Palm Sunday and not Greek Orthodox Palm Sunday? He does not care that even aetheist bettors have rights secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3? He does not care that NY PML Sec 105 and Sec 109 do not apply to Nassau OTB? He does not read The Daily News?
Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m - New York Daily News
articles.nydailynews.com/.../18220335_1_racing-and-wagering-boar...
Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m. BY JERRY BOSSERT DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER. Monday, April 14, 2003. New York City Off-Track Betting ...He does not care that Theresa Butler (now Esq.) formerly of Nassau OTB was fired and her federal case resulted in a SECRET SETTLEMENT that would make the Vito Lopez babes and Gloria Allred jealous and/or envious?
Likely Successor to Disgraced Brooklyn Party Leader Is a Friend and Protégé
By LIZ ROBBINS
Published: September 2, 2012
Each time a Brooklyn kingmaker falls in this borough of the back-room deal — the tenures of three of the last four Democratic bosses have ended in scandal — the outrage turns to an outcry for one of New York’s last political machines to be dismantled.
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
“I’ve always held great positions in politics and enjoyed the role I played in it. But every one of these positions has been the result of some tragedy," said Frank R. Seddio.
Related
Times Topic: Vito Lopez
Though former Borough President Howard Golden served without dishonor, his successor, Assemblyman Clarence Norman Jr., was convicted seven years ago of accepting illegal campaign contributions. Mr. Norman’s successor, Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez, vowed reform.
And when Mr. Lopez’s reign as the most powerful political force in the borough ended last week amid allegations of sexual harassment, reformers and progressives in Brooklyn used the situation to call for a clean break from a legacy of patronage politics harking back to the era of Tammany Hall. Almost immediately, a leading candidate for the position emerged: Frank R. Seddio, a friend and protégé of Mr. Lopez.
The pasta-loving patriarch of the Thomas Jefferson Club in southern Brooklyn, Mr. Seddio, 65, was the machine’s pick to become a state assemblyman and later a Surrogate’s Court judge, through a much criticized process that sidestepped the usual electoral vetting. He resigned from the bench in 2007, just 17 months into a 14-year term, amid an ethics inquiry into the tens of thousands of dollars he donated to Democratic leaders and organizations before he assumed the post with the party’s backing.
Though the position of party chairman might seem obscure to many voters, it would give Mr. Seddio significant control over judicial nominations, vacant legislative positions and hundreds of lucrative jobs that have historically been doled out to party insiders and their relatives. And if recent experience is any indication, the post could allow him to influence the next mayoral election, in a borough that is 71 percent Democratic.
As he pressed his candidacy last week, Mr. Seddio, like his mentor, made assurances that he would effect long-promised reforms if elected. “I see myself as leading the Brooklyn Democratic machine and making it inclusive and given the respect that it deserves,” Mr. Seddio said firmly.
His ascendancy — he said he already had enough votes to win the post, which even some of his opponents acknowledged — results from the lack of consensus for another candidate. That has been a source of frustration to critics of the party organization, who feel as though they are missing their best chance to overhaul the way politics are conducted in the borough.
Jo Anne Simon, a district leader from brownstone Brooklyn, is running on a reform platform.
“It’s not 40 years ago,” she said. “This is not the world of Meade Esposito.” Mr. Esposito, the Brooklyn Democratic boss for 14 years, was convicted in 1987 of influence-peddling and was found to have ties to organized-crime families.
Ms. Simon said leaders had already missed their opportunity to discuss how to redefine the party after the allegations of sexual harassment forced Mr. Lopez — on the advice of Mr. Seddio — not to run for another term as party chairman this coming September.
“How do we take a step forward and not be this divided body that is ignored in the broader conversations in state and country?” she asked, sighing and adding, “And then they rushed to anoint.”
But several elected officials said that it would be premature to consider the job Mr. Seddio’s before the Sept. 19 election for the Kings County Executive Committee, and that another candidate could still mount a credible challenge.
On Wednesday night, nine black district leaders met to discuss supporting Assemblyman Karim Camara, the head of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, and a charismatic pastor, who did not initially seek the job. His candidacy would be complicated by a party rule requiring that the chairman hold a district leader position, which Mr. Camara does not.
Mr. Camara said he would nevertheless be willing to look for a way to run. By the end of Wednesday’s meeting, according to Walter T. Mosley, a district leader running for the Assembly, the group agreed to keep talking about four potential candidates: Mr. Camara, Ms. Simon, Assemblyman Félix W. Ortiz and Mr. Seddio.
While the progressives weigh their options, Mr. Seddio and members of the Thomas Jefferson Club have been calling around to secure votes. He already has the backing of Marty Markowitz, the borough president. “He has been aggressive,” Mr. Mosley said of Mr. Seddio. “I can’t knock him for that.”
