Shirley Huntley (Photo: Wikimedia)

Ms. Huntley, who will be sentenced tomorrow after pleading guilty to embezzling $87,000 and tampering with physical evidence to obstruct a probe into the theft of member item money she sponsored for a nonprofit, roped Ms. Smith and several other associates into the scheme. Ms. Smith pleaded guilty in February to stealing $30,000 in taxpayer funds from a sham nonprofit group that Ms. Huntley founded. This information was not mentioned in her letter, made public today, to Judge Jack Weinstein.

"I am humbly requesting a second chance for by [sic] Aunt Shirley and that you allow her to remain in the community that she has served so unselfishly for over forty years," Ms. Smith wrote. "Yes, I want and need my aunt at home for me but the community needs her also. I truly believe that removing Aunt Shirley from the community for any length of time would have a negative effect on both her and her family, friends, neighbors and community. If there is a penance to be paid by my Aunt Shirley, please allow her to pay it in the community that she has aided for so long."

The letter describes a close relationship with "Aunt Shirley" that was cemented when Ms. Smith's mother died in 1993. Ms. Smith said she views Ms. Huntley as a mother figure and still lives with her. Nowhere in the letter does Ms. Smith detail her political bond to her aunt, such as her campaign work for Ms. Huntley or her participation in the embezzlement scheme. Rather, she writes how "amazed" she is at the affection the community has shown Ms. Huntley over the years.

To help minimize her own sentence, Ms. Huntley also wore a wire and secretly recorded conversations with fellow lawmakers while cooperating with federal investigators last year. The names of the lawmakers are set to be revealed later today.

View the full letter, the last in the document, below:

(Photo: Wikimedia)

The National Organization for Marriage has taken its anti-gay marriage efforts down to a local level, purchasing advertisements in the special election to replace former State Senator Carl Kruger. A reader found one of these ads in the Orthodox Jewish publication Country Yossi Magazine.

"We Need A Senator Who Supports Torah Values," the ad's headline reads, before going after the Democratic candidate. “Lew Fidler voted to support same-gender 'marriage,' a forbidden act under the Torah."

The ad's featured photo is the Republican candidate, attorney David Storobin, standing in between Majority Leader Dean Skelos and State Senator Marty Golden, surrounded by Rabbis. Below is a photo of Mr. Storobin with Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, who the New York Times once described as "prominent and influential." According to the ad, Rabbi Belsky says it is forbidden "to provide public recognition or any kind of assistance to Lew Fidler ... Rabbi Yisroel Belsky endorses David Storobin, who will support Torah Values."

The National Organization for Marriage, a non-profit formed to pass Proposition 8 in California, is a constant player opposing efforts to legalize same-sex marriage around the country. However, this may be one of the first times they entered the debate retroactively. Gay marriage, of course, has already passed the New York State Senate and been signed into law. The political barriers to undoing the legislation are extremely high.

The ad's disclaimer says it was purchased "in cooperation with Jews for Morality," an organization working against Mr. Fidler as well.

View the ad from Country Yossi below:

Lew Fidler's campaign mail highlights his plan for Jewish private schools.

In a special election competition that had been increasingly marred with negative personal attacks between the two candidates, a substantive issue has finally emerged that the candidates are staking their ground on: tuition relief for private school students, especially those attending yeshivas in the heavily Jewish district.

Earlier this morning, the Republican candidate in the race to replace corrupt former State Senator Carl Kruger, David Storobin, sent out a positive press release touting his support for a voucher system granting money to parents of private school students.

“The voucher issue is a big one in this district,” Mr. Storobin said in the statement. “For the orthodox Jewish, it’s particularly important. Private tuition for yeshivas can be as much as $10,000 or more per high school student, and almost as much for children in primary school. To a family with five or six children, that is a tremendous burden.”

Meanwhile Mr. Storobin's Democratic opponent, Councilman Lew Fidler, is sending out campaign mail highlighting the work he's done on behalf of yeshivas, further outlining a five point plan to allocate substantial amounts of state funding to the educational institutions.

