NEWS ROUND-UP

DA's OFFICE SUED....FOR $52,000,000

Jeremy Phillips has sued the Rensselaer County DA's Office for a tidy sum. Phillips was held in jail for nearly a month based on an extradition warrant issued by our District Attorneys Office. When Phillips finally got to Rensselaer County, the Grand Jury failed to indict him.

When a Grand Jury fails to indict the case can, at best, be described as weak. Usually, the case is non-existent. Not knowing both sides of the case and not having consulted our legal staff, we defer to others the merits of the cause of action and the defense to those claims.

Of more interest is the fact that Phillips attorney is Warren Redlich. As many of you probably don't know, Redlich is the Republican* challenging Democratic Congressman Mike McNulty.

Of more interest is that Redlich has a blog. Redlich has posted the complaint. He has also discussed the case on his blog. In fact, last April, in a post, he characterized First Assistant District Attorney Joseph Ahearn as "Evil." Ahearn responded by rotating his head 360 degrees and vomiting a pea-green substance.

Redlich later apologized for the comment. A classy move in our book.

I WANT AN ATTORNEY!

This matter may have legs. In fact, we have come to learn that there may be a memorandum out there that conveniently disappeared. The memorandum was written by another police officer and given to a higher-up before Mr. Rosa kicked up a stink about his interrogation . That's just a rumor, of course. Right now, we have seen nothing to suggest that this event was anything other than an aberration in an otherwise decent police force.

SWEENEY V GILLIBRAND

Recent polls have been mixed. Siena has Sweeney leading by 14% Another poll has Gillibrand up by a decent margin. Our Lucky 8 Ball says, "Try Again Later."

The Siena Poll sounds more realistic. Can Sweeney win by 14 points, you bet. The nature of incumbency and the congressional district makes this a hard fight for Gillibrand even in the best of circumstances, which we now have.

However, the 20th's Guestbook shows that this may be a very tight race. Former President Bill Clinton and Senator Clinton are not going to campaign in a race where it's believed the Democrat far behind. Also, First Lady Laura Bush is not being sent to districts where the Republican incumbent is a shoo-in. In fact, Mrs. Bush was scheduled to campaign in Idaho's 1st Congressional District, a fact that may make Sweeney uneasy.

This will be one of the most interesting races to watch on Election Night. If Gillibrand wins or it's tight, the Republicans are in for a long night statewide and possibly nationwide. What's a close race here, we'd say Gillibrand getting 46% or more (depending on how the third-party candidates run).