U.S. Politics

New Yorkers Suspicious Of Andrew Cuomo's Shady Back-Room Deal-Making, Poll Shows

Andrew Cuomo, undoubtedly, is a pretty popular guy amongst New Yorkers (especially with New York Post state capital bureau chief Fred Dicker -- as we've chronicled, the guy just loves him). The gov currently boasts a 68-percent job approval rating, according to the latest poll. However, more than tw ... More >>

Grace Meng Raises $300,000 for Congressional Race; Says it Will Be a Historic Campaign

Queens Assemblywoman Grace Meng, who would be New York's first Asian-American member of Congress, has raised $300,000 in ten days. Obviously, she's thrilled. "We are definitely excited. I think this is going to be a historical campaign that people all throughout New York and the country are lookin ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo Ditches Pataki-Era Gun Law. Fred Dicker Gushes

​Governor Andrew Cuomo's ditched a controversial gun law put in place by ex-Governor George Pataki -- and, as you probably expected, Fred Dicker, the New York Post's state capital bureau chief/captain of the Cuomo rah-rah squad, got the "exclusive" on the story.Dicker, as you also might imagine, i ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo Cheerleader Fred Dicker's Open To Suggestions On How To Stop Puckering Up For Gov's Rump

​New York Post state capital bureau chief/captain of the Andrew Cuomo cheerleading squad Fred Dicker asked us earlier this week what "tough questions" he should ask his pal Cuomo about the gov's new budget, which -- as Dicker swoons -- is expected to be on time for the second year in a row.Dicker ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo Makes Media Rounds To Brag About (Expected) On-Time Budget. Fred Dicker Ready With The Softballs

​Governor Andrew Cuomo is making the media rounds today to tout what's expected to be New York's second annual on-time budget. First stop (of course): New York Post state capital bureau chief Fred Dicker's radio show -- and Dicker was ready...with a fresh bag of softballs.Throughout the course of ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo Taps Bronx Assemblyman Peter Rivera (And Baggage That Comes With Him) For Top Labor Gig

​Governor Andrew Cuomo used the annual dinner for a non-profit group aimed at increasing the role of Hispanics in the public policy making process to announce that Democratic Bronx Assemblyman Peter Rivera is his pick to replace Colleen Gardner (a David Patterson holdover) as the commissioner of t ... More >>

Domestic Violence Legislation Package: What You Need to Know

The New York State Assembly passed several domestic violence bills yesterday, which will soon be on their way to the Senate. If they make it through the rest of the legislative process, the measures would do everything from toughening penalties against repeat domestic violence offenders to keeping g ... More >>

Mitt Romney Thinks He Can Just "Get Rid" Of Planned Parenthood (Which He Can't) -- And New York Dems Are Pissed!

​Former Massachusetts governor/wannabe GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's currently catching some heat from the left over comments he made about his desire to "get rid" of Planned Parenthood -- something he has no authority to do, even if he is elected president.One of those worked up over R ... More >>

A Guide to the Glitz and Glam of Super Tuesday

It's that quadrennial time of the year again: Super Tuesday. The political primary holiday in ten states tonight will dole out 20 percent of the delegate count -- a total of 419 -- for the Republican National Convention in August. With Romney riding off the momentum of wins in Washington, Arizona, a ... More >>

Arizona and Michigan: Super Tuesday Pregame Is a Romney-Santorum Standoff

Tonight is the night... for more primaries. Arizona and Michigan are next up for primaries as voters in these states have until this evening to choose their favorite Republican presidential candidate. Contrary to popular belief, these two primaries are actually worth something: Arizona will award 29 ... More >>

SSM Update: NJ Gov Follows Through On Promise To Veto Bill, Maryland On The Road To Equality

On Thursday, we told you about the passage of a bill in New Jersey's Assembly that would make same sex marriage legal in the state. N.J. Governor Chris Christie promised that he would veto the bill when it landed on his desk, and he held true to his word. The New York Daily News says that Christie w ... More >>

