Alfonse D'amato | The New York Observer

D'Amato's Message to New Jersey, Wisconsin

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:11:39 -0400

Last night, Al D’Amato had something to say the New Jersey and Wisconsin delegations. So he stood up on a chair and started...

D'Amato and Fossella, Continued

Wed, 14 May 2008 08:39:49 -0400

Al D’Amato went further with his show of support for Vito Fossella than anyone else when he told NY1 that he thought the congressman could run for reelection--and win.

So, does that mean the former Senator would actively campaign for Fossella?

I asked D’Amato’s spokeswoman, Dana Weisberg, who left the door open, but stopped just short of actually saying he would. She emails:

“[D'Amato] has always been close friends with Vito and...

Ratner Pays D'Amato $400K for Eminent Domain Lobbying

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:36:06 -0500

Forest City Ratner paid former U.S. Senator Al D’Amato’s lobbying firm $400,000 in 2006 and 2007 to lobby federal legislators regarding eminent domain and other issues important to the developer of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn.

Forest City paid Mr. D’Amato, who left the Senate in 1998 after his defeat by Charles Schumer, about $200,000 in 2007 through the lobbying firm he founded, Park Strategies, according to...

Waiting for Rudy: Some New York Republicans

Mon, 21 May 2007 14:54:56 -0400

Here's a shot of some of the people biding their time at the Sheraton in midtown as they wait for New York GOP chairman Joe Mondello and most of the state party to announce their endorsement of Rudy Giuliani for President.

Republicans notably, and deliberately, steering clear of today's festivities include Mike Bloomberg, Al D'Amato, George Pataki and former state chair Stephen Minarik aren't particpating.

But who's...

Elsewhere: Clinton, Spitzer, D'Amato

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 12:14:27 -0500

Eliot Spitzer formally signaled his support today for building a casino in the Catskills. Senator Al D'Amato may push for online poker. The late John Lavelle's Assembly seat may go to his son. Dan Gerstein agrees with Matt Stoller about the netroots. Mitt Romney has an explanation for a 1992 vote that angered conservatives. Can anybody say Senator Bill Clinton? If you missed it, Politico wraps up the Sunday morning talk shows. And pictured above are most of the candidates...

Events for Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 13:48:36 -0500

8:30 a.m. The board of directors for the city's Economic Development Corp will meet at 110 William Street. 8:30 a.m. Al D'Amato and Carl McCall discuss city and state government at Baruch College. 11 a.m. Sirius Satellite Radio announces they're launching a station dedicated to Frank Sinatra. Noon. Assembly Democrats convene for a meeting in the capitol. 1:45 p.m. The Assembly will gavel into session. 2 p.m. The state Senate will join the Assembly for a joint session...

Elsewhere: The End of 2006

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 11:22:15 -0500

Al D'Amato may not have the clout he used to. The American Spectator wonders if John Edwards' game plan for using a win in Iowa to trigger campaign donations will work. Andrew Cuomo hired Frank Hoare to work in the attorney general's office. Hillary Clinton and John McCain are the front-runners in New Hampshire. Time magazine thinks John Edwards is "more liberal, more experienced - and more unorthodox" than he was during first presidential bid. Barack Obama is...

The Morning Read: Friday, December 15, 2006

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 04:08:28 -0500

South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson is recovering. The New Jersey legislature voted for civil unions. Hillary Clinton had an expensive lunch with Al D'Amato and Ed Koch. On Monday, Hillary will go on the Today show, and on Wednesday she'll be on The View. Howard Kurtz is intrigued with the thought of Dennis Kucinich running for president again.

"So Kucinich's presence on stage at those cattle-call debates could put pressure on her, especially with Democratic primary voters being...

