LI-area pols chime in on steroid report

BY BETH MURTAGH | beth.murtagh@newsday.com

December 14, 2007

WASHINGTON - Rudy Giuliani called yesterday's report of widespread baseball steroid abuse "sickening," a view shared by fellow New York politicians.

"I mean, the idea that allegedly so many people are involved, it's something baseball has to get on top of," Giuliani said. He argued sports drug policies had to be "much easier to understand, much easier to follow, much clearer in terms of testing."

Giuliani, the die-hard Yankees fan who has been a fixture in the stadium's front row and counts former Yankees manager Joe Torre as a close friend, spoke on "The Sean Hannity Show" radio program about former Sen. George Mitchell's findings hours after their release.

"Baseball, to me, is one of the most wonderful things about America and we don't want to see it affected by something like this," he said.

Long Island legislators also sounded off on word that members of their hometown teams were implicated in the 409-page report.

"Stupid people do stupid things. In baseball, in business and in Congress. I'm not going to let the stupid actions of a handful of Mets tarnish baseball," said Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington), who called being a Mets fan equally important to him as being a Democrat. He said Major League Baseball officials should institute random year-round drug testing.

Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Jamaica Estates) watched his daughter Lauren get married at Shea Stadium.

He called the Mitchell Report's revelations "disillusioning, especially to our young people." Instead of giving players asterisks next to their names, Ackerman said officials should take away their records.

Another Mets fan, Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) half-jokingly called yesterday's revelations "the hardest hit I've taken since the Dodgers left Brooklyn in 1957.

"Very seriously, it really is sad for the country and sad for kids who follow baseball," he continued. Steroid use's impact on statistics casts "a cloud over the integrity of the game."

King praised Mitchell, the head investigator and a former Democratic senator from Maine, who in the 1990s led Northern Ireland peace talks.

"Once they asked Mitchell, I knew this was going to be for real," King said. "He's a serious player."