Engel joins president in Israel

Rep. Eliot Engel joined President Barack Obama on his trip to Israel last week. 

Mr. Engel, the top Democrat in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Mr. Obama’s visit was “historic” and “a powerful reminder of the unbreakable bonds between our two nations.”

Mr. Engel joined Mr. Obama on Air Force Once and participated in a series of “high-level meetings and consultations with U.S. and Israeli government officials,” he said in a press release. 

“Israel continues to thrive as a nation, even as it is forced to confront a wide array of threats to its security, including Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the terrorist group Hizballah, and the civil war in neighboring Syria. There is no more powerful message to send across the world, to friends and foes alike, than a U.S. President standing shoulder to shoulder with the Israeli people,” he said. 

NW Bronx endorses Stanton

Last week, political wild man Anthony Rivieccio, head of the Northwest Bronx Democrats, endorsed Cliff Stanton for City Council District 11. In front of PS 8 on Briggs Avenue, a group of Northwest Bronx Democrats spoke about school issues — mostly about the need for more security in schools, something Mr. Stanton has focused on in his campaign.

Wearing “NW Bronx Dems Support Cliff” buttons, the group spoke highly of Mr. Stanton.

Mr. Rivieccio said the residents of Bedford Park and Norwood are very upset because they don’t think they’ve been getting services they deserve.

“We are about change,” Mr. Rivieccio said.

He said that after sitting down with Mr. Cohen and Mr. Stanton, he realized that while he disagrees with both men, he agrees with Mr. Stanton more.

Mr. Stanton said that while Councilman Oliver Koppell has a strong record of providing services to his district, the councilman’s first priority is Riverdale and that Norwood and Bedford Park have played “second fiddle.”

“This community will get what they deserve,” Mr. Stanton said.

He also took some shots at his competitor, Andrew Cohen.

“This is a real endorsement,” Mr. Stanton said. “He takes the endorsements of elected officials who are lined up for him by his political patron, Jeff Dinowitz, and he calls it his evidence of the fact that he can assemble a coalition. This is evidence you can assemble a coalition.”

That’s a knife

Sort of like that scene in Crocodile Dundee where Paul Hogan says famously, “That’s not a knife. That’s a knife,” Andrew Cohen’s campaign put out a press release about 20 minutes before Cliff Stanton received his first endorsement of the City Council race to announce that three unions, including the mighty 32BJ SEIU, were supporting Mr. Cohen.

Five unions have endorsed Mr. Cohen so far, as well as mayoral candidates and a whole bunch of sitting elected officials.  

32BJ Service Employees International Union, UFCW Local 1500 and the Detectives Endowment Association announced support for Mr. Cohen on March 22.

“All told, Mr. Cohen has now been endorsed by five labor unions and has received the support of every union that has endorsed in the race for the 11th council seat,” reads the press release.

“I am honored and grateful for the endorsement of these three great unions, each representing a very different constituency in New York,” Mr. Cohen said in a press release. “Their common support shows that I share their concerns and the concerns of working people all throughout the city.”

Office for the consumers

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz introduced legislation to create a new state consumer advocacy office called the State Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate.

The office will serve as an advocate for New Yorkers in state and federal regulatory and judicial review proceedings concerning rates and conditions of public service utilities.

Mr. Dinowitz said in the wake of storms Sandy, Irene and Lee, New Yorkers have been left without “a voice and real representation when it comes to utility services.”

The state already has the Public Service Commission and the Utility Intervention Unit, but Mr. Dinowitz said this new office is needed because it will focus solely on consumers and their interests. New York is one of 10 states that does not have an independent state agency representing the interests of residential utility customers. The cost that the office saves consumers is greater than the cost of creating the office, according to Mr. Dinowitz’s press release.

“The creation of an appointed advocate with the powers allotted in this bill would give New York utility customers a voice at the table and save them a considerable amount of money when it comes to the utilities they use every day,” Mr. Dinowitz said in a press release.