Charles O'Byrne had some pointed advice for his former boss David Paterson during their Feb. 21 meeting. Off with their heads. According to a well-placed source, Mr. O'Byrne, the former chief of staff and powerful consigliere who left the governor's office under the cloud of a tax scandal, told Mr. Paterson to act quickly and decisively after the disastrous Senate selection process, get rid of some advisers and institute a wholesale change in staff. Despite some initial departures in the past few days—a communications director, a fund-raiser and, on the evening of Feb. 24, the consulting firm Global Strategy Group—the wholesale housecleaning hasn't happened ...
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Andrew Cuomo, who now leads a sitting governor by more than 30 points in a potential 2010 primary match-up, is living proof that, for an ambitious politician who knows what to do with it, there really is no better stepping-stone than the office of state attorney general. The job really is an image-maker's dream. Week after week, you can score enviable headlines by investigating and prosecuting the latest perpetrators of wrongdoing or injustice who happen to be in the news - actions that will win you praise for standing up to the bad guys and appreciation from voters of all partisan stripes. And unlike, ...
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The G.O.P. is at war with itself. Or so we're told. Unaccustomed to their new minority status and unsure how to handle a Democratic president with enormous popularity and considerable legislative momentum, Republicans are dividing themselves into opposing camps, each convinced that a different formula will return them to glory. This, at least, is the narrative you might embrace if you consider the nation's 22 Republican governors a representative cross-section of their party's base. The G.O.P. governors, along with their Democratic counterparts, were in Washington over the weekend for the National Governors Association's winter meetings. Not surprisingly, one of the main topics of discussion ...
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ALBANY—Scott Murphy is a rich carpetbagger, out-of-touch with the needs of the average voters in the 20th Congressional District he hopes to represent because he actually grew up in Missouri. He hasn't even voted in recent elections. He was a lobbyist, for Pete's sake, taking his clients to the Cotton Bowl and lavishing them with expensive meals. As a "venture capitalist" he outsourced work overseas; that's probably why his campaign website isn't calling him "Mr. Jobs" anymore. Oh yeah: he cheats on his taxes—just like all those other Democrats, who have no problem voting to raise yours. As for Jim Tedisco, he's a hypocritical ...
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As the 2009 mayoral campaign draws closer, Anthony Weiner, the intense, rail-thin Brooklyn congressman, is playing it suspiciously cool. After having spent much of last year outside New York as a presidential-campaign surrogate for Hillary Clinton, he has remained immersed in Washington issues, getting into the news most recently for his role in procuring stimulus money for hiring police. What he is not doing is acting like someone who is running for mayor: no regular press conferences attacking Michael Bloomberg or upstaging fellow Democratic candidate Bill Thompson; no ceremonious openings of campaign offices; no announcements of staff hires. "It doesn't seem like a full-out, ...
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