The former Republican congressman, who stepped down to run for governor, would not confirm reports he’s interested in challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Instead he said he simply wants to reenter politics.
Zeldin seemed eager to distance himself Santos and Marks, who are mired in allegations of campaign finance irregularities.
“The treasurer has something like close to 200 different accounts,” Zeldin said.
As for Santos, Zeldin said, “I don’t see how he is possibly going to regain the trust of his constituents.”
He stopped short of calling for the Long Island congressman’s resignation.
“Whether or not whatever his expiration date is as a member of the House, I don’t have that answer. He is seated.”
Marks has served as a campaign treasurer for Zeldin since his time in the state Senate over a decade ago.
She resigned from Santos’ campaign and affiliated committees late last month. The Federal Election Commission, along with federal and local law enforcement, is probing allegations of financial impropriety in Santos’ campaign.
Zeldin acknowledged he had a personal connection to Marks because their children go to school together on Long Island.
“Our interaction has been through Marks’ daughters,” he said, without elaborating.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
SRINAGAR: The authorities demolished an outer wall of a former bureaucrat’s house near the Srinagar Airport on Saturday, officials said.
Quoting an official, news agency KDC reported that a team of the Revenue Department led a demolition drive to reclaim state land, measuring around 10 marlas from the “encroacher”.
He said that the outer wall, the main gate of the former bureaucrat Farooq Renzu Shah’s residence, was demolished in Friends enclave, near the airport as part of the government’s demolition drive against the “land grabbers”.
Officials said that Renzu Shah’s Humhama home was allegedly registered in his wife’s name.
Farooq Renzu Shah was formerly DC Budgam, Director Department of Information and is currently serving as Chairman Jamaat-e-Aitqaad International.
Pertinently, the authorities have reiterated that the main target of the anti-encroachment drive was to bring down “high-profile land grabbers”.
Biden’s campaign rhetoric on Friday night doesn’t necessarily mean a formal announcement is imminent, as Democrats expect an announcement in late March or April. But the DNC has already hired several communications rapid response directors who will be deployed to the four Republican early states and Florida, according to a party aide.
“We have momentum,” Harris said in her speech. “And now, let’s let the people know this is what they voted for.”
Democrats are also eager to present a united front, hoping to contrast themselves with a Republican Party that is struggling with its own intra-party drama and a divided presidential field.
Even though former President Donald Trump announced another presidential run last year, several other GOP candidates are still expected to launch their own bids. Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley is expected to launch her presidential campaign in two weeks, while Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) will kick off a “listening tour” in South Carolina and Iowa. Former Vice President Mike Pence is also planning stops in South Carolina, an early presidential nominating state. And last weekend, the Republican National Committee closed out its own winter meeting with a contentious chair’s race.
“It makes sense for them to come here, talk to the party, as a ticket, and both of them make the case, heading into the State of the Union,” said Mo Elleithee, a DNC member, citing Tuesday’s State of the Union speech, another high-profile, message-testing vehicle.
“It’s feeling like showtime,” Elleithee added.
It’s also a marked contrast from Biden’s standing a year ago, when his legislative agenda appeared stalled, inflation continued to spike and Democrats privately worried about Biden’s 2024 prospects.
In his speech, Biden ticked through Democratic priorities accomplished during his first term, including lowering the cost of prescription drugs, investing in combating climate change and appointing the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. He also laid out a number of policy goals for a potential second term, including banning assault weapons, codifying Roe v. Wade and strengthening voter access laws — a policy wish list that’s not currently possible with a divided Congress.
“America is back,” Biden said, “and we’re leading the world again.”
Biden and Harris also veered into sharper attacks on Republicans, returning to themes that they regularly hit ahead of the 2022 midterms by tying the GOP to extremism and election denialism.
In 2022, Harris said, “we defeated ‘Big Lies’ and extremism,” but “extremist so-called leaders” are still banning books and “criminali[zing] doctors.”
“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” Biden said. “These aren’t conservatives. These are disruptive people. They intend to destroy the progress we made.”
Mark Longabaugh, a Democratic strategist who served as a senior adviser on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 bid, said the Democratic Party “feels like this worked for them in the 2022 elections,” and “I’m guessing they’ve got a certain amount of research that shows that it continues to be a salient message.”
Biden and Harris also appeared at a Democratic fundraiser Friday afternoon, where Biden told donors that Democrats have to “lay out what we’ve done, tell them what more we have to get done and how we’re going to pay for it.”
The three-day DNC gathering will culminate on Saturday with a vote to dramatically upend the presidential nominating calendar. The proposal, recommended by Biden, would elevate South Carolina to a coveted first-place position and eliminate Iowa from the early window. It would also seek to add Georgia and Michigan to the early nominating process.
