James Gennaro

The proposed change to the city’s term limit law may “sail” through the City Council, but it poses a complication for City Council members who are currently campaigning for higher office.

If they support the change, they risk, at least theoretically, angering voters they’ll be facing very soon—and raising questions about their real level of interest the new offices they're running for.  read more »

For those of you closely following the competitive State Senate races this year, here's a list I compiled of forums and debates in two of them.

 

Republican incumbent Serf Maltese versus Democrat Joe Addabbo (neck-and-neck in the latest poll):

-Thursday, October 2 at 7:30 p.m. Junior High School 93, 4th Avenue and Madison Street, Ridgewood. Hosted by the Ridgewood Property Owners Association.

-Tuesday, October at 7:30 p.m. Christ Lutheran Church Community Center, 86th Street and 101st Avenue in Ozone Park. Hosted by Our Neighbor Civic Association.

Republican incumbent Frank Padavan versus Democrat James Gennaro (some of these don't have times listed--I'll update here as soon as I find out):

-Thursday, September 25 (tonight!) at 7 p.  read more »

Democratic State Senate candidate Jim Gennaro, who is trying to unseat Republican Frank Padavan, says he can ride the coattails of national Democrats in his district, but the full picture could be more complicated.

His campaign just released figures of newly registered voters in the district, citing figures from the state Board of Elections.

"Between January and August of this year, 6,859 new voters enrolled in Senate District 11, according to the Board of Elections. Of them, 711 are Republicans and 4,083 are Democrats, giving the latter party a nearly six-to-one advantage with these voters.

"Democrats also overwhelmingly outnumber Republicans in Senate District 11's overall enrollment, 88,494 to 33,123 (a nearly three-to-one advantage).  read more »

Democratic State Senate candidate Jim Gennaro is having an environment-themed fund-raiser tonight, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

It's taking place tonight at 5:30 at Cafe Notte, "a sustainable wine bar" on the Upper East Side, according to a reader. On the cafe's web site, it says co-founder Steven Salsberg "was appointed Vice Chairman by Mayor Bloomberg to the Council on the Environment of New York City. Steven is committed to making New York City restaurants environmentally responsible, and Café Notte is no exception."

Gennaro, the chair of the Council's Environmental Protection Committee, is trying to unseat Republican State Senator Frank Padavan of Queens. At an earlier fund-raiser, Gennaro has said he thinks his timing couldn't be better.

"Unfiltered forever!" City Councilman James Gennaro, the water supply's self-appointed ombudsman, nearly shouted at an emergency Council hearing yesterday, where officials and citizens discussed fracking—the unfortunately named and controversial method used to extract natural gas. (It's short for hydraulic fracturing).

For the moment, New York City is among the few places where a supply of drinking water to a major population center is not filtered. But drilling for natural gas could change that.

For the first time, because of rising energy costs, drilling in upstate New York's vast Marcellus Shale reserves is economically feasible, and for months now, landowners and energy companies have been scrambling to secure leases and begin exploration.  read more »

A little more than a year ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched his pathbreaking "PlaNYC 2030" urban sustainability plan. According to the city’s own progress report on the plan’s first year:

 

The implementation of PlaNYC's 127 initiatives requires the effort of more than 20 City agencies; the help of our Sustainability Advisory Board; partners and supporters from all across New York City; and close cooperation with the City Council and other elected officials. In the first year since the release of the plan, we completed rezonings, planted 54,484 trees, moved our taxis and black cars toward fuel efficiency, encouraged bicycling with 60 new lane miles, and engaged New York City in the most significant transportation discussion in a generation.

   read more »

I just got around to listening to the most recent episode of the Perez Notes, where the radio host asked City Councilman Jim Gennaro if he still supports Christine Quinn in her role as council speaker [25:38]. The question, of course, was prompted by questions about the recently discovered financial scandal and her handling of it.

It’s a tough question for most members, but especially so for Gennaro, who is also set to run for State Senate later this year and probably doesn’t want the financial scandal that came to light under Quinn’s watch to seep onto the campaign trail.  read more »

State health commissioner Richard Daines, who wants a major crackdown of smoking in the movie industry, stopped short today of endorsing a bill that would ban smoking in cars carrying children.

Here’s a brief excerpt of a television interview Raines had with Gabe Pressman, which was taped this morning but will air Sunday:

PRESSMAN: Would you--would you favor legislation to prohibit people from
smoking when they have a child in the car?  read more »

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Shams Tarek is leaving his job as spokesman for Democratic State Senator John Sabini and going to work for Democratic City Councilman Jim Gennaro--both politicians represent Queens.

