John Sampson

After Helping The FBI, Former State Senator Shirley Huntley Still Gets Slapped With A Year In Prison

At the end of last August, former State Senator Shirley Huntley called for a press conference in her home district of Jamaica, Queens. There, she informed her supporters that she would be arrested the following day for an extensive criminal investigation into her personal expenses. Turns out, betwe ... More >>

Salvia Ban Looms in New York After Years of Fear Mongering, Bad Jokes

Drugs​Salvia divinorum, the drug used most publicly by Miley Cyrus and Arizona shooter Jared Loughner, moved closer to being outlawed on Monday when the New York state Senate approved a bill banning the sale of the hallucinogenic herb. John Flanagan, the lawmaker who sponsored the legislation, ... More >>

Democratic Rebels Stage New State Senate Breakaway

​ The new Albany legislative session opens this morning with yet another rebellion in the ranks. This one comes from a quartet of Democratic state senators who announced this morning, with plenty of tough words, that they're moving away from their party's minority to form an "independent caucu ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo Goes to Albany, Where Lobbyists Are Waiting

NARAL's Endorsement of Eric Schneiderman: The Backstory

​NARAL New York just produced a video and hosted a press conference for Eric Schneiderman, the Democratic candidate for attorney general. NARAL has yet to even endorse Andrew Cuomo, the sitting attorney general who is running for governor. Yet it is governors who shape abortion policy; Ne ... More >>

Al Sharpton and the 'Times' Endorse Eric Schneiderman: You Gotta Be Kidding

​Can I start with the final straw and work my way backwards? While I was away on vacation last week, Al Sharpton, one of the worst tax scofflaws in New York, endorsed Eric Schneiderman for the state's top law enforcement office. No big deal. Any one of the four other Democrats running for att ... More >>

Carl Andrews Goes From Clownish Antics to More Serious Trouble

I remember when Carl Andrews was an innocent. The focus of scorching New York Post stories the last two days, Andrews is now a target of a probe that threatens the brief Democratic reign in the New York State Senate. It's the culmination of a life of clownish crime, though the usually ebullient Andr ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo's Biggest Rival Won't Be the G.O.P.

It's Shelly Silver and the old-school Dems in his race to Governor

Eric Schneiderman, Too Beholden to Teachers' Union to Be Attorney General?

Schneiderman​Eric Schneiderman, the Manhattan state senator running for Attorney General, was one of 12 Democrats who voted against the charter school bill that passed 45 to 15 on Monday. Ironically, though a bill authorizing new charter schools appears irrelevant to the AG race, t ... More >>

State Senate Votes to More Than Double Number of Charter Schools

​The State Senate voted yesterday to raise the number of charter schools in the state to 460 from 200. Majority Leader John Sampson supported the legislation and, despite significant Democratic resistance, led it to a surprisingly bipartisan victory (45-15). More than doubling the number of c ... More >>

Merryl Tisch, State Schools Chancellor, Doesn't Seem Too Worked Up About Losing Federal Funds

Go for the money, Merryl!​State schools chancellor and role model Merryl Tisch certainly sounded like she was showing New York's millions of public school kids how to throw in the towel Wednesday night. She told NY1's Lindsey Christ that the state might not even submit an applicat ... More >>

Aqueduct Racino Deal Collapses

​Well, there goes the AEG Aqueduct deal. Albany has withdrawn its support for the Aqueduct Entertainment Group bid that earlier this year won the "racino" video gaming concession at Aqueduct Raceway. Today the state Division of the Lottery announced it "has concluded that it cannot issue a g ... More >>

David Paterson Plays the Dupe Once Again with Ethics "Reform"

Such a patsy.​In the space of three weeks, 24 Republicans in the state senate voted for and against the same state ethics bill. And in the madhouse of Albany, almost no one noticed. When the ethics bill passed 59 to 1 in late January, 28 GOP state senators voted for it, with one D ... More >>

Paterson Speech Reax: Papers Exult, GOP Mixed, Democrats Praise Selves

Governor Paterson follows up his program-rich State of the State speech with a round of radio interviews, which Liz Benjamin patiently follows. She finds Paterson expecting the public will respond better to his message than have Albany legislators ("So what I did, what I decided to do, is put out ... More >>

Senate's John Sampson Scores Big With Law Firm

​It's good to be the king! State senate leader John Sampson - who only a few months was just another Court Street lawyer scurrying for cases in Brooklyn - has hit the big time. The Post reports that the Democratic majority leader is now "of counsel" to one of the state's biggest personal injur ... More >>

Barrett: Harlem's Gang of Four Handicaps the Governor's Race on NY1

If you're a New York political junkie, the best entertainment of the holiday season was the sitdown Michael Scotto had last week on NY1 with the remaining members of Harlem's Gang of Four, David Dinkins, Basil Paterson and Congressman Charlie Rangel. They went on the show to laud gang leader and b ... More >>

Ruben Diaz Asks: If Hiram Monserrate Rates an Investigation, Why Not Kevin Parker?