This evening, Mr. Storobin sent out another press release announcing Mr. Fidler's mailing as a wholly insufficient plan to provide for private schools. Mr. Storobin's campaign spokesman told City & State the difference was between Mr. Fidler's proposal for an indirect tax credit and Mr. Storobin proposal for direct funding.

“After spending more than 10 years in government, my opponent has just now found motivation in this special election to form what he calls a ‘plan to help yeshiva parents,’" Mr. Storobin said in this evening's statement. "It’s nice that he’s finally making an effort, but he’s being disingenuous. The bottom line is that Mr. Fidler is against school vouchers, period."

For many observers following the race, including the major blog in the district, Sheepshead Bites, this new discussion is welcome relief from discussion of neo-Nazis.

Voters head to the polls on March 20th.

Pat Maher (Photo: Facebook)

Pat Maher, a former Democratic Congressional candidate whose 2010 biography described her as "the Director of Development and Community Relations for a not-for-profit health care foundation covering Long Island," told The Politicker this afternoon she intends to run against one of two Republican State Senators, Kemp Hannon or Jack Martins, this year. This could set up a competitive Democratic primary as there is already a Democratic candidate, Ryan Cronin, running against Mr. Hannon.

“I’m committed, but I’m not committed as to which race," Mr. Maher said, indicating her decision will be made based on how New York's chaotic redistricting process works itself out.

In her 2010 campaign, Ms. Maher notably pulled a very respectable 31% of the vote against veteran Congressman Gary Ackerman in 2010, despite spending only a few thousand dollars. Doing even that well in a primary against an incumbent is difficult; for example, Reshma Saujani spent over $1 million in her campaign against Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney that same year, yet received only 19% of the vote.

"I’m a little bit of a rebel out here, even in the party," she admitted, while noting her strength in other races she's run.

"I ran for county legislator and I almost beat a 14 year incumbent, I have an interest in being an elected official," she said. "I follow the state issues quite a bit, I think Albany is a mess. I do agree with governor Cuomo on a lot of things."

Notably, Ms. Maher said education will be a key aspect of her campaign platform.

"All politics is local ... school districts here are closing like crazy. People move here for one reason, they move here for the schools," she explained. "Not having funding for education is really a big issue to people out here."

Looking at the numbers, Mr. Maher said she was optimistic she had a viable path to victory. Arguing her potential primary opponent Mr. Cronin “doesn’t have enough of a base,” she said President Obama was likely to do well in both Mr. Hannon's and Mr. Martins' districts, setting up a potentially competitive general election.

"We have a Democratic president on the ballot. The more I look at the Republicans, I don’t see how any of them can win," she said. "If I look at those districts that he will probably do in well because of the demographics, there’s a chance of taking that kind of seat."

Yeshiva tuition aid also played a key role in the politics surrounding Mr. Kruger's seat as he was battling his federal corruption charges. Last April, City & State reported Majority Leader Dean Skelos received a promise of electoral support from the politically powerful social services organization Agudath Israel when he muscled through $18 million in tuition assistance for rabbinical students despite a then-$10 billion deficit.

Mr. Fidler's plan, outlined in the mailer, goes far beyond that $18 million:

"1. Tuition Tax Credits to reimburse parents up to $5,000 in tuition per yeshiva student.

2. Provide State funding for security cameras around all yeshivas.

3. Increase funding for after-school Priority 5 vouchers so that all eligible children receive vouchers.

4. Give parents vouchers to choose their own bus transportation--one that works best for their schedule.

5. Force the State to reimburse private schools the $350 million already owed for mandated services -- funds that would go directly to yeshivas."

The mailer was sent from the Senate Democrats' account, likely explaining the money his campaign contributed to the statewide committee.

David Storobin, Mr. Fidler's Republican opponent, also stresses the importance of yeshiva tuition relief when not involved in the increasingly negative back-and-forth between the two competing candidates.

Voters head to the polls on March 20th.