The move is significant, since it looks like Tarek, a veteran of at least two of Sabini's re-election campaigns, will not be on hand for what may be another tough re-election.

And it's may be an important advantage for Gennaro, who is looking to unseat Republican State Senator Frank Padavan. Tarek brings not only contacts in the state Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, but a long history in local Queens journalism (where he and I both worked for years).

More after the jump.  read more »

For those buildings in the city that are kept warm with heating oil, a City Council proposal could throw some old French fry residue into the mix. Tomorrow, the council's environmental protection committee is hearing two bills that would require all heating oil to be 20 percent biodiesel, forcing the more environmentally friendly combustible often made from vegetable oil into the mix. The bills, introduced by Council Members James Gennaro and David Yassky, would take full effect in 2013.

Biodiesel tends to be more expensive than normal heating oil, though advocates in New York and elsewhere are pushing for government subsidies.  read more »

* Pictured above is Councilman James Gennaro with Josh Tickell, the producer and star of “Field of Fuel,” a documentary about foreign oil dependence that has been selected for the Sundance Film Festival. As Gennaro’s press release puts it, “The film also features a variety of people, including Woody Harrelson, Julia Roberts and Councilman James F. Gennaro, Chair of the Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection.”

* Councilman Simcha Felder will hold the second of two kick-off fundraisers for his bid for comptroller in Queens this Thursday. The suggested donation is $18, perhaps an effort to draw a contrast with rival David Yassky, who asked supporters for $500 at his kick-off. Felder’s first event was in Brooklyn on Monday night.  read more »

According to that Citizens Union study, one of the City Council’s most prolific advertisers with public money is James Gennaro of Queens.

His spokeswoman, Lee Landor, emailed over this reaction to the report:

"We do not believe that our ads are excessive. Additionally, all of our ads provide our constituents with our district office information so that anyone who has questions or concerns can easily reach us. These ads make us even more accessible to our constituents and assist in making it known that we're here and available to them.

"Also, all political ads are paid for by Councilman Gennaro's campaign committee funds; if there's a political message in an ad, it's an ad paid for by the campaign committee."  read more »

Citizens Union has posted online its study on how City Council members spend taxpayer dollars to raise their profiles.

I’m not sure what benefit top spenders like Michael Nelson and Helen Sears got for their expenditures, but others at the top of the list are widely known to be eyeing races for other offices: Domenic Recchia is running for congress. James Gennaro is likely taking a shot at state Senator Frank Padavan’s seat. Joel Rivera may run for Bronx Borough President, and James Oddo may run for Borough President on Staten Island.

James Gennaro, a Democratic City Councilman and likely candidate for state Senate, agreed to pay a $2,000 fine for asking a Council staff member to volunteer on his re-election campaign.

“Although I have no specific recollection of it now, I do not dispute that in 2003, I asked a member of my District Office staff on one occasion to volunteer for my 2003 re-election campaign,” Gennaro said in a letter to the city Conflict of Interest Board, which was released just now.

The letter also says, “I acknowledge that I should have known that a District Office computer, printer and paper were used on non-City time for the non-City purpose of composing and printing a campaign letter.”  read more »

Greg Smith had an interesting story the other day about one of the City Council members who got campaign funds funneled to him by indicted labor leader, Brian McLaughlin.

According to the massive indictment [pdf] against McLaughlin, here's how the plan worked: McLauglin got his friends and their wives to send $250 contributions which would qualify for the city's 4-to-1 matching fund program. Then, McLaughlin reimbursed the donors from a union-controlled back account.

One Council member who said they unknowingly got money from this scheme was Tony Avella of Queens, who came out of the McLaughlin's political club. But the indictment said there was a second Council member who - in all likelihood unknowingly - got contributions from this scheme too.

The contributions in question were made in the reporting period of 10/1/2005 and 01/12/2006. Thanks to the Campaign Finance Board's website, you can search for $250 contributions for 2005 Council candidates during that time period.

Councilman James Gennaro, whose district overlaps with McLaughlin's Assembly district, had 17 contributions that fit the search, but a lawyer for his campaign said Gennaro personally knows all those donors, and they're not connected to McLaughlin in any way.

Tom White, whose campaign advisor (and my old boss) worked closely with McLaughlin, got ten $250 contributions during that time. Including one from the Central Labor Council PAC. White's office said they would get back to me, and so far hasn't.

One person floated Dennis Gallagher's name, but he received 0 contributions that fit the description.

So, who is that other Council member?

-- Azi Paybarah