Brooklyn Heights Blog

BHB commenter Josh points to a story in the NY Daily News about former NY State Senator and Brooklyn Heights resident Marty Connor and other public officials who left office last year but cling to their past via  new vanity plates:

NY Daily News: Politicians Not in Office…: Longtime State Sen. Marty Connor lost his reelection bid last fall, but you wouldn’t know that from looking at his Jeep Cherokee.

Connor, an election lawyer in Brooklyn, has license plates reading “25 SD” - presumably referring to the 25th Senate District, which he represented for 30 years.

The former senator, who registered the vanity plates just days before his successor was sworn in, brushed off the suggestion that his plate referred to the seat he lost in November.

“That’s your conclusion,” he said. “I don’t have to tell you why I picked the plate.”

This afternoon, Senator Daniel Squadron announced that he is opening a Brooklyn District Office that, thanks to the generosity of Borough President Marty Markowitz, will temporarily be in Borough Hall. Squadron also announced the appointment of Ellen Whelan-Wuest as his Brooklyn Office Director, whose first task will be to find space for a permanent office in the heart of the district. Though not a native of Brooklyn, Whelan-Wuest now resides in Carroll Gardens (as does Squadron), and was urged by both Squadron and Markowitz to eat at Junior’s as soon as she gets a chance.

By opening his office in Brooklyn, Squadron said he is “making good on [his] promise to represent every part” of the 25th Senate District - from downtown Brooklyn to lower Manhattan.

BHB Photo by Claude Scales

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer administered the oath of office to NYS Senator Daniel Squadron (D-SD25) in two local ceremonies on Sunday (1/25) in Brooklyn Heights and Lower Manhattan.  Squadron has vowed to be “accessible” to constituents throughout the 25th State Senate district.

BHB Photo by Marc Hermann manipulated by Homer Fink via obamiconme.pastemagazine.com

New York Magazine profiles our man in the NYS Senate Daniel Squadron this week.  And even before the paint is dry in The Kid’s Albany office, a commenter takes a swipe at him: Read more »

As the hangovers subside and people gradually get used to the fact that the last eight years of horrendous governance will be coming to an end shortly, I thought I would share with the BHB community my experience voting during this historic election. At some point during the day I commented on BHB that there were special voting machines for the disabled. In fact, these machines known as “Ballot Marking Devices” could be used by anyone and are probably the type of equipment that the Board of Elections will use in the future. Consequently, the story that is told below is something that might be of interest to anyone that is concerned about the democratic process, regardless of disability. The situation was so egregious that I was contacted by NY1 and the segment will appear this evening some time between 8-9 p.m (watch video).

November 4 narrative:

At approximately 12:20 I started the process to exercise my right to vote in what is arguably the most important election of my life. Although I was eventually able to cast an absentee ballot, it took almost 6 hours, two appearances before a Supreme Court Judge, and numerous frustrating interactions with a variety of Board of Elections employees at two different polling sites and at the Brooklyn Board of Elections headquarters, not to mention the 28 blocks of rolling around downtown Brooklyn in the drizzling rain. Read more »

It’s morning in Albany.   A chilly, crisp January morning in a city even more dreary than William Kennedy could ever possibly describe in his many novels about this cesspool of a capital city. There’s a reason why they say the best thing about Albany is its equal proximity to Boston and New York City.

Ty Pennington of ABC’s Extreme Makeover pulls up in a bus with his team of designers. They tip-toe out of the bus in that annoyingly cutesy way where they make believe the residents of the decrepit home they are about to tear down have no idea they’ve arrived.

They’re in front of the New York State Senate Chamber Ty takes out his bullhorn and screams: “Goooooood Morning Dean Skelos! Serph Maltese! Frank Padavan and the rest of the State Senate GOP…get out here! And bring Marty Connor with you!” Read more »

BHB Community pick Democrat Daniel Squadron easily won election to the New York State Senate representing the 25th District Tuesday beating his Republican opponent John Chromczak by a 75 point margin.

Discuss the results of all the political battles here.

BHB Photo by Marc Hermann

The readers of Brooklyn Heights Blog have overwhelmingly endorsed Democrats Daniel Squadron for NY State Senate and Barack Obama for President.

In a poll conducted this week,  60% of poll respondents who live in the 25th NYS Senate District endorsed Daniel Squadron over his Republican opponent John Chromczak who received 8.6% of the vote.  A whopping 31.4% claimed they were “undecided” on the race.  Most repondents (43%) called BHB’s Great Debate between the two candidates a tie.  BHB readers also endorsed Squadron in the Democratic primary against incumbent State Senator Martin Connor in September.

In the race for U.S. President, the BHB Community endorsed Barack Obama with 89.6% of the vote while 10.4% went for Republican John McCain.

BHB Photo by Marc Hermann

For those of you who couldn’t make it out to BHB’s NYS SD 25 debate aka The Great Debate: Squadron vs. Chromczak on Tuesday night, you can view it in its entirety after the jump.

Read more »