Alec Hamilton

The special election to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of Anthony Weiner in the 9th District has been set by Governor Andrew Cuomo for September 13. While local party bosses mull their options for candidates, the deadline for their nominations is nearly here.

In accordance with special election rules, it will be the local party bosses who nominate the candidates for the seat. Queens Republican Party Chairman Phil Ragusa says the candidate each party is backing must be chosen by July 11. That is the date by which the party has to submit paperwork to the Board of Elections, declaring that their party has decided to nominate the candidate.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the Manhattan District Attorney's decision to bring charges against former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss Kahn  — even though the credibility of the woman who accused him of attempted rape has now been called into question.

Same-sex couples can begin the application process for marriage licenses online Tuesday.

The first of three court opinions on the constitutionality of the health care reform law passed by President Obama came in Wednesday, with the court finding in favor of the Obama administration.

The ruling specifically looked at the constitutionality of the individual mandate, that part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act which requires all Americans to purchase insurance or pay a penalty with their income taxes.

In all the uproar over the New York Senate voting on important things like gay marriage and state vegetables, one important piece of legislation was left to languish. A bill to require guns sold or manufactured in New York be equipped with microstamping technology was a quiet casualty of the Senate session that just ended. 

The problems that came to the surface in 2008 are still there, they’re just lurking not very far beneath the surface. — Nicole Gelinas, contributing editor of the Manhattan Instit...

While the West Village erupted in celebration on Friday evening, not everyone was happy abut the passage of the Marriage Equality Act.

The Catholic Bishops of New York issued a joint statement on Friday condemning the vote, saying they were "deeply disappointed and troubled" by the passage of a bill that will "alter radically and forever humanity’s historic understanding of marriage."

When the New York State legislature passed the budget by their March 31 deadline, Governor Andrew Cuomo said it was an achievement.

"Tonight the Legislature not only passed an on-time budget, but a historic and transformational budget for the people of the state of New York," Governor Cuomo said. "It was an invaluable public service for the state government to 'function' so well at this difficult time."

On Wednesday, as lawmakers blew past the scheduled day of session on June 20 with major pieces of legislation still pending, Cuomo took a different tack on Albany's speed.

"If it takes a little bit more time, it takes a little bit more time," the governor told reporters. "I would much rather get it right than rush it."

The expectation was that at a certain point they’d have to leave the hard decisions to President Obama and to the Speaker of the House. — Congressional Quarterly senior writer Joseph...

People don’t have to get a marriage visa every time they cross the George Washington bridge. Unfortunately, though, there has been a gay exception carved into the way our country trea...

[I]f the first amendment continues to bar efforts to protect privacy, then privacy may really have an uphill battle in the future. — Jeffrey Rosen, professor of law at The George Was...

Governor Andrew Cuomo and the union representing 66,000 state workers in the executive branch have reached a contract agreement.

The tritium leaks are something about which you have got to be concerned. Even [though] the AP says none of them have reached drinking water aquifers, it’s still not something you wa...

AARP may be the only major force out there that can put the brakes on what seems to be a gathering coalition to really cut into Medicare and to really cut into Social Security. — Fre...

A year after the Citizens United ruling opened the tap to allow corporate money to pour into elections, the Supreme Court appears poised to weigh in on whether public financing is a constitutional way to combat the influence of money in electoral politics.

In the next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of a program in Arizona that provides matching public funds to candidates for office who face opponents with greater resources. If that program is struck down, public financing programs nationwide may need to be reconfigured, and New York City's public financing system may become the new model. 

 

If somebody runs in a special election and is victorious and serves in Congress just to fill out the term and then leaves, are they eligible for a congressional pension? — A question...

Now that Rep. Anthony Weiner has announced his resignation, It's A Free Country takes a look at some of the possible contenders for that Ninth District seat.

Rep. Anthony Weiner announced his resignation from Congress on Thursday, 10 days after he first admitted he had sexually charged online relationships with several women: "Today, I a...

If Anthony Weiner is seen as being toxic to this kind of core constituency for Democrats nationally, he becomes a liability to the party as they’re heading into an election season. —...

Anthony Weiner isn't resigning post-sex-scandal, and he's far from the first to try to keep his office in the wake of public shaming. He might want to take lessons from this list of pols who got tangled up in sex-scandals and ended up bruised, but not destroyed. Here are eight political careers that went on despite scandal.