Maureen O'Connell

According to two Republican sources, City Hall staffer Fred Kreizman is considering a run for state Senate on their line against Democrat Diane Savino, whose district includes parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Kreizman works in the Community Assistance Unit and has previously taken some time off from work to help Republican state Senate candidate Maureen O'Connell on Long Island, who lost her special election race earlier this year to Democrat Craig Johnson.  read more »

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."

[skip]

"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

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

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

New York Blade Reporter Kerry Eleveld just got a hold of this flier, which includes the following line:

"The only way to stop gay marriage is to stop Craig Johnson on election day. Staying home on election day is a vote for gay marriage."

UPDATE: The flier says it was paid for by the Nassau County Conservative Campaign Committee. Messages left at the office of the county Conservative Party, and at the home of the county chairman, were not returned. Neither was a message left with the Maureen O'Connell campaign.

-- Azi Paybarah

9 a.m. The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants discusses taxes at 3 Park Ave.

9:30 a.m. Republican state Senate candidate Maureen O'Connell will vote at the Northside School in East Williston.

11:30 a.m. The Association of Real Estate Women discuss the pros and cons of eminent domain at Club 101.

1 p.m. Charles Barron and anti-war activists discuss legislation to cut funds for Iraq war on the City Hall Steps.

6 p.m. Former congressman John Brademas will discuss ethics in government with New School President and former senator Bob Kerrey at the New School.

6:30 p.m. The Nassau County Bar Association will disciss judicial selection at 15th and West streets in Mineola.

7 p.m. The elimination of the Samuel J. Tilden High School is discussed in the school's auditorium at 5800 Tilden Ave.

9 p.m. The Republican election night party for Maureen O'Connell is held at the Westbury Manor.

9 p.m. The Democratic election night party for Craig Johson is held at Leonard's of Great Neck.

-- Azi Paybarah

Republican Maureen O'Connell's people say it wasn't them who were calling Republicans. Craig Johnson's people are saying the same thing.

Don't worry folks. All this ends tomorrow.

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's a statement from the state's Homeland Security Office on that Maureen O'Connell flier I posted earlier:

"It is completely inappropriate for a political candidate to use a falsified state seal in the context of a political campaign. Politicizing state security issues is inappropriate and trivializes the law enforcement efforts of New York's office of Homeland Security. We direct the campaign and candidate to the following passage from New York's penal law that identifies such actions as arguably illegal."

-- Azi Paybarah

This flier and new radio ad by 1199 SEIU and CSEA are ostensibly for Republican state Senate candidate Maureen O'Connell. But it's hard to ignore the swipe these health care unions are taking at Eliot Spitzer.

From the radio clip:

"Up in Albany, state leaders aren't listening. In fact, the proposed budget includes cuts in vital health care programs. That means millions of dollars less for hospitals and nursing homes in Nassau County. These are cuts that will hurt our families."

[skip]

"She's the leader we can count on to cut waste, not health care programs. She'll reform health care, but make sure we protect patients."

This race may indeed be the referendum on Eliot Spitzer that Democrats were hoping for, and health care unions seem now to want that too. It's also worth noting that Spitzer is on something of an I'm Not a Cold-Hearted Steamroller tour, visiting the Vernon Avenue Children's Center in Brooklyn at noon.

-- Azi Paybarah

Two media outlets trying to book the two candidates running in a Feb. 7 special election for state Senate in Nassau are going to have to make due with just one.

Brian Lehrer's show this morning will only feature Democrat Craig Johnson because Maureen O'Connell is too busy to participate, her campaign spokesman Mike Arens told me yesterday. That's the same reason she's also declined to participate in a joint televised appearance with Johnson at ABC this Friday. (A person working at ABC said they only reached out to both campaigns about that event yesterday.)

When I asked Arens whether there was any duck-y aspect to what O'Connell was doing, he denied it strongly.

"She and her opponent have been on two televised new debates and three different newspaper editorial boards," he said.