News to King

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 10:59:34 -0400

Pete King still contends that his son has never lobbied despite his inclusion in the state commission's lobbying register as an "additional lobbyist" for Al D'Amato's Park Strategies. "I told you the other day he's not a lobbyist, I still say he has never lobbied," King just told me. "He had no idea he was listed. Al D'Amato had no idea that my son was listed." The Politicker noted earlier this week that Sean King worked...

Homeland Security Starts at Home

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 12:30:00 -0400

Homeland security apparently runs in Congressman Peter King's family. King's son, Sean, started working at former U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato's Park Strategies lobbying firm in February. The firm represents several clients with multi-billion dollar Homeland Security contracts, such as General Atomics and Lockheed Martin. They have also made campaign contributions to Congressman King. When asked about his son's activities, Peter King responded with this statement, via his spokesman. "Sean is involved in private...

The Morning Read: October 11, 2006

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 04:56:54 -0400

When Al D'Amato was asked about the GOP winning any statewide office, he said, "You would have to be smoking that funny stuff to think that was going to happen." John McCain blames Bill Clinton for today's problem with North Korea. At a fundraiser for John Faso, Rudy Giuliani explained how Democrats talk about not raising taxes, and then do just that when they govern.

They say they are not going to raise taxes, and then they...

Zuccottifest

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 11:19:54 -0400

The city's fathers of yore relived some of the good old days this morning when a remade plaza at Liberty Street and Broadway was christened Zuccotti Park, after John Zuccotti, the 68-year-old co-chairman of Brookfield Properties, which owns the plaza and several other properties nearby, including the World Financial Center. Look, there's Ed Koch! And Al D'Amato! They were all buddies back in the good old days when Chock Full o' Nuts ...

Al and Chuck, Together Again

Tue, 09 May 2006 05:00:59 -0400

Latest predictable odd couple, if that's not an oxymoron: Chuck Schumer and Al D'Amato at a 1,000-a-plate fund-raiser at Mort Zuckerman's Fifth Avenue home. The object is to raise money for Montana Sen. Max Baucus' 2008 re-election bid. Which is actually what makes it curious. We know D'Amato will endorse a Democrat if the Republican's a loser. But why does he have to help raise money for Democrats in Montana? Or maybe they're just old Hill friends? D'Amato,...

The Morning Read: April 6, 2006

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 04:04:22 -0400

The Daily News reports that Roger Green is set to announce his candidacy against Ed Towns in Brooklyn. The Post reports Stephen Minarik disputes Al D'Amato's praise for Hillary Clinton; and Tom Suozzi declines to team up with Mark Green. The Times reports on the Yankees stadium approval. —Nicole...

D'Amato Hearts Hillary

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 06:42:41 -0400

Al D'Amato gives a statement to Maggie Haberman at the Post: "I have found Sen. Clinton to be very responsive to the needs of her constituents, whether it is with local governments or individuals. "Her reputation for working on behalf of her constituents, with both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, is well known." So Al gets to buck the Republican leadership and side with the winner, and Hillary gets a former Whitewater senator to sing...

More Bad News For Bill Weld

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 09:37:13 -0500

The Boston Herald writes up a new book on the notorious Bulger brothers, and doesn't think it's good news for the campaign. " Under Weld's aegis as U.S. attorney, Whitey basically turned the FBI into a wholly owned subsidiary of his Winter Hill Gang. And Weld not only befriended Billy Bulger, he eventually found him a soft landing place at UMass." And you thought Al D'Amato was unhappy with his days as a...

Rudy vs. Bush

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 06:09:02 -0500

You know that line-item veto that President Bush is pushing at the moment? Here's what Rudy's press office had to say back in 1998: Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today congratulated Senators Alfonse D'Amato and Daniel Patrick Moynihan on the crucial roles they played in protecting $2.6 billion in Medicaid funding for New York City and State. On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 6-3 margin, struck down as unconstitutional the Line Item Veto Act...

