Tag Archives: NY Senate

One year ago today, Ray, my longtime pal from Chicago, happily passed on exploring Manhattan’s nightlife to sit by my computer as we nervously watched the voting unfold in Albany. That historic decision yielded one of the most exuberant Pride marches this town has ever seen. Today, again, we thank Governor Cuomo and especially those four brave Senate Republicans who …

New York Sen. David Storobin (R-Brooklyn) only has a couple of weeks in office before his district vanishes forever, but he’s wasting no time obeying his NOM masters, who largely financed his campaign. It’s a douchebag move, of course, the bill won’t go anywhere. Ten days after taking office, Storobin has proposed a bill that would repeal the one-year-old law …

New York Sen. Tom Duane, the nation’s only openly gay and openly HIV-positive state legislator has announced his retirement. On Monday, Mr. Duane, a Democrat, will announce his decision to call it quits, opening up the seat in a district that stretches from the Upper West Side to Greenwich Village, and across to the East Village. No, it is not …

After months of legal wrangling, recounts, and disqualified voters, Brooklyn GOP candidate David Storobin has been declared the winner of his New York Senate seat by 14 votes. His candidacy was funded by NOM, but they may not crow too much because the lengthy delay means Storobin will only have three weeks in office before his seat vanishes due to …

City & State covers the never-ending scandal of the New York Senate: The Four Amigos – the band of New York State Senate Democrats who were instrumental in handing control of the Senate to Republicans in a wild power grab in 2009 – are now just one. After a string of criminal prosecutions felled former Senators Carl Kruger, Hiram Monserrate …

Waving a rosary to ward off “evil spirits” proved useless for former New York Sen. Pedro Espada, who was today found guilty of embezzling over $500,000 from the Bronx health clinic he managed. Espada sat stone-faced when he was found guilty of ripping off the clinic. His wife, Connie, looked stricken and appeared near tears. Before the verdict was read, …

Former NY Sen. Pedro Espada, currently on trial for embezzling truckloads of money from a Bronx health clinic, appeared outside the courthouse yesterday to brandish a rosary in order to ward off the “evil spirits” that have overtaken the jurors in his case. As jurors in the federal embezzlement trial of former State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. indicated Thursday that …

NOM will doubtlessly claim to have had something to do with it, but NY Sen. James Alesi announced yesterday that he will not seek reelection. Alesi is one of the four GOP state senators targeted by NOM after they helped swing the 2011 same-sex marriage vote into the “yes” column. Alesi’s re-election prospects were viewed as dim because of a …

Convicted Friday on felony charges of campaign finance improprieties, former NY Sen. Hiram “Slasher” Monserrate has become the second Democrat from his chamber to be sentenced to prison this year. Last month former Sen. Carl “Closet Case” Kruger was sentenced to seven years for corruption and bribe-taking. Both senators were part of the notorious “Democratic Eight” who bucked their party …

“Forget about being politically correct by being Pro-Choice. Let me tell you something: A) Hitler was pro-choice. He chose to send the Jews to Auschwitz. That was not their choice that was Hitler’s choice. B) Murderers, assassins and criminals are pro-choice. They choose to put a gun to your head and take your life. That is not your choice. That …

New York state Sen. Ruben Diaz, who has twice led massive anti-gay hate rallies through New York City, sat and roared with laughter as a Dominican presidential candidate Hipolito Mejia declared that President Obama was born in Africa. Diaz has endorsed Mejia because he has vowed to thwart LGBT rights in the Dominican Republic. Andres Duque has more at Blabbeando: …

Remember how NOM poured buckets of cash into the New York Senate campaign of Brooklyn businessman David Storobin? Remember how NOM buddied up to an Orthodox Jewish hate group in order to have them issue an order that it’s against Torah law to vote for marriage supporter Lew Fidler? Remember how the election was so close that both sides are …

We still have no declared winner in last week’s special election to replace Rikers-bound New York Senator Carl Kruger. As you may recall, NOM invested heavily in the campaign, hoping to claim as their own a victory by marriage opponent David Storobin (above right). NOM’s ads declared that it was against Torah law to vote for a Jewish candidate (Lew …

NY Sen. Ruben Diaz, on his official stated-provided website: “It seems to me, that after the gay marriage vote, the Democratic Party has been losing steam and suffering humiliating defeats. The Democratic Party cannot afford to allow for the defeat of any more candidates – especially those who voted in of favor legalizing gay marriage. This has shown to be …

Actually, there are two lies here. First of all, nobody has been “replaced.” This was a special election for an open seat. Secondly (and as I reported yesterday), no winner has been declared and none will be known until at least next week when the absentee ballots are counted. Yet Brian Brown gloats: “This race cements a new relationship between …

The special election to replace soon-to-be imprisoned NY Sen. Carl Kruger is too close to call, even with 100% of yesterday’s votes counted. Election official say they must now wade through the 2000 absentee ballots before declaring a winner. Even though Kruger’s district will vanish next year, NOM plunged into the election and paid for ads in Brooklyn’s Jewish press, …

Politicker reports: The National Organization for Marriage has taken its anti-gay marriage efforts down to a local level, purchasing advertisements in the special election to replace former State Senator Carl Kruger. A reader found one of these ads in the Orthodox Jewish publication Country Yossi Magazine. “We Need A Senator Who Supports Torah Values,” the ad’s headline reads, before going …

“The Ninth Circuit Court in California has decided to overrule Proposition 8, a ballot measure that added a provision to the California Constitution that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California”. You should know that this Ninth Circuit Court panel of unelected judges has decided that they know better than the will of …

By vote of 54-7 today the New York Senate voted to allow churches, many of them viciously anti-gay, to conduct services in public buildings when they are “not in use for school services.” Only seven Democrats opposed the bill, including openly gay Sen. Thomas Duane. But even this lopsided victory was not enough for Sen. “Reverend” Ruben Diaz: I am …

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he may veto the ridiculously gerrymandered legislative redistricting just submitted to him by the leaders of the Senate and the Assembly. Looking at the GOP-created Senate map, it appears that I’d be in the new District 28 rather than the old District 26. I have no idea if that means I’d still have Sen. Liz …