“There is still a relevant place to play for the next county leader, whether it is Frank Seddio or Karim Camara,” said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn, a Democratic candidate for Congress. “They must be prepared to reform the organization in a way that creates greater grass-roots and community participation.”
For his part, Mr. Seddio has pledged to abolish the 11 at-large district leader positions, which Mr. Lopez created to bolster his power alongside the 42 elected members of the executive committee. He has also promised to create a “kitchen cabinet” of leaders representing various ethnic and religious groups. Mr. Mosley said Mr. Seddio had already been working quietly within the executive committee to make judicial appointments more closely scrutinized.
Mr. Seddio’s own murky experience as a judge has invited scrutiny. Despite his hasty departure, and his claim that he was frustrated by the isolation of the job, Mr. Seddio’s business cards still call him Hon. Frank R. Seddio, noting his tenure as a judge, and his law firm’s Web site mentions his time on the bench.
In explaining why the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct investigated him, Mr. Seddio said that before he was sworn in, he used $17,500 of about $85,000 in leftover funds from his Assembly campaign to renovate the Thomas Jefferson Club, and later discovered that the two donations he made, to Alan N. Maisel, a state assemblyman, and Carl Kruger, a once powerful state senator who is now in prison for corruption, were “mistakes.” He said they had returned the money.
He resigned before the commission issued a ruling. Soon afterward, Mr. Lopez appointed him an at-large district leader.
A former police officer who worked in community affairs in a South Brooklyn precinct, Mr. Seddio is known for the dazzling Christmas light displays at his corner law office, formerly his family’s home, on Flatlands Avenue; the pizzas he had delivered from Brooklyn for his fellow Assembly members; and the community dinners he cooks himself.
Mr. Seddio acknowledges that the machine has served him well.
“I’ve never kind of won all the way out,” he said.
“I’ve always held great positions in politics and enjoyed the role I played in it,” he said. “But every one of these positions has been the result of some tragedy. And this is occurring again.”
Just as he remained loyal to Mr. Kruger, defending him until he pleaded guilty to corruption charges, Mr. Seddio was sympathetic to Mr. Lopez. He changed his mind, he said, when he read the accounts of sexual harassment. In publicly urging Mr. Lopez to resign from the Assembly as well as the party chairmanship, Mr. Seddio apparently angered his friend, political observers said.
How much influence Mr. Lopez still has — and whether any rift could affect Mr. Seddio’s candidacy — is yet to be seen. But Mr. Seddio expressed confidence.
“I don’t say I’m going to be elected tomorrow,” he said. “But I believe when all is said and done that the people I have worked with, some I have helped, some I befriended, that I will get the overwhelming number of votes for this.”
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Likely Successor to Disgraced Brooklyn Party Leader Is a Friend and Protégé
By LIZ ROBBINS
Published: September 2, 2012
Each time a Brooklyn kingmaker falls in this borough of the back-room deal — the tenures of three of the last four Democratic bosses have ended in scandal — the outrage turns to an outcry for one of New York’s last political machines to be dismantled.
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
“I’ve always held great positions in politics and enjoyed the role I played in it. But every one of these positions has been the result of some tragedy," said Frank R. Seddio.
Related
Times Topic: Vito Lopez
Though former Borough President Howard Golden served without dishonor, his successor, Assemblyman Clarence Norman Jr., was convicted seven years ago of accepting illegal campaign contributions. Mr. Norman’s successor, Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez, vowed reform.
And when Mr. Lopez’s reign as the most powerful political force in the borough ended last week amid allegations of sexual harassment, reformers and progressives in Brooklyn used the situation to call for a clean break from a legacy of patronage politics harking back to the era of Tammany Hall. Almost immediately, a leading candidate for the position emerged: Frank R. Seddio, a friend and protégé of Mr. Lopez.
The pasta-loving patriarch of the Thomas Jefferson Club in southern Brooklyn, Mr. Seddio, 65, was the machine’s pick to become a state assemblyman and later a Surrogate’s Court judge, through a much criticized process that sidestepped the usual electoral vetting. He resigned from the bench in 2007, just 17 months into a 14-year term, amid an ethics inquiry into the tens of thousands of dollars he donated to Democratic leaders and organizations before he assumed the post with the party’s backing.
Though the position of party chairman might seem obscure to many voters, it would give Mr. Seddio significant control over judicial nominations, vacant legislative positions and hundreds of lucrative jobs that have historically been doled out to party insiders and their relatives. And if recent experience is any indication, the post could allow him to influence the next mayoral election, in a borough that is 71 percent Democratic.
As he pressed his candidacy last week, Mr. Seddio, like his mentor, made assurances that he would effect long-promised reforms if elected. “I see myself as leading the Brooklyn Democratic machine and making it inclusive and given the respect that it deserves,” Mr. Seddio said firmly.