Mike's Soiree

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 09:31:37 -0500

Mike's soiree last night for fellow republican Vito Fossella was well attended. About 125 guests at $1,000 a head brought the unchallenged congressman something in the neighborhood of $125,000, bringing his war chest to over $600,000. Notable guests at the Mayor's East Side townhouse included Bill Weld and Al D'Amato, a possible feud in its own right, but another supporter of Fossella's, Larry Silverstein, also made his way over to Mike's. ...

Nostalgia

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 07:09:26 -0500

From Roll Call: "[Senator Arlen] Specter also created a new category of political joke: the Alfonse D'Amato adultery joke. Specter said he was riding a train once with the former New York GOP Senator. The porter came by asking passengers, "What'll it be, rye, Scotch or bourbon?" A minister on the train was offended, indignantly exclaiming, "Rye, scotch or bourbon?! Why, I'd commit adultery first!" D'Amato jumped up and yelled after the porter, "Wait, wait!...

Naral vs. D'Amato

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 09:59:33 -0500

It must be frustrating these days to work in the abortion rights movement. And they seem to be taking their frustration out on...Alfonse! Naral's Pro-Choice New York's Kelli Conlin had always been bullish on Jeanine Pirro's candidacy for Attorney General (Senate not so much), but this release a couple of days ago kind of took everybody in the race aback: "NARAL Pro-Choice New York is outraged at former Senator Alfonse D'Amato's ringing support of Staten Island's...

A Boost for Pirro

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 09:42:06 -0500

Joe Bruno is backing her, The Politicker is told. The Senate Majority Leader's move makes Al D'Amato the sole anti-Pirro power center, and deals a blow to Dan Donovan's prospects. (It also gives me the opportunity to point out that you read about Donovan's bid for Attorney General here...

Irrational Alfonse?

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 05:58:00 -0500

On Dicker's show, Bill Weld says of Al D'Amato's vendetta against him: "I don't think it's...

D'Amato's Revenge

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 15:41:00 -0500

Everything that was implicit in that Times Union story emerged in an astonishing little segment on NY1 just now, in which New York's senior GOP figure, former Senator Alfonse D'Amato, did his best to wreck Bill Weld's bid for Governor. "Well let's say that Bill Weld is not a favorite of mine," D'Amato began, with little prompting. "And I would support certainly John Faso, who's been in the vineyards and has worked hard, and will...

D'Amato Jumps Ship

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 05:35:00 -0500

Don't miss this Albany Times Union story: "Former U.S. Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato has made it clear he doesn't like the idea of former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld running on the GOP line for governor of New York this fall and has told at least one of his old donors not to contribute to Weld's campaign, say sources close to the former lawmaker." The piece puts Weld in the rather odd position of denying that, while...

Eliot's Republican Guest

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 16:50:19 -0500

More than 1,300 people showed up at Eliot Spitzer's $5 million fundraiser tonight, but observers of the state's shifting power structure took particular note of one guest: Michael Finnegan.

Finnegan is a Republican and a former top aide to Governor Pataki who now works for JPMorganChase (a firm that does quite a bit of bond work for the state). Equally important, he's a close personal friend of Pataki.

And now, it...

A Gig for Freddy?

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 07:29:00 -0500

Mark Green is likely to depart NY1's Inside City Hall, his weekly tangle with Al D'Amato and Ed Koch, sometime next year when his run for Attorney General really gets underway. Meanwhile, there's a former another former nominee who will be looking for a job. At this point, the tangles with Koch could get ugly...

The Brecht Award

Mon, 24 Jan 2005 12:24:00 -0500

In the spirit of Andrew Sullivan, we're inaugurating the Brecht Award for ridiculous and/or lame press releases. We hope you'll submit your own favorites as you run across them. In the meantime, our first nominee is ... Adam Brecht himself, a former Al D'Amato aide challenging Hillary for her Senate seat: "ADAM BRECHT, U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE, BLASTS SEN. CLINTON FOR PLAYING IN FLORIDA WHILE NEW YORKERS BATTLE SNOW NEW YORK, January 24, 2005 -- Adam Brecht, Republican...

