But hear this all you local trivia fans. Syms had political aspirations. That’s right—he  actually ran for Yonkers City Council in 1963.

This little fact was pulled from the moldy radio archives of WVOX president and all-purpose gadabout, Bill O’Shaughnessy, who interviewed the Cheap-suit King in 1990.

According to a transcript of the interview, Syms said he “lost the election by 2 to 1” to the incumbent, Eddie O’Neil. Apparently he never ran for office again after that debacle.

Syms said he dabbled in politics for 10 years. Maybe that’s how he came up with the winning slogan, “An educated consumer is our best customer.” The same thing could be said about voters.

You have to hand it to O’Shaughnessy, an interviewer who knows how to break chops without crossing the line.

He asked Syms: “Do you buy your clothes at Syms?”
“Of course!” Syms replied. “Well, I shouldn’t say that arrogantly, but yes, I do. And I’m very satisfied with everything I buy.”

Ryan and the county executive-elect held a summit to discuss the 2010 budget that was proposed by Andy Spano which calls for a 4.89 percent tax increase. Spano called the spending plan an “austerity” budget, but don’t tell that to the fiscal hawks who think that $1.8 billion and change is hardly austere. A zero tax increase or less is more to their liking.

Ryan did the right thing by meeting with Astorino, but it’s anybody’s guess whether he’s going to really follow any of his suggestions. The pressure is on the board, however, to answer the voters call for tax relief.

Meanwhile, the Boss seems to have given the boot to the Westchester County Association’s team of independent accountants—a band of green eye-shade wearing specialist—who were poised to go after the budget like hungry wolverines on a slab of raw meat.

Ryan said he didn’t think the WCA accountants were capable of looking at the budget with the proper “qualitative thinking.”

WCA president Bill Mooney fired off a statement today, saying that “once again Chairman Ryan is totally missing the mark and making erroneous assumptions with respect to our review of the budget and overall county government spending. That statement alone clearly shows how far removed he is from the realities of the business world.”

Mooney said Ryan should be asking the question why county government is so large. He said the Boss refuses to listen to the voters.

“Rather , he is choosing to play the intimidation game by stating that the WCA’s approach will be to cut services to the public, especially the poor.,” Mooney said. “Again, that could not be further from the truth.”

Keep in mind that Ryan and Mooney have a history. When Ryan was caught trying to sneak a substantial pay raise for himself, he reacted to the public outcry by appointing a volunteer compensation advisory commission, which Mooney chaired.

The idea backfired on Ryan because in the end Mooney, in effect, scolded the chairman and other board leaders for engineering a pay grab when so many county residents were suffering economic hardships caused by the recession.

Get a load of this. Through his aide, Tara Martin, he’s trying to control communications between the press and the other 12 Democratic members of the board. A memo was sent out today on this very subject. Of course, he can’t muzzle the Republicans, who can just tell him to take a leap off the eighth floor of the County Office Building.

Dubbed “Internal Media Protocol,” the first part of the memo states as follows:

The Press Secretary  will act as the liaison between Legislators and the media. The primary role of  the Press Secretary will be to:
-         Field and thoroughly vet all media inquiries;
-         Be responsible for coordinating and overseeing all interviews (phone or in-person);
-         Will be responsible for providing reporters with requested background on topics in advance of a scheduled interview;
-         Serves as the key spokesperson and media contact for Board.

That press secretary is Martin, who mainly serves the Boss. The most outrageous part of Ryan’s fear-and-loathing move is that ALL MEDIA CONTACTS MUST BE REPORTED to Martin (my caps) before any information is given out. Among other things, nobody can even set up a video camera on the eighth floor without Ryan’s knowledge and permission.

The way I interpret it, the message from Ryan is loud and clear: The legislators don’t answer to their constituents. They answer to him because he’s in charge.

The Boss is losing it.

For guy who barely won his last eleciton by 100 votes and change, he’s certainly on a bizarre power trip.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fined Adams $250,000 for making the crude middle-finger gesture at Buffalo fans following a 41-17 Titan victory last Sunday. Over the years, players have been fined for the same offense but suffered far less expensive consequences.

