I can't access the NYS campaign contribution database at the moment but when I checked it the other day, there were very few contributions from any Madoffs.

I think Bernie made one or two and maybe Shana Madoff made one. Someone named Andy?

Ruth, Marion, Sondra - zip.

State legislators - zip.

Spitzer campaign - zip.

H. Carl McCall - zip.

George Pataki - zip.

I always thought it was mandatory to contribute to Pataki if you were in the financial business in NY. Bernie, being a practical guy, contributed to Alphonse D'Amato in 1998, after all.

A month after Electon Day, the voters still don't know who paid for the "Reverend Wright Hates America" ad to be broadcast on national television during the last days of the campaign.

The National Republican Trust PAC filed its Post-General Report with the FEC on 12/4 but omitted the names of individuals who contributed more than $5 million between 10/16 and 11/13. It also neglected to disclose itemized disbursements of $1.4 million.

Between 10/14 and 10/31, the NRT PAC paid the Philipse Brook Group more than $5.3 million to make media buys. Since the Philipse Brook Group shares an address with Joe Mercurio in upstate Garrison, I assume the Philipse Brook Group is Mercurio's company.

More specifically, are Sheinkopf and Mercurio working for Aish Hatorah fronts?

Last week, I asked why the right wing extremists behind the National Republican Trust PAC hired Mercurio instead of one of their own to place more than $5.3 million of sleazy anti-Obama ads on national network television.

The light went on when I learned Hank Sheinkopf had been hired in late September to represent the Clarion Fund in the media. The fund produced the anti-Muslim film, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War on the West".

Looks like Joe Mercurio, the oft-quoted NY political consultant, was the one who carried out the National Republican Trust PAC's drive-by hit on Obama late in the campaign.

FactCheck.org accused the National Republican Trust PAC of producing "one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign." That would be the "Obama Hearts Mohammed Atta" one. The NRT PAC's other ads were just as despicable.

The NRT PAC, registered with the FEC on 9/29/08, paid the Philipse Brook Group at least $5.3 million between 10/15 and 11/4 for media buys.

"Who We Are 

"The Bushwick Local Development Corporation (BLDC) is the economic development component of the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, Inc. The BLDC was founded to revitalize the economic strength of the Bushwick Community, and offers comprehensive economic development services to the community of Bushwick, Brooklyn. Services include: entrepreneurial assistance, small business assistance, the promotion of and assistance to an industrial area, and the general promotion of local businesses.

From Joan Jedell's interview of Charlie Gargano in the July/Aug 2002 issue of the Hampton Sheet:

"HS: Where were you the morning of 9/11, and how did it change your life and job priorities?

CG: Well, it certainly changed all our lives because of the fear that it put into us in the aftermath. I was leaving my apartment when I got a call that a plane had struck one of the Towers, and by the time I arrived at my office 15 minutes later the second plane had struck the South Tower. When the first plane hit, I thought it was just an accident. But obviously after the second hit, we knew it was terrorism. The Governor came into his office in New York, right above mine, and we gathered there about 10:30, trying to check on people serving at the World Trade Center, trying to find out if they’d reached safety or not. Later that afternoon we met with the Mayor and Governor, who spoke to the President about what had happened and the possibility of additional attacks. At the same time we had to respond to businesses that were affected, and on September 13 we opened an emergency business center in the city."

Ever year, I read the Empire State Development Corporation's financial statements  and the ESDC bonds outstanding schedule for a laugh. This year is no exception.

There are two sets of financials for the ESDC under the ESDC's legal names: Job Development Authority (JDA) and the Urban Development Corporation (UDC). Most of the juicy stuff is in the UDA financials. 

Here's a question that's bothered me for awhile now.

LOL - I was searching Newsday's archives for "Carchietta"  and found this gem of a story about Peter King and his opponent, Vincent Suozzi, during the 1989 Nassau County comptroller race:

"Sometimes the movie is not as good as the previews. When Vincent Suozzi, former mayor of Glen Cove, announced he was planning to run for county comptroller against incumbent Peter King, most people expected political fireworks.

After all, wasn't this the same Vincent Suozzi who in June, 1987, said King was "off the wall" in a dispute over the county's role in accepting a Sputnik replica from the Soviet Union? And wasn't it King who countered that the only difference between Sputnik and Suozzi's brain was that Sputnik ultimately did come down from orbit?

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