View the mailer below:

Ruben Diaz Sr. (Photo: nysenate.gov)

Earlier this morning, the outspoken State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. called on Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos to investigate Buffalo State Senator Mark Grisanti, who's currently entangled in allegations that he instigated a fight in a bizarre casino brawl that left his wife wounded.

“There are too many versions of what happened the night of February 10, 2012 in the Seneca Niagara Casino,” Mr. Diaz said in the statement. “There is another story floating around where many people are claiming that Senator Grisanti threw the first punch and that he hit a woman. If this is so, these are very serious accusations.”

Mr. Diaz then pivoted to a past incident where one of his allies, State Senator Hiram Monserrate, was accused of slashing his girlfriend's face with a piece of glass in 2009. Mr. Monserrate was subsequently convicted of misdemeanor and the State Senate voted to expel him from their legislative body.

"I wish that Senator Skelos and the members of the Senate would have taken Hiram Monserrate and his girl friend Carla at their word and believed them, the same way they are believing Mark Grisanti." Mr. Diaz said.

"Today, my dear reader, you should also know that contrary to Monserrate’s case, in Grisanti’s situation there are many other witnesses that testified against Grisanti’s version," he continued. "Yet Senator Skelos does not believe those witnesses who were not only present, but saw and heard every detail of the incident. Senator Skelos already has decided to believe Senator Grisanti’s account."

Mr. Diaz's statement is the latest development in what has been a bizarre twisting assault saga with Mr. Grisanti. One account alleged he made a racial remark during the dust-up, something Mr. Grisanti denied. He also denied being the aggressor in the fight, although another account alleged the opposite.

David Storobin stood before a banner reading "Character Counts."

At a chilly press conference in southern Brooklyn this afternoon, the Republican candidate in the special election to replace former State Senator Carl Kruger, David Storobin, laid out a barrage of attacks against his Democratic opponent, Councilman Lew Fidler.

"Mr. Fidler's character renders him unfit to serve in the State Senate," Mr. Storobin firmly stated early in his speech. "This is not a statement I make lightly. I realize the implications of what I'm saying."

Mr. Storobin, softly speaking, proceeded to launch into a series of negative press reports on Mr. Fidler from his time in the City Council, charging that Mr. Fidler has been doing everything from "suckling at the bosom of the Brooklyn political machine," to "prey[ing] on the poor" and being "proud of it."

When The Politicker asked Mr. Storobin if he was distracting from more substantive issues like taxes and school vouchers, Mr. Storobin countered that it was Mr. Fidler who "made this part of this campaign" by bringing up personal attacks first. He previously cited the Fidler campaign bringing up the infamous "neo-Nazi" charges and expressing skepticism about a large contribution from his mother as examples of this. Democrats privately contend that it is Mr. Storobin who is waging the more sharply negative campaign through press conferences like this afternoon's.

The entire event was rather awkward as a Democratic activist repeatedly interrupted Mr. Storobin as he made his remarks. After one of the interruptions, one of Mr. Storobin's volunteers called the activist a "homosexual."

Mr. Storobin's campaign addressed the heckler in a later press release, charging that he was working on Mr. Fidler's behalf. "Today's press event got particularly out of hand when a volunteer made inappropriate and offensive comments to the Fidler campaign heckler," Mr. Storobin said in the statement. "I condemned those inappropriate remarks immediately and the volunteer apologized."

Update: The Fidler campaign passes along this statement from their campaign manager Kalman Yeger

"For 14 straight days, Mr. Storobin has done nothing other than talk about a perceived insult he created in only his own head.  This is now his second press conference where he has erratically engaged in nothing other than false and malicious attacks on Lew Fidler’s words and record.

While Lew Fidler continues to campaign on issues important to the people of Brooklyn, Mr. Storobin does nothing more than lie, attack and lie some more.  It’s a bit sickening at this point, but what else can we expect from someone who has no record, no accomplishments, and is trying to buy a Senate seat as the shill of his Albany Republican pals."

Watch or read Mr. Storobin's remarks below:

“Three weeks ago, my opponent --- career politician, City Councilman Lew Fidler --- decided to make character THE issue in this campaign.

