NY Observer > Nassau http://www.observer.com/taxonomy/term/24706/feed Articles from Observer.com en Our Slice of the National Nightmare: Queens Home Sales Plummet http://www.observer.com/2008/queens-long-island-fourth-quarter-report

Queens home sales dropped 27.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a new report from brokerage Prudential Douglas Elliman and research firm Radar Logic. Sales also dropped from the third quarter 28 percent, suggesting that the largely suburban borough is mimicing much of the nation rather than its fellow boroughs to the west and south, Manhattan and Brooklyn.  read more »

]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/queens-long-island-fourth-quarter-report#comments Real Estate Nassau Prudential Douglas Elliman Queens Radar Logic Suffolk Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:44:06 -0500 Lysandra Ohrstrom 63544 at http://www.observer.com Eliot’s Secret Plan to Crush Albany http://www.observer.com/node/36751 Governor Eliot Spitzer has a secret plan to shrink Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver into obscurity.  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/36751#comments Politics Eliot Spitzer Nassau Sheldon Silver Thomas Suozzi Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500 Azi Paybarah 36751 at http://www.observer.com Replacing DiNapoli http://www.observer.com/node/31447 A Democratic source in Nassau just told me that the local Democrats have settled on North Hempstead Town Clerk Michelle Schimel to replace Tom DiNapoli in the Assembly. -- Azi Paybarah]]> http://www.observer.com/node/31447#comments Politics Hempstead Nassau Thomas DiNapoli Tue, 13 Feb 2007 07:57:53 -0500 Observer Staff 31447 at http://www.observer.com Senate Dems "Wholly Owned" by Spitzer http://www.observer.com/node/31426 Norman Adler thinks that in light of the race in Nassau -- in which Eliot Spitzer engineered the vacancy of a Republican seat and then propelled a Democrat to victory -- the state Senate Democrats are basically the governor's to do with as he pleases.

"Of course they sided with him," said Adler, a consultant who works with Republicans in the state Senate and Democrats in other offices. "He's their only hope. If they're going to be taking anything home to their districts, it's going to have to come through the governor's pork rather than the senate's pork. In this case, they sided with him because he's going to be their salvation."

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"All the money came from the governor, all the staff came from the governor, the media guy came from the governor. Ultimately the guy who did the second half of the mail came from the governor. The guy was out there campaigning continually. He's the one who pulled in Hillary and Chuck. "So the Senate minority, until they get into the majority, is almost a wholly owned subsidiary of the governor."

-- Azi Paybarah]]> http://www.observer.com/node/31426#comments Politics Eliot Spitzer Nassau Norman Adler Fri, 09 Feb 2007 10:30:00 -0500 Observer Staff 31426 at http://www.observer.com Log Cabin Blames Conservatives for O'Connell http://www.observer.com/node/31424 The bloodletting has begun in the wake of the Maureen O'Connell loss in Nassau's special election earlier this week. The defeat was a result, according to the New York Log Cabin Republicans, of the Conservative Party's "agenda of division and hate."

In a letter to Conservative Party state chair Michael Long, David Verchere of Log Cabins wrote:

"On the last day of the campaign, the news cycle wasn't about Maureen O'Connell, a fair-minded fiscal conservative. It was completely overwhelmed by the Conservative Party's anti-gay attack."

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"Chairman Long, you may wish to divide and attack your way to extinction, but the Conservative Party's strategies are also killing the New York GOP by tarring fair-minded, fiscally conservative candidates as divisive and out of the mainstream."

The full letter is here.

-- Azi Paybarah]]> http://www.observer.com/node/31424#comments Politics David Verchere Maureen O'Connell Michael Long Nassau Fri, 09 Feb 2007 09:28:55 -0500 Observer Staff 31424 at http://www.observer.com Election Time in Brooklyn http://www.observer.com/node/31422 bk40-sharpe-222.JPG bk40-toney-222.JPG

Here are a couple of visible reminders (from this morning) of the upcoming special election for the Yvette Clarke council seat.

