Whipping the votes in Suffolk

Daily Point

Veto-override test for campaign finance 

Does Suffolk County’s public campaign financing system have the votes? Twelve are needed to override County Executive Steve Bellone’s veto of a bill passed by the Republican legislative majority aimed at repealing the 2017 law. With at least two votes uncertain, the stage is set for a significant battle at Tuesday’s meeting of the legislature.

Both Bellone and Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey say they’re cautiously optimistic their side will prevail.

One wild card has already been exposed.

GOP Legis. Rob Trotta has been outspoken against the massive impact of money on Suffolk’s politics and the county Police Benevolent Association’s outsized influence, which he says derives from illegal dues collections from officers and banned transfers of and donations of money from the PBA.

But he’s also been outspoken in opposing Bellone, on nearly everything — and says Bellone himself has been an outsized beneficiary of PBA largesse.

His next move seemed unclear, but on Friday Trotta told The Point he’s “99.9% sure” he’ll be abstaining, which in this instance means siding with Bellone and public financing.

“I know it [public financing] is going to cost $2.6 million,” Trotta said. “But were it not for the PBA’s outsized influence, the last police contract could have been done with raises that matched the actual cost-of-living increase at the time, rather than doubling it. And that would have saved the county $200 million. But I’m also going to rail against Bellone, who by my figuring has received at least three times as much PBA money as any other county executive."

So that’s one Republican siding with the Democrats. 

Last month, Legis. Al Krupski (D-Riverhead) voted with the Republican majority to end the program while Legis. Manuel Esteban Sr. (R-Commack) was the only Republican abstaining.

Krupski has said he’s sticking with his opposition to public financing, and Friday McCaffrey said, with a chuckle, “Manny has told me he is with me, but to be clear, that was yesterday.”

If that all plays out as planned (and it has been extremely fluid), the issue will be decided by Democratic Legis. Thomas Donnelly — who abstained during last month's vote.

Friday, Donnelly did not return a call seeking comment.

And McCaffrey, summing it all up, said: “The one thing I know for sure is … we’re not going to know for sure until we count the votes.”

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

Talking Point

Cornicelli still in with Flynn

With New York’s Aug. 23 congressional primaries getting close, CD2 Republican challenger Robert Cornicelli is turning to a familiar face: controversial former national security adviser Michael Flynn. 

Cornicelli’s new video ad features a picture of the candidate and Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, standing together in dress uniforms, while Cornicelli’s voice-over describes himself as a “trained military leader and relentless defender of freedom.”

Cornicelli and the former Trump official go far back: In October, when he was briefly running to replace Rep. Lee Zeldin in CD1, Cornicelli released an endorsement from Flynn that called him a “true patriot,” noting that Flynn “met Robert seven years ago when we worked together at the Defense Intelligence Agency.” (Asked for more details about Cornicelli’s service, DIA public affairs said the agency “does not confirm employment of current or former officers.”)

By the spring, Cornicelli had switched congressional districts but still appeared to have Flynn in his camp, promoting a Facebook ad video in which Flynn, sitting informally in front of a houseplant and white window shutters, said he “couldn’t have been more excited” when he learned Cornicelli was running for Congress.

But now, Cornicelli is running in a primary against first-term Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who is the only Long Island member of Congress seeking reelection this wild cycle. Garbarino voted for last year’s bipartisan infrastructure bill and did not object to the certification of the 2020 election — the kinds of stances that Cornicelli is now using to question Garbarino’s loyalties to the GOP and Trump.

The challenger’s new video says that the “radical left and Andrew Garbarino do not believe in America First.”

Flynn may be a useful figure as Cornicelli seeks to make that case — the general calls Garbarino a “RINO” in that spring video and is popular among Trump fans — but the strategy comes with risks. 

Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI before Trump pardoned him, is a polarizing figure with a lot of baggage, including being ousted as head of the DIA during the Obama administration and calling for the military to seize voting machines after the 2020 election. More recently, the former military man pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked under oath by Liz Cheney if the violence on Jan. 6 was justified. 

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Pencil Point

Just a number

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Quick Points

Parse this

• House Jan. 6 committee vice chair Liz Cheney said the panel is prepared to “contemplate” a subpoena for Ginni Thomas, the conservative activist wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Based on what’s known about Ginni Thomas’ work to overturn the 2020 election, here’s guessing that “contemplate” is a euphemism for “most definitely certainly absolutely positively will.”
• Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff says he wants to “light a fire” under the Biden administration on the monkeypox virus. Adding to the issues on which someone wants to light a fire under the administration.
• Russia agreed to a deal to let millions of tons of Ukrainian grain be shipped out of the port of Odesa — then launched a missile strike on Odesa less than 24 hours later. Just in case anyone thought the grain arrangement was actually a done deal. 
• A Colorado man whose wife went missing and at one time was charged with her murder pleaded guilty to casting her mail-in ballot for Donald Trump in 2020, saying, “I figured all the other guys are cheating.” Funny, how the only guys who got caught cheating in 2020 were his guys.
• China is issuing stark warnings about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s planned trip next month to Taiwan — so stark that Chinese officials are beginning to sound like Republicans.
• He practiced politics, stood on principle, and understood power, during a 31-year run as chair of the Conservative Party. RIP, Mike Long.

— Michael Dobie @mwdobie