Feiner has been waging an uphill battle to do away with county government, and believes the county executive’s move only adds ammunition to the cause. What do you think?

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Jeanine Pirro may not be number one in politics right now, but her highly-publicized marital problems with husband Al has placed her in a top ten list of infidelity news stories of 2006.

Yes, there is a list for everything.

This particular list was put together by Ruth Houston, a self-decribed “infidelity expert,” who is an author and founder of www.InfidelityAdvice.com.

Pirro ranks eighth on Houston’s list “for asking ex-NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik to bug her husband’s boat because she suspected him of having yet another extramarital affair.” The bugging never happened, but Pirro’s indiscreet query resulted in a federal investigation, the news of which broke in the middle of her campaign for New York attorney general. (Don’t hold your breath that anything will result from t that federal probe, incidentally.)

Others on the infidelity news list include: ex-model Christie Brinkley whose marriage ended over her husband’s affair with a 19-year-old personal assistant; former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey’s book, “The Confesion,” which revealed details of his gay relationship with a government aide; and the resignation of Ted Haggard, the head of the National Association of Evangelicals who preached anti-gay morals while dallying with a male hooker.

Number one on the list, if you care, was the phenomenon of “Brokeback Marriages,” which was named after the Academy Award wining film, “Brokeback Mountain” and signfies same-sex infidelity. (See McGreevy and Haggard.)

(Owner Arthur Jacobson even has MY picture, strategically placed near the cash register. This is an honor. I mean, anchorman-savant Ernie Anastos has an autographed mug, too, but his doesn’t get such choice placement.)

Anyway, last night, we had a late dinner at the L.T. and spotted Mamaroneck’s own Matt (“Crash,” “Drugstore Cowboy” “There’s Something About Mary”) Dillon, who was home for the Christmas holiday. He was there with an entourage of boisterous pals, and seemed to be having a great time.

Since that column appeared in The Journal News and lohud.com, several people have either called or sent me e-mails asking how they may give Bell monetary assistance for the holidays. I’ve been telling readers that Bell was not necessarily seeking charity when she contacted me, but really wanted to tell her story out of a need for catharsis.

However, so many generous people have come forward to offer help that I decided the best thing to do was to give out her e-mail address so that she may be contacted directly.

Her a-mail address is: mimma31206@optonline.net

Happy holidays to all.

Today’s column was about a legal battle between a pair of Port Chester businessmen who alleged that the G&S of Old Bethpage, Long Island, the “preferred developers” of the village’s downtown, tried to extort them. Bart Didden and Dominick Bologna have claimed that G&S said it wouldn’t press for condemnation of their 35,000-square foot property under the power of eminent domain if they gave them a cash payment of $800,000.

On Jan. 5, the U.S. Supreme Court will review the case for consideration. In the column I quoted from a lengthy amicus brief field with the court by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a 30-year-old nonprofit organization that litigates matters affecting the public interest.

Click on the above for a full reading of the brief.

I haven’t read it yet, but apparently the plot includes a desperate battle against an army of ghouls in Yonkers. This will certainly go over big with the city’s chamber of commerce.

Page 93: “That how I first saw Yonkers, this little, depressed, nut-collar burb just north of New York City. I don’t think anybody ever heard of it. I sure as hell hadn’t, and now its up there with, like Pearl Harobr…no, not Pearl…that was a surprise attack. This was more like Little Bigh Horn…”

This is great stuff. Zombies! What an image builder. I wonder how they feel about the Ridge Hill development project?

Page 104: “Yonkers was supposed to be the day we restored confidence to the American people, intstead we practically told them to kiss their ass goodbye.”

Ain’t it the truth. And here we thought the zombies were confined to City Hall.

The regime of County Executive Andy Spano was stopped from a bait-and-switch land deal, thanks to an alert legislator and a motivated group of homeowners. What the heck, I’ll take a little credit, too.

As reported on this bog and in The Journal News, the county originally had offered to sell a half-acre of vacant county-owned land to the city of New Rochelle for one dollar. Whenever surplus land is to up for disposal, the county must first offer it to the host community—that’s the law.

The parcel, which had been virtually forgotten for 80 years, sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood on Flandreau Avenue. Locals had turned it into a kind of wild-garden park.

