City Hall Split Over Who to Support in 4th District Council Race

Dennis Shepard—–John Rubbo

 

The race to replace Liam McLaughlin as councilperson in the Fourth District has gotten more interesting over the past week. At the Yonkers GOP convention last week, Dennis Shepard won the nomination of the party, narrowly defeating Dr. Ron Volino, with Geri Esposito a distant third.

John Rubbo, a former assistant to Mayor Phil Amicone, entered the race late, and did not place his name in nomination at the convention (see previous post). Amicone and others in the mayor’s office advised Rubbo not to run, but he declined the recommendation and resigned from his job at City Hall.

But there is a split in the mayor’s office over who is the preferred candidate in the fourth — with the mayor and his top staff preferring Shepard and the younger staffers wanting Rubbo.

Rubbo shouldn’t expect the public support of any of his young turk friends on the 2nd floor of City Hall — all have been advised not to do so and they have agreed.

All signs point to a GOP primary in the Fourth in September between Shepard, Rubbo and perhaps Esposito and Volino.

Waiting in the wings is the Democratic candidate Mario Degiorgio

Harrison Race for Mayor Heats Up

The race for Mayor of Harrison is starting to pick up attention, with several candidates interested in challenging incumbent Dem Mayor Joan Walsh. Walsh is completing her first two-year term, after serving for many years as town clerk.

Walsh’s first term has received mixed reviews, with some pleased with her performance so far, and others critical of the budgets and property tax increases under her watch.

Walsh’s first term in office will be remembered for something completely out of her control — the Facebook Four scandal. Four Harrison police officers were caught making sexist and racist comments on Facebook about Walsh and President Barack Obama.

 

The stupid and indefensible act had, in my opinion, made the race for mayor this November, with Walsh cruising to re-election.

I was wrong —  there is interest to run against Walsh. Two candidates are most prominently named, and I give credit to Dennis Nardone for illuminating them on his radio show on WVOX 1460 about Harrison politics.

The first is Harrison Police Chief David Hall: Hall is the longtime chief of the Harrison Police Department (HPD) and  is well known in Harrison and popular. The Facebook scandal will certainly not help Hall if he runs, and he will have to do his best to explain that he wasn’t involved and move on. Several years ago, Hall ran – and won – a County Legislative race, but gave it up because he would have to step down as chief.

Hall is a viable candidate for mayor — he would have the support of the Harrison GOP, he is popular in town and he could likely raise enough money to give Walsh a serious contest.

The second candidate is Richard Berman — this one came out of nowhere. Berman, who recently stepped down as the president of Manhattanville College, has had his name tossed out as a possible candidate for Harrison Mayor.

Berman brings a new dynamic to the race. He comes from academia, and his years at Manhattanville give him a large list of Westchester friends and possible supporters and campaign contributors. Berman could also run as an outsider candidate, not responsible for the property tax increases and Facebook scandal.

Both will have to make a decision shortly, with the Republican conventions happening soon.

Steve Malfitano, the former mayor who was defeated by Walsh two years ago by a slim margin, is another name we have heard over the past few weeks. Malfitano’s name was originally tossed out as a possible Republican candidate for County Legislator, against incumbent Democratic County Legislator Marty Rogowsky.

But recently, Malfitano’s name has been tossed out as a possible candidate for Harrison Town Council. Another important fact to consider about Harrison, is the fact that in the Obama-McCain presidential race, McCain won in Harrison.

Cavallo Leaning on Dems to Support Tony Castro for DA at Dem Convention on Wednesday

 

The upcoming Westchester Democratic convention tomorrow has one race that everyone is talking about. Who gets the nomination for district attorney?

Incumbent DA and former Republican Janet DiFiore, as well as Tony Castro, are the two vying for the party nod. DiFiore has received the endorsement of the County Democrat Executive Committee and many of the local party endorsements throughout the county.

But there are pockets of Castro support that we have heard about. This support comes from Dems who worked on Castro’s two prior races for DA in 2001 and 2005.  Other Castro support comes from diehard Democrats who believe that Castro is the real Democrat in the race, and DiFiore a Republican in disguise.

It gets interesting here — we have heard from several Democrats in different Westchester locales that Westchester Independence Party Chairman Dr. Giulio Cavallo has been “lobbying” Democratic district leaders to support Castro.

How can Cavallo, chair of the Independence party, attempt to intervene in the Democratic Convention, to be held on Wednesday at the county center? By using his party’s line to Dems running for office this fall.

We know who these few Dems are but don’t want to name them because they have not accpeted Cavallo scurrilous invitations.

Dr. Cavallo is pushing hard for Castro, which is an indication of his ever-closer political friendship with Sam Zherka, Westchester Guardian publisher, and admitted target of the Manhattan DA.

We have it once again folks, and we should be ashamed. Cavallo is working his black magic on another important county election.

When will it end and when are the Feds coming?

A Ghost from the Past Returns — Zehy Jereis Back in Business in Yonkers

We have received several contacts from our friends in Yonkers who report that Zehy Jereis has returned from an 18-month exile in Brooklyn, where he allegedly owned and operated a couple of car washes. Jereis, the former Yonkers GOP chairman, has a shady and tarnished political career, which eventually resulted in his stepping down as chairman in 2006.

Shortly after his resignation, Jereis disappeared from Yonkers. Months later, the car wash explanation surfaced. Jereis’ departure from Yonkers coincides with U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia’s investigation into political corruption, in Westchester and in Yonkers, began picking up steam. Garcia subpoenaed ethics disclosure records on Jereis.

A law enforcement source explained that Jereis’ departure is exactly the way that the Feds handle a cooperating confidential informant, or RAT. There is no real proof yet that Jereis sang —  just connected the dots here.

What really threw me for a loop was when I heard that Jereis was back in the business of politics in Yonkers, to the point in which he held a fundraising event for a prominent Democrat, yes a Dem, and reached out to a Yonkers Republican interested in running for a council seat in the fall. We are trying to get confirmation before we list the names of the Dem and Rep.

Clearly, Yonkers politics neither needs nor wants a return of Zehy Jereis. The best way to see this is to see how smoothly the Yonkers GOP is running, with John Jacono as chairman, and Steve Levy and Justin Tubilulo underneath. While there have been no election wins for the new Yonkers GOP lately, at least we aren’t hearing on a daily basis calls for the chairman to resign.

That’s why Zehy needs to go back to buffing cars.

Obama Seals the Deal in Final Debate?

Just watched the final presidential debate, which was a do-or-die moment for McCain, and while he scored on some points and probably had his best debate, he was unable to register with the American people on the economy and taxes. McCain also took a pass on his one chance to highlight Obama’s questionable associations with Bill Ayers, Rev. Wright and ACORN. Needing a knockout, McCain might have won a split decision, but it wasn’t even close to being enough to turn his campaign around.

Obama showed what has got him from being 19 days away from become the next president — his ability to connect with the American people. If you watched the debate on CNN, you watched a voter gauge of undecided Ohio voters who expressed their support or opposition for both candidates throughout the debate. Many of Obama’s answers got responses, from men and women, that topped the charts.

Barring a tremendous October surprise, Senator Obama sealed the deal with the American people tonight.