For making half a peace symbol, Adams joins a special Hall of Shame. Check him out in full-fingered madness.

My favorite *%#&- you! of all time was engineered by the late Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. He was pretty darn pissed off.

And then there was pitcher Jack McDowell, the New York “Yankee Flipper,” whose fit of pique was displayed on the back pages of the city’s tabloid newspapers.

There are so many others. In fact, it’s not  suprising that somebody collected them and put them on a Web site.  Click on rage for the gallery.

But I guess humor is in short supply when you are an incumbent and barely win re-election in a district in which your party holds a 2-1 enrollment advantage.

Ryan’s little pal, Alan Goldston, complained about me  in a letter to the editor today because in a recent column  I referred to the “mystery” of the vote count and that maybe some extra votes came from the local cemetery.

Poor Alan didn’t think that was funny. No, not in the least.

Indeed, he was insulted!

Goldston loudly cried about the “innuendo.” My God, I had dared to challenge the integrity of such a fine campaign—the same campaign I hasten to add, that released a cowardly, last-minute flier that flat-out libeled  the Republican challenger in the race, Bob Hyland.

The last I checked, Hyland is still waiting for an apology from the Ryan camp. Not too likely to happen, is it Alan?

But Alan, he’s so upset with me. He’s the one who is insulted. Innuendo!

I was trying to think what this peculiar brand of pomposity reminded me of—and then I got it.  It’s Groucho Marx. In of one of his classic film scenes Groucho takes umbrage when he’s called an “upstart.”

But Alan goes beyond Groucho. He  so mad, he has to resort to the hackneyed. Reisman, he complains,  isn’t a “real journalist.”

Ooooooh!!!! Real enough to make you wail, fella.

Look, if I really wanted to insult you, Alan, I’d say that you’re not  a real ambulance chaser. How would you  like that…hmm?

In the mean time, congratulations on your very, very slim victory. Feel proud.

Now that his days in office are numbered, Spano can thumb his nose. Going out of his way to emphasize the elimination of  the county executive security detail, for example, was a churlish gesture.   If he knew it was a luxury item and out of synch with  tough economic times, why didn’t he get rid of it a long time ago?

Word is that Spano has sent his body guards away and will sell the town car he enjoyed, ruining an opportunity for the new regime to ceremoniously sell the car at auction. What a a kill joy!

Here’s the full Astorino statement about the budget.

Reaction to the budget continues to pour in.

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, a longtime proponent of abolishing county government, has come out with demand that a full inventory of county buildings be taken to see which ones can be sold off. Not a bad idea. The county owns thousands and thousands of office space.

Westchester County has the highest property taxes in America so this will not go down easy in a protracted recession. It will be interesting to see how County Executive-elect Rob Astorino reacts to this.

The recession, of course, caused a $50.9 million shortfall in revenue—mainly sales tax. That  and an $70.2 million increase  in expenses—more than half of which is mre expensive mandated costs, means the county has a $121 million gap. Those mandates include $7.2 million growth in Medicaid and a $13.6 million increase in pension costs.

The proposed $1.819 billion budget calls for the elimination of 37 county jobs, 34 of which are already vacant, saving $24 million. Originally, it looked as if Spano wanted the union workers to accept a week-long, unpaid furlough, but that seems now to be some kind of deferred salary idea. Hardly seems like a great sacrifice.

Not insignificant, however, is that Spano wants to cut off subsidies to the Westchester County Medical Center.

But get this—now that Spano is leaving office, he’s cutting out the imperial security detail that drove him around every where and protected him from terrorist gadflies. Way to go.

Here’s a list of items.