While this race has gotten relatively little attention -- compared with, say, the $5 million special Senate election in Nassau this week -- it has, at least, prompted a number of influential figures within the party to take a rooting interest.

Clarke, who gave up the seat when she was elected to congress, is backing Dr. Mathieu Eugene; Councilman Lew Fidler, Rock Hackshaw and other notable Brooklyn operatives are backing Wellington Sharpe; the formidable Kevin Wardally, of Bill Lynch Associates, has contributed money to Jennifer James.

Eleven more days. -- Azi Paybarah]]> http://www.observer.com/node/31422#comments Politics Bill Lynch Lew Fidler Nassau Yvette Clarke Fri, 09 Feb 2007 07:32:21 -0500 Observer Staff 31422 at http://www.observer.com Still in the Majority http://www.observer.com/node/31392 bruno-majority.jpg

Joe Bruno's upbeat message this morning after losing a seat in Nassau:

"We still have the Majority in the Senate and our conference will go forward, strong, united and committed to ensuring accountability, providing checks and balances and delivering results for our constituents."

His full statement is after the jump.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah ]]> http://www.observer.com/node/31392#comments Politics Joe Bruno Joseph Bruno Maureen O'Connell Nassau Wed, 07 Feb 2007 05:51:24 -0500 Observer Staff 31392 at http://www.observer.com Republican Reaction: Stay the Course http://www.observer.com/node/31391 I caught up with Republican state Senator Frank Padavan on his way into session in the capitol just a moment ago and asked him about what the Senate Republicans will do now after losing the seat in Nassau.

"We continue to do what we think is right for the electorate," he said.

When I asked him his thoughts about state GOP chair Joe Mondello, who just lost the state senate seat in his own backyards, Padavan said he wasn't involved with the race enough to comment. Then, Padavan, never one for small talk, rushed into session, which ended a few moments later.

Focus right now is on another Republican senator from Queens, Serph Maltese, who narrowly won re-election and had problems mayor Bloomberg's re-election. I called his office to ask if he would switch parties or leave the Senate before his re-election in 2008.

His spokeswoman said he'd call me back. -- Azi Paybarah]]> http://www.observer.com/node/31391#comments Politics Joe Mondello Nassau U.S. Republican Party Wed, 07 Feb 2007 05:41:04 -0500 Observer Staff 31391 at http://www.observer.com Scrappy, But No Complaints http://www.observer.com/node/31389 Despite all the finger-pointing and charges of voter suppression, there were no complaints made about yesterday's special election in Nassau to the US Attorney's Office in the Eastern District, a spokesman at the office told me via email late yesterday.

There was plenty of last minute legal maneuvering on the local level, but calls for complaints to be made to the federal authorities apparently went nowhere.

-- Azi Paybarah]]> http://www.observer.com/node/31389#comments Politics Nassau U.S. Attorney's Office Wed, 07 Feb 2007 04:15:00 -0500 Observer Staff 31389 at http://www.observer.com Early Numbers From Nassau http://www.observer.com/node/31386 A Democratic source called with some early numbers in the Nassau race: 52 percent for Democrat Craig Johnson and 48 percent for Republican Maureen O'Connell, with about 30 percent of the precincts reporting in [numbers updated].

This source also said that the districts which were expected to go heavily for the Republicans haven't reported in yet, meaning this lead will tighten, and possibly vanish.

If you've got more numbers, let me know.

Update: O'Connell is down by 2,000 votes with 13 election districts to go, according to a Republican source. My Democratic souce emailed me to say, "We won by 3." No concession speeches have been made.

-- Azi Paybarah]]> http://www.observer.com/node/31386#comments Politics Craig R. Johnson Maureen O'Connell Nassau Tue, 06 Feb 2007 17:13:42 -0500 Observer Staff 31386 at http://www.observer.com