New York Politics: Haggerty, Turner, Weprin, Gonzalez and Towns

NEW YORK

• Trial of ex-aide Haggerty, accused of pocketing $1 million from mayor, is still Bloomberg's problem (BY Melissa Grace and Erin Einhorn, DAILY NEWS) "The mayor violated [campaign finance rules], and Haggerty is going down for it," said one prominent campaign finance lawyer. "[Bloomberg] signed a form that said that he would only spend money on his campaign through his campaign committee....If [the money] wasn't for his campaign, then Haggerty couldn't have defrauded him."
• Vito is a bloc 'blocker' (By AARON SHORT, NY Post) Jesus Gonzalez and Deidra Towns say the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Center, a Lopez-founded charity that manages several senior facilities in the district, has made it nearly impossible for them to meet constituents in those buildings.
• Guide for the Last Minute Voter: 2011 Primary and Special Election (by Gotham Gazette) The political parties, though see this contest as a chance to show their strength -- or, more accurately, the other side's weakness – and have dumped in money and resources. Over the weeks, both candidate seem to have readily adopted the role as their party's standard-bearer. At a recent debate in Howard Beach -- complete with Tea Party hecklers and a pack of noisy Weprin backers in the rear of the church meeting room -- the two epitomized a left/right split.
• Independence Party endorsements raise questions (By BRYON ACKERMAN, Utica Observer-Dispatch) Dozens of candidates will be on the Independence Party line in elections this year in Oneida County, but there have been questions about the nomination process used in two of the highest profile local races: the Assembly and the Utica mayoral races… Ernie Sanita is running for mayor on an independent line and said he wasn’t interested in screening with any political parties.
• Turner up by six, just two days before New York special election (By Alexis Levinson, The Daily Caller) Turner has a strong lead with independent voters, 58 percent of whom say they will vote for him. Just 26 percent plan to vote for Weprin. Turner also has the majority of the Jewish vote, a demographic that makes up 36 percent of the district according to PPP’s results. Fifty-six percent of Jews say they will vote for Turner, while 39 percent say they have chosen Weprin.