congress.

Duane Jackson said his brush with terrorism and celebrity taught him that it made sense to get involved.

“It was kind of an epiphany for me,” he said. “I had a call from President (Barack) Obama. I had people from all over the world come and thank me for, you know, seeing something and saying something. I can tell people, especially young people and people in the minority communities, it’s OK to get involved in the running of this country.” Read more »

Politicker Reports: Last night, The New York Times reported Assemblyman Rory Lancman will be announcing his campaign against Republican Congressman Bob Turner today, and this morning, Mr. Lancman told The Politicker his campaign will be quite different from the special election waged last summer when former Congressman Anthony Weiner’s Twitter scandal left the seat suddenly vacant.

Mr. Turner famously used Israel as a wedge issue in that campaign, driving the conversation in his favor in the heavily Jewish district, but Mr. Lancman was unconcerned about the same thing happening to him. Read more »

Congressman Ed Towns

Reid Pillifant Reports that Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who is challenging NY-10 Congressman Ed Towns in a three-way Primary, is hitting Towns over the fact that corporate PACs are bankrolling Towns’ political life. In exchange, the Towns Camp is hitting back: Read more »

Assemblyman Lancman

NYT Reports that  Assemblyman Rory I. Lancman plans to announce on Tuesday that he intends to challenge Representative Bob Turner, a freshman Republican, in the November election.

The decision by Mr. Lancman — a lawyer who is known as an aggressive campaigner — underscores the growing belief that Mr. Turner’s seat, which covers Brooklyn and Queens, will not be eliminated in redistricting, even though state legislative leaders and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo are still squabbling over where to draw Congressional lines. Read more »

If on March 20, Democratic City Councilmember Lew Fidler wins the senate seat formerly held by Carl Kruger, who resigned in December after pleading guilty to influence peddling, he will likely find himself fighting to hold a markedly different senate seat come November.

That’s because the new district lines released last week by the state senate’s Republican majority divide the district into three parts Read more »

PolitickerNJ reported recently that Boteach is seeking the Republican nomination to run for Congress in the newly-reshaped 9th Congressional District, but the rabbi told The Jewish Standard he hasn’t yet made up his mind on running.
If he does seek and secure the nomination, Boteach would face one of the two high-profile incumbent Democrats currently battling for the seat: Read more »

Star Ledger Reports: The event is scheduled for Monday, March 19th. The exact time and location are to be determined.

The invitation does not list the minimum donation required to attend. Read more »

Politicker Reports: At a press conference announcing Senator Chuck Schumer’s endorsement, Councilman Lew Fidler, who’s campaigning for the New York State Senate, addressed the dust-up over his comments that his opponent, Republican David Storobin, has “ties to skinheads, and neo-Nazi groups and white supremacist group.”

“I want to answer that, and my campaign folks would probably tell me that I shouldn’t,” he began. “I never, ever, ever did, or would have, called David Storobin a neo-Nazi.” Read more »

Apparently with no other time to spare, New York’s Senior U.S. Senator Charles Schumer will campaign Friday afternoon with NYC Councilman and State Senate candidate Lew Fidler. Both are Democrats.

According to the Media Advisory released by the campaign to the media, the event starting 12:00 at Pizza Time will bring a “major announcement” from Senator Schumer.

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY)

silive.com Reports: Rep. Michael Grimm yesterday issued a full-throated self-defense amid allegations that he took illegal campaign contributions.

“I never took any illegal cash contributions. Ever,” Grimm (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) told the Advance during an exclusive Capitol Hill interview. “I never conspired or coordinated or ever in any way discussed funneling illegal contributions. It is absolute nonsense.”

Grimm said that the allegations would have no impact on his re-election bid this year.

“I’m not running — I’m winning,” Grimm said. “And I will win by a big margin. And at the end of all this, there’s going to be a lot of apologies owed.”

Grimm declined to put a number on his “big margin” to come.

Grimm’s comments to the Advance were the first extended remarks he has made about the allegations since a story in The New York Times last weekend said that Grimm took illegal cash contributions for his 2010 race from followers of Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto.

The story accused Grimm of taking over-the-limit cash donations and taking donations from foreigners without green cards, who are barred from donating to political campaigns.

He has not officially been accused of any wrongdoing.

