City council member targets Eric
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.
Ulrich over ethics complaint
Queens Democratic Party officials are retaliating against GOP City Councilman Eric Ulrich for filing an ethics complaint against City Council member Elizabeth Crowley — a relative of a powerful congressman, according to sources.
Sources say Crowley and her allies — including cousin Joe Crowley, a congressman and the borough’s Democratic leader — have reached out to uniformed-officers unions to ask why they’re endorsing Ulrich.
They pointed out that he was recommending a “yes” vote on the proposal for a state constitutional convention, which the unions fiercely oppose.
Joe Crowley, who had shown little interest in Ulrich’s re-election race, also suddenly endorsed his Democratic opponent, Mike Scala.
“People are really rallying to Liz’s side and defending her integrity and her right to look after her kids,” said Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Queens).
“There’s disappointment that a political dispute would develop into an unjustified ethics complaint. This should not have escalated into a spurious attack on her integrity,” he said.
The fight started after Elizabeth Crowley’s son was beaten up in a fight last year near a waterfront restaurant in Ulrich’s district, the Bayview Grille, where he worked.
Crowley proceeded to sic government agencies on the eatery’s owners, Ulrich later claimed.
Inspectors responded in force and the restaurant was shut after getting numerous violations.
When the owners reached out to Ulrich this year, he filed a complaint with the Conflicts of Interest Board, the city’s ethics panel.
Asked if Democratic Party officials pressured labor leaders to back away from Ulrich, Lancman said, “Opposition to a constitutional convention is the No. 1 litmus test for the labor movement.
I would not be surprised for labor leaders to hear from the Democratic Party saying, ‘Why are you backing him?’ ”
Ulrich felt the pressure.
This week, he reversed his position on the constitutional convention, posting a statement on Facebook saying he now opposes it.
Ulrich declined to comment, as did both Crowleys.
The councilwoman, through a spokesman, instead questioned why Ulrich had accepted a $250 campaign contribution last year from alleged Bonanno crime-family associate Robert Pisani.
“The real ethical question is why Eric Ulrich took money from a violent mob associate and dangerous sexual predator who is co-owner of this bar [the Bayview], and has yet to give it back or donate it to charity,” said Crowley spokesman Doug Forand.
Pisani, who was charged this year in loan-sharking and sex-crime cases, is no longer affiliated with Bayview Grille.
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