SSMpalooza: Jersey Legislature Passes Gay Marriage, Giving Second Governor Named Chris Chance to Sign Equality Law In One Week

Who knew this was possible? As New Jersey's Assembly just passed a marriage equality bill 41-33, this week is turning out even gayer for marriage than last week was. A couple days ago, in the happier half of A Tale Of Two Governor Chrises, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed marriage equality into law for ... More >>

New York Picks Barack Obama Over Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum: Poll

​New Yorkers told pollsters: "I Heart Barack Obama" in a Quinnipiac University survey released this morning. They gave him a 50-46 percent job-approval rating, unchanged from his 50-45 percent in December. And 50-45 percent want Obama to stick around and think he deserves to be re-elected to ... More >>

Ally Ally Alinsky! Rightbloggers See Saul Alinsky Everywhere -- Even Among Themselves

Now that Newt Gingrich, newly amplified as a Presidential candidate, is regularly using Saul Alinsky as a club to beat Obama, the conservative obsession with long-dead community organizer has gone bigtime. Perhaps overexcited by this new opportunity to lecture America about one more thing that they ... More >>

Rightbloggers Explain How Newt Gingrich's Big Win Can Help Someone Other Than Newt Gingrich Become President

Was it the video hit his Super PAC put out on Romney? Was it his heroic denunciation of his ex-wife and the Liberal Media (mostly the Liberal Media)? Whatever the reason, Newt Gingrich won a big surprise victory in Saturday's South Carolina primary. Rightbloggers who've always loved the former Spea ... More >>

Queer Rising Gets Arrested, Other LGBT Activists Pile on Cuomo Over Homeless Youth Funding in Budget

The activists over at Queer Rising, who got arrested again and again and again during the past couple of years fighting for marriage equality, took it to the streets yesterday and initiated their first encounter of 2012 with handcuffs in front of Governor Andrew Cuomo's midtown office. According ... More >>

Romney Wins New Hampshire, Surprising Nobody At All

Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire primary last night, winning 39 percent of the vote more or less exactly as expected. Ron Paul came in a distant second with 23 percent of the vote, John Huntsman took third with 17 percent, and Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum each got about 9 percent. Texas Govern ... More >>

Rick Santorum Sweater Vests for Sale for $100 a Pop

​Do you want to not only vote for but also look like Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum? If so, you are in luck! Rick Santorum has leveraged his viral fashion-backward menswear choices into a donation campaign for none other than Rick Santorum. But you, too, will benefit -- if you ... More >>

Rightbloggers Prepare to Swallow Their Santorum and Root for Romney

Since the recent Iowa one-two finish by Romney and Santorum, there've been a couple more debates and a lot of palaver about the GOP Presidential race. But let us level with you: Despite all our jokes about The Next President of the United States of The Week/Month, it's become painfully obvious tha ... More >>

?uestlove

Holy Shit! Mitt Romney Made a Fake Bet!

Last night, the remaining Republican presidential candidates met at Drake University in Des Moines for a debate that lasted almost two hours. What they said doesn't matter, however, as the only thing people will remember is the moment when Mitt Romney asked Rick Perry if he wanted to bet "ten thousa ... More >>

Newt Gingrich: Obama Is the "Finest Food Stamp" President

​Newt Gingrich thinks Barack Obama is a bad president -- for helping more poor Americans eat. Thing is, Obama isn't exactly responsible for recent, record-setting numbers of food-stamp beneficiaries. Gingrich, who wants to run on the Republican ticket in the 2012 presidential election, has ... More >>

Rightbloggers Declare Former Future President Herman Cain a (What Else?) Victim of Obama, Media

Last weekend former GOP pack leader and accused horndog Herman Cain finally called an end to his flailing Presidential campaign/book tour -- or rather "suspended" it, allowing the enterprise to keep drawing money. Some normally opinionated rightbloggers tip-toed away from the embarrassing subje ... More >>

Is New York's Marriage Equality Act In Legal Jeopardy of a Repeal?