SOME OF THE SPECIFICS IN SPANO’S PROPOSED BUDGET:
•    The abolishment of 37  positions (34 of which are vacant), with an estimated savings of $2.4 million.
•    One-month funding for 9 positions in the county executive’s office and 5 deputy commissioners, saving $1.5 million.
•    In addition, for all remaining employees with the exception of elected officials, the Board of Legislators staff and public safety, correction and criminal investigators, a five-day unpaid furlough, which saves $5.5 million.  (Spano called on the legislators to impose the furlough on its own staff as well.)
•    Elimination of the county executive’s security detail.
•    No tax levy dollars for Playland
•    For the third consecutive year, no pay increases for commissioners, directors and non represented management
•    A savings of $1.5 million in overtime reduction.
•    $5 million in savings from locking in decreased fuel costs for buses and $250,000 in savings from a new Paratransit contract.
•    No cuts to contract agencies.
•    Increase revenues of $4.7 million to the Department of Labs and Research by maximizing the fee structure.
•    End to the county’s subsidy of the Westchester Medical Center, saving $12.5 million.
•    Initial steps to merge the departments of Health and Community Mental Health, with funding for one commissioner.
•    The budget continues cost-savings measures previously implemented ranging from the use of network printers, decreasing the number of duplicative electronic devices, to the reduction of light bulbs to the adjustment of thermostats.

Ryan has had the chairmanship for six years, and seems to have worn out his welcome with the Democratic majority which holds 13 of the 17 legislative seats. Blood is in the water.

Said to be jockeying for position are Martin Rogowsky of Harrison, Tom Abiananti of Greenburgh, John Nonna of Mount Pleasant and Ken Jenkins of Yonkers.

Some insiders think that Jenkins is the front runner.

Maybe he is. Then again, maybe he isn’t.

Either way, he’s definitely trying to jump out ahead of the wannabe pack by showing that he’s a kindred spirit with angry voters who showed just how fed up they were with high county property taxes when they booted County Executive Andy Spano out of office last week.

The 2010 county budget is set for release tomorrow, and Jenkins seems determined to harness taxpayer unrest for his own gain. He’s done this by drafting a resolution that calls for a business advisory committee to look at ways to streamline and consolidate county government.

“We do not need more studies, we need action to control spending, provide tax relief and save money,” Jenkins said in a prepard statement.

Hmm, somebody’s getting the message from that last election. You know  the Democrats are scared when they start sounding  like Republicans.

I felt bad because I couldn’t help her. These are scary times to be out of a job.

But today, Astorino announced a new Web site that gives news updates about the transition. Most important to the woman who contacted me, it also tells prospective employees how to apply for a job. I wish her all the luck in the world.

Click on site.

My phone guest will be Chip Taylor, the musician who first gained fame by writing the classic, “Wild Thing.” It was first made into a hit in 1966 by the British band, the Troggs.

The kid brother of actor John Voight, Taylor has a new album out called “Yonkers NY,” a two-disc ode to the old “City of Hills”  where Taylor grew up in 1950s and 60s. Songs  include “Saw Mill River Road,” “Yonkers Girls” and the title track.

These and the other eight songs are filled with nostalgic references to people and places that are familiar to older residents. The old Yonkers Herald Statesman newspaper even figures in one number.

A unique feature of the album is that both CDs contain the same songs, but one disc has Taylor telling explanatory stories in between the music. It’s a great production, and I recommend it. You can get it on Amazon.com.

We’ll play some of the tracks on the air during the interview.

So tune in tomrrow at 1460 AM or log onto wvox.com. That’s 12 noon, Thursday, Nov. 12.

“Speculating on who will be named to Westchester County Executive-elect Rob Astorino’s transition team requires equal doses of common sense, political logic and the powers of observation.
“That’s why I usually guess wrong.”

Actually, I was glad to see I got one right.

Astorino announced the names of six transition  team members  today and I correctly picked former county legislator Kay Carsky.  They will serve under attorney Kevin J. Plunkett, who was announced as chairman last week.

The others I didn’t get.

These five are:

Thomas F. Egan, a retired lawyer and a business consultant with the State University of New York and Metropolitan Transportation Authority;

Robert W. Elliott, former mayor of Croton-On-Hudson;

Ale Frederico, Veep of TD Bank Government Banking;

Wiley C. Harrison, founder and president of Business of Your Business, a financial services firm;

Harry J. Wilson,  private investor from Scarsdale.