The New Rochelle City Council seized on the offer and voted 7-0 to accept the property. But it turned out the county really didn’t want to give it way. Not by a long shot!

What it really wanted to do was sell the property at auction to a developer (an insider, no doubt) who would then shoehorn in two or three houses. The property is believed to worth at least $250,000.

So the county turned around and pressured the city council to vote again, and TURN THE DEAL DOWN. The council complied with a 4-3 vote.

But Jim Maisano, the Republican legislator from New Rochelle cried foul, and so did people living near the property. Maisano blew the whistle through my column, researched the law and helped mobilize the neighbors. Then he lobbied his fellow county legislators and presuaded them last night to table the auction of the property. The park was saved.

Also credited with an assist were Councilwoman Marianne Sussman and state Assemblywoman Amy Paulin.

Maisano said today that he will draft legislation to add the Flandreau property to the county-run Nature Study Woods which is across the street.

This just in from Don Debar, the peripatetic Ossining activist. Don passed this bit of doggie news onto to me as a favor to a friend. Check it out.

These little characters are just two puppies out of a litter of 10 that are up for adoption. Their mother, Maisey, was found pregnant and abandoned on a back road.

Her rescuers tried to find her owner, but gave up after four weeks. The poor dog had really been left to fend for herself.

Not long after that, Maisey gave birth. Ten babies! There are five males and five females. Anyone who wants to give them a good home should call 203-222-8157.

The Democratic administration had hoped to push through a resolution to put a half-acre of county-owned property up for auction sale. Located in the New Rochelle, the property was supposed to be used in a parkway project 80 or so years ago and was all but forgotten and virtually abandoned.

The only thing is that over the years the New Rochelle homeowners on Flandreau Avenue had turned the little parcel into a kind of park, on their own and at their own expense.

County Legislator Jim Maisano, a New Rochelle Republican, seized the issue and has vigorously lobbied his fellow legislators to block the Spano gang from getting their way on this highly suspicious deal. It’s been a park….and it should stay a park.

The early word is that Maisano will succeed tonight.

In a couple of columns on the issue I mentioned an alternative mascot on the thematic order of Sing Sing Prison.

Mike Reynolds, a town resident and sometime candidate for local office, seized on this.

“I have met a lot of Indians and have even been cured by a Navajo medicine man.” he said. ” I’m also a member of the Native American Legal Rights Fund.
“I’ve never met an Indian who resented being called an Indian. The only reason the Native American Rights Fund is called that is not to offend Politically Correct white donors.”

Reynolds then suggested some Sing Sing-style mascots that I hadn’t heard before.
The Slammers, The Singers, The Wardens, The Guards, The Shanks, The Punks, The Rats, The Salad Dressers (Don’t ask) The Cagers.

A DIFFERENT CHRISMAS POEM

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said “Its really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.” “It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ’ Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ’ Nam ’,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.”

“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”

Now, it’s changed again. As we’ve reported at lohud.com and in The Journal News it’s now the “O,” short for Ossining.

When I wrote about this in today’s paper, I mentioned that whenever the mascot issue comes up in Ossining, the discussion invariably turns to Sing Sing Prison and tongue-in-cheek suggestions for team names that are thematically linked to the fabled “Big House.” I listed a few of them… “The Convicts,” “The Executioners,” etc.

Of course, the prison theme is only laughed at. But there is a precedent for it.

It seems that back around 1910, the Yuma Union High School in Arizona took over the vacated buildings of the territorial prison which was moved to another location. The high school was quartered in the old jail for four years. When the school’s football team played Phoenix, the rivals derisively called them “criminals.”

Yuma won the game and the name “criminals” became a source of pride and was kept. They shortened it to “Crims” and adopted a mascot image of a tough-looking convict. The student store is called the “Cell Block.”

And as for the sensitive and politically correct—guess what? There’s a team mascot at Northern Colorado University called the “Fighting Whities.” The team mascot is a middle-aged white guy. The team slogan is “Everythang’s gonna be all white!”

If that doesn’t upset you, then the “Indians” shouldn’t upset you either.

This year, it’s the New Rochelle City Council.

Contained in the proposed city budget is a $22,000 pay raise for the part-time mayor which would bring him up to $85,5000. Note that I said “part-time” mayor in a town where the median income for $55,500. Members of the city council would see their salaries raised from $23,000 to $32,000.