Spitzer's Bunch: Odd Bedfellows Join His Campaign

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 19:00:00 -0500

Shortly after noon on Jan. 10, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer stood before a crowd of more than 900 women who had gathered in a rococo ballroom at the Pierre hotel for the year's first "Women for Spitzer" fund-raiser, and told them what all Upper East Side dowagers secretly long to hear: that he doesn't just love them for their money, he loves them for their minds as well.

"It is important to raise money in...

Eliot's Strange Bedfellows

Wed, 19 Jan 2005 04:36:19 -0500

This week in the paper we've got an article about the Manhattan money-men - and women - who've been pouring cash into Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's war chest. You know, the one he's building for his 2006 bid for Governor of New York. Campaign finance reports, released yesterday, show that Spitzer has wrangled nearly $7.9 million from a pack of big-spending Democrats, far out-pacing any possible competitors, including Gov. George Pataki. The Governor, who...

Ex-Schumer Rumor, Governor, New One, President Chuck!

Sun, 21 Nov 2004 19:00:00 -0500

We should have known it: It turns out that Senator Charles Schumer was never really interested in the thing he calls, with a burst of Yiddish syntax, "The great between-Spitzer-Schumer blah-blah-blah."

"If I was running for Governor, I would have run a whole different race," the newly re-elected Senator told The Observer in a telephone interview. "The primary vote is 80 percent downstate. I would have been downstate all the time. I was upstate." Mr....

Our Beloved Alfonse Is Back, Lobbying To Block Stadium

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 20:00:00 -0400

The Dolan family, the dynasty that owns Cablevision and Madison Square Garden, has hired a small army of lobbyists, including former Senator Alfonse D'Amato, to fight the new West Side stadium for the Jets, which could compete with the Garden for big-draw events, The Observer has learned.

In recent weeks, the proposed stadium-which is part of a larger joint city and state plan to expand the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center-appeared to have won the...

Goodbye, Senator: Pat Always Knew Where Money Was

Sun, 06 Apr 2003 20:00:00 -0400

During the memorable Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in 1976, the several contestants were asked which committee assignment they'd request if elected. There was much talk about the importance of the Foreign Affairs Committee, inspiring nods of grave approval from Democrats who had come to expect a New York Senator to think big thoughts about matters of great global import.

Candidate Daniel Patrick Moynihan, onetime ambassador to India and most recently the U.S. envoy...

Torch Gets Burned, But What About Al?

Sun, 11 Aug 2002 20:00:00 -0400

It is fair to assume that if Robert Torricelli ever faced an opponent who had been severely admonished by the Senate ethics committee, the airwaves would resound with commercials proclaiming his rival's disgrace in the most indignant terms. The senior Senator from New Jersey proudly calls himself a "fighter," which is one way of describing the harsh, mudslinging style that marks every Torricelli campaign. He has already attacked his Republican opponent, a wealthy executive...

The Nathan Detroit of Candidates, OTB's Cornstein Is Finally Running

Sun, 03 Jun 2001 20:00:00 -0400

To the list of business executives who pine for the glories of elective office, add the name of 63-year-old David Cornstein, a jewelry magnate and chairman of New York City's Off Track Betting Corporation who has spared no expense in his preparations to run for State Comptroller next year. A man of immense wealth and influence, Mr. Cornstein is matching Mayoral hopeful Michael Bloomberg in his purchase of some of the best and most...

D'Amato Offers McCall His Financial Support If He Runs for Mayor

Sun, 14 Jan 2001 19:00:00 -0500

Comptroller H. Carl McCall's office on the 31st floor of 633

Third Avenue commands the kind of sweeping view you'd expect from the state's second-highest elected official. You can see the East River and, in the early twilight of a winter's evening, the twinkling lights of lower Manhattan. But Mr. McCall is hinting that he wants to swap this view for the one eight floors up, in the office currently leased to Governor George Pataki. There are people who...