More like A-Limp.

OK, that’ll do with the  double entendres.

Throughout the baseball playoffs and World Series, I kept hearing that Hudson deserved a ring if the Yankees went all  the way because she had somehow worked her magic on Mr. Rod.

By ring, I don’t mean an engagement ring, but a World Series ring. (That’s the 2008 Phillies ring below.)

World Series rings are highly coveted. When a team wins the Fall Classic,  everybody on the team gets one—from the owner down to the guy who picks up the jock straps.

The rings are also very valuable. A writer by the name of Brian Joura researched the subject and found out just how valuable they can be when they come up at auction. According to Joura, a 1962 World Series ring that belonged to Mickey Mantle, fetched $164,000 at an auction. That was the highest price in his list of the  top ten.

I sincerely wonder if  Hudson knows anything about baseball. She may even hate the sport.

But there she was at the games, sitting and rooting her man on like the sunbathed, golden goddess played by Glenn Close in  “The Natural.”

Hudson kept the slugger out of trouble, out of the glare of the New York tabloid media. At least that’ the going theory. I’ve heard that they’ve found a refuge in good old boring Westchester, shacking up in a rented home in exclusive Purchase and going out at the lux 42 night spot in downtown White Plains.

Maybe she does deserve the ring.

The other day I asked Richie Coletti, the owner of Rye Ridge Barber Shop in Rye Brook what he thought. Richie is a big Yankee fan. He used to cut  Don Zimmer’s fringe when “Zim” was the Yankees bench coach.

“Do you mean an engagment ring?” Richie began. No, I explained, a World Series ring.

“I would think for straightening him out—yes,” he continued. “For making him a better ball player—yes.  But as far as a better person? No. It’s like I used to say about Bill Parcells. Great coach, not a very nice man.”

That’s good enough for me.

In fact, it was very quiet.

I ran into Board Chairman Bill Ryan in the lobby. For a guy who was 44 votes behind in the unofficial count, he seemed rather buoyant. The election in the 5th District is far from over—there will be a recount. Maybe Ryan thinks he’s got in the bag. After all, they haven’t yet counted the absentee ballots from the local graveyards.

I also ran into Legislator Vito Pinto, D-Eastchester. Pinto was standing at a table selling raffle tickets and baked goods to raise money for U.S. troops overseas. He was doing a brisk business. By the time I got there, he figured he was going to collect $500 for the cause.

Not bad.

A few words about Pinto are in order. He is a modest and dedicated public servant, who has held his seat for 12 years despite being in a mostly Republican district. His popularity with people from all political persuasions was evidenced by the fact that no one opposed him in last Tuesday’s election.

We talked for a little bit about the terrible shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas. I said something about how  the most noble job in the world must be that of an Army medic or Navy corpsman—the noncombatant soldiers and sailors who risk their lives in battle to save fallen comrades.

Pinto knows more than a little about combat. A Vietnam veteran, he flew in 250 missions and was wounded in action. It was moving to see him doing his bit for the troops.

I’m not going soft on the Board of Legislators, but Pinto deserves a thank you and so do all the veterans. Nov. 12 is Veterans Day.

One of my spies tells me  they’re busy emptying desks and file cabinets and shredding documents like mad.

My informant tells me that when he came to work today on the eighth floor, where the county legislators roam, there was a “huge rolling garbage bin” filled to the brim with papers. The janitor told him the garbage was from the floor above—Spano’s domain—and that there was more to come.

Gee, I wonder if they brought in the county shredmobile for this major operation. (at left)

But here’s a more serious question: How much of that stuff was sensitive material not meant for scrutiny by the prying, public eye?  If you want to see it, you’ll probably have to go down to the Canyon of Heroes today and sift through the confetti.

We’ll try to answer that.

For the first half hour, our phone guest will be Rob Astorino, who won in a stunning landslide over three-time incumbent Andy Spano in the Westchester county executive’s race. On election night, Astorino said the results “blew his mind,” a remark which prompted memories of the movie “The Candidate,” when in the end, the victor turned around and asked, “Now what do we do?”