See, the strategy is they hope that axpayers are not paying attention during the holiday rush.

Gee, I don’t think so.

But Peekskill Democrats are raging over the “I Dream of Jeanie” image that appears on the city Republican’s Web Site.

The two dancers in balloon pants and halter tops are supposed to be Drew Claxton and Mary Foster, two Democratic members of the Peekskill City Council. The bozos to the left are the five GOP council members who are touting a proposal to bring a Target store to the city’s industrial south end. A competing proposal is putting in a distribution center for FedEx or DHL delivery trucks.

The Democrats are taking offense at the Republican mode of ridicule, charging they have “resorted to sexist and degrading attacks.” Councilman Mike Morey has demanded to know who superimposed the heads of the women and wants the party of Lincoln to apologize.

In a press release, both Claxton and Foster objected. Said Claxton: “This is pure harassment and intimidation. Because I am a woman and because I may take a different perspective form the mayor (John Testa) does not give him or the GOP the right to make sexually provocative statements about me, either verbally or in pictures.”

In any event, these two birds join “RoccerMom” in the parental Hall of Shame. You’ll remember that was the myspace.com handle for the mother who was arrested in September for driving while intoxicated on the Saw Mill River Parkway, going in the wrong direction. A teenage passenger was killed in the accident.

Call them WMD, or Wild Mommy Drunks.

The thief performed this noisy operation while she and her husband were at home, asleep in bed. The racket woke them up, but they were unable to react quickly enough to catch the culprit who somehow managed to get away on a bicycle with the stolen metal in hand. They called 911, which was a waste of time.

When I heard about this, I figured the bad guy was a desperate drug addict whose aim was sell the copper to a scrap dealer. Apparently that’s what the cops told my astonished friends.

Stealing copper fixtures was a criminal trend back in the 80s when crack cocaine first came on the scene. Well, with the price of copper going up, largely due to an overwhelming demand for the metal from economically-surging nations like China, it appears that the trend has returned. According to some reports I’ve read, copper theft is a big law enforcement problem, but usually it’s a scavanging act carried out in abandoned buidlings or in houses under construction.

That it happened in an occupied model home while the owners were inside—as in the case of my friends—should tell us something about the current suburban crime index. It was brazen indeed, it indicates the lengths some miscreants will go when copper can be sold for scrap at two dollars a pound.

I purposely said, “looking” and not “reading.” Screeds like this aren’t read. They can only be examined like specimans under a microscope.

Evil is worthy of a full examination. I have a little doubt that Simpson is a psychopath, and that this latest literary effort gives us more insight into the sick mind of a killer.

You might remember that this actually Simpson’s second book. HIs first was “I Want to Tell You,” which was a thin little wafer consisting mostly of fawning fan letters and rambling musings that Simpson wrote while he was in jail. Over and over again, Simpson says he loved Nicole, in the same obsessive way that Hitler’s prison memoir, “Mein Kampf,” went on and on about Russia and the Jews.

Some day, Simpson should write a third book to complete a bizarre kind of triology of madness. Maybe he could call it, “I Want To Tell You If I Did It, I’d Do It Again.”

Roll the tape!

FUNNY-ONE
“I have no disappointments at all. This was such a great campaign. I traveled all across Westchester County. I received nothing but encouragement from every person that would come up to me and give me a little bit of tongue and a kiss, saying, you know we resepct what you’re doing.”

Hmm, a “bit of tongue.” Did he really say that? We wonder if he didn’t get an ear nibble, too.

FUNNY-TWO
“Thanks to every person, from the senior that walks up to me once in a while and pats me on the butt.”

On the butt! Did he really say that? Those randy seniors…they’re shagadelic, baby!

Phil Reisman
Journal News
1 Gannett Drive
White Plains, NY 10604

Dear Mr. Riesman (sic),

I write to you on behalf of members of the Brewster Rotary Club who were dismayed at your characterization of Rotarians in your recent political commentary on Chris Callaghan, candidate for NYS Comptroller, entitled “Bow tie can’t be beat as political fashion flaw�. Your comment that Mr. Callaghan has the “amiable, rumpled look of a Rotarian at an Oktoberfest� portrays Rotarians as disheveled “party boys�. On the contrary, Rotarians around the world are among the most respected members of their communities, leaders in business and civic affairs, who devote their personal time, money and energy to advancing Rotary’s mission of improving their local communities, providing service and support to people in need nationally and internationally and advancing international understanding, goodwill and peace through an ideal of “service above self�. Over 1 million men and women in 163 countries worldwide are members of Rotary. Your characterization of Rotarians, though meant to amuse I’m sure, actually trivialized the important volunteer work of these many community-minded men and woman and the serious goals of Rotary.