“Before addressing jobs and taxes or education and entitlement reform --- issues that real New Yorkers care about --- he decided to embark on a smear campaign by spreading false and malicious rumors that I had ties to neo-Nazis and radical skinhead groups.

“Mr. Fidler has now completely reversed himself and has backed off those untrue attacks.

“While he still has yet to apologize for his deeply offensive behavior, the TRUTH is now known to everyone... that I am a proud zionist Jew, a strong supporter of Israel, with absolutely no ties whatsoever to extremist groups.

“But there is another truth that must be known as a result of this sad episode. Another fundamental truth has risen out of this desperate and pathetic display of politics at its worst. And we are here today to acknowledge that truth.

“Mr. Fidler was right about only one thing. Character does matter in this race... but it is not my character that is at issue in this election; it is Mr. Fidler’s record of highly questionable, unethical behavior as a career politician, a City Councilman and a power broker whose the product of the corrupt Brooklyn Democrat political machine.

“Today, we are here to say that character does count. And that Mr. Fidler’s character renders him unfit to serve in the State Senate.

“This is not a statement I make lightly. I realize the the implications of what I’m saying.

“But this issue, the character issue, has become the central issue in this campaign.

“And now that we know the kind of person Lew Fidler is --- the kind of person who would say or do anything to get elected...

the kind of person who would sell out a member of his own faith, his own community, just so he can rise another rung on his career political ladder...

Now that we know the kind of person Lew Fidler is, we have an obligation to examine Mr. Fidler’s record and determine whether he merits our vote for state senate, and the answer is NO.

“Let’s look at Mr. Fidler’s character record.

[POLITICAL CRONYISM]

“First, I have always believed that you can judge a lot about a person by the company he keeps.

“What kind of company does Mr. Fidler keep?

“This is a man who is the product of, the creation of a corrupt Democrat political machine that has ruled Brooklyn for three generations.

“Mr. Fidler is the hand-picked candidate of political boss Vito Lopez. He is the heir --- the direct descendant of “Big Tony” Genovese, Stan Fink, and Boss Esposito.

“His political buddies even held a political rally for him on the floor of the New York State Assembly, which good government groups called an outrage. But this sort of political cronyism is nothing new to Lew Fidler.

“His entire professional life, Mr. Fidler has been suckling at the bosom of the Brooklyn political machine, and now it’s his turn to run for state senate.

“Mr. Fidler is a man who has given money and taken money from the now disgraced Carl Kruger --- the man who pled guilty to corruption and is the reason we have this special election.

“Mr. Fidler even arranged patronage jobs for his political cronies at City Hall including a man who was disbarred by the New York Bar Association but was put in charge of legislative work.

“You may think that all this questionable ethical behavior sounds normal and that there’s nothing out of the ordinary here. But that is exactly the point. Mr. Fidler comes from a culture that not only says political cronyism is okay, he embraces it and he’s proud of it.

“Voters, beware: if you vote for Lew Fidler, all you’ll get is another career politician, and more of the same corrupt machine-style politics that has ruled Brooklyn for decades.

[CONFLICT OF INTEREST]

“But Mr. Fidler’s ethical dilemmas only begin with his political cronyism; they certainly do not end there.

“Mr. Fidler has, for many years, been on the payroll as chief counsel to a company named LawCash. This is a company that advances money at extremely high interest rates to people who are suing corporations including the corporation of the City of New York.

“There are two problems with this.

“One, Mr. Fidler thinks it’s okay --- in fact he’s said he’s “proud” of his association with (those are HIS words) --- proud of his job at LawCash, a company that makes its living poaching low income people with little hope, and then bleeding them of large chunks of settlements, sometimes 30%, they are entitled to under the law.

“Do we really want a state senator that preys on the poor and is proud of it?

“And second, Mr. Fidler is under the employ of this company while he is a sitting City Councilman. This is an outrageous conflict of interest!

