Author: Jerry Skurnik

Sunday’s New York Post brought us the news that Governor Spitzer has decided that Department of Motor Vehicle offices can not require person provide a social security number before they are given a voter registration form.

Now if before anybody reading the Post is alarmed that Spitzer is now making easy for illegal immigrants and terrorists to take over New York by becoming voters, I feel obligated to inform you that there is now and has been an easier way.

Anybody, with or without a social security number can go to the New York State Board of Elections website and download and then print out as many voter registration forms as they want.

ABC News has declared Rudy Giuliani the “Buzzmaker of the Week”

Against all odds and predictions, the former New York City mayor is holding on to his top spot in the Republican field, leading in polls and the money race

ABC is not the only media outlet that is acting as though Rudy (and Hillary) as the sure winners of the Party nominations.

Back in March, I posted my thoughts comparing early polls to Baseball Spring Training results and stated that it much too early to take them seriously.

The New York City Board of Elections has certified the results of last month’s Primary elections.

Here are the results (with a little commentary).

BROOKLYN

The only contests n Brooklyn were Democratic Primaries for judicial posts. These are the only contests that received anything close to significant media coverage.

If anybody reading this is interested or knows someone interested in voting for or against Hillary, Rudy, Obama, Edwards, Romney, McCain or any of the Presidential candidates in the February Primary, Friday October 12 may be the last chance to qualify to do so.

Only enrolled Democrats will be eligible to vote in the Democratic Primary and only enrolled Republicans can vote in the GOP Primary.

So for any voter not presently enrolled, Friday is the absolute last day to switch and become a Democrat or Republican.

You can go the NYC Board of Elections website for details on how to switch.

The New York City Board of Elections has (almost) finished the hearings on petition challenges for this year’s Primaries.

And it looks like a quiet year will be even quieter.

In a previous post I reported that the only Primary contests for public office were for 5 judicial positions.

In the a race for a Brooklyn Countywide Civil Court spot, candidate Fred Arriaga, counsel to the Borough President, successfully challenged the petitions of opponent Pia Wood, who fell short by about 800 signatures.

In Brooklyn’s 6th district, where 3 candidates filed petitions, Sharen Hudson removed one opponent – Daniel McCullough, who is 250 signatures short. Hudson’s only opponent is Katherine Levine.

Thursday was the deadline for candidates to submit designating petitions to run for public and party office this year. This year is an “off-year” in New York City with very few electoral contests.

Here is a list of what contests there are with some commentary about who is who.

Note that this list is subject to change as a result of candidates withdrawing or being removed from the ballot.

Queens

There are no Democratic, Independence, Conservative or Working Families Primaries.

The 2007 edition of Prime News will be mailed this week to @1,500 political activists.

Prime News is the publication my partner Stu Osnow and I produce each year that lists the most complete election results published. It also includes information about what we at Prime New York are up to.

If you can't wait to get it in the mail or are not on our mailing list, you can get 2007 Prime News on our website at –

http://primeny.com/index.html

Last year, after the Detroit Tigers knocked the Yankees out of the playoffs, I wrote an entry comparing Joe Torre and Karl Rove.

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/jerry_skurnik/joe_torre_karl_rove.html

The gist of it was my belief that people are too quick to brand baseball managers losers despite their overall record and too many political folks are too quick to call anyone involved with a losing campaign an idiot.

In 2009, unless something changes, term limits will kick in and 38 NY City Council members will not be eligible to see re-election.

Eight years ago when the situation was similar I had already heard enough gossip and rumors and read press reports that I had compiled a list of many potential candidates for the open Council seats.

That has not happened yet this time. Only 6 candidates have declare their interest in running for an open City Council seat on the NYC Campaign Finance Board website and while I’ve hear a few rumors and there has been some press reports about likely 2009 Council candidates (Assemblyman Denny Farrell, Lower Manhattan community activist Madelyn Wills & Julie Menin), I have not heard nearly as many names as 1999.

The City section of Sunday’s NY Times had an article about Jose Adames, who has the crazy idea that he is really Mayor of New York.

The story treats Adames as a harmless eccentric but does point out that he is constantly violating the law by taping or pasting fliers on light poles and other places.

The 2 relevant paragraphs are:

Mr. Collins confronted Mr. Adames at a board meeting in February. “I stood up,” he recalled, “and I said to him, ‘I have a question: Will you stop littering the community with your fliers?’ People in the audience applauded. He said, ‘No.’ ”