You did get one thing right- we Rotarians are “amiable�. In that spirit, I would like to extend an invitation to you to join the Brewster Rotary at one of our lunchtime meetings so that you can become more informed about how a “typical� Rotarian looks and behaves. We meet each Tuesday at 12:15 p.m. at the Southeast Grille House on Route 6 in Brewster, NY. We would enjoy the opportunity for you to get to know the members of our club, who are professional men and women leaders in education, law, medicine, government and business. We’d also like to inform you about our local charitable activities including our college scholarship program, international student exchange program, Rotary International’s polio eradication program, and other local charitable initiatives.

Please contact me at my office at the Putnam County Planning Department at 845-878-3480, ext. 109 to arrange a time to be our guest at an upcoming Rotary meeting. Or, you may contact our Brewster Rotary Club President, Paul Fucito, at 845-279-6541. We look forward to meeting you.

Sincerely,

Michelle Powers
On behalf of Brewster Rotary

cc. Reader Services Editor

Spano challenged the results of the Nov. 7, but the recount still has him 1,800 votes behind the Democrat Stewart-Cousins. A load of paper ballots has yet to be counted. Forget about it.

The odds are longer than Cher’s hair that Spano will prevail when the last vote is counted.

When it comes to votes, Spano seems to have a Houdini-like power to pull elections out of the hat, as proved by his last run against Stewart-Cousins in 2004. After four months of court haggling, he was declared the victor by 18 votes in that one.

He’s cooked this time, though. Even his merry band of scali-wags and hangers-on (some of whom should have been indicted for their past election misdeeds) won’t be able to pull any fast ones to save his bacon this time.

Today’s announcement in Yonkers is obviously timed to cut off the Democrats at the publicity pass; they’re holding their own celebratory announcement at 3 p.m. in White Plains.

ONE MORE NOTE: Today’s HIgh Noon program on WVOX radio, 1460 AM, with Assemblyman-elect Mike Spano (Nick’s younger brother) is canceled. Mike will be at his brother’s press conference, no doubt…and so will I.

Ever since the advent of live cable TV news, candidates on nearly every level of government get to go on camera to deliver victory and concession speeaches. Wasn’t this a privilege once reserved only for people running for president?

Well, now it seems that even the winning and losing candidate for municipal dog catcher goes on the air to bravely, defiantly or tearfully talk about what a tough campaign it was and to thank all his/her loyal supporters. This year’s elections featured a proliferation of these increasingly annoying moments. Everyone’s in show business.

Some obserevations:

JOHN HALL: The fomer frontman for the gooey-soft rock band Orleans pulled off an upset victory over Sue Kelly in the 19th Congressional District. He gave a nice speech before a throng of well-wishers and then…he sang. It’s as if he couldn’t help himself. Worse, he was off key. This made me cringe.

ANDREA STEWART-COUSINS: She pulled off an upset, too, in the 35th state Senate against the forever-incumbent Nick Spano, who has to concede. Nevertheless, Stewart-Cousins declared victory, which was perfectly appropriate. The weird part was that she thanked just about everyone she ever met in her life, a long list. This bordered on the ludricous, but it also served to give ridiculous exposure to the people standing behind her, e.g. Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick, who seemed inordinately anxious to jockey for position so his face stayed in the TV picture, and County Legislator Jose Alvarado, who seemed mentally challenged and kept trying to lead a chant of “Andrea.”
Candidates should limit the people who stand by them to spouses, children and one or two party leaders.

ALAN HEVESI: This one really cracked me up. Hevesi won back the comptroller’s job, despite allegations he used state employees to chauffeur around his wife. It’s the hubris of power. So, guess who was standing behind him during his victory speech? Why, it was our own county executive Andy Spano, Westchester’s imperial leader who knows well the trappings of office—limo drivers, reserved golf tee times, etc.

