With candidates vying for votes ahead of New York City’s September primary and November general elections, many in and around campaigns know that the state’s antiquated election laws will, in part, ensure that a small percentage of potential voters will cast ballots among limited choices.
One candidate, Juan Carlos Polanco, known as J.C., is currently the presumptive Republican nominee for Public Advocate and has released an extensive package of proposed reforms to New York voting laws.
As a former member of the New York City Board of Elections (BOE), Polanco has had personal experience with the system that certifies candidates and runs elections. In a document provided to Gotham Gazette and subsequent phone conversation, Polanco outlined plans he believes will update, improve, and secure elections in New York through a combination of legislative changes, ballot referendums, and even changes to the state constitution.
“We have to really take a look at our election system and we have to modernize it,” said Polanco, who is eyeing a likely general election matchup with incumbent Letitia James, a Democrat.
READ MOREMayor Bill de Blasio’s spending on his “special assistants” ballooned by $4.6 million over the past fiscal year as he fattened their ranks by nearly 13 percent and doled out raises to those already on staff, The Post has learned.
The bloated taxpayer-funded roster of de Blasio’s vaguely titled aides — who are accountable only to Hizzoner and constitute about 40 percent of his already large staff — grew by another 34 to 298, payroll records show.
The move helped swell their collective salaries to $23.3 million during the year that ended June 30, up nearly 25 percent from fiscal 2016, according to payroll records.
Those paid more than $100,000 each jumped to 84, up about 30 percent, while four pocketed more than $200,000 each.
De Blasio also shifted four special assistants to the Department of Veterans Services, offloading nearly $540,000 in spending from the Mayor’s Office.
READ MOREPresident Trump will outline a new Afghanistan strategy Monday that will clear the path to deploy several thousand more U.S. troops to help local forces in the conflict that has stretched on for nearly 16 years.
In a prime-time speech, Trump is also expected demand more assistance from NATO allies and the Afghanistan government itself.
Trump will address the nation at 9 p.m. ET from Fort Myer, Va., a military base just a few miles from the White House. In front of a group of soldiers, Trump will “provide an update on the path forward for America’s engagement in Afghanistan and South Asia,” the White House said in a statement.
READ MOREPresident Trump has signed a bill authorizing the construction of a new memorial on the National Mall commemorating U.S. service members who fought in the international war against terrorism.
Mr. Trump announced his signing of the Global War on Terrorism War Memorial Act through his official Twitter account Friday evening, paving the way for the monument’s sponsors to ramp-up work on erecting one of the nation’s capital’s newest memorials.
The Global War on Terrorism, also known as the GWOT and the War on Terror, refers to the international military campaign initiated by President George W. Bush in reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including ongoing operations against targets including the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Islamic State.
READ MOREDays after another NYPD officer was targeted and almost killed by a mentally ill man, GOP mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis is out with a thoughtful plan for how New York can better deal with people suffering from serious mental illness.
Those unfortunates, Malliotakis noted Monday, “have become lost in a system that is mostly geared for the high-functioning mentally ill.” She wants to shift the emphasis, targeting resources to the most desperate.
That means replacing some of Mayor de Blasio’s programs (such as the ad campaign focused on removing the “stigma” of mental illness, and others that target lesser issues, such as depression) with ones that focus on, for example, paranoid schizophrenics.
The kind of people, in short, whose dysfunction is so serious they can’t understand what’s wrong with them. This, she argues, can save taxpayer dollars by diverting people from the criminal-justice system into treatment.
She’d get more people into the programs they need by stationing “assisted outpatient treatment evaluators” in hospitals and jails, so they can file Kendra’s Law petitions to compel care.
Another top Malliotakis priority: working with Gov. Cuomo on a new agreement to provide supportive housing for homeless people suffering from severe mental illness. The last such agreement, signed in 2005, targeted those released from psychiatric facilities — and cut homelessness in that population by 47 percent.