He said that it was simply a matter of the campaign choosing to focus on getting O'Connell to meet or make personal contact with as many voters as possible in the district. So instead of doing debates, he said, O'Connell will be meeting with "senior citizens groups, walking door to door, [and joining] volunteers doing a train station in the morning."

-- Azi Paybarah

I missed this, but the Jewish Press endorsed Republican Maureen O'Connell in the state Senate race over her Democratic opponent, Craig Johnson, who is Jewish.

The editorial said O'Connell "has always been sensitive to the community's needs and who speak enthusiastically of her commitment to address such issues as tuition relief for parochial school parents, security funding for shuls, yeshivas and community institutions and the promotion of traditional family values."

-- Azi Paybarah

Here are two fliers from 1199 SEIU and CSEA on behalf of Republican Maureen O'Connell. The full pieces are here and here.

The fliers, which will be hitting mailboxes in Nassau shortly (if not already), tie O'Connell to health care issues in a way that's hard to argue with. (What's the argument against pink ribbons?).

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's the new Craig Johnson ad, which moves away from the slick, soft-music pieces we got used to seeing from adman Jimmy Siegel during the governor's race.  read more »

The script is after the jump.

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's one of two recent mailings 1199 SEIU and CSEA is sending out for Republican Maureen O'Connell.

Similar to the robo calls they're making, they're tying O'Connell to a very specific set of health care issues: breast cancer and health care services. Democrat Craig Johnson, a lawyer, is raising health issues of her own: namely, O'Connell's flip flop on abortion.

Which prevails as the dominant health care issue?

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's a robo call that was made and sponsored by 1199 SEIU and CSEA on behalf of Republican state senate candidate Maureen O'Connell in Nassau [updated].

The caller identifies herself as "Mary Duffy," a nurse and mother of four in Mineola. It's a short, pragmatic delivery whose message can be distilled as follows: She's a mom and a nurse. Vote for her.

But there is also this interesting line:

"As a health care worker, I know how important it is that our state senators understand the need to safeguard our local hospitals and stand up for quality health care. That's why I'm supporting Maureen O'Connell for state senate."

Safeguard our local hospitals?

Sounds like a reference to Eliot Spitzer's plan to squeeze billions of dollars out of the budget from Medicaid and health care costs. I wonder when those robo calls start going out.

-- Azi Paybarah

Here are some numbers from the state senate race on Long Island that has become an important proxy battle for the senate Republicans, Eliot Spitzer and the most politically powerful union in the state.

Republican Maureen O'Connell raised a total of $800,585.99, of which her campaign spent $548,953.88. She has $268,514.06 left in the bank.

Democrat Craig Johnson has raised $352,351.03, spent $415,814.98 and has $148,381.60 left in the bank.

On the Republican side, a lot of the money is coming in from the Republican state Senate Campaign Committee, which gave $350,000 to O'Connell.

And who gave to the RSCC before it all went to O'Connell?

Republican Senate Campaign Committee recent donations include $100,000 from Joe Bruno, $84,400 from 1199 SEIU PAC and $84,400 from Empire Dental PAC.

Criag Johnson's list of donors contains a couple of noteworthy names, too:

He got $8,500 from George Soros and $8,500 from Bernard Spitzer.

Liz Benjamin has more on the money story here and here.

-- Azi Paybarah

Eliot Spitzer has an op-ed about his budget priorities.

In my Executive Budget next week, I will propose a fundamental restructuring of New York's finances. We will drive more resources to needy schools that promise higher standards and greater accountability. And we will end special subsidies to entrenched interests in the health care industry so we can fund health insurance coverage for all children and make other investments that will help provide better care at lower cost.

Asssembly Democrats may hold a quiet election to pick a comptroller, according to Fred Dicker.

The Daily News editorial board looks at the "truthiness" of UFT President Randi Weingarten and the push for smaller class sizes.

Craig Johnson got the Times' endorsement.

Maureen O'Connell's voting record doesn't match her rhetoric on stem-cell research and abortion, according to Newsday.

