News

Former Montauk Assemblyman Jumps Party Lines, Endorses Bishop

Congressman Bishop with John Behan
Jun
4
2012

A South Fork Republican heavyweight has thrown his support behind Democratic incumbent Rep. Tim Bishop in the First Congressional District race.

Former State Assemblyman John Behan, who was chairman of the East Hampton Republican Committee when Randy Altschuler first decided to run against Bishop in the 2010 race, said his decision to go against his party's endorsement before the 2012 election was about the candidates, not politics.

"In this election, I will not take a bully with a bag of money to come in here and use the congressional campaign committee from Washington to tell me, or us, who our congressman should be," Behan said at a press conference on Monday morning at La Bodgea, a new restaurant in Montauk part-owned by...| read more ››

Suffolk to restore East End Sunday bus service

May
31
2012

Sunday bus service has returned to the East End and will last one month longer than last year, when the Suffolk County Legislature first approved a special surcharge on the two lines during the week, to pay for it.

Started as an experimental program — there was no Sunday bus service on the North or South forks before it began — the buses ran for 11 weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day, drawing a total of 5,861 riders. A 50-cent surcharge covered most of the cost.

This year, Sunday service will operate between Memorial Day and Columbus Day, lasting until Oct. 7. It stopped on Sept. 5 last year.

Suffolk Legis. Jay Schneiderman (I-Montauk), who lobbied to create the...| read more ››

Congressman Tim Bishop helped veterans get increases to benefits

May
22
2012

Thomas D’Amore said he wasn’t even aware that he was eligible for more benefits from his Navy service connected disabilities until he met another fellow serviceman. He’d served in the U.S. Navy from 1972 until 1974 and since that time he suffered from the condition known as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs website, PTSD is a mental health problem that occurs after a person goes through a traumatic event like in war and was first officially added as a diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980.

D’Amore, of Rocky Point, prided himself on helping fellow veterans but he needed help himself navigating the red tape of the Veterans Affairs office. After three years...| read more ››

Islip Dem: Plan to hire GOPer 'unethical'

May
21
2012

The Republican-controlled Islip Town board will vote Tuesday night on a measure to hire Islip's Republican Party chairman as counsel to the town planning board.

Frank Tantone would be paid $55,000 a year for the position of outside counsel, town attorney Robert Cicale said. Tantone would not receive health benefits or pension credits, he said.

Some towns such as Brookhaven and Huntington prohibit town board appointments from being political party heads but Islip has no such rule. Further, Cicale said the move, criticized by Democrats, is not an appointment but a professional services agreement and is legal because nothing in town code prohibits political party executives from contracting with the town.

Monday, the board resolution was amended to...| read more ››

Bishop Honors Veteran

May
19
2012

Thomas D’Amore of Rocky Point received a $39,000 retroactive award and a benefit of $1,672 per month from the Veterans Administration and will be honored by Rep. Tim Bishop, D-Southampton, after Bishop interceded on their behalf.

A ceremony will be held Monday at 5:30PM at the Elk's Lodge in Port Jefferson Station to honor D'Amore and two other Suffolk County Veterans who received a total of $127,256 in retroactive compensation from the Veterans Administration.

D’Amore served in the US Navy from 1972-1974 during Vietnam. He received a VA Disability Compensation claim increase to from 30 percent to 70 percent for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in March of this year after awaiting adjudication of his case on appeal for three years....| read more ››

Bishop Addresses Students at Green Rally

May
11
2012

The Hampton Bays Middle School was a sea of green on Friday morning as students, staff and local lawmakers came together to celebrate the school’s recent designation as a federal “Green Ribbon” building and to pledge to take their efforts even further with solar panels and wind energy.

At a pep rally held in the Ponquogue Avenue gymnasium on Friday, students—decked out in green—listened as Hampton Bays Schools Superintendent Lars Clemensen announced the administration’s intentions to place both solar panels and a wind farm on the roof of the middle school by 2013. He said it will cost approximately $10,000 to achieve both these goals, and the school has already begun planning fundraising efforts involving the community to make the...| read more ››

Suffolk bill on employee health costs OKd

Bellone addresses County Legislature of Health Bill
May
8
2012

"It's a good day for Suffolk County taxpayers," County Executive Steve Bellone said after the vote. "It's important to show we are leading by example . . . and we're not expecting any one group to shoulder the burden." But he warned that "time pressures" loomed and that the county's 2013 budget faced "hundreds of millions of dollars in deficits."| read more ››

Anti-Offshoring Bill Scores 77 US House Co-Sponsors

May
7
2012

Call center bill gaining traction, though no public hearing has been scheduled yet

Computerworld - WASHINGTON - A bill designed to discourage U.S. companies from setting up offshore call centers is gaining bipartisan support in the U.S. House.

The U.S. Call Center and Consumer Protection Act (HR 3596), spearheaded by US Rep. Timothy Bishop (D-NY) and David McKinley (R-WV), is designed to discourage call centers from setting up any overseas operations.

The bill would require that the US Department of Labor list employers who relocate call centers overseas, and that workers in the centers disclose their locations to callers who ask. If passed, the legislation would also require that companies provide 120 notice when relocating a call center from the U.S....| read more ››

Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.

Apr
27
2012

Rep. Allen West, a Florida Republican, was recently captured on video asserting that there are “78 to 81” Democrats in Congress who are members of the Communist Party. Of course, it’s not unusual for some renegade lawmaker from either side of the aisle to say something outrageous. What made West’s comment — right out of the McCarthyite playbook of the 1950s — so striking was the almost complete lack of condemnation from Republican congressional leaders or other major party figures, including the remaining presidential candidates.

It’s not that the GOP leadership agrees with West; it is that such extreme remarks and views are now taken for granted.

We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years,...| read more ››