​You may recall that in Hiram Monserrate's darkest days -- back before the judge in his assault case let him off with probation -- fellow state senator and member of the "Gang of Three" (which muscled the senate for favors last year) Ruben Diaz Sr. complained that there was a racist component ... More >>

Paterson Rejects Albany Half-Loaf Budget Cuts, Says "The State is Going Bankrupt"

Governor Paterson wanted the endless Albany special sessions to produce $5 billion in budget cuts over the next year and a half. The legislators said: How about $2.9 billion? After some ominous rumblings ("Governor Paterson had enough and will not wait any longer"), it now appears there is no deal. ... More >>

Senate GOP, Dem Leaders Unite to Oppose Paterson's "Soviet" Deficit Plan

Maybe by scaling back his demand for over $600 million in cuts to school aid by half was the fatal sign of weakness that invited the counterattack, but the state senators who have been remarkably slow about trimming the budget united against Paterson with great speed. Democratic leader John Sampson ... More >>

Albany Special Sessions Grow Increasingly Less Special

​We know this stretches the definition of news, but the Albany special sessions haven't accomplished much in the way of deficit reduction. Sheldon Silver informs us the hard-working assembly has been churning out bills, including one inspired by the sad case of Leandra Rosado that will make it ... More >>

Who Do We Have to Blow to Get Gay Marriage in New York?

The frustrating circle-jerk in Albany.

Albany Gay Marriage Vote Delayed

Gay marriage is on the special session agenda in Albany today. Earlier the Lower Hudson Journal found state senate Democratic leader John Sampson "noncommittal" on its chances in the chamber, slimly controlled by the Democrats, and now the senate has delayed the vote. Reports indicate a lack of sure ... More >>

Liu, Gioia, Other Dems Call for Monserrate to Resign; Skelos Proposes Extra Republican for Panel

More Democratic public officials are calling for state senator Hiram Monserrate, convicted of lesser charges in an attack on his girlfriend and facing a special state senate committee, to remove himself from office. Earlier in the week New York Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer suggested ... More >>

Special Senate Committee will Consider Monserrate's Fate; GOP, Diaz Complain

The state senate leadership finally announced it would establish a special committee to consider colleague Hiram Monserrate's membership. The committee will be chaired by Democratic on Manhattan underboss John Sampson senator Eric Schneiderman and include five Democratic senators -- including locals ... More >>

More Anti-Monserrate Rumors and Noises, Which Will Result in Nothing Much

Not enough time has passed since state senator Hiram Monserrate was cleared of most serious charges in the alleged slashing of his girlfriend, so local politicians are obliged to keep on acting as if they might do something about the presence of the batterer in the chamber. NY1 says the state sena ... More >>

State Senate Staff-Up Enriches Espada's Office by $500,000

The state senate Democrats have been staffing up and shelling out -- to the tune of $1 million, says the Post, though the office of president pro tem Malcolm Smith claims the overall number after cuts "will be in line with the previous majority, if not lower." Whichever way the cash flows, majority ... More >>

Barrett: Deal for Mayoral Control Close after Bloomberg Gets the Scalp He Wanted

Senate Democrats and negotiators for the mayor have apparently worked out terms to settle the recent deadlock about extending the mayoral school control bill. Sources say the mayor has agreed to an amendment that would provide $1.6 million to the City University to oversee a parent training and exch ... More >>

Albany, Out of Coup, Still Finds Ways to Not Pass Mayoral Control

The newly-"empowered" (holds up hand, rubs fingers together) state senate is finally taking a look at the mayoral control of city schools bill, a reauthorization bill which passed the assembly a few decades ago but was stalled in the Albany Coup, causing mayoral control to expire and forcing Mayor ... More >>

Coup in Review: Sampson Rebrands, Golisano Claims People in the Street Support the Coup

Oh yeah, in case you're wondering, there's a lot of talking going on in Albany and no sign of advancement. There's another special session scheduled momentarily. Democratic sorta-leader John Sampson says he'll run through some bills, and attempts to rebrand what we had come to know and love as the ... More >>

Board of Ed to Albany: Please Kill Me

The new dummy Board of Ed, set up by city officials to comply with the old school charter that went back into effect because Albany failed to restore mayoral control, got down to the business of making Dennis Walcott its "president," putting Joel Klein back in charge, and formally asking Albany to p ... More >>