“This is a man who was elected by the people of New York to protect their interests, their tax dollars, and to be a good steward of the public trust. How can Mr. Fidler protect the interests if the taxpayers of New York City when, at the SAME time, he is the chief lawyer for a company that takes money from people who are suing this city?

“He cannot!

“Now this issue has been raised in the press before. It is nothing new. But despite cries from government watch dog groups and newspapers like the New York Post and The Daily News against Mr. Fidler’s ethical conflict of interest, Mr. Fidler has persisted. He is still an chief lawyer for law cash, and as I said he’s even said he’s proud of it.

“Mr. Fidler has largely gone unopposed during thus far in his never ending quest for public office. That has meant that even if voters knew about his ethical lapses and conflicts of interests, they have had no credible alternative --- no choice other than Mr. Fidler.

“But now voters DO have a choice. You don’t have to settle for the ethically challenged Mr. Fidler. You can vote for David Storobin, a man with integrity and who know that character counts.

[THE PUBLIC’S MONEY OR LEW FIDLER’S MONEY?]

“Now, Mr. Fidler has had more than a decade in public office, and even longer than that inside the Brooklyn political machine. Over that time, Mr. Fidler has developed an attitude about public money and public resources that is nothing less than offensive to me as a taxpayer.

“Mr. Fidler has a clear sense of entitlement about himself when it comes to using and abusing taxpayer money and public resources.

“In 2010, the New York Post exposed and documented Mr. Fidler’s history of abusing parking privileges at Brooklyn Borough Hall. Apparently Mr. Fidler thinks that all of us regular New Yorkers should have to pay for parking and pay outrageous parking tickets and penalties when we make a mistake, but as a member of the elite political establishment he feels he’s entitled to park where ever he wants, whenever he wants.

“But he didn’t stop there. Even after the NY Post exposed him, he has continued to abuse his office on the City Council by doing the same thing! Only last week, he was once again caught abusing parking privileges at the same place.

“Mr. Fidler got caught with his hang in the cookie jar. And then went back and tried to take a cookie again.

“This is unbelievable behavior by a public official that can only come from a blatant sense of entitlement to use and abuse his the powers and privileges of his office.

“But Mr. Fidler’s out-of-touch attitude about taxpayer money is not confined to parking.

“Mr. Fidler has also accepted public money to crush political opponents. In 2009, despite knocking his Democrat opponents off the ballot, and despite a Republican opponent who raised less than $700, Mr. Fidler took more than $84,000 in public, taxpayer money to promote himself across his City Council district and crush a non-existent opponent who refused public financing.

“This is an egregious and irresponsible waste of taxpayer money. And the New York Daily News agreed when they called on Mr. Fidler to repay the money.

“But did he? No... because he feels entitled to spend your, the taxpayer’s money promoting his own political interests and abusing his access to public campaign funds.

“Shame on you Mr. Fidler. You should return that money. It’s long overdue.

[NO SCRUPLES]

“Mr. Fidler’s ethical lapses and history of abuse of his privileges of public office show beyond a shadow of doubt that he is not the best choice to represent us in the state senate.

“He will go to any length to protect his political career... and that brings me back to where we started today.

“Mr. Fidler began this campaign by attacking my character with false and outrageous claims. And then when he got caught in his lie, he told another falsehood to defend himself, claiming that he simply “misspoke.”

“Let me directly answer Mr. Fidler’s claim that he misspoke.

“Mr. Fidler, why are you unable to tell the truth? ...Why are you unable to tell the truth about what you said and why you said it.

“After you were caught on YouTube, and at other places, saying falsely that I had ties to neo-Nazi groups --- after you got caught in a lie --- your campaign doubled down and sent out a press release again accusing me of the same false charges.

“This proves that you did not misspeak in a momentary gaffe as you claim. No, you and your campaign made a decision to target my character and spread untrue rumors about me. It was your campaign strategy from the beginning.

“Well, you cam after my character, Mr. Fidler and were proven wrong.

“Now you must defend your own character problems... and they are many.

“Mr. Fiddler your history of ethical lapses and questionable behavior, your abuse of public resources and sense of entitlement, render you unfit to represent the people of Brooklyn in the State Senate.