Remaking Schumer: Will He Give Hillary His Beloved Close-Ups?

Sun, 07 Jan 2001 19:00:00 -0500

Charles Schumer ducked into his usual seat, 11A, next to the emergency exit on a small, partly empty Jet Blue plane idling on a runway at J.F.K. airport.

The aircraft was bound for Rochester, N.Y., where Mr. Schumer was scheduled to squeeze in a series of small events and meetings on the eve of Christmas weekend. Of the scores of upstate journeys he has made since his election to the U.S. Senate in 1998,...

Lazio's Last Month: The Clock Ticking, He Goes Positive

Sun, 08 Oct 2000 20:00:00 -0400

Rick Lazio withdrew a folded campaign flyer from his pocket as he sat on a stage alongside the grand marshal of the Korean Day fair on West 32nd Street on Oct. 1. A speaker entertained the crowd in a mixture of Korean and English, but Mr. Lazio's attention was focused on the flyer, which contained the Korean phrase he was about to attempt. His mouth moved as he practiced his pronunciation.

"Please welcome Mr. Lazio!"...

The Rise of the New Bushies

Sun, 13 Aug 2000 20:00:00 -0400

On Saturday night, August 5, in Southampton, behind the tall hedges of a large white house on Gin Lane, about 60 people were dining on red meat at elegantly set tables, draped with peach satin tablecloths, which had been placed around the sprawling lawn. The men wore button-down shirts tucked into pleated pants, the women favored floral sundresses. The flickering light came from several tiki torches. The mood was festive, relaxed, assured. Two...

Lazio's Stock Deal Smells Like D'Amato's

Sun, 25 Jun 2000 20:00:00 -0400

Without any primary contests to preoccupy the would-be heirs of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the New York Senate race already is approaching autumnal levels of partisan acrimony in the first weeks of summer. Although both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rick Lazio are battering each other over policy issues for the moment, the "character issue," that great favorite of the political press corps, appears due for an imminent revival. And despite the perennial presumption of guilt...

Baby-Faced Congressman Brings in McCain Mavericks; That Old D'Amato Machine Seems Cut Out of This One

Sun, 28 May 2000 20:00:00 -0400

The sudden emergence of representative Rick Lazio as the Republican Party's champion against Hillary Rodham Clinton has been advertised as a coup for former Senator Alfonse D'Amato, who relentlessly touted Mr. Lazio for months as an alternative to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. "Kingmaker Al back from G.O.P. Exile," blared a headline in the New York Post .

But Mr. D'Amato's supposed return begs a question. Why isn't the old D'Amato gang running Rick Lazio's new show? ...

Governor Gets His Boy In Giuliani's Wake

Sun, 28 May 2000 20:00:00 -0400

Back in August, not long after Governor George Pataki said Mayor Rudolph Giuliani "had earned the right" to run for Senate and asked Representative Rick Lazio to put his own ambitions aside, friends of the Governor ruminated darkly on the scenario.

"He had to do it, he just had to," said one of those friends. "But he knows if Rudy wins, it's very bad news for him." Because if Mr. Giuliani won the Senate seat,...

Giddy Pundits Ignore the Real Rick Lazio

Sun, 28 May 2000 20:00:00 -0400

The hurried replacement of Rudolph Giuliani with Rick Lazio brought a predictable response from New York's political press corps. Disappointed by the Mayor's decision to stand down and appalled by the notion that Hillary Clinton will waltz into the Senate without a nasty fight, the local punditry has declared Mr. Lazio a formidable contender.

That declaration may well be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The publicity afforded to the Long Island congressman following Mr. Giuliani's dramatic withdrawal...