His ascendancy — he said he already had enough votes to win the post, which even some of his opponents acknowledged — results from the lack of consensus for another candidate. That has been a source of frustration to critics of the party organization, who feel as though they are missing their best chance to overhaul the way politics are conducted in the borough.
Jo Anne Simon, a district leader from brownstone Brooklyn, is running on a reform platform.
“It’s not 40 years ago,” she said. “This is not the world of Meade Esposito.” Mr. Esposito, the Brooklyn Democratic boss for 14 years, was convicted in 1987 of influence-peddling and was found to have ties to organized-crime families.
Ms. Simon said leaders had already missed their opportunity to discuss how to redefine the party after the allegations of sexual harassment forced Mr. Lopez — on the advice of Mr. Seddio — not to run for another term as party chairman this coming September.
“How do we take a step forward and not be this divided body that is ignored in the broader conversations in state and country?” she asked, sighing and adding, “And then they rushed to anoint.”
But several elected officials said that it would be premature to consider the job Mr. Seddio’s before the Sept. 19 election for the Kings County Executive Committee, and that another candidate could still mount a credible challenge.
On Wednesday night, nine black district leaders met to discuss supporting Assemblyman Karim Camara, the head of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, and a charismatic pastor, who did not initially seek the job. His candidacy would be complicated by a party rule requiring that the chairman hold a district leader position, which Mr. Camara does not.
Mr. Camara said he would nevertheless be willing to look for a way to run. By the end of Wednesday’s meeting, according to Walter T. Mosley, a district leader running for the Assembly, the group agreed to keep talking about four potential candidates: Mr. Camara, Ms. Simon, Assemblyman Félix W. Ortiz and Mr. Seddio.
While the progressives weigh their options, Mr. Seddio and members of the Thomas Jefferson Club have been calling around to secure votes. He already has the backing of Marty Markowitz, the borough president. “He has been aggressive,” Mr. Mosley said of Mr. Seddio. “I can’t knock him for that.”
“There is still a relevant place to play for the next county leader, whether it is Frank Seddio or Karim Camara,” said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn, a Democratic candidate for Congress. “They must be prepared to reform the organization in a way that creates greater grass-roots and community participation.”
For his part, Mr. Seddio has pledged to abolish the 11 at-large district leader positions, which Mr. Lopez created to bolster his power alongside the 42 elected members of the executive committee. He has also promised to create a “kitchen cabinet” of leaders representing various ethnic and religious groups. Mr. Mosley said Mr. Seddio had already been working quietly within the executive committee to make judicial appointments more closely scrutinized.
Mr. Seddio’s own murky experience as a judge has invited scrutiny. Despite his hasty departure, and his claim that he was frustrated by the isolation of the job, Mr. Seddio’s business cards still call him Hon. Frank R. Seddio, noting his tenure as a judge, and his law firm’s Web site mentions his time on the bench.
In explaining why the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct investigated him, Mr. Seddio said that before he was sworn in, he used $17,500 of about $85,000 in leftover funds from his Assembly campaign to renovate the Thomas Jefferson Club, and later discovered that the two donations he made, to Alan N. Maisel, a state assemblyman, and Carl Kruger, a once powerful state senator who is now in prison for corruption, were “mistakes.” He said they had returned the money.
He resigned before the commission issued a ruling. Soon afterward, Mr. Lopez appointed him an at-large district leader.
A former police officer who worked in community affairs in a South Brooklyn precinct, Mr. Seddio is known for the dazzling Christmas light displays at his corner law office, formerly his family’s home, on Flatlands Avenue; the pizzas he had delivered from Brooklyn for his fellow Assembly members; and the community dinners he cooks himself.
Mr. Seddio acknowledges that the machine has served him well.
“I’ve never kind of won all the way out,” he said.
“I’ve always held great positions in politics and enjoyed the role I played in it,” he said. “But every one of these positions has been the result of some tragedy. And this is occurring again.”
Just as he remained loyal to Mr. Kruger, defending him until he pleaded guilty to corruption charges, Mr. Seddio was sympathetic to Mr. Lopez. He changed his mind, he said, when he read the accounts of sexual harassment. In publicly urging Mr. Lopez to resign from the Assembly as well as the party chairmanship, Mr. Seddio apparently angered his friend, political observers said.
How much influence Mr. Lopez still has — and whether any rift could affect Mr. Seddio’s candidacy — is yet to be seen. But Mr. Seddio expressed confidence.
“I don’t say I’m going to be elected tomorrow,” he said. “But I believe when all is said and done that the people I have worked with, some I have helped, some I befriended, that I will get the overwhelming number of votes for this.”
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