In addition to our usual cast of crazy pundits and political analysts, we’ll also be talking to Journal News reporter Gerald McKinstry and Andrew Whitman, a correspondent with RNN-TV, which conducted the only poll on the county executive’s race.

Tune in today at 1460 AM or log onto wvox.com.

He was.

A standout at Stepinac High and a star football lineman for the Super Bowl winning Greenbay Packers, Hyland, has long been  a familar face on the local scene. For manyy years, he has owned and operated the Sports Page pub in White Plains. Hyland is tall, soft-spoken and modest in the mold of a Garry Cooper-type. His business acumen and biography made him an appealing candidate.

However, he faced some big problems. He’s a political novice for one thing. And he was up against a powerful, entrenched incumbent in Ryan, who sits as the chairman of the county Board of Legislators. Ryan raised more money than Hyland and he had the advantage of serving in the Fifth legislative district which overwhelmingly favors Democrats.

Ryan mailed out a last-minute flier that came close to libeling Hyland. Even if Ryan pulls this out in a recount, it’s an upset and a repudiation of the Boss.

But look what happened. With all 51 election districts reporting, the race is a virtual dead heat. Hyland leads Ryan by 44 votes—5,456 to 5,412, according to unofficial numbers from the Board of Elections.

For the commercial click on Andy and scroll to the icon.

In the spot, Spano is depicted as tourist in China, a place he frequently visited during his tenure, which ended last night in a landslide victory for Astorino.

Word has it that Spano has hit the road again.  Not China,  though. This morning, he took off for Florida.

Of course I ignored the advisory because I rarely drink water from the tap—even if it is Yonkers water which every once in awhile wins one of those water-tasting contents. What the hell is water supposed to taste like anyway?

The idea that some foreign substance had infiltrated the east side of Yonkers made me think for one second that it was a big county government plot, but to what purpose I knew not. Perhaps it was cherry-flavored Kool-Aid to make us obediently follow Andy Spano and his veggie wagon.

It reminded me of Jack D. Ripper, the crazy officer in Dr. Strangelove played by Sterling Hayden. He does a great riff on water in a scene with Peter Sellers who played the unctuous Capt. Mandrake. Click on  “vodka” for the scene.

RIPPER: Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rain water, and only pure grain alcohol?

MANDRAKE: Well it did occur to me, Jack, yes.

RIPPER: Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation? Fluoridation of water?

MANDRAKE: Ah, yes, I have heard of that, Jack. Yes.

RIPPER: Well do you now what it is?

MANDRAKE: No. No, I don’t know what it is. No.

RIPPER: Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

I slammed Ryan’s Republican opponent, Denise D’Ambrosio, in a Oct. 31, 1999 column that carried the headline, “Campaign flier defies facts, fairness, common sense and good taste.”  Yes, I defended Ryan.

The flier in question basically said that Ryan stalled on a proposed gun control law and set Westchester up for a Columbine-type disaster. What made the ridiculous charge even more outrageous was that the flier included a photograph of two boys—one white and the other black. The white boy had a very real-looking gun pointed at the black boy’s head.

D’Ambrosio lost the election.

But now, what do you know? Ryan has essentially done a similar jobbing on his 2009 opponent, Bob Hyland. A flier “paid for” by the Westchester County Democratic Committee went out late last week that smears Hyland and his business, the Sports Page Pub in White Plains.

The flier, reads “Not paying his taxes, violence at his bar…that’s Robert Hyland.”

This is a sign of desperation and it’s the subject of my column which will appear in tomorrow’s edition of The Journal News and posted on lohud.com. You would think Ryan would know better.

I just got one from Chappaqua resident Bill Clinton—or maybe it was just a guy disguising his voice. It is Halloween, isn’t it.

Besides, there’s more than few car dealerships around here that hire bad impressionists to appear in radio and cable-TV commercials masquerading as the former first president.  And it’s not all that hard to effect Clinton’s twangy voice.