The proposal has faced significant pushback from New Hampshire Democrats, who have waged a public battle against their state’s position in the lineup, which would put them three days after the South Carolina primary and on the same day as the Nevada primary.
“We’re in an impossible, no-win situation,” said New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley at a press conference on Friday afternoon, citing the Republican-controlled legislature and GOP Gov. Chris Sununu’s opposition to repealing or changing the state’s century-old law that requires them to be the first-in-the-nation primary.
“It seems odd we’d be punished for something that’s completely out of our control,” he said.
They also stressed that by forcing New Hampshire out of compliance with its own state law, it would “give Republicans an opportunity to out-organize us” and “create a perfect storm to hurt Biden and Democrats all the way down” the ticket, Buckley said.
But the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, the group charged with recommending the new line up early states, delayed any talk of sanctions against New Hampshire by granting them an extension until June 3 to comply with the DNC’s requirements. Georgia, another state controlled by a Republican governor and legislature, was also granted an extension.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
New Delhi: The BJP will start a 12-day nationwide campaign on Wednesday to make people aware of the “pro-people” measures that are to be announced in the Union Budget, party leaders said.
The campaign will be coordinated by senior BJP leader Sushil Modi and conclude on February 12, they said.
BJP president J P Nadda has formed a task force comprising nine members, including party general secretary Sunil Bansal and heads of its farmer and youth wings, to organise discussions, press conferences or seminars on the Union Budget in all districts of the country, they said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget for 2023-24 in Parliament on Wednesday.
A day after the Union Budget is presented in Parliament, chief ministers of all BJP-ruled states, as part of the campaign, will hold press conferences, party leaders said, adding that in states where the party is not in power, BJP unit heads and leaders of opposition in the assembly will hold press conferences.
In 50 major cities of the country, ministers of the Narendra Modi government will hold press conferences to highlight the “pro-people” measures announced in the Union Budget, they said.
After the budget is presented, the BJP is also expected to hold a meeting of its spokespersons.
To finalise programmes and decide the blueprint of the BJP’s campaign on the Union Budget, the task force constituted for it met at the BJP headquarters here on Monday.
This Union Budget will the last full-fledged budget of the second term of the Narendra Modi government as the general elections will be held in 2024. Hence, the ruling BJP at the Centre wants to make the most out of this campaign.
Earlier too the BJP has organised nationwide public awareness exercises to make people aware about various reforms and initiatives announced by the Modi government in its budgets.
SRINAGAR: Acting tough against encroachers, the District Administration Anantnag today took over an illegal commercial structure belonging to Ex MLA Homeshalibugh and National Conference Senior Leader, Abdul Majeed Larmi at LG Pora in Anantnag.
The structure had been erected by encroaching on Shamilat 4 land close to NH44. The property is situated on a prime piece of land.
As per reports, the property worth over Rs 50 lakhs including the land was being rented out to various businesses.
A senior revenue official said that there has been a full onslaught on encroachers in Anantnag who have occupied prime pieces of State/ Shamilat lands for their own benefits. Influential encroachers who have abused their official positions to amass ill gotten gains are the priority for removal of encroachments. He said that the vacated buildings and lands can be put to public use.
It is in place to mention that a few days ago a notice had also been issued to Abdul Majeed Larmi regarding the encroachment which was followed up with decisive action today.
A senior revenue official said that while encroachments on the road side including fencings have been demolished, the main building has been taken over by the Revenue department.
Bennett did not respond to messages seeking comment, but her attorney said in a statement that the case “involves a technical violation of campaign-finance regulations, based on a loan from a family member.”
“Lynda looks forward to putting it behind her,” Kearns Davis, Bennett’s attorney, said.
An attorney for Mark Meadows also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bennett’s campaign finance records don’t immediately make clear which contributions prosecutors believe to have been unlawful. Bennett’s reports indicate she loaned herself $80,000 at the end of 2019 and paid a portion of it back. Her report terminating her political committee did not list any outstanding balance.
Campaign finance laws limited individual campaign contributions for the 2020 election cycle to $2,800 in the primary and $2,800 in the general for an aggregate total of $5,600 in that campaign cycle. However, candidates can make unlimited donations or loans to their own campaigns.
Meadows backed Bennett to replace him in Congress after he resigned his seat to join the Trump White House, until she lost the primary to Cawthorn. Then-President Donald Trump also endorsed Bennett in the primary, and Republicans in North Carolina worried that Meadows’ aggressive effort to steer his seat to an ally might backfire.
Meadows’ wife Debbie was active in support of Bennett on the campaign trail and Meadows pointed to his wife’s closeness with Bennett to underscore her support for Trump.