The WSJ editorial board is surprised at Chuck Schumer position on tort reform.

"But the really big news is that Mr. Schumer endorsed a study declaring that tort reform is the single biggest key to retaining U.S. leadership in global finance. As political conversions go, this is like Dick Cheney endorsing a stronger Congress."

The New Yorker looks at the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Who (again) broke that story about Barack Obama's Muslim background?

And while we're at it, who was Hillary Clinton's joke about "evil men" really about?

Bill Clinton trimmed his business activities now that Hillary's campaign is underway.

Joe Lieberman may vote Republican in 2008.

And Judith Miller has a piece in the New York Sun with the opening line: "Words can kill." (Shudder.)

-- Azi Paybarah

Eliot Spitzer has a message for Shelly Silver: pick a comptroller "from among the three."

Errol Cockfield gets his hands on NARAL's lit, which says that Republican Maureen O'Connell's stances "changes with the weather."

Chuck Schumer's book got a nice review from Michiko Kakutani, who Norman Mailer swears "disdains white male authors."

Ralph Nader is unimpressed with the Internet. "I don't think the electronic media is very motivating for people to really act."

Chris Cillizza plays the expectations game (already!) with Hillary Clinton in Iowa. "She doesn't need to leapfrog Edwards, but she does need to show movement."

Kerry Eleveld gets an earful from comptroller candidate Martha Stark about social investment.

The Brooklyn Paper editor in chief responds, politely, to Errol Louis. [Response in the comment section, at the 1:42 mark]

And above is my month-old photo of a happy Roberto Ramirez.

-- Azi Paybarah

Two City Hall staffers have taken a leave from their jobs at the Community Assistance Unit to work on the campaign of Republican Maureen O'Connell in Nassau, according to a City Hall insider.

The staffers helping O'Connell are Fred Kreizman and Matt Gorton. (Kreizman's cell phone message, when I called, said that he'd be out of the office until February 7, the day after the election.)

Such a loan of Bloomberg personnel is not without recent precedent, especially when the beneficiary is in a position -- as Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno clearly is -- to exercise discretion over funding for the city. When Bloomberg administration staffers went last year to help Senator Joe Lieberman in his hard-fought primary against Ned Lamont, for example, it may well have been something a "thank you" for past and future help with homeland security money.

As my insider source put it, "The mayor is a results-oriented guy."

But the last word here goes to mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser, who said in an email that these two staffers are acting on their own. "The Mayor doesn't send people. If personnel want time off and their supervisors okay it based on the office's workload, they get it. It's an administrative decision that has nothing to do with the Mayor's support of a candidate."

-- Azi Paybarah

So here, in photographic form, is the answer to the question of whether Republican Maureen O'Connell planned to show up for the League of Women Voters forum last night in Manhasset. The guy sitting by himself is Democrat Craig Johnson.

-- Azi Paybarah

It's still unclear whether Republican Maureen O'Connell will participate in scheduled candidate forum tonight along with Democrat Craig Johnson.

The event is supposed to start at 7 p.m. in Manhasset, hosted by the League of Women Voters. The organization's Nassau office of said that both candidates were invited and as of this morning, only Johnson has confirmed. I called O'Connell's campaign and asked if they'll be there. I'm still waiting for the answer.

On Monday, O'Connell and Johnson participated in a debate with News12 that will air on February 1st and again on the 3rd and 4th.

Yesterday, both candidates met jointly with Newsday's editorial board, according to Johnson's campaign. And on February 2nd, Channel 55 will air a joint interview with both candidates.

-- Azi Paybarah

The Police Benevolent Association is endorsing Democrat Craig Johnson for state Senate today, which should help stave off the 'weak on crime' argument some Democrats are burdened with.

In what hardly seems like a coincidence, the agreement was announced one day after the PBA made peace with the county's top Democrat.

For years, the PBA has been at war with Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, who is supporting Johnson in next month's special election against Republican Maureen O'Connell. The PBA-Suozzi fight started with a budget crunch that spiraled into negative attack ads (some of which are here) and cops accusing Suozzi, basically, of supporting criminals.

