Schenectady

As the legislators up in Albany scramble for late-in-the-game restorations of some of the governor's proposed cuts, it looks like the session may drag into tomorrow and possibly even one day next week.

It's comforting to know, however, that the assembly found time to issue a proclamation congratulating Miami Heat coach and Schenectady native Pat Riley on his latest NBA championship.

Here's a right-to-the-heart-of-the-matter headline Room Eight's Jerry Skurnik superimposed on the story:

State Assembly Disses Knick Fans

Exactly.

-- Josh Benson

The chairmen of Schenectady and Suffolk Counties are circulating a letter that calls on Tom Suozzi to distance himself from "Republican activist" Ken Langone.

"Denounce Mr. Langone. Tell him to stop his campaign. And give back the money. Anything less compromises you as a candidate and as a Democrat," reads the letter, a copy of which The Politicker has obtained. Suozzi, needless to say, won't denounce on command.

The letter is sort of a distraction, but here's the real problem for Tom: Langone vs. Spitzer is, for any number of reasons, a more interesting story than Suozzi vs. Spitzer. It's also probably a storyline Eliot would prefer. Suozzi, who has a separate case to make about cleaning up corruption and reforming management, is in danger of winding up a footnote to the entertaining, dramatic battle between two titans, Langone and Spitzer.

(The fact that this is being pushed by county chairmen is a smaller, but real, problem for Eliot: He's the candidate of pols, and of the Democratic establishment, and that's how Suozzi wants him to be seen.)  read more »

UPDATE: Here's the AP story, with Suozzi's response.