I mean, there’s no possible way I could tell if  that was a phone recording from the real Bubba. It could have been anybody.

Even I could have done Clinton’s voice.

Of course, if it had been me I would have added heavy breathing to give it the perfect Clintonian edge. Then I would’ve said: “Hey baby, this is your old president, Bill. Your husband isn’t home, is he? I hope not. Hah, I’m just kiddin’ ya!”

In any case, the  10-second call was on behalf of County Executive Andy Spano, who is seeking his fourth term on Tuesday. I expect Hillary, or the Bam will call next…or maybe Jack Nicholson. How about the Guvenator of Cal—ee-forn-i-a?

“Hallo, dis is Ahnald. Dohn be a gurlee mahn…vote for Ahn-dee Spah-no!”

But what the records don’t show is the shadow contributions paid for by taxpayers. That’s the money that goes into bogus press conferences, press releases, mailings and vote-getting gimmicks that ostensibly have to do with important county issues but are transparently timed in the weeks, days and hours leading up to election day. Spano’s staff, whose salaries are paid for by the citizens, are not supposed to be engaged in electioneering.

So one might question a letter dated Oct. 19 that was written by Spano’s deputy, Sue Tolchin,  and mailed to South Salem residents. Accompanied by a brochure, the letter purports to explain Spano’s controversial affordable housing settlement which calls for the county to spend at least $52 million to build, buy or lease 750 units of housing in 31 mostly white communities.

Because this issue has bitten Spano in the backside, one might conclude that the purpose of the correspondence was more about politics than policy—and that it was done on the taxpayers’ dime.

It begins this way:

“Dear South Salem Resident:

“It has come to our attention that there is a great deal of misinformation about the fair and affordable housing settlement that was recently passed by the Board of Legislators. Because of this, we have put together the enclosed brochure that will give you the facts about what the settlement means and what it does not mean.”

Note that Tolchin puts the settlement at the feet of the Board of Legislators. Spano negotiated the deal and then put a gun to the board’s head to pass it quickly, even pulling out the race card to shame them into action.

Spano should reimburse the taxpayers for the cost that went into this. Come to think of it, he should also make good on the Columbus Day Weekend discounts he gave to Bee-Line bus riders.

He can afford it. He’s got more than $3 million.

But the good news for Astorinos is that leave 11 percent of the voters up for grabs. The poll has 4.5 percent margin of error, plus or minus.

Here’s the whole press release from Andrew Whitman of RNN:

RNN Television (Regional News Network) and the Siena Research Institute have released the results of the only public poll in the race for Westchester County Executive, and Westchester County District Attorney.

The results were first made public on the network’s news/talk/opinion program Richard French Live Thursday night at 7pm.

The results in the County Executive race are particularly revealing, in that the lead is just 7 points in a county where Democrats hold a huge registration advantage (D:  46.6%; R: 25.5%), and where Spano defeated Astorino by more than 16 points in 2005.

Other areas of note within the poll:  Spano, a 3-term incumbent, leads despite a high unfavorable rating (46%); Spano’s favorable/unfavorable split is even more pronounced among unaffiliated voters (34% favorable/60% unfavorable; unaffiliated voters make up 22.2% of the electorate in Westchester County); Astorino is within striking distance, even though nearly half of those polled (1/3 of all Republicans, as well) say they still don’t know enough about him to form an opinion.

In the DA’s race, incumbent Janet DFiore (D) remains in solid shape for re-election, polling at 52% against® Dan Schorr’s 21% and (WF/I) Tony Castro’s 14%.

Complete results (including polling on some specific issues) as well as demographic breakdowns are attached.

For any additional information or comment, please feel free to contact RNN as listed below.

Chamberlain was the British prime minister who famously waved a piece of paper signed by Adolf Hitler in 1938 that basically said Germany had no intention of invading Czechoslovakia. And we all know what happened, don’t we? That’s right—the opposite of “peace in our time.”

