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LONG ISLAND
A12
SPINCYCLE
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GUIDE TO POLITICS AND POLITICIANS
Nassau
Comptroller
George Maragos’ top deputy
— whose brother’s construction firm criticized Maragos
for delays in approving a contract — has gone to work for
County Executive Edward
Mangano.
Republican
Steven Labriola, a former assemblyman and Oyster Bay
town clerk, started March 20
as the administration’s chief
compliance officer, ensuring
contract rules are followed.
He will earn $167,000 a year,
the same as when he served
in that role for Maragos.
GOP sources say Maragos
and Labriola did not get
along. A.L.A.C. Contracting
Corp., where Anthony Labriola is a principal, this month
accused Maragos of “interference” in an approval process
for its $9.5 million contract
to rebuild a county road. Maragos’ office denied it, saying
its review took longer than
usual.
— Paul LaRocco
NEWSDAY, MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2015
newsday.com
New treasurer
passes on car
Newly appointed Suffolk
Treasurer Barry Paul took
an economizing step by giving up a county car and directing that his chief deputy
Doug Sutherland’s auto be
made a pool vehicle.
Paul, a $132,000 county executive aide, started as treasurer Thursday, succeeding
Angie Carpenter, now Islip
Town supervisor. Paul will
make $187,000 a year until
November when a successor will be elected to serve
the last two years of Carpenter’s unexpired term.
The treasurer job merges
into Republican Comptroller
John Kennedy’s office in
2018. Legis. Tom Cilmi (RBay Shore) said of Paul’s
move: “He’s getting a $55,000
a year raise. Not taking a
county car is all but meaningless.”
— Rick Brand
An uncertain wait
for Schumer’s rise
newsday.com
/spincycle
On the blog
Dan
Janison
dan.janison@newsday.com
T
wenty-one months can
mark a long time in politics.
Right now, Sen.
Charles Schumer becomes a leader in waiting, widely expected to win the top Democratic post in the nation’s upper
house by the end of 2016 when
Senate Minority Leader Harry
Reid (D-Nev.) retires.
Currently No. 3 in the party
pecking order, Schumer has
worked toward this for years,
raising millions of dollars and
donating it to colleagues, surpassing the funding performance of the No. 2, party Whip
Dick Durbin of Illinois.
Reid on Friday endorsed
Schumer to succeed him as he
revealed he won’t seek another
term. Durbin, too, got behind
the third-term former congressman and state legislator from
Brooklyn. The path to the prize
looks clear as can be.
And yet, Schumer would need
to maintain support among colleagues, ensuring a rival doesn’t
chip away at it — and also win reelection next year. Although both
Daniel Patrick Moynihan and
Jacob Javits served four terms in
the Senate, “three-and-out” has
been a general rule for big New
York pols in recent decades.
Given his cordial ties with Wall
AP / J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE
Maragos’
deputy joins
county exec
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks on March 3 beside Senate
Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who will retire next year.
Street domestically, and with the
right-leaning government of Israel on the foreign front, could
Schumer face a substantive primary challenge from his left?
Might voices like those of fellow Democrat Elizabeth Warren
and Independent Bernie Sanders turn to negative static for
Schumer?
Uncontrolled events, and how
Schumer reacts to them, could
shape the answer.
Might Republicans — perhaps
cashing in on post-Barack
Obama tensions within the Democratic ranks — find a way to
threaten his incumbency in
New York?
Mainstream Democrats don’t
seem to think so, given that naming his 2004 and 2010 opponents
could make for a tough trivia
question (Answer: Howard Mills
and Jay Townsend). They expect the national GOP to invest
in less dicey races.
On Friday, though, the incorrigibly optimistic Ed Cox, state Republican chairman, reacted to
news of Reid’s endorsing Schumer with a statement titled “Not
So Fast.” He said, “New York is
still the highest-taxed, worst
state in America to do business,
and next year, New Yorkers will
choose the substance we sorely
need over more grandstanding.”
Much will be made of the
prospect of his former junior
senator, Hillary Clinton, topping
next year’s ballot with Schumer
positioned to head her party’s
Senate caucus.
Still, for both, 21 months can
mark a long time in politics.
THE ALBANY WATCH
A resolution backing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s plan to visit Cuba
sparked a lengthy, heated debate in
the Assembly.
Sponsored by Assemb. Jose Rivera
(D-Bronx), who was born in Puerto
Rico, the resolution also called on
Cuomo to open New York ports to
trade with Cuba. Republicans objected, focusing mostly on Cuomo’s declaration that he is going to talk about
trade, not human rights or political
prisoners, as they would suggest.
The Democrat-led Assembly approved the resolution Thursday,
99-42, largely along party lines.
Among Long Islanders, the partyline exceptions: Assemb. Joseph
Saladino (R-Massapequa) and Assemb. Chad Lupinacci (R-Huntington), who both voted in favor.
— Yancey Roy
Brookhaven’s Republican Deputy Highway
Superintendent Steve
Tricarico plans to take
on Legis. Sarah Anker
(D-Mount Sinai) in one
of the Suffolk GOP’s
key targeted legislative
races. Tricarico was
chosen over Lori Anne
Casdia, an aide to
town board member
Dan Panico. He was an
aide to ex-County
Executive Steve Levy,
joining the highway
department after Dan
Losquadro became
commissioner in 2013.
The department has
traditionally been a
potent political force
that can provide volunteers and funding for
campaigns. In another
targeted race, the party
also recommended
Frank Tassone to run
against Legis. Rob
Calarco (D-Patchogue).
— Rick Brand
Naked
ambition
Which is the most
fevered lunge for selfpromotion by a power
player? Vote at newsday.com/spincycle.
1. Afghan
President
Ashraf
Ghani
expressing
an affinity
Ghani
for Katz’s
Deli in
Manhattan.
2. Ex-Gov. George
Pataki saying that, if
president, he’d push to
bar ex-Congress members from lobbying.
3. Ex-Maryland Gov.
Martin O’Malley calling for restoring the
Glass-Steagall Act.