SPIN CYCLE

Rick Brand on Long Island, Celeste Hadrick on Long Island, James T. Madore in Albany

June 30, 2008

SUFFOLK PROPOSAL

Four-day New Year’s holiday?

Call it the "four-day weekend" rule.

Suffolk Legis. Dan Los- quadro has proposed putting off the legislature's annual organization meeting whenever New Year's Day falls on a Thursday - as it will in 2009. Normally the meeting is held the first business day of the year. This proposal would ensure legislators get a four-day weekend at the start of 2009.

In a resolution, Losquadro (R-Shoreham), states: "When the first business day falls on a Friday, most schools do not resume their schedule ... and many families continue on vacation. ... These circumstances make it difficult for legislators and ... staffs to ... attend a meeting on that date."

Preoccupied with the county's looming $150-million budget shortfall, Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) said he was unaware of Losquadro's proposal. "I don't think it's a good idea," he said. "I don't think we should be changing rules for something that happens once every eight to 10 years."

- Rick Brand on Long Island

NASSAU ASSESSOR

Tax breaks not all bad

Nassau Assessor Harvey Levinson, a Democrat, has publicly railed against Republican-controlled Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency projects, complaining they give wealthy businessmen and successful companies unnecessary tax breaks.

If a developer wants to buy the Garden City Hotel, "it's a business judgment," Levinson said. "This is money they don't need," he said of IDA assistance sought by the firm with a stake in the racehorse Big Brown, for a new equine medical facility near Belmont.

But Levinson has never said a word against tax breaks granted by the Democrat-controlled Nassau IDA. Its projects involve successful companies like OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc., in Uniondale, and The NPD Group Inc., in Port Washington, run by wealthy businessman Tod Johnson.

"The difference between the county and town IDAs is that the county asks for my input and analysis; the towns do not ..." Levinson said. "My objections are based on property-tax analysis, not politics."

- Celeste Hadrick

on Long Island

THE PATERSON WATCH

Gov. David A. Paterson has found his truthfulness questioned recently in some circles after denying that he blasted Mayor Michael Bloomberg or tried to undermine Democrats' chances of winning the State Senate in the fall.

The denials came on Mondays during news conferences. On June 16, Paterson said he never made the lengthy quotes - attributed by the New York Post to someone with "firsthand knowledge" of the comments - calling Bloomberg "a nasty, untrustworthy, tantrum-prone liar."

A week later, Paterson said neither he nor his staff offered a top job at the state Power Authority to Sen. Darrel Aubertine (D-Cape Vincent) whose victory in February brought Democrats close to controlling the Senate for the first time since 1965. But Aubertine had said in a statement he was offered the job.

Still, Paterson insisted Aubertine "misunderstood" discussions with gubernatorial aides about the makeup of the authority's board. Hours later, Aubertine said, "if there was a misunderstanding, then there was a misunderstanding."