The incumbent county executive’s moment came midway through the debate when he was forced, once again, to defend his settlement of a federal lawsuit that will require Westchester to build, lease or acquire 750 affordable housing units to be spread over 31 communities with mostly white populations. The settlement calls for the expenditure of $52 million, a cost that Spano claims will not be exceeded.

“We don’t see any additional impact on our budget because of the spending, ” he said. “The money that we have to spend is capped. What that means is we have capped the amount of money we should spend, and will spend—and that’s all the housing we have to do, is that amount of money.”

So far so vague. But then Spano walked into it when he said the following. I’ll put it in bold print. “We have a letter from the Justice Department indicating that and I’m confident that everything stands in that vein.”

He should’ve waved the letter aloft. See, peace in our time!

Rob Astorino, the Republican challenger, had a pretty effective rejoinder.

“Well, let’s just do the math,” he began. “He wants you to say it’s a $52 million cap and he has a letter from the Justice Department that says that. The letter is just that. It’s not part of the binding agreement and that is very specific if you read this settlement.”

Astorino said Spano wants people to believe that the cost will be contained. But 750 units divided into $52 million comes out to $68,000 per unit. No way does housing come out that cheap. Not here. And not Aberdeen, South Dakota for that matter.

“By Mr. Spano’s  own estimation in our last debate he said it’s going to be about $400,000 a unit. So if you do 750 times $400,000 you’re going to come out to much more than $52 million. You’re  going to come out to  hundreds of millions of dollars.”

In other words, look out Czechoslovakia. Hello Poland. So long France.

Now, this may be true. Or maybe not. The problem for Spano was that he had no answer to this. At least not a convincing one. This was true pretty much throughout the debate. Politics is about persuasion. And last night Spano left his powers of persuasion at home.

Fines.

If I were forced to give a peformance grade to the combatants, I’d say that Rob Astorino, the Republican challenger got an A-minus grade and Andy Spano, the incumbent Democrat got a “gentleman’s C.” I know I give Spano a hard time, but by any objective analysis Astorino clearly won the debate that was aired on Cablevision’s News 12.

Astorino came across as polished, prepared and pugilistic—the three “P’s.” Spano came across as, well, tired. He sounded like he was mailing it in.

The most annoying thing about Astorino’s message was his constant reference to his Web site. Spano’s mantra was that Astorino was “divisive.” Most interesting, however, was that Spano, knowing he was on TV, mightily restrained himself from coming across as a grumpy, old codger—which is the way he appeared in previous untelevised debates.

The result was that Astorino got the aggressive upper hand. He started out the debate by telling the viewers what Spano was going to tell them. For instance. he said Spano would complain that  the county’s high property taxes aren’t his responsibility. Also, Astorino predicted Spano would claim credit for the county’s a triple bond rating. without explaining that the rating is high because the local municipalties are responsible to make good on the prioperty tax collections. And he was right—Spano couldn’t veer from his script and he mentioned most of the things Astorino said he would.

And he kept pounding Spano on taxes, on Playland, on the affordable housing settlement and even on Spano’s driver-bodyguards. Spano still hasn’t come up with an answer to that one.

Spano seemed lost at times. When he tried to score on a Fair Campaign Practices Committee that faulted Astorino, he garbled the answer with an inside-baseball explanation that must have been lost on the average viewer.

Astorino also got off a good one-liner, maybe the best one of the night. As he has all through the campaign, Spano read aloud the breakdown on Astorino’s property tax bill to make the point that the county portion of the bill isn’t high. This was an effective “gotcha” in the first debate between the candidates. But this time, Spano garbled it.

Then in an aside, Astorino leaned over to Spano and said. “It’s a little creepy that you’ve been snooping around in my taxes.”

Phillies Win Game 1

Astorino Wins Debate 3

Taylor, grew up as James Wesley Voight in Yonkers and went to Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains. He is the brother of actor Jon Voight,  wrote the classic garage-band hit, “Wild Thing” and other other songs. His other brother, Barry, is also an actor. 

The announcement fro Chip Taylor Day is being made, probably as I write this post, at City Hall in the Mayor’s Reception Room. (From left to right, the photo shows Barry, Jon and Chip Voight.)