Feuding Republicans Ready for New Battle

Sun, 13 Feb 2000 19:00:00 -0500

Now that Hillary Rodham Clinton has declared her candidacy, voters can expect substantive discussion of important issues-like why her handlers played an uncensored Billy Joel album at her announcement rally, and why her campaign video mentioned that she cooks omelets and tosses salads, and why her bumper stickers and buttons refer to the candidate by her first name instead of her full married name.

All of these shocking departures from normal political behavior are newsworthy,...

The Seamy Mr. Torricelli

Sun, 12 Sep 1999 20:00:00 -0400

It's official: The U.S. Senate has a new poster boy for bad behavior. It's Senator Robert G. Torricelli of New Jersey, who has succeeded Alfonse D'Amato as the Senate's most ethically illiterate member.

Reports in The New York Times and the Star-Ledger of Newark note that Mr. Torricelli reaped a windfall of more than $50,000 in 24 hours by investing in a stock offering that was later found to be manipulated. And among those...

What Really Scares Rudy? It Could Be Rick Lazio, Secret Senate Favorite

Sun, 20 Jun 1999 20:00:00 -0400

Representative Rick Lazio made sure he was very deferential when he visited Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in City Hall not long ago. At the end of their formal meeting, the two Republicans sent their aides out of the room so they could have a private chat about their mutual interest in next year's U.S. Senate race. "I said to him that I was going to be traveling around the state and exploring the possibility of...

With George W. Rising, Jon Bush of New York Is a Player Again

Sun, 23 May 1999 20:00:00 -0400

Remember Jonathan Bush? Until recently, former President George Bush's younger brother, a frustrated Broadway hoofer turned money manager who was once a top New York Republican power broker, had disappeared into the same void that swallowed up Donald Nixon and Billy Carter. Yet unlike those hapless First Brothers, Jonathan Bush is back for a second act.

His return from oblivion is simple: His nephew, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, has emerged as the odds-on...

Advice From Alfonse: Shame Is Overrated

Sun, 21 Mar 1999 19:00:00 -0500

The renaissance of Alfonse D'Amato should inspire every politician who senses the approach of the last hurrah. Unlike his pal Ed Koch, who spent years honing the razor repartee and comic timing of a Vegas headliner, Mr. D'Amato never seemed likely to achieve postpolitical celebrity. His voice was too shrill, his style too suburban, his reputation too seedy to support a charming shtick. He had the chutzpah without the charisma.

But that desperate character made...

Environmental Elite Squabble Over Pataki; Linda Davidoff Quits

Sun, 21 Mar 1999 19:00:00 -0500

The light from Alex and Marine Zagoreos' Gramercy Park mansion cascaded over the balustrade and onto the street. Inside, the crème de la environmental crème raised their glasses to toast their electoral success: the ouster of Senator Alfonse D'Amato and the re-election of Gov. George Pataki.

As tables in all three of the house's parlors groaned under stacks of smoked salmon and boiled shrimp, Linda Stone Davidoff, then-executive director of the New York League of...

Pataki and Giuliani Fight for New York Dominance in Battle of Alpha Pols

Sun, 14 Feb 1999 19:00:00 -0500

Marcia Kramer, the veteran political reporter for WCBS-TV, was reading from a letter at a press conference in City Hall's Blue Room on Feb. 8. An upstate Republican leader-an ally of Gov. George Pataki-had fired off a missive to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and Ms. Kramer had a copy.

Mr. Mayor, she said, the chairman of the Ulster County Republican Party, Peter Savago, says he's going to do everything possible to derail your state and national...

To Beat D'Amato, Avoid Old Traps and Old Hats

Sun, 30 Aug 1998 20:00:00 -0400

Once again, we have a spectacle of three decent candidates in one ring, trying to knock each other out, while the opposition sits on the sidelines, counting up his coins and slapping his cronies on the back. Why is it that we New York Democrats are always making a spectacle of ourselves? Is there something in that unruly political bent that leads to slapstick comedy? Or is it that if you identify with the...