Mark Meadows is facing intense legal scrutiny for his role in Donald Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election. Prosecutors in Washington and Georgia are investigating the effort, as well as the role that some of Trump’s close allies played.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Santos told CNN on Wednesday that he had no involvement with the amended filings, saying he “[did] not touch any of [his] FEC stuff.” It was still not clear on Friday who actually filed the Wednesday amendments that bore Datwyler’s electronic signature, although the number of people who would typically have access to a congressional campaign’s system for submitting filings to the FEC is small.
Neither Santos’ attorney nor Marks responded to multiple inquiries this week about who is currently serving as the campaign’s treasurer.
Campaigns are required to have a treasurer in order to carry out most functions, including accepting contributions. Santos’ campaign was still listed as accepting contributions via WinRed, the widely used Republican fundraising platform, as of Friday. WinRed processed more than $1 million in transactions for his campaign during the 2022 cycle, according to a POLITICO analysis of FEC data.
The company did not respond to inquiries about Santos’ use of its platform this week. But NBC News reported on Friday that the company had reached out to the Santos campaign over its reports, which show the committee paying more than $200,000 in fees to WinRed. That’s a greater total than would be expected based on the campaign’s total fundraising on the platform.
Santos, who was sworn into Congress earlier this month just weeks after The New York Times reported he had fabricated much of his biography, is also facing several campaign finance complaints before the FEC.
Complaints filed by nonprofits including the Campaign Legal Center and End Citizens United allege Santos may not have had the personal funds to loan his campaign the $700,000 it reported receiving from him last year, and the complaints also allege that his campaign may have misreported components of its spending. The Santos campaign reported dozens of transactions charged at exactly $199.99, just 1 cent below the threshold that required the campaign to keep receipts detailing the expenditures. Federal and local prosecutors are also investigating Santos’ finances, but he has not been charged with a crime.
The FEC has sent more than two dozen letters to Santos’ campaign and affiliated groups in the past two years. While the agency frequently sends such letters to campaigns to correct mistakes in filings, Santos’ political groups have received more of the notices than is typical.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
SRINAGAR: A commercial structure belonging to a former minister was demolished in Shopian town on Friday during the ongoing eviction drive in Jammu and Kashmir.
Commercial structure belonging to Ghulam Hassan Khan, a former Social Welfare Minister was demolished at Main Chowk Shopian. KL Image by Sheikh Hilal
Quoting an official the news agency KNO reported that the commercial structure belonging to Ghulam Hassan Khan, a former Social Welfare Minister was demolished at Main Chowk Shopian.
He said was demolished as part of the anti-encroachment drive to reclaim Kahcharai and State land from encroachers.
The official said no one is above law and such demolition drives will continue in the district.
“We’re preparing because that should be a Democratic seat. And we’re going to make sure that whoever gets the Democratic line is in a position to win,” said Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.), a Queens party boss. “We have no shortage of individuals that could run and win. That seat will go back into the Democratic column.”
Both parties have begun drumming up a wish list of potential contenders to run for the Nassau County-based seat in 2024 — or sooner. While Republicans are hamstrung on the national level by Santos’ status as a sitting member, intense jockeying has kicked off among local officials. Some of the GOP’s possible prospects include an Ethiopian Jewish refugee-turned county legislator; a state senator who just ousted a sitting Democrat; and a gay woman who spent decades with the New York Police Department.
House Democrats have been even more aggressive behind the scenes, desperate to flip the seat back after a humiliating 2022 showing. Several sitting members have begun phoning possible candidates, including their onetime colleague, former Rep. Tom Suozzi. (He declined a run last November in favor of a failed gubernatorial bid.) Another local official, a Nassau County legislator, has already declared, while others could join, including several candidates who have previously run for the seat.
Democratic optimism isn’t misplaced. They’ve controlled the turf since it was created in 2012, losing it only last November in a Republican surge, propelled by voter angst over rising crime, that reddened the length of Long Island — from its New York City commuter neighborhoods to the ritzy Hamptons. And Joe Biden’s party will be even more favored next year, in a presidential cycle; he carried the seat by 9 points in 2020, and no Republican besides Santos has won there since the seat was created.
Multiple Democrats began making calls even before Santos was sworn in, shortly after the New York Times penned the first major story on his fabulism in late December. Lawmakers across the Democratic caucus have since made entreaties to Suozzi, who left Congress last year, though he has mostly been noncommittal about running for the seat, according to multiple people who have spoken with him.
Some of those Democrats wager that Suozzi would be more likely to run for a special election — if one were to happen — than seek a full term in the seat. Suozzi, when reached by POLITICO, said he had no comment on his plans, though he has drawn attention for a Jan. 3 New York Times op-ed calling for Santos to be removed from office.
There is also chatter about Robert Zimmerman, the Democrat who lost to Santos in November. Zimmerman is interested in running in a special election and would consider a 2024 run, according to a person close to him. (The Zimmerman-Santos race marked Congress’ first general election race between two openly gay candidates.) While Zimmerman has faced some local criticism for failing to dig into his GOP opponent’s fabricated resume, others have blamed those missteps and lack of resources on party leaders.
