Ada Smith

Queens County Republicans held a seminar on Saturday for prospective candidates looking to run for office.

And, according to the organization's director Daniel Eger, there were two surprise guests.

"Unexpectedly, also there were two Democratic office-holders who have at times been at odds with the Queens Democratic organization, Council Member James Sanders (D-Laurelton) and former Senator Ada Smith (D-Jamaica)," Egers wrote in an email to supporters.
 read more »

The peerless Liz Benjamin is coming to New York City to join the Daily News.

For those of you who don't know her -- but really, who doesn't? -- Liz is an authoritative and fantastically prolific blogger and reporter. She also has the distinction of having performed two of the toughest roles in the last year's LCA's annual roast of lawmakers, appearing as Jeanine Pirro and Ada Smith.

She has a long good-bye post on the Times Union blog here.

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

-- Azi Paybarah

Yesterday, City Councilman Hiram Monserrate sent word that "66 votes separate" him from state Senator John Sabini in the Democratic primary for the 13th Senate district. That's "down from 208...rather than 208 votes as reported by the Board of Elections," Monserrate said.

Sabini's people responded a few hours later saying, "Sabini's lead grows to 248...Victory is nearly official."

Here is what the Board of Elections is reporting, as of 5:30 yesterday:

6,264 total votes for Sabini 6,120 from voting machines 32 emergency affidavits 112 paper ballots 6,017 total votes for Monserrate 5,943 from voting machines 22 emergency affidavits 52 paper ballots

Paper ballots are still being counted and results are unofficial until the Board of Election commissioners certify them.

In another close race, Shirley Huntley leads the outspoken state Senator Ada Smith. Paper ballots have not been counted yet. Here are the numbers so far:

6,333 total votes for Huntley 6.296 from voting machines 37 emergency affidavits 6,036 total votes for Smith 6,006 from voting machines 30 emergency affidavits -- Azi Paybarah

In Queens, incumbet state Senator Ada Smith is trailng challenger Shirley Huntley by 197 votes with 209 unopened absentee ballots to be counted, a source with knowledge of the race said.

The Times reports Joe Lieberman and Net Lamont are in a statistical tie, and Bill Clinton will stump for the incumbent on Monday.

New charges surface against Ada Smith, the Daily News reports.

The Albany Times Union reports Joe Bruno introduced a retirement bill on June 19 that would benefit only a twice fired state employee and former business partner.

—Nicole Brydson

The Times writes about the Clinton marriage.

Ada Smith gains the backing of the Democratic party in her re-election bid.

The Sun reports that Eliot Spitzer believes some hospitals should close, and that John Faso asked Diana Taylor to be his running mate.

The Albany Times Union reports Faso has chosen Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef as his running mate.

—Nicole Brydson

Sen. Ada Smith has till tomorrow to hand in the keys for her government-subsidized Crown Victoria, according to Elizabeth Benjamin at the Times Union's blog. - Tom McGeveran  read more »

Did I miss the part of the stories about David Paterson repaying $4,500 for a ride on a casino devloper's private jet that said he would be using campaign funds to pay for the flight?

That's what the Syracuse Post-Standard reported yesterday.

This seems of a piece with the incomplete candor I wrote about last week, and reminds me a bit of the Times story a while back reporting that Paterson was demoting Senator Ada Smith after a scuffle -- which was followed by a rowback that reported he was actually just changing her title, leaving her with her stipend and her car.

It seemed, for a short while, that somebody might actually be doing something to shake up the status  read more »