“That’s my statement to you. And unlike you, I stand by it.”

David Storobin (Photo: Facebook)

At a Brooklyn Young Republicans Club meeting yesterday afternoon, David Storobin, the Republican candidate in the special election to replace Carl Kruger in the State Senate, took issue with the New York Times reporting unknown political analysts see his Democratic opponent, Councilman Lew Fidler, "as the overwhelming favorite in the district."

Describing the issue as "lazy journalism" in response to The Politicker asking about the report, Mr. Storobin gave the pitch for his electoral strength.

"The truth is that the two dominant communities in the district are Russians and Orthodox Jews. Both are very conservative. The next largest ones are Italian-Americans, again, a very conservative demographic," Mr. Storobin said. "We will do very well with all three of the demographics."

"I've seen our poll data --- we're not going to release it -- but we're doing well," he added.

Mr. Storobin also explained why he thinks Mr. Fidler's campaign is behaving as if the election is competitive election too.

"Let me put it this way: In any election, the person who attacks, the person who is most vicious, is the person who's losing. You don't start throwing out words like 'Nazi' if you think you're doing well," he said, referencing Mr. Fidler's infamous "neo-Nazi" comment. "If you're up, you want to not rock the boat."

Mr. Storobin looks like he's willing to keep up the attack on Mr. Fidler's attacks, continuing their presence in the news cycle. This afternoon, his campaign announced he will be hosting a press conference tomorrow "to discuss character issues that have come up during the campaign."

Watch Mr. Storobin make his remarks below:

The new Orthodox Jewish state senate district

The Senate Republicans may have drawn their own special election candidate David Storobin out of the district he's running in, but Mr. Storobin says he'll simply move into the newly created Orthodox Jewish district if the maps hold.

"I will be running in November, no matter what the lines are," he firmly stated at yesterday's Brooklyn Young Republican Club meeting.

"I've lived in Boro Park more than anywhere in my life, and then I lived in Midwood," he further added, citing the two central neighborhoods of the new district. "I went to FDR high school, which is in Boro Park. I do know where to get the good bagels there, I do know the shuls there, I do know everything there. It's my neighborhood."

Mr. Storobin's Democratic opponent, Councilman Lew Fidler, was also drawn out of the district but told The Politicker he would "be running for re-election to the State Senate this November from a district that includes neighborhoods that currently dominate the ... district.”

Under the currently proposed maps, it's unclear what district that would be. But, as Mr. Storobin pointed out yesterday, the proposed lines are expected to change some.

"I don't foresee those lines remaining because the Governor said he's going to probably veto them, so the only way that there will probably not be a veto is for there to be change."

Mr. Storobin and Mr. Fidler are currently running in a spirited special election to replace former State Senator Carl Kruger, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges and resigned last December.

Watch Mr. Storobin explain his redistricting situation below:

David Storobin (Photo: Facebook)

Republican David Storobin might see his Democratic opponent, Councilman Lew Fidler, directly outraising him in the race to replace former State Senator Carl Kruger, but at a Brooklyn Young Republican Club meeting Sunday afternoon, Mr. Storobin said there would be significant statewide resources providing financial parity in the race.

"We have a tremendous amount of money being put into our campaign by the Senate Republicans," Mr. Storobin stated. "In the last ten years, all of the money that all of the other candidates got times ten is not even close to what we're getting."

"Plus we're able to raise a very good amount of money on top of that," he added.

Indeed, although Mr. Fidler currently leads the fundraising race $400,000 to $110,000 in the latest campaign finance reports, the Senate Republicans overall are far outraising their Democratic counterparts and have the ability to press a significant financial advantage.

Mr. Storobin also stressed that money isn't the most important factor in a campaign by pointing to multiple local elections where Republican candidates were significantly outspent but still won.

The special election to replace Mr. Kruger took shape when the former state senator pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges and resigned. Voters weigh in on March 20th.

Watch Mr. Storobin explain his campaign's finances below: