Eye on the Island

Newsday’s Targets

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy has held that office for six-plus years and his current term expires in December 2011, so why did Newsday publish last week a detailed analysis of Levy’s campaign contributors?

MTA Blooper Reel

National Lampoon’s Animal House told the story of a fictitious college fraternity chapter which brought about its own demise. With their fate sealed, one of the fraternity brothers declared that the situation demanded a “really stupid and futile gesture be done on somebody’s part.”

Financial Harmony

With April 15’s tax-filing deadline looming, Warren Goldberg’s book on financial planning offers sage advice on many matters, including the benefits of home ownership.

GOP’s Battle Royale

I’m going to go out on a limb and say this year’s Republican gubernatorial nominee will be a Long Islander, although Buffalo-area developer Carl Paladino may soon join former Congressman Rick Lazio and Suffolk county executive Steve Levy in a bid to head the GOP’s statewide ticket in November.

Levy’s GOP Dalliance

Former Suffolk County Congressman Rick Lazio, a Republican candidate for governor, has reason to be concerned. No, not because Lazio lags far behind attorney general Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, in every poll where voters are asked for their preference in a hypothetical Lazio-Cuomo gubernatorial match-up. Those numbers will change dramatically, in Lazio’s favor, in time.

The Bard of NASCAR

Nassau Community College has named Andrew Giangola its ‘Professor for the Day’ for Thursday, March 11 and, having been given this honor, Professor Giangola will talk that day to the college’s marketing students about a field in which he has made his name.

The Paterson Saga

Before ending his campaign last Friday, Governor David Paterson was involved in at least one noble cause: trying to keep New Yorkers from having to endure another Cuomo administration.

Hong Kong Shocker

Left-wing defense attorneys Ron Kuby and Lynne Stewart were born in the wrong country. Had they practiced law in Hong Kong, both might have been appointed to its highest court.

Pricey Neighborhoods

Long Island is home to 25 of the nation’s 50 ‘most expensive’ small towns, with 15 of them in Nassau County, and the balance in Suffolk County, according to a recent Bloomberg Business Week magazine analysis.

Two Going to Albany

The state Assembly has often been the first elective office held by promising political newcomers so it is worth watching who prevails in the Tuesday, Feb. 9 special elections to fill two Assembly openings.

Nassau’s 15th Assembly District (AD) seat was vacated when state Assemblyman Robert Walker (R-Hicksville) resigned last month to become county executive Edward Mangano’s chief deputy county executive. In Suffolk, state Assemblywoman Patricia Eddington (D-Medford) stepped down from her Albany post after being elected last fall as Brookhaven’s town clerk. She represented the 3rd AD.