Yesterday, the two sides came to an understanding on staffing and budget issues.

One by one, Suozzi seems to be mending the relationships that were strained (or non-existent) when he was in his Democratic insurgent mode. It's almost like he's planning to stick around for a while.

-- Azi Paybarah

Maureen O'Connell isn't the only state Senate candidate in Nassau County with typos.

A sharp-eyed reader noticed that on his state Senate campaign website, Craig Johnson seems to be re-running his last campaign for Nassau County legislator.

-- Azi Paybarah

Maureen O'Connell's first financial statement is up on line.

It shows that of the $347,060 the campaign raised, $330,000 came from the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee.

Interestingly, that's the exact amount O'Connell is paying her consultants, Whelan Media Strategies, according to the campaign's expense account.

The financial statement of her opponent, Craig Johnson, isn't up yet.

-- Azi Paybarah

1199 SEIU, the powerful health care workers union, has announced that they're endorsing Republican state Senate candidate Maureen O'Connell in the special election in Nassau.

As Liz notes, the move is a sign of the tension that exists between union president Dennis Rivera and Governor Eliot Spitzer, who have very different views of health care spending. It's also an indication of the union's enduring (and pragmatic) alliance with Joe Bruno and the Senate Republicans who are, after all, still in the majority.

In the all-politics-is-local category, the 1199 announcement contains another reason for the endorsement: O'Connell is a former nurse who sided with them while serving in the Assembly. From the release:

"Among the highlights of O'Connell's healthcare record are her staunch support of major pieces of healthcare legislation including the Health Care Reform Act (HCRA), budget bills that restored billions to the Medicaid program and legislation that expanded Medicaid for persons diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer."

-- Azi Paybarah

Jerry Skurnik includes some facts about the selection of judges which he said the Times missed in their recent editorial.

Liz Benjamin looks at some new rules the state Senate may vote on tomorrow.

Spin Cycle has more on these numbers that Maureen O'Connell produced when she ran for a countywide position in 2005.

Her first mailing is here.

While in Delaware recently, Rudy Giuliani said, "I think the biggest question you have to ask is, 'Can you really lead the country?' If I believe that I can do it, then I will, and if I don't, then I'll support somebody else."

Here's some more chatter about whether Barack Obama will announce his presidential candidacy on Oprah.

The head of the New York State Bar Association, Mark Alcott, said the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs is "not fit for office."

Mass transit in the U.S. could save 1.4 billion gallons of oil a year.

Greg Sargent is moving his eye-on-the-media blog over to Josh Marshall's site.

And pictured above are some people listening to speeches at Al Sharpton's MLK celebration on West 145th Street.

-- Azi Paybarah

In a few minutes, you should be seeing Republican state Senate candidate Maureen O'Connell's first television ad, straight from her newly launched website. (You can also see it here.)

The essential elements of the ad: soft violin music, campaign themes of accountability and lower property taxes and a line that says that she "worked with Mike Balboni."

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's a look at some numbers for the people running for that state Senate seat that Republican Michael Balboni is vacating in Nassau County.

The Republicans are now backing Maureen O'Connell, who in 2005 won a countywide election for Nassau County Clerk, and who served in the Assembly since 1999, making her a candidate with proven vote-getting credentials in Nassau.

In the 2005 race, O'Connell defeated Democrat Tricia Ferrell by about 17,000 votes.

But in Balboni's district, O'Connell narrowly lost: 49.9 to 50.1, according to a Democratic source who had access to information tabulated by the State Democratic Party.

According to the source, of the 198,000 voters in the state senate district, 36,800 of them were in O'Connell's former Assembly district. Slightly more voters, 46,000, were in the county legislative district represented by Craig Johnson, the Democrat who will be running against O'Connell in the state Senate race.

I've been trying to verify these numbers with the county Republicans but haven't had any luck yet.

-- Azi Paybarah