I should’ve known.

Last week’s opening of the fancy-shmancy (and coldly antiseptic) Ritz-Carlton Hotel in White Plains attracted no celebrities whatsoever as it turns out. Oh, in less you consider Al Pirro to be a celebrity. I don’t think so!

In last Sunday’s column, I said that I had heard that actress and former Miss America Vanessa Williams was there, but I didn’t see her. Well, it turns out that she wasn’t there, though some of the press reports led me and others to believe she was.
Here’s an e-mail I got from the beautiful Vanessa’s mom, Helen.

“Dear Phil Reisman ,I read your account of the Ritz-Carlton opening and
the reference of not seeing Vanessa Williams . You didn’t see her
because she was not there. She was still on the west coast. How do I
know? I am her mom and was waiting for her arrival to celebrate
Christmas I enjoy your columns.. most of the time. Helen L.”

Too much.

In the Dec. 25 column, which is already written, I mention Rudy Giuliani’s holiday “commercial”:http://youtube.com/watch?v=dR1fWZlE7AM.

It’s getting some play on YouTube.

As my journalist son, Nick, pointed out, you half expect Giuliani to finish it by saying, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” At least, he’s not in drag.

In today’s column about Westchester County Board Chairman Bill Ryan’s bizarre assertion that he should be paid a full-time wage of $155,000 and change, I mentioned that such an amount would place him ahead of 42 state governors. (No Eliot Spitzer is not one of them. He ranks second in pay only to the governator of Cali-forn-ya.)

If you’re curious about how the states stack up, click onto “gov pay”:http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=207914.

Riverkeeper’s Alex Matthiessen was my radio guest once again on “High Noon” for the full hour.

And of course, we talked about the Indian Point nuclear power plant and the effort by the facility’s owner, Entergy Northeast, to secure an operating license renewal. The current license expires in 2013.

I asked Matthiessen to respond to a Dec. 19 piece written for the Washington Post by Max Schulz, a senior fellow for the Manhattan Institute. Entitled, “A Nuclear Renaissance Ignored”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/19/AR2007121902075.html, the article asserts that nuclear power is on the upswing in the nation with 30 new nuclear reactors on the construction drawing board.

PODCAST: Here’s a recording of the show:

Download:

Schulz writes that the nuke revival should be largely credited to liberal Democrats, who used to strongly oppose nuclear power but has softened on the issue in recent years. Indeed, he notes that the moderate Democratic Leadership Committee believes nuclear energy has tremendous potential to be an important part of the country’s energy portfolio.

Among those he counts as having made “cautious statements” more less favorable to nuclear energy are Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd and Barack Obama.

The reason? Global warming has become a “signature issue” for the Democrats, Schulz says, adding that nuclear power right now is the only technology able to produce vast amounts of energy without creating greenhouse emissions.

Another reason is the lack (so far) of any viable replacement for nuclear power.

Schulz points out that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is a big exception to the Democratic change of heart. He’s called for the closing of Indian Point because of all the usual reasons proffered—not the least of which is that it is a prime target for terrorists and that any evacuation plan for such a densely populated area is unworkable.

But Schulz also says that Spitzer is in “a bind.”

He writes:
“It is one thing to espouse a general opposition to nuclear power—as many Democrats still do—but quite another to oppose an existing nuclear plant while bearng some responsibility for providing credible replacements to make up for the lost power.”

Matthiessen responded to the article and replied to other questions during the course of the show. If you missed it, the entire broadcast will soon be archived on this blog.

The more outrageously creative the better. I’m not just looking for houses draped in lights…That’s great, too. But I also want to hear about animated Muppets and Wise Men and giant Santas with Rudolph’s glowing red nose, and shepards with bleating sheep. And music, too, such as the Beach Boys singing “Little Saint Nick.”

If you decorated your house for the holidays, and you want to let the world know, well, let me know. And I’ll put you and/or your house on RNN-TV on Christmas day.
Contact me at 914-694-5008.

Journal News staff Ken Valenti is getting a lesson in the new 12 mph segway being used by New Rochelle cops. What is this, something out of Monty Python?

Alan Abel is a royal pain in the ass, and someone I have known for almost 30 years.
He’s a professional media hoaxer, whose triumphs over a long career include fooling The New York Times into prominently (and prematurely) running his obituary, establishing a phony school for street beggars and fronting an organization to put clothes on domestic animals. The latter stunt was orchestrated with his friend, Buck Henry.
There’s something seriously off-kilter about Abel, maybe a bit sociopathic, but I’ve been fascinated by him ever since he fooled me into believing that he was a down-and-out member of the unemployed named “Omar” who instructed other penniless people in the art of pandhandling. This was before I worked for The Journal News, but this paper has been hoodwinked by Abel at least twice with that very same hoax.

A few years ago, Abel’s very normal and talented daughter, Jenny, produced a documentary about her trickster dad, called “Abel Raises Caine.” I’m in it, as are other people who’ve crossed paths with the guy, and despite everything, don’t hate him. (Many past and present TV and newspaper assignment editors really, really hate him.)

Jenny’s film has won many wards, and now she informs me that it is available on DVD. I recommend it because it’s fun and also because as I said, I’m in it. For a taste, click onto the “trailer”:http://abelraisescain.com/view_trailer.htm.

If you want to order it for a holiday gift, click on “Abel”:http://abelraisescain.com for more information. And remember, a sucker is born every minute.

If I get through the snow in the next half-hour, the “High Noon” radio show will go on today as scheduled.

Today’s phone guest will be Assemblyman George Latimer, D-Rye. We’ll talk about a wide variety of issues—from taxes to MTA fare hikes to Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

The show airs shortly after noon on WVOX, 1460 AM. You can also listen by logging onto to www.wvox.com. Calls are welcome also, at 914-636-0110.

UPDATE: Here’s the podcast of today’s show:

Download:

I’ve got this from a reliable source. It seems that “Boss” Bill Ryan, the chairman of the Westchester County Board of Legislators who’s been lately taking considerable heat for trying to slip himself a whopping pay raise, may be attempting to consolidate his power as well.

The board reorganizes in January. And the word is that Ryan is toying with the idea of propping up Jose Alvarado, a Yonkers Democrat, as the chairman of the budget and appropriations committee. Of the nine committees, that’s the most important one because it controls the purse strings.

Alvarado is not the sharpest tool in the shed. But he is a tool, and would be expected to do the bidding of Boss Ryan as well as take orders from the office of County Executive Andy Spano.

To give you an idea of what we’re talking about: The story goes that Alvarado once voted in favor of a county living wage law, and then AFTER it passed and the board was onto other business, he stood up and was allowed to make an extraordinary, out-of-order statement as to why he voted yes. Had he been sleeping while the issue was being debated?

Alvarado is Ryan’s kind of guy. And this is what it has come to.

Besides Alvardo, there are 11 other Democrats holding the majority on the board.

Do any of them have the courage to stand up to Ryan?

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner has come up with his nuttiest idea yet.

He wants to push through a local law that would offer cash-strapped, senior-citizen homeowners a unique way to work off their onerous property-tax debt. It’s simple. All they have to do is perform menial municipal jobs on a “voluntary” basis.

In other words, the oldsters can either lose their homes because of tax delinquency or become slaves of government. There’s really noting voluntary about it. Wonderful. These poor souls probably hate retirement anyway, right?

Under the Feiner plan, the elderly cadre can clerk in the library, coach, tutor students, work as receptionists, etc. Feiner wants to offer the program to as many as 25 seniors and expand it to more in the future, if it all works out.

I have an alternative idea—Cut taxes.