Klein a no-show at panel

In another race where victory is practically guaranteed for the incumbent, Mr. Klein, News 12 Westchester nevertheless took the trouble of hosting a candidates panel on Saturday.

Republican challenger Aleksander Mici and Green Party candidate Carl Lundgren showed up for the taping, which is scheduled to become available starting Saturday, Oct. 18 at  www.news12.com. The only contender in the race who did not come was Mr. Klein himself.

Mr. Mici fumed at his inability to engage Mr. Klein one-on-one.

“They’re ignoring me here in the Bronx,” he said. “It’s easier to contact the queen of England.”

Mr. Klein’s campaign cited a gentlemanly excuse for skipping the News 12 panel.

“This event was held at the same time as Senator Klein’s fourth annual Hispanic Heritage month celebration and he could not attend,” spokeswoman Candice Giove said in an e-mail statement.

Fracking report fracas 

The debate on whether to permit hydraulic fracking — the practice of opening deep wells of natural gas through powerful injections of pressurized chemicals, sand and water — in New York State took another twist last week. Capital New York reported that state officials edited and delayed a federal water study commissioned by Mr. Cuomo in 2011 as he considered whether to approve fracking on a limited basis.

Such reports have played a key role in the fracking debate, with lawmakers saying they have to understand all the environmental and health effects before approving the practice or extending a moratorium on it.

A temporary ban initiated in 2010 is still in place, with Mr. Cuomo expected to act on the issue one way or the other sometime after the November general ballot.

But revelations about the U.S. Geological Survery (USGS) report — in which state officials apparently succeeded in playing down or removing authors’ original descriptions of risks from fracking — casts doubt on Mr. Cuomo’s commitment to basing a decisions about fracking on science.