Malverne mayor reads the signs

Daily Point

Corbett charts course correction

For nearly two years, students and residents in Malverne have been pushing the village to rename Lindner Place, because the man it’s named for, Paul Lindner, was a Ku Klux Klan leader.

Now, after a tortured process that kicked off with a plea at a unity rally two years ago and concluded with some political maneuvering, it’s likely the name will change.

Friday, Malverne Mayor Keith Corbett told The Point that at the village’s April 6 meeting, he will introduce a resolution to change the name. Corbett recently announced he will seek the Democratic nomination for CD4 and the issue was gathering steam in a primary that includes Nassau County legislators Carrié Solages and Siela Bynoe, as well as former Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen.

The issue has simmered since a June 2020 rally in the wake of George Floyd’s death, with Malverne middle- and high school students researching Lindner’s background that year, and circulating a petition supporting the change that collected 5,000 signatures. At the time, Corbett seemed to be fence-sitting and said he needed more time and research to make a decision.

Corbett announced his change of heart the day after The Point ran an item featuring a flyer created to advertise a rally for that same April 6 date pushing for the name change. Friday, Corbett praised Malverne High School student Olivia Brown, 15, who documented Lindner’s life and KKK leadership. Corbett said that with this information in hand, "I am completely in favor of changing the name."

The 4th CD is 15% Black, but the percentage of registered Democrats in the district who are Black is far higher; alienating any large block in a multiple-candidate primary can kill a candidate’s chances.

"What happened was, everyone was saying stuff about Lindner, good, bad and indifferent, and I felt we needed to document the truth before we moved forward. We have now, and I am completely in favor of changing the name," Corbett said. "All I want is for this village, which is a great and diverse place to raise a family, to move forward."

Corbett bristled at the idea that his plans had changed thanks to pressure over the congressional run, saying, "I’ll never make a decision about Malverne that isn’t based 100% on the interests of the people of Malverne. I’d never let another race intrude."

As the situation evolved, politics played a part in the decisions of the advocates fighting to change the name, too, including the NAACP.

A flyer was created for a rally on April 6 to push the name change, but a flyer created for the event, and the event itself, were never fully cleared by the NAACP higher-ups. And by Thursday, NAACP leaders began to sense that the rally might do more harm than good because Corbett was already leaning toward the change, and embarrassing him could be a poor play.

Now the question is how Corbett’s change of heart will play in the primary and, if it’s a hit there, how it plays with independents and Republicans in a general election.

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

Talking Point

Cuomo’s 'options'

Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Thursday that he was "open to all options" when pressed about whether he’d try to take back the office he resigned in August after the release of a report on sexual harassment allegations.

But what exactly are those options?

One would be to collect at least 15,000 signatures to get on the ballot for the Democratic primary in June, in order to take on Gov. Kathy Hochul who has the official party nomination and, most likely, Rep. Tom Suozzi and NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, both of whom must petition. Those signatures must be submitted by April 7.

Another route would be to run as an independent in the November general election, which would require collecting at least 45,000 signatures between April 19 and May 31. As with the signature-gathering process for the primary, Cuomo would have to get some of those signatures in each of one-half of the state’s congressional districts. In this case, that would mean the lesser of 500 or 1% of enrolled voters in each of 13 districts.

Cuomo appeared to gesture toward a third-party run Thursday in remarks he made after a speech about "cancel culture" at a Bronx church, noting his and his father Mario’s experience with other political parties, such as the younger Cuomo’s significant role in the creation of the Women’s Equality Party in 2014.

All of these routes would present difficulties and expenses, and one of Cuomo’s "options" is certainly to not run at all, given mixed public polling results and the endurance of some of his controversies like the count of nursing home COVID-19 deaths.

So why is he running ads if he isn’t seeking a ballot line? It could be an effort to return to public life and reverse some of the damage to his reputation. Whatever the purpose of Cuomo’s recent publicity blitz on TV, his social media accounts are active again as well. Cuomo’s Facebook page is running ads for the first time since his last run for governor in November 2018. The ads, which started popping this week and are visible in Facebook’s ad archive, use snippets of the TV commercials to promote his record and play defense against sexual misconduct allegations.

The text of some of the ads argue that Cuomo "will never stop fighting for New Yorkers" and is "Always faithful to New York." Some of the ads also include a new hashtag that Cuomo seems to be trying out as the gubernatorial race carries on, so far, without him: "#provenleader."

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Pencil Point

Zelenskyy was here

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/nationalcartoons

Final Point

In the news

Welcome to this week’s news quiz, based on events that took place this week. As usual, provide the answer for each clue, one letter per blank. The first letter of each answer, taken in order, spells the name of the New York politician who said this regarding a report about the state underreporting nursing home deaths due to COVID-19: "The public was misled by those at the highest level of state government through distortion and suppression of the facts when New Yorkers deserved the truth."

A link to the answers appears below.

_ _ _    _ _ _ _ _ Tampa man who became America’s most famous unretired retiree.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Babylon Town is commencing celebrations of the 150th anniversary of its official separation from this neighboring Long Island town.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A federal task force met to begin steps toward seizing and freezing assets belonging to this group of Russian citizens.

_ _ _ _ _    _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Annual sporting event on which 45 million Americans are expected to bet $3.1 billion this year, the largest legal handle in the event’s history.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Last name of the WikiLeaks founder who lost an appeal of a court decision in Britain to extradite him to the U.S. to face spying charges.

_ _ _ _ _ _ A new album from this immensely popular long-deceased singer killed in her prime will be released next month, her father announced.

_ _ _ _ _    _ _ _ _ _ _ Country singer who asked to be removed from consideration for election to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, saying she hadn’t earned a nomination.

_ _ _ _    _ _    _ _ _ _ _ Well-known date in history that, as usual, provided an occasion to get the names of Brutus and Cassius into newspapers.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Latest Midwest state in which the Department of Agriculture has confirmed the presence of highly contagious avian flu in a flock of poultry.

_ _ _ _ _    _ _ _ _ _ New York Yankees star prominently mentioned as a potential casualty of New York City’s private-sector vaccine mandate.

_ _ _ _    _ _ _ _ _ _ New York Mets player who survived a car crash on his way to spring training in Florida.

_ _ _ _ State whose Supreme Court rejected new maps for state legislative districts for the third time in two months, as the commission charged with producing fair maps is accused of trying to widen Republican majorities.

_ _ _ _ Ride-hailing/delivery company that is adding a fuel surcharge of 55 cents to each ride to offset rising prices for gasoline.

_ _ _ _ _ U.S. company that unveiled plans to invest $88 billion in Europe to expand microchip production sites and improve research and development.

Click here for the answers to the clued words and to the identity of the mystery politician.

— Michael Dobie @mwdobie

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