READ MOREPresident Donald Trump responded to reports of North Korea’s nuclear threats on Tuesday, saying the regime “will be met with fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which the world has never seen before.”
Speaking from New Jersey, Trump also said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “has been very threatening beyond a normal state,” adding that the regime “best not make any more threats to the United States.”
The president’s comments follow a report that North Korea has produced a compact nuclear warhead that can be placed inside one of its advanced missiles – which are already believed to be capable of reaching half of the United States. Fox News has confirmed the report, which first appeared in the Washington Post.
The jarring assessment was prepared in July by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). The Post was read parts of the DIA analysis and the document was verified by other U.S. officials, the newspaper reported.
Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, made similar comments to Congress in May.
“Kim was also photographed beside a nuclear warhead design and missile airframes to show that North Korea has warheads small enough to fit on a missile,” Coats said at the time.
READ MOREMayor Bill de Blasio’s midday nap habit came under fire Tuesday by political opponents gunning for his job — one of whom offered him a can of Red Bull outside City Hall.
Hours after The Post exclusively revealed Hizzoner’s penchant for crashing out on his office couch, Republican Nicole Malliotakis was about to hold a campaign news conference when she spotted de Blasio headed to a nearby subway entrance.
The Staten Island assemblywoman approached the mayor and held out the caffeinated energy drink.
De Blasio, who was surrounded by bodyguards, didn’t reach for the eye-opener and instead just smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.
“I said, ‘Mayor, I got you a Red Bull to keep you up during the work day,’” Malliotakis said afterward.
De Blasio held his tongue, she said, adding: “I’m sure he was thinking of something.”
Malliotakis said she was “a little disappointed” that the Democratic incumbent rejected her offer of a pick-me-up “because it shows that not only is he lazy and incompetent, but he’s rude, too.
“I’m just trying to help him out so he can stay awake during the day — and doesn’t even need those frequent naps,” she said.
On his way out of City Hall en route to the subway, de Blasio refused to respond when The Post asked him if he’d ever taken a nap on the job. His press secretary had earlier denied that de Blasio “regularly” snoozed inside City Hall.
READ MOREPresident Donald Trump on Saturday touted new sanctions the U.N. Security Council approved for North Korea, saying they will have a “very big financial impact.”
The Security Council unanimously approved the sanctions on North Korea, including banning coal and other exports worth over $1 billion. The U.S.-drafted measure, negotiated with North Korea’s neighbor and ally China, is aimed at increasing economic pressure on Pyongyang to return to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs.
Trump wrote on Twitter: “The United Nations Security Council just voted 15-0 to sanction North Korea. China and Russia voted with us. Very big financial impact!”
A few hours later, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that Trump commended the Security Council for its action and appreciated the cooperation of China and Russia in passing the resolution.
READ MOREFor Jona S. Rechnitz and Jeremiah Reichberg, giving money to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s political campaigns offered a backstage pass to city government. They exchanged friendly emails with the mayor and got access to high-level officials to discuss business they had with the city.
The close relationship between the mayor and the two men — who became embroiled in a police corruption scandal and separate federal and state investigations into Mr. de Blasio’s fund-raising — is detailed in a series of emails released by City Hall on Friday in response to Freedom of Information requests.
The emails further the notion that Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, was eager to do favors for campaign donors.
READ MOREWest Virginia Democratic Gov. Jim Justice plans to announce at a rally Thursday evening with President Trump that he is changing parties, three Republican sources confirmed to Fox News.
Justice is expected to announce he’s becoming a Republican.
Trump earlier in the day had teased the prospect of having a big announcement at his rally in Huntington, W.Va.
The state is a Trump stronghold, and even as the president faces record-low approval ratings nationally, his popularity has largely held in West Virginia.
At least 1,000 supporters lined the streets ahead of the president’s expected appearance, wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and chanting “USA! USA!”
The New York Times first reported that Justice plans to announce his party change.
The rally is set to start shortly after 7 p.m. ET.
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