​When the Marriage Equality Act passed in the New York State Senate on June 24, 2011, Governor Andrew Cuomo quickly signed it into law. When it went into effect 30 days later, same-sex couples had the right to enter into civil marriages and receive the same legal protections afforded opposite- ... More >>

The Roots' Walk-On Music For Michele Bachmann Was Ha-Ha Funny, But...

Monday night the Republican Presidential candidate and frequent source/target of Photoshop japery Michele Bachmann appeared on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in an effort to promote both her autobiography and her appearance at last night's Presidential debate. As a rebuke to the Minnesota congresswoma ... More >>

Rick Perry's Texas Fantasyland

Rick Perry's Texas is a job-makin', low-taxin' oasis of economic growth. It's also a fantasy.

Rightbloggers: S&P Downgrade of U.S. Means We're On The Right Track

Last week, hot on the heels of the Congressional debt-ceiling fiasco and the ensuing stock market drop, Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit rating of the United States of America from AAA to AA , and placed the ailing superpower on "CreditWatch with negative implications." The reactions of Ame ... More >>

New Jersey's Medical Marijuana Program Could Begin by the End of 2011

​After complications, New Jersey will move forward with its medical marijuana program, Governor Chris Christie said on Tuesday. The bill, signed into law by former Governor Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat, on his last day in office back in January of 2010, was supposed to make way for operation wit ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo Shouldn't Think About Being President Yet, According to Poll

​Despite what he called an "unusually successful" legislative session, it's too early for Andrew Cuomo to be thinking about the United States presidency according to New Yorkers in a new poll. A Siena College survey found that 83% of locals said chatter about a national run in 2016 is prematur ... More >>

Chris Christie Made It to His Son's Baseball Game ... In a Helicopter

Christopher Costa for Patch​The governor of New Jersey is a busy man, but made time to see his son play baseball yesterday; he arrived in a State Police helicopter. Chris Christie had a hectic marathon of important meetings and New Jersey allows the use of the choppers, which cost at least $1, ... More >>

Rightbloggers Explain How Killing Osama Was Bad for Obama, America

Last Sunday, right after President Obama announced the death of Osama Bin Laden, we did a quick scan of rightblogger responses to the event. The brethren basically felt Obama had nothing to do with it and if he did, it wasn't worth doing. A week has passed. Which means rightbloggers have had time ... More >>

Crying New Jersey Governor Kid Gets What He Wanted

​Jesse Koczon, the New Jersey kid who cried all over YouTube because he was "too small" to be the governor of New Jersey, is now going to be the governor of New Jersey. Chris Christie, the actual governor, signed a "proclamation" on Wednesday morning that named Small Jesse "honorary governor" ... More >>

3-Year-Old Boy Desperately, Hilariously, Wants to Be Governor of New Jersey

Apparently this video was originally on America's Funniest Home Videos (remember that show? Remember home videos?), where it won little Jesse's family a cool $10 grand. And it really is funny! Poor Jesse only wants to be the governor of New Jersey, but he is tooooo smaaaall. Chin up, Jesse... now y ... More >>

Rightbloggers Denounce the Wealthy, Treasonous Schoolteachers of Wisconsin

The effort by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Republican-led state legislature to deprive the state's teachers of collective bargaining rights was catnip to rightbloggers last week. This is because it involves two of their traditional objects of hatred: Unions and public education. You kno ... More >>

New York Post May Not Approve of Andrew Cuomo's High Approval Rating

​Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, while fair and balanced 99 percent of the time, occasionally allows some bias to creep into one of its many media outlets. Hard to believe, but if you look very close, you can find it. So let's play a game: Guess the News Corp. lede!

