Daily Point

NY League of Conservation Voters cites crony contracts, opposition to wind energy

The New York League of Conservation Voters rarely gets involved in local races, spending most of its time on statewide campaigns.

But for the second time in two years, the organization has turned its attention to Long Island.

This time, the League’s Victory Fund is initially spending $120,000 on a campaign against Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman that will include digital and streaming ads, direct mail and a website. And it has chosen to take a “cheeky” approach, according to the group’s senior vice president, Joshua Klainberg.

The ad and website are themed “Buh-Bye Blakeman.” They emphasize that Blakeman’s opposition to wind energy results in higher energy costs, and charge him with providing “lucrative no-bid contracts for political cronies,” a reference to Blakeman’s decision to renew former Rep. Pete King’s no-bid contract to serve as a counterterrorism adviser.

“The issues are serious but there’s an opportunity to cut through some of the clutter of the traditional campaign ads,” Klainberg said. “We’re not a political party. We’re a public interest group. We want to be seen and heard and noticed.”

Blakeman spokesman Chris Boyle responded to the organization’s campaign in a statement to The Point, saying: “The League of Conservation Voters are not supporting Bruce Blakeman because he’s standing up to the windmills that will destroy marine life, increase the cost of electricity and create fire hazards in our community.”

Klainberg told The Point that he has worked with the League since 1996, when he worked on a Nassau County pesticide notification bill that Blakeman, then the legislature’s presiding officer, supported. But, he said, today’s “hyperpartisan environment” has shifted how Blakeman has handled environmental and energy-related issues.

“We have to hold him accountable, particularly on his environmental positions,” Klainberg said. “We’re expressing and channeling the greater frustration that voters should have with him.”

But Klainberg said the group’s decision to focus on issues beyond the environment was purposeful as well, noting that it was impossible to ignore the issues voters are spotlighting in their own thinking.

The ad campaign marks only the second time the group has chosen to take on a negative ad campaign in a local race. The first time was just two years ago, when the League targeted several Suffolk County lawmakers who initially failed to approve the Water Quality Restoration Act — which was later revived after Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine took office.

“This is unusual for us to get involved in local races,” Klainberg said. “I am sincere in saying I hope this is not a trend that continues.”

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Capturing the capital

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Final Point

Are elite Republicans dismissing populist Sliwa?

Notwithstanding all the polls, Joann Ariola of Queens, the Republican minority leader of the New York City Council, says of her party’s mayoral nominee: “The biggest lie ever told is that Curtis cannot win.”

Ariola was referring, of course, to Curtis Sliwa. She told The Point on Monday: “That’s what [Zohran] Mamdani and [Andrew] Cuomo want the narrative to be. It’s not the case. Curtis has the right message, funding, every Republican county committee in the five boroughs, he’s getting his message out. Anyone who thinks he cannot win deserves Mamdani as mayor.”

Pollsters have yet to weigh in on the full impact of Mayor Eric Adams’ declared withdrawal from the race last week — or which candidate may pick up support as a result. Although the incumbent’s name will remain as an independent candidate on the Nov. 4 ballot, the focus now is on who benefits from Adams’ decision to walk away.

Many Republican loyalists in conservative enclaves of the “outer” boroughs echo Ariola’s position and say it’s Curtis all the way. Last month, Sliwa was drawing perhaps 15% in polls, with Mamdani, an Assembly member from Astoria, in the low to mid-40s, and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who landed second in the Democratic primary, in the 20s.

Can those numbers turn around?

In the previous two general elections for mayor, the candidate of the GOP — whose nominees held office for 20 years — lost overwhelmingly. In 2021, Sliwa, in his first attempt, got only 28% one-on-one against Democrat Adams. In 2017, now-Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’s percentage for mayor reached that same 28% benchmark.

Much as President Donald Trump is using his bully pulpit to slam Mamdani, a democratic socialist, as a “communist” — and threaten city funding if he wins — the national Republican establishment is quite lukewarm on their party’s candidate. Why? Trump calls Sliwa “not exactly prime time” and mocked the notion of Sliwa, an animal lover, filling up Gracie Mansion with cats.

Even billionaire John Catsimatidis, a longtime Sliwa friend and owner of conservative WABC radio — where Sliwa has been a popular host — discourages faith in Sliwa’s chances.

“Cats,” as the businessman is known, clearly favored Adams in June after Cuomo lost the primary to Mamdani. Eight days ago Catsimatidis, a presence in Hamptons fundraisers for city candidates and whose daughter Andrea is the Manhattan GOP chairwoman, said of Sliwa that “if he reaches a point that he feels that he’s not turning it around, then at some point he should do the right thing” and step away, which would presumably help Cuomo defeat Mamdani.

One who would like to see that happen is NYU Langone hospital executive Joe Lhota, a former Republican who headed the MTA under Cuomo and was a top deputy to Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Lhota, who got 24% as the GOP candidate against Bill de Blasio in 2013, described the upcoming three-way contest to The New York Post as “a choice between a proven manager, a socialist and a FROOT LOOP. Of course, I’m going to be with Andrew.”

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

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