Republican Jabs at Rival as Mayoral Campaigns Rev Up
By JOE JACKSON and MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL
New York City mayoral hopeful John Catsimatidis's name will be added to the long list of super-wealthy candidates who lose at the ballot box, Republican rival Joe Lhota predicted Monday as the major mayoral candidates hit the pavement in pursuit of voters at holiday parades."Money doesn't win elections," Mr. Lhota said at a Memorial Day parade in the Little Neck neighborhood of Queens, noting how billionaire Ron Lauder failed to win his mayoral bid in 1989 and billionaire Meg Whitman failed to win her campaign for California governor in 2010. "Money is not the sole determinant of who wins and who loses in political races."
On Monday, Mr. Catsimatidis, whose personal fortune is estimated at more than $3 billion, became the first mayoral candidate this year to launch a television ad. Mr. Lhota is expected to be on the airwaves with his own TV ad on Tuesday.
Mr. Catsimatidis was honored by organizers of the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade as "man of the year," and he rode the route in an open-top royal blue 1969 Pontiac Firebird.
"We're ramping it up," Mr. Catsimatidis said Monday.
Mr. Catsimatidis said last week he didn't think Mr. Lhota had the financial wherewithal to be competitive, an allegation Mr. Lhota's campaign rejected. Mr. Lhota had $859,742 in cash on hand, according to his latest filings with the city on May 15.
Asked how he would fare against Mr. Catsimatidis if both had the same amount of money to spend, Mr. Lhota, who walked the parade route, said: "Then I'd beat him even more."
The candidates seeking to replace Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire who self-funded his three campaigns for City Hall, crisscrossed the city, shaking hands and schmoozing with voters on the unofficial first day of summer. In Westchester County, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, both of whom are discussed as potential candidates for president in 2016, marched together in New Castle's Memorial Day parade.
Democratic mayoral candidate Christine Quinn said she visited five parades, including one in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, where she posed with her father, Larry Quinn, 86 years old, a World War II veteran.
Bill Thompson said he visited three parades on Monday. "Then the speaker's been to a couple of places I haven't been," he said when he learned how many Ms. Quinn had attended.
Several of the candidates acknowledged that the campaign is moving into high gear.
"Up until now we've just been warming up," joked Comptroller John Liu, a Democratic mayoral candidate, who was spotted Monday shaking hands at a Dunkin' Donuts on Northern Boulevard in Little Neck. "Now more people are starting to pay attention and there are issues still to talk about."
Joanne Martell, a 65-year-old insurance adjuster who marched in the Little Neck parade with members of her church, Zion Episcopal Church, said she was starting to pay attention to the mayoral candidates.
"This is the place to be seen today," she said. "It's important to hear what each candidate has to say."
—Mara Gay contributed to this article. Write to Michael Howard Saul at michael.saul@wsj.com
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LI Confidential
> Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3. John doesn't read the labels on the shelves and he surely has not read the NY Const. nor can he remember NYC OTB opening in 2003 on the other guy's holiday and making money.
What a billionaire? That's what errand boys are for.
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