Chris Lee Could Be Replaced By Carl Paladino

​Christopher Lee, the New York representative who resigned yesterday amid a scandal over shirtless pictures, will be replaced between 30 and 45 days after Governor Andrew Cuomo calls for a special election. Rumors have already started as to who might run for the spot, including one that New Yorker ... More >>

Queens Pol Tony Seminerio, 75, Dies in a Federal Pen

​Former Queens assemblyman Tony Seminerio died today in a federal prison hospital in North Carolina where he was serving out the six-year fraud sentence he received in February. Seminerio, 75, had long been in poor health. Prior to his sentencing by federal Judge Naomi Buchwald for taking hund ... More >>

The Peggy Lipton Affair Takes Down Another Albany Big Shot

​We got yet another fascinating look inside the Albany favors factory yesterday when Andrew Cuomo released his latest revelation in the state pension fund scandal. Pat Lynch, the uber-lobbyist and close friend and ally of Sheldon Silver, was slapped with a half-million-dollar fine and banned f ... More >>

Sidebar: Fantasy Voter Fraud

Joe Scarborough's Political Contributions Revealed by Voice in 2008: What Took So Long for the Suspension?

​Decades ago, when I was new to the pages of the Voice and when my work actually appeared on pages, I was visited at the office by state investigators. They had in their hands a campaign filing by Al Vann, then a young and ballsy assemblyman from the heart of Bed Stuy. I was astoni ... More >>

The TSA Battlefront: Privacy Vs. Security

"The good ol' days.."​What with the looming holiday season and the busiest travel days of the year, along with the TSA's most recent security measures, there's a significant debate brewing over who's right, who's wrong, and what, exactly, is going too far. Many have reported being patted down "ina ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo Goes to Albany, Where Lobbyists Are Waiting

David Paterson Post Mortems Begin in Earnest

​The day after the election, the Times ran a comparative chart of the personal preferences of the outgoing and incoming governors. Asked how he relaxed at the Governor's Mansion in Albany, David Paterson said: "Reading in the family room." A few days earlier, Joe Fisch, the state's in ... More >>

New York Gubernatorial Candidate Makes Final Pre-Election Push With Local Constituents

According to photographic evidence provided by WNYCMedia.net, New York's Republican option for governor, Carl Paladino, partied with sexy wenches, a, er, "guy in blackface" (or maybe a burn victim/devil person/sexy post-op Jocelyn Wildenstein?), and a zombie for Halloween at West Seneca bar Potter's ... More >>

Carl Paladino's Hometown Newspaper Endorses Andrew Cuomo

​Batty and bigoted Republican candidate for governor of New York, Carl Paladino, is trailing his opponent Andrew Cuomo by doubt-digits in the polls and suffered another blow Sunday when his hometown newspaper, the Buffalo News, endorsed Cuomo. "In the end, there is no choice for governor but A ... More >>

Grinding Justice

Operation Streamline Costs Millions, Tramples the Constitution, Treats Migrants Like Cattle, and Doesn't Work

How Does Carl Paladino Get the 'Tea Party' Tag After Teabagging the Tea Partiers?

​Sometimes it's really tough to figure out what's news in New York. Everywhere in America, and on every national cable channel, it's Tea Party talk all the time. Carl Paladino runs for governor as if he's a Tea Partier and knocks off the ballot the only candidate to actually file petition ... More >>

The Sick Looting of Home Health Care

A connected company's license to loot—at the expense of the taxpayers, elderly, and infirm

The Parker/Spitzer Liveblog!

​Parker/Spitzer, the biggest thing to happen to CNN since Larry King farted on Octomom, is finally here. Our former governor Eliot Spitzer and his foil, the saucy Putlizer-prize winning conservative columnist, Kathleen Parker, are about to go on the air.

Carl Paladino vs. The Tea Party: No Love Lost

​Third party politics in New York is so byzantine most voters turn off when it comes up. But Rudy Giuliani wouldn't have been mayor without the now-defunct Liberal line and George Pataki's margin over Mario Cuomo in 1994 was provided by the State Conservative Party. So the swing this week ... More >>