Monday, December 19, 2022

George santos

 Man about down like the nyt cannot say otb & josh lafazan cannot fathom that Nassau otb needs to be open to take bets and not be held up by the state of New York

Bettors bet west coast and flat tracks after 5:30 or 7:30

Party on with the teamsters gang et al


Long Island Business News 

Suffolk, Nassau OTB probe ethics conflict
by David Winzelberg
Published: November 24th, 2013

At least one employee of Nassau County Off-Track Betting is questioning whether the head of his employee union, a member-elect of the Suffolk County Legislature, should have a say in Suffolk OTB business.
Teamsters Local 707 President Kevin McCaffery, whose union represents about 200 Nassau OTB workers, was elected earlier this month to serve as a Suffolk legislator representing the 14th District. In a letter last week, Nassau OTB cashier Jackson Leeds alerted the Suffolk County Ethics Board to McCaffery’s possible conflict of interest.
“As a Suffolk County legislator, his duties are to the people of Suffolk County,” Leeds wrote. “He cannot simultaneously represent the interests of employees of Nassau OTB, a Nassau County public benefit corporation.”
McCaffery told LIBN he doesn’t think the two counties’ OTBs are in competition with each other and he doesn’t see his role as union leader for Nassau OTB workers as a conflict with issues surrounding Suffolk OTB.
“If anything, I have the background of dealing with Nassau OTB, which gives me more insight on the subject than any other legislator out there,” McCaffery said.
When asked if the legislator-elect’s union job appeared to be a conflict of interest, Nassau OTB chief Joseph Cairo said, “If you really want to stretch it. But I don’t see anything that’s apparent to me.”
Cairo added that he’ll instruct the Nassau agency’s counsel to review the situation.
Leeds, a 10-year veteran of Nassau OTB, complained that both union officials and county OTB management have been too focused on the 1,000 video lottery terminals planned for each county’s OTB and they’re not paying enough attention to current operations.
“They never worked behind a window,” Leeds told LIBN. “They’re out of touch with the bettors of Nassau County.”
Internet wagering and dwindling handles – the overall money being wagered – have prompted a consolidation in Nassau OTB’s operations in recent years; there were 15 betting offices in Nassau in 2003, and now there are eight. Suffolk OTB, which has seven branch offices, filed for bankruptcy last year.
These days, according to some analysts, OTB offices exist largely for political patronage – another reason, according to Leeds, that the Nassau union chief shouldn’t mix one business with the other.
“Union leaders should not be politicians,” he said. “OTBs are run by politicians. Being political and doing public good aren’t always incompatible, but they often are.”
This isn’t the first time a Long Island legislator’s OTB ties have become an issue.
In May 2000, Gregory Peterson, then-president of the Nassau OTB, sued to prevent Nassau County Leg. Roger Corbin from voting on appointments to the Nassau OTB’s board of directors. Because Corbin was employed as a branch manager for New York City OTB and a member of Teamsters Local 858, which then represented all employees of Nassau OTB, Peterson alleged Corbin’s legislative role posed a conflict of interest.
A New York Supreme Court judge issued an injunction preventing Corbin from voting on OTB appointments, but Corbin appealed and the lower court’s decision was reversed. The Nassau County Board of Ethics also chimed in, determining by a 3-2 vote that voting on OTB appointments didn’t create a conflict because Corbin didn’t influence policy or engage in labor negotiations.
With McCaffery, some observers say it’s best to proceed with caution.
Anthony Figliola, vice president of Uniondale-based government relations firm Empire Government Strategies, said the legislator-elect may want to recuse himself from any votes concerning Suffolk OTB until the Suffolk County Ethics Board offers an opinion.
“OTB is a political football,” Figliola said. “It’s better to stay out of it, especially if you want to get things done in the Legislature.”

NEWS

Newly elected House GOP member George Santos says Hunter Biden probe shouldn’t be a ‘priority’

By Victor Nava

November 14, 2022 | 9:02pm

Rep.-elect George Santos (R-NY) argued on Monday that lawmakers should avoid focusing on “hyperpartisan” investigations, including a potential probe into Hunter Biden’s business dealings, for at least the first six months of the new Congress. 

Santos told Fox News’s Sandra Smith on Monday that he wants no part of divisive investigations into the president’s son, the origins of COVID-19, Big Tech censorship, the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago, the Justice Department’s memo on outspoken parents at school board meetings, or the crisis at the southern border. 

MORE ON:HUNTER BIDEN 

Instead, Santos said that he wants to focus on issues such as energy independence and crime. 

“If parts of our party want to go into these investigations, that’s their prerogative,” Santos said. “I don’t want to waste my time in Washington engaging in hyperpartisan issues. I want to come here to deliver results.”

“We can be part of investigations so long as it doesn’t clutter and sway us from the goal, which is making Americans’ lives better or not worse,” Santos added.

The investigation would focus on Biden's business dealings.
House Republicans have called for a Hunter Biden investigation since 2020. 

When asked by Smith to clarify whether he believes the investigations proposed by GOP lawmakers are a waste of time, Santos said that they aren’t so long as they don’t become the party’s priority. 

“I think that for at least the first 6 months, we should work on making this county energy independent, we should work on reducing crime across metropolitan areas, such as New York City, and then we can start talking about investigations,” Santos said. 

GOP lawmakers such as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. James Cormer (R-KY), the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, have teased numerous investigations into the Biden administration should Republicans take control of the House, including probes into President Biden’s son Hunter’s alleged business dealings with companies tied to the Chinese Communist Party and the alleged politicization of the FBI and Justice Department under Biden. 

What do you think? Post a comment.

The GOP is expected to take control of the lower chamber with a narrow majority.

Santos, the first openly gay Republican elected to the House, defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman in New York’s 3rd Congressional District race last week, flipping a blue district that Biden won in 2020.

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