Before I start this two-parter, let me first disclose that in the past I have worked for Senator John Sampson’s Campaign Committee on a pro-bono basis. Let me also sate that I once had a one-year advisor/consulting contract with said committee, which I will probably try to renew soon enough.

I have known John for about twenty years now. Back in those days he was a young attorney with the law firm of Barbaro and Alter. His boss (Mitch Alter) is the amiable and venerable election-lawyer who plies his trade in Brooklyn’s courts (mainly). Mitch is an icon of Brooklyn’s politics. Mitch alone is good for a thousand political stories from this half-naked city: most of them will have you in stitches. One of these days I will write some of those Mitch Alter political stories if the trolls here were to ever stop messing with my blog (and comments-section).

The first time John Sampson ran for the senate, he was the classic rookie. He attended events but stayed in a corner as shy as any thirty-something year old virgin about to be deflowered. He surprised most pundits by winning the race, and in so doing he became the youngest member of that legislative body.  read more »

It's back to business as usual in Timewasterville Albany, reports Newsday.

Monday, August 27th, 2007:

It appears unlikely there will be an official inquiry into allegations that Republican campaign consultant Roger Stone Jr. threatened the father of Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

The heads of three Senate committees that could investigate the controversial voice mail expressed no interest yesterday.

Thursday, August 9, 2007:

Today, the Senate Committee of Investigations and Government Operations is set to start what will likely be a series of hearings onTroopergate, in which aides to Gov. Eliot Spitzer improperly had State Police re-create helicopter and other travel records of the governor's political nemesis, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.

Odd how the Senate's investigatory zeal has lessened now that there's scandal inching ever closer to Joe Bruno, isn't it?  read more »

Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the full moon, maybe it’s Rod Serling and we are all in some gigantic Twilight Zone episode, but tell us it is not some twisted, macho, hard headedness that has made you decide to bring Darren Dopp back to the government payroll. Just when there was so much to be thankful for and excited about in yesterday’s New York Times regarding your new kitchen cabinet - POW, today’s revelations about the return of the Republican’s favorite punching bag (i.e., mechanism for distraction and obfuscation from real issues). Why?  read more »

To quote Don Corleone – “How did things ever get so far?” That’s the question regarding Albany’s latest fiasco involving Joe Bruno’s political travel at state taxpayers’ expense. The answer to the question and the festering problem is this, a specially created independent commission.

Another commission? Are you kidding? Albany needs another commission like a hole in the head. All too true, however, the four potential investigations into “...gate” (supply your own moniker – i.e., Trooper, Spitzer, Bruno, Travel, etc.) have shown that no one in Albany is interested in getting at the truth or moving onto substantive issues of policy.

As foreshadowed two weeks ago, Joe Bruno and his Republican cronies together with entrenched Democratic insiders are using these “sideshows” to avoid the important policy issues that the Governor intended to address when he took office seven months ago. As a result, the public is left with wheel spinning and obsessing about who had subpoena power and when – classic Albany obfuscation.  read more »