ambasadors from ny start at the top and work your way down
Joseph Mondello is shown in this file photo taken on May 6, 2015. Photo Credit: Johnny Milano
Good afternoon and welcome to The Point!
DAILY POINT
All around the limbo world
Nassau County Republican chairman Joe Mondello is traveling and unreachable for a few days, according to a spokesman for the party
leader. Could he be visiting a few Caribbean islands?
Stop scratching on holidays
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.
leader. Could he be visiting a few Caribbean islands?
Hempstead Town Council member Edward Ambrosino talks to reporters as he leaves Federal Court in Central Islip, March 31, 2017. Photo Credit: Ed Betz
Attorney Edward Ambrosino, who pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges of tax evasion and wire fraud, has a long history in Nassau County Republican politics, serving on the GOP-controlled Hempstead Town board and as special counsel to Republican County Executive Edward Mangano.
A protégé of powerful North Valley Stream GOP leader Joseph Cairo, who is second in command of the Nassau Republican party, Ambrosino served as the first counsel to the then-Republican majority of the new county legislature, which took office in 1996. He became friends with Mangano, who began his political career as a new legislator from Bethpage.
Mangano was charged by federal prosecutors in October with trading county work for personal favors from Bethpage restaurateur Harendra Singh. He has pleaded not guilty.
After Republicans lost control of the county legislature, Ambrosino in 2003 was appointed to the town board, replacing retiring GOP member Joseph J. Kearney. Ambrosino earns $71,000 annually in that role.
Ambrosino could not be reached for comment Friday.
In 2007, Ambrosino, Mangano and Bethpage electrician Robert Essig became joint owners of a two-bedroom, two-bath condominium on a golf course in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, under the corporate name of Mae Bee Equities.
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Claude Solnik
Long Island Business News
2150 Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348
Home > 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.
Cop files discrimination suit against F
Reliable sources confirm for The Point that Mondello is under serious consideration for an ambassadorship and is being vetted by the FBI. While the rumors swirling on Long Island say he’s off to the sunny isles of Trinidad and Tobago, places which gave us the limbo and calypso, our sources say the exact destination could change.
Mondello has tightly controlled the Nassau GOP for 33 years but itchy insiders wanting to take the reins have been trying to get him to move on. Some of those local Republicans have strong connections to President Donald Trump. Their lobbying, combined with Mondello’s early and strong support for the president, our sources say, have Mondello in a good spot for resume enhancement.
However, those who want him out of town before the November election are likely to be disappointed. A public announcement, our sources say, is at least a month away and the actual confirmation would not take place until the end of the year.
That’s enough time to dust off those Chubby Checker 45s and get out ye olde limbo stick. It takes a lot of practice, as the song says, to see “how low can you go.”
Rita Ciolli
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