“When you look at the people, they’ll want to vote for somebody they know,” Meeks said, pointing to Zimmerman, Suozzi and “several others that have shown interest.”
Other possible candidates include Anna Kaplan, an Iranian Jewish refugee who recently lost a state Senate seat, as well as Jon Kaiman and Josh Lafazan, local legislators. Kaplan, Kaiman and Lafazan have all made bids for the seat in past cycles.
Lafazan, who has filed for the seat, told POLITICO he is not yet entertaining questions about the race: “I currently serve as Nassau County Legislator, and fully intend on serving my term and running for re-election in this position. That is the only election I am thinking about.”
Santos has refused to resign and has not made clear whether or not he will run for a second term in 2024, a decision that complicates the decision-making of national Republicans. The National Republican Congressional Committee does not move against incumbents, nor does the Congressional Leadership Fund, a big-spending super PAC closely aligned with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
But that might not matter thanks to Long Island’s machine-like politics, where local organizations are dominant and often act as a clearinghouse, interviewing potential contenders and working to unify the party. The Nassau County GOP has disavowed Santos and vowed to field a different candidate. (Should Santos decide to mount another run, the county party can stymie him further by denying him support in helping him gather the large number of signatures required to get on the ballot in New York State.)
“The Nassau County Republican Committee, and our chairman has made it very clear that George is not welcome in our party,” said Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, a fellow first-term Long Island Republican who flipped a seat adjacent to Santos’. “And he is not going to be the nominee of the Nassau County GOP in two years.”
The Nassau County GOP’s open hostility to Santos gave local Republicans cover to begin considering possible new standard bearers. Among the names floating in Republican circles: state Sen. Jack Martins; Andrea Catsimatidis, the daughter of billionaire radio host and businessman John Catsimatidis; Elaine Phillips, Nassau County comptroller and former New York state senator; and Alison Esposito, the openly gay 2022 lieutenant governor nominee who spent decades in the NYPD.
Yet another Republican to watch: Mazi Melesa Pilip, a Nassau County legislator and Ethiopian Jew who was airlifted to Israel during Operation Solomon. She married an American and later moved to the United States.
While all six of Santos’ fellow GOP freshmen in the New York delegation have demanded he step aside, party leaders have sidestepped the topic of a possible resignation amid a chaotic few weeks running the House chamber. Those resignation calls have mostly stayed within the Empire State delegation, though at least one more Republican, Rep. Max Miller of Ohio, has also joined in.
And McCarthy stressed to fellow Republicans this week that Santos would remain on committees until or unless he is charged with a crime. Whether that happens remains to be seen, with both federal and local officials probing his long record of fabrications.
The list of Santos probes is lengthy: A federal investigation led by the U.S. attorney’s office in New York is looking into his financial matters, while the district attorney’s offices in Nassau County and in Queens are doing their own work, as is the state attorney general. The House Ethics Committee is also reviewing a complaint filed by a pair of Democrats, though that panel has not disclosed any separate investigation.
Campaign finance inquiries can take years to yield an indictment, and members often continue serving in Congress while federal prosecutors compile a case.
For example, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (D-Neb.) was indicted in October 2021 for alleged straw donations that were solicited in 2016. He resigned in March after being convicted of multiple felonies.
Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday launched nationwide ‘Hath se Hath Jodo’ campaign, under which it plans to reach out to people and make them aware about the “failures” of the Modi government.
Taking to Twitter, the Congress posted: “As we celebrate the biggest festival of democracy today, we announce the launch of the #HaathSeHaathJodo campaign. After the immense love received for #BharatJodoYatra, we are sure that the Haath Se Haath Jodo campaign will also win everybody’s hearts.”
The party workers will deliver a letter written by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and a “charge sheet” against the Central government to each household.
During the programme which is scheduled to end on March 26, party workers will reach out to 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats, six lakh villages and 10 lakh booths.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had said, “This programme ‘hath se hath jodo’ will take forward the Congress party symbol and the political message from the Bharat Jodo Yatra.”
However, he said that this is a tough task as in some states the organisation is weak, but it will be accomplished.
In the letter, Rahul Gandhi wrote, “There is a palpable economic crisis brewing – joblessness among the youth, unbearable price rise, severe farm distress, and a complete corporate capture of the country’s wealth.”
He wrote, “People are worried about losing their jobs, their incomes are falling further, and their dreams of a better future are shattering and there is a deep sense of hopelessness across the country.
“Today, even our plurality is under threat. Divisive forces are attempting to turn our diversity against us – different religions, communities, regions are being pitted against each other. These forces, which are only a handful in number, know that only when people feel insecure and scared can they sow the seeds of hatred for the ‘other’.”