OH YEAH: I need to point out a dumb error I made in today’s column about the nasty mailings that underscored the state office elections in Yonkers. I had Mike Spano and Shelley Mayer running in the wrong Assembly district. It’s the 93rd AD.

Guests will include Journal News political writer Glen Blain and political analyst Mike Edelman. Matt Davies, the Pultizer Prize-winning cartoonist for The Journal News, may also join in the conversation.

So tune into the show at 12 noon Thursday. That’s 1460 on your AM dial. If you’re out of listening range, remember we also stream live at www.wvox.com.

Feel free to call in, too, at 914-636-0110.

This is a photo of yours truly and state comptroller candidate Chris Callaghan who was stumping earlier this week in front of the Super Stop & Shop in Yonkers. Supermarkets are an ideal place for politicians to campaign because they’re busy places and it’s easy to buttonhole shoppers.

There are hazards, however. For instance, it went unreported that Callaghan was standing only 10 feet or so from the store’s recycling station where a grubby homeless man was stuffing cans and bottles into the redemption machines. This was hardly a positive image for a politician to be contrasted against, especially a politician seeking to run for an office that oversees a multi-billion dollar public pension fund.

Speaking of huge responsibilities… Callaghan, a Republican from Saratoga County, is generally considered to be unqualfied for the comptroller’s job. As a municipal treasurer, he has only managed an office of 12 employees.

And yet, thanks to allegations of corruption leveled against incumbent Democrat Alan Hevesi, Callaghan has at least an outside chance of winning the election on Nov. 7. At one point, he was 27 points behind in one poll, but recent surveys now have him behind by 11.

In the photo, I’m asking him: “What’s with the bow tie?” But it looks like he’s decribing the circumfrence of a cantalope he just bought.

Whatever, it will be incredible if he pulls a miracle and defeats Hevesi.

If that should occur, think of the movie “The Candidate,” in which the victorious politiciian played by Robert Redford is stunned at the prospect that he will actually have to assume the office he won. “Now what’ll we do?” he asks.

But the sanctimonious response from so many Republicans is even harder to swallow. This operation in Iraq is a travesty perpetrated by too many men who dodged the draft or otherwise didn’t step up to the plate, but are raging hawks when it comes to sending today’s young people into harms way.

It’s worth revisiting the military records of some of our notable leaders of today and the not-so-distant past..

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS—and these are the guys sending people to war:
Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.

This is a photo taken Sunday of Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone and Josephine Spano, the matriarch of the Spano political family, who a few years ago was very unhappy with the way Amicone conducted his primary campaign against her son, Mike.

The two appear to be pleased to see each other, so maybe it’s true that the rift between City Hall and the Spano clan has been closed. On Sunday, I wrote a column pointing how bitter things were during the 2003 mayoral race

In a letter she wrote to Republican voters at the time, Mrs. Spano accused Amicone of waging “an ugly campaign…the ugliest I’ve seen in all my life.”

Amicone shot back with a mailing of his own, saying that “Mike needs to stop lying to his mother” and “quit hiding behind his mother’s skirt.”

But see! They’re friends. It’s like June Cleaver forgivng Eddie Haskell for the wedgie he gave Beaver back in high school.

There’s one going around in an e-mail chain (I got one last week) that features the Commander-In-Chief himself—and it hardly casts him in a flattering light.

The, uh, Institute purports to have discerned the I.Q.s of the past 12 U.S. presidents through a four-month examination of their writings, their ability to speak with clarity and other “psychological factors,” and putting the whole mess through some nutty equation called the “Swanson/Crain System” to determine just how strong or weak the Executive brain power has been in the last 50 years. Get this—it’s accurate within five “percentage” points. Wow.

Here’s the ranking:
182- Bill Clinton
175- Jimmy Carter
174- John F. Kennedy
155- Richard Nixon
147- Franklin D. Roosevelt
132- Harry Truman
122- Dwight Eisenhower
121- Gerald Ford
105- Ronald Reagan
98- George Herbert Walker Bush
91- George Walker Bush

I love this…it’s got hoax written all over it.

I’ve check this out through the great hoax debunker, Snopes.com, and it turns out this urban legend has been out there since 2001 and has successfully fooled the London Guardian and a publication in New Zealand. Apparently, it’s out there again, so don’t be sucked in by it, as genuine as it may seem.

.