It was also alleged that Grimm took $5,000 in campaign cash in an envelope in his car while parked near the FBI building in Lower Manhattan.

As a former FBI agent, Grimm said that that allegation in particular shows “just how ridiculous this is.”

“Not only are they saying I’m a criminal, they’re saying I’m a very stupid criminal,” he said. “Everyone knows that that building is under surveillance for blocks. So why would I go where there’s surveillance to do a criminal act? That’s why I’m saying it’s preposterous.”

Said Grimm, “I am a former FBI agent. I am a United States Marine. I’ve held myself with honor and integrity always. And that’s the level I will maintain here as a congressman.”

When asked if he would be vindicated, Grimm said, “Oh, there’s no question. There’s no question.”

Read Full Article: silive.com

The Daily New Reports: Democratic state Senate hopeful Lew Filder had what Republicans complained was a mini-campaign rally on the floor of the state Assembly Monday.

Fidler, a Brooklyn city councilman taking on Republican David Storobin in a March 20 special election to fill the vacant seat of convicted Carl Kruger, was in Albany Monday for an evening fundraiser at the City Beer Hall.

Earlier in the day, he stopped by the Assembly, where he was welcomed, praised for his job as a councilman, and offered luck and help for his Senate campaign by Democratic members of the chamber.

Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the Brooklyn Democratic party leader, joked that Fidler was checking out the climate in Albany and would like to spend more time there.

He then went on to cite Fidler’s “distinguished” career in public service and the more than two dozen community groups he is active in.

Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Queens) said that Fidler “will be an outstanding addition to that other house and we welcome him here to Albany.”

Assemblywoman Joan Millman (D-Brooklyn) praised Fidler, saying “I know when he is successful, he will do the same wonderful job that he’s done as a councilman as another elected official up here in Albany.”

Bronx Assemblyman Jose Rivera even offered to cross borough lines to help Fidler’s campaign.

“If Vito Lopez stamps my passport, I’d gladly go to Brooklyn so I can help you in whatever you feel that the area that you might want to serve this great city of ours in the state of New York.”

He went on to say: “I just want to wish you good luck . I want to contribute to the future, but again, you’ve got to ask Vito Lopez to stamp my passport.”

In all, nine Dems got up to welcome Fidler to the chamber and praise him.

One GOPer ripped the display as “Outrageous, this is a Fidler campaign rally without the buttons and banners,” the Republican said.

Read Full Article: NY Daily News

Jeffries for Congress today announced that Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries has raised $105,487.43 from 219 contributions for the last quarter of 2011, bringing his total contributions to over $275,000 with more than $235,000 on hand. Jeffries has already raised more money than any candidate ever challenging the incumbent, who has faced almost a dozen contested primaries since first being elected in 1982.

“I am grateful for the unprecedented financial support that this campaign has already received,” said Assemblyman Jeffries. “Clearly, with the stakes in Washington as high as they are, our growing group of supporters has seen my record of accomplishment in changing the culture of Albany. They agree that we need someone who can help end the dysfunction in Washington and give the people of the 10th Congressional District and beyond the representation we deserve.”

As reported in his quarterly Federal Elections Commission filing, of the total Jeffries raised in the quarter, 48% were contributions of $200 or less; $200 was also the median contribution. Jeffries has received only three donations this quarter (a total of $1,700) from PACs – two that support drug policy reform (NORML and Drug Policy Reform Fund) and one from organized labor (Steamfitters Local 638).

Last week, Jeffries also announced that he had received the early endorsement of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500, New York State’s largest grocery workers union.

Hakeem Jeffries has represented Brooklyn’s 57th district in the New York State Assembly since 2007. During his time in the legislature, Assemblyman Jeffries has emerged as a champion for working families. He has successfully advanced a progressive agenda that has made a real impact throughout Brooklyn, including legislation to strengthen tenant regulations, protect the civil liberties of law-abiding New Yorkers during police encounters, reform state government in Albany, and facilitate the successful re-entry of formerly incarcerated individuals. For more information on Hakeem’s candidacy, visit www.JeffriesforCongress.com.

The 10th Congressional District includes the neighborhoods of downtown Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Cypress Hills, East New York, Mill Basin and Canarsie.

Press Release