Bloomy Schools Doomsday: End of the World As We Know It

School Armageddon is upon us. Or even worse, a planned economy. Today we find out if Mayor Bloomberg's doomsday predictions come true about what will happen if the state senate fails to renew legislation granting the mayor full control over city schools. Last week, Bloomberg thundered that letting t ... More >>

Coup in Review: Dems, GOP Do Quickie, Dems Honor Dead Celebs, Parker Apologizes

Michael Jackson madness met Albany madness today as the Republicans-plus-Espada and the Democrats enacted their now customary ritual of holding separate sessions: the Democrats had a moment of silence for Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, while the GOP-plus-E, perhaps worried about political fallout, just ... More >>

Coup in Review: Paterson Calls Special Session, Skelos Spokesman Says "Bullsh*t," Bloomberg Blames Dems, Espada Shows Off Bronx "Home"

Over the weekend Governor Paterson stepped into the Albany Coup spotlight, announcing that he would summon the state senators to a special session on Wednesday (the official session ends today), and he meant all the state senators, not just the Republicans who have been meeting alone, without a quor ... More >>

Cheek, in Review: 7 Days of Runnin' Scared

The Albany Coup, Week 2: It started with a shock twist as Hiram Monserrate rejoined the Democrats, putting the state senate in a 31-31 deadlock. The Dems optimistically declared new leader John Sampson the president pro tem. (Just to be on the safe side they sued, but were rejected.) The Republica ... More >>

And Now Introducing State Senate Leader John Sampson ...

Here are a few highlights on the career of John Sampson, the south Brooklyn state senator who is taking the reins from now-deposed state senate Democratic leader Malcolm Smith.- Like Smith, Sampson is a soft-spoken pol who hasn't made a huge impression since he was elected to the senate in 1996. A ... More >>

Coup in Review: Albany Dems Offer Deal, GOP Balks, State Senate Still Stuck, Sampson is "CEO"

Poor Acting Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. McNamara, forced to listen to the case of the Albany Democrats and Republicans, keeps asking them to figure it out themselves, but they show no signs of breaking their deadlock. Since Hiram Monserrate left the Espada-Monserrate-GOP coalition yesterday, pu ... More >>

Monserrate Flips, Dems Allegedly Have 31-31 Split in Senate

Yeah, by now we're not sure what it means anymore either, but Hiram Monserrate tells the Daily News "I'm coming home" to the Democratic Party. Both he and Albany coup leader Pedro Espada Jr. have been saying they're still loyal Dems since this whole thing started last Monday, but Monserrate means h ... More >>

Quick Burst from the Albany Coup: Cavaliers Resurgent!

Now John Sampson is president pro tempore of the state senate; Smith stays majority leader. Monserrate put out a statement saying that "Democrats today have put ourselves on the right side of reform and the right side of history" and that he is "unbought and unbossed." (Excuse us a second -- no, no, ... More >>

Albany Coup Update: Duane "Flirting" With GOP for Gay Marriage?

They're still swinging in Albany, where the New Model Republican Majority is locked out of the state senate chamber. Democratic cavaliers are leaning on Hiram Monserrate, with operatives availing a robocall that claims Monserrate has "abandoned Barack Obama and everything we believe in" with his apo ... More >>

Coup in Review: No Session Today; Monserrate Keeps 'Em Guessing

Earlier Pedro Espada said he was goin' into the senate chamber and Malcolm Smith said he was goin' to court. Espada has not, that anyone could see, gone into the chamber, and Smith seems not to have gone to court. There was no senate session today, not even the al fresco one Espada had threatened, b ... More >>

Barrett: Court's Slow Work Helped Lippman

Following up on our report of Shelly Silver gaming Governor Paterson to put his old LES friend, Jonathan Lippman, in the highest courts job in the state:The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct released a final determination today removing a Westchester judge who was elected in a 2005 cross ... More >>

Golisano's Senate Picks: Mostly (and in NYC, Only) Same-Old

Hack Attack

A disbarred lawyer wins a patronage job with Christine Quinn's council

Home Shopping Network

A hidden camera catches the underside of a Brooklyn pol's personal housing deal

Norman Convicted - Resigns as Brooklyn Boss

I'll Be the Judge

Prosecution complex

The Brooklyn D.A.'s office is ailing, but the cure may be worse than the ailment

Close-Up on Starrett City, Brooklyn

Close-Up on Crown Heights

The Steelband Raids

Has the City Declared War on the West Indian Carnival?