Page 2

You all know Page 6 in the Post, and some of you might remember Paul Harvey’s broadcasts from yesteryear. After reading the news with the utmost seriousness, Harvey would often make hilariously droll observations on the most off-beat topics. (One of his great cogitations was: “Gonads have their purpose, but they are no substitute for brains.”)

Page 2 is new feature on this blog that is a mix of those two approaches. I’ll call it Page 2 simply because it’s composed of my second page of notes, things overheard and things speculated upon.

Hey, it’s my humble blog and I can do what I want, right?

I’ll jump right into this inaugural edition with a follow up to the last JCOPE meeting.

The quote of the week goes to Ravi Batra. BTW, some people raised an eyebrow when Batra was named to the panel, but he is turning out to be the most open and honest one of the bunch. Yesterday is a perfect example: The board was debating the need for confidentiality and Batra opined: “At first I thought this was a Scooter Libby clause, but it’s more of a Herb Teitelbaum” clause.”

Yup. “You’ve been Herbed. You’ve been Teitelbaum-ed.” Stands for being dialed up courtesy of a politically connected investigator.

An honorable mention for quote of the week goes to John Milgrim for his numerous non-confirming confirmations of JCOPE investigations.

BTW, John, I invented this phraseology and take it from me -- It only works when you want to confirm an investigation.

Ellen Biben gets a mention as well for her comment that the “downstate office that is progressing”. Let’s hope so because whoever is signing current time and attendance records could forfeit their pension. Food for thought.

Now for some inside gossip.

Inquiring minds want to know which commission employees are averaging less than 25 hours a week in the Albany office? At that rate, John Sampson’s aide looks like a bargain.

Is a hate/hate relationship developing between the women on the commission and a certain Republican commissioner? No trust here and I think the Republican has more time and political talent than the women. Stay tuned.

Who is fighting to keep open the possibility that JCOPE has jurisdiction over acts of the legislature prior to the formation of JCOPE? Could it be that this former Manhattan DA office occupant is smart enough and mean enough to push the jurisdiction issue to the side and just leave one Tom Libous swinging from John Milgrim’s tree? The question is why?

Has Terri Schillaci lost the cat fight with “the Khaleesi?” (thankyou to the eagle eyed reader for the spelling correction)  I’d wager that Jeanine is staying and Terri is going.

Does the commission need to make better use of the state car? The last time the state car was  in the news, Herb Teitelbaum was using it to hunt deer on the Taconic Parkway on a Sunday. This time it wasn’t being used to ferry a commissioner from NYC to the JCOPE meeting. End result a missed train and one vote less than they needed.

Lastly, why has Marvin Jacobs become so pompous? Is he not having fun? Is he not stimulated by JCOPE challenges? Does he not appreciate the great privilege of public service?  Has he run out of bran cereal? Is the catered lunch not up to his expectations? Is he jealous of Ravi? Has Shelly taken him off speed dial?  Was he never on speed dial?  Lighten up Marvin, try being a mensch you will live longer.  There is supposed to be a great Marvin story floating around once I get it nailed down I'll post it here.

For the record I won’t bother printing the gossip that I get from JCOPE employees, they are frightened enough without having to worry that something I say will be blamed on them.  My gossip comes from the media, nonemployee members of JCOPE (and I haven’t spoken to Ravi since the meeting Tuesday. Oops), lobbyists and everyone else that they speak to.  And before you get in a tizzy and start a witch hunt reread my blog on who an insider could be.

Lastly a small piece of advice to whomever Page 2 has offended, People overhear what you say on your cell phones and there are no secrets in this town.  The better question is if I know about it why hasn’t it been in the media yet?