Taylor and his friends and family and friends are there right now. According to the mayor’s office, the songwriter has a new album out that was inspired by  Yonkers. But he’ll probably be always know for “Wild Thing.”

The British group, the Troggs, made a hit out of “Wild Thing” back in 1966. Click on video.

Check out the low production values with the Beatle-brow hairdos and striped, clown suits. And how about the half-dead onlookers on the train platform? This should’ve been a zombie movie, and I don’t mean, The Zombies, another group from the British Invasion years.

It’s hardly sophisticated brand of humor, but it still cracks me up. There’s an art to it.

Soupy was a pie connoisseur. He knew that the pie had to have a crust that allowed for pieces of it to slowly fall off  the face of the “victim.” To be really funny, the impact also had to have a loud, whirlwind kind of sound to give it that shock and awe feeling.

A key element to  confection-based slapstick is the have the proper recipient. Here’s an example of a particularly effective  pie-throw, involving, of all people, the rock star, Alice Cooper.

He appeared on Soupy’s kid show in 1979. The setup involves White Fang, the giant dog who was mostly off-camera and had an expressive way of grunting.

Here’s a photo of that storm taken by a friend of mine, Mike Augustyni n Mamaroneck. Ain’t that incredible? Right out of a Frankenstein movie.

Bob Marrone, the fine journalist of WVOX radio and host of “Good Morning Westchester,” will do a Halloween special on the results of the investigation this Friday at 7 a.m. I was interviewed for the piece, so it should be very amusing.

Tune in Friday at 1460 AM or log onto wvox.com.

By attributing racist motives to those who may be skeptical of a controversial settlement in an affordable housing lawsuit, Andy Spano has unwittingly put himself on notice.

If the incumbent county executive truly believes in the principle of a level playing field in which everyone – regardless of racial, ethnic and economic background – has an equal shot at the American Dream, then he can make a very simple statement to back it up.

To see how that involves eminent domain and Port Chester, read more by clicking on column.

But this was a mind-blowing revelation. While I was watching a recent playoff game between the Yankees and the Angels, I got to thinking about how the so-called “post season” has now extended deep into the regular season of the NFL. Some day they’ll be playing the October Classic in December, I thought.

Then I wondered how much the players get in World Series these days. As a kid back in the 60s, I remember how the perennial champs, the Bronx Bombers, always counted on, and in fact, expected to receive the extra money gained from their series shares. Going online, I found this very revealing chart.

It shows the winners’ and losers’ shares from the first year the World Series was played in 1903. The winners got $1,182 for a full share. Somehow the losers got a few bucks more—$1,316. Maybe somebody can explain that anomoly to me, but it was the only year in baseball history that it was better to lose than win.

Looking at the chart, you can see that for nearly a half-century, the shares rose in only small increments. Year after year, the take was $2,000 or so, slowly building to the five- and six-grand range. (A low point for the losing side was $439.50, but in 1908 that was still pretty good bread.)

It was unitl 1954 when the New York Giants faced the Cleveland Indians that the winners’ share topped $10,000—but only be $1,147. From that time until 1968, the winners’ share exceeded $10,000 only five times.

In 1988, when free agency was pulling in higher and higher regular season salaries, the winners share finally went over the 100-grand mark.

Then came the sterioid era of the 90s. World Series shares have more than tripled since then. During the Yankees heyday of the late 90s, any player (even a bullpen coach, potentially) earned well over $1.5 million just in World Series shares alone.

Last year, the winners’ sharted was $351,504.48 and the losers got $233,730.05.

This is handsome bonus money indeed. So I pose the question: if the government can impose salary and bonus restrictions on investment bankers that took taxpayer bailout money, why can’t the same be done with baseball? It seems to me that with taxpayer-subsidized stadiums, they got bailed out too, thanks to the hard-earned money of regualr wage earners.

Lou Albano, who grew up in Mount Vernon, died last week at the age of 76.

Tune in to 1460 AM for the show, or log onto wvox.com.