Evan Stavisky

Here are some more reactions from the big Democratic victory in last night’s special election, which cut the Republican majority in the state Senate down to one seat.

Roger Stone:

“A coup in the Senate would be a power-grab but Malcolm Smith might find he doesn’t have all the Democrats. Remember the difference between a caucus and a cactus? With a cactus all the pricks are on the outside.  read more »

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Dan Squadron is 28 years old, has never held a public office, and has already raised $205,153.33 in his bid to challenge 30-year incumbent Marty Connor for a state Senate seat, according to the most recent campaign filings.

Connor's numbers haven't been posted online yet, but I'm told he's raised less than $5,000.

When I asked his consultant Evan Stavisky, he told me Connor “hasn’t started fund-raising. He’ll raise and spend whatever it takes to successfully defend his seat."

Connor's campaign closed their July 2007 filing $38,217.60 in debt (although Connor says it was an accounting error).

More after the jump.

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Last night I emailed a few people to ask who the real winners and losers were from yesterday’s elections.

Here’s some of what they said.

Joseph Mercurio:"The losers are the people who complicated an election where Democrats would have continued to pick up seats throughout the state by aggressively pushing a new plan for driver licenses that could have been announced Wednesday for the first time.  The winners will be the Democrats who took strong positions and won anyway."

Jerry Skurnik: "Overall there certainly wasn't the big Republican surge somebody thought would happen because of troopergate and the driver's license issue but the Dems did not continue to make gains as they did the last few years."

Evan Stavisky: "We [his firm, Parkside Group] defeated the 12-year incumbent District Attorney of Rockland County (who, earlier this year finished up his term as President of the NYS District Attorneys Association)."

Your thoughts?

Here is a one-minute interview with Assemblyman-elect Micah Kellner circa 11 p.m. last night after giving his victory speech to supporters at a bar on Second Avenue. He says it’s great to be a 28-year-old heading into public office, hopes to vote for a gay marriage bill, and wants to block development of a waste transfer station on East 91st Street.

Among the people celebrating Kellner's victory last night were his old boss, Comptroller Bill Thompson, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Council members Dan Gardonick, Jessica Lappin, and Vinny Gentile, to name a few. Not there was one of his key consultants, Evan Stavisky, who spent most of his day overseeing the election of several candidates in local New Jersey primaries.

Susan Del Percio, a spokesperson for Republican Assembly candidate Greg Camp called to say that the campaign has, in fact, spent more than the $18.09 listed on their filing.

"Expenditures were approved but we were not billed yet," Del Percio said of the campaign. Camp's pre-election filing was complete enough to show where their contributions were coming from. The filing after the election on June 5 for the seat on Manhattan's East Side should answer questions about how much Camp's literature and consultants are costing him.

But in the meantime, the campaign of Camp's Democratic opponent Micah Kellner is making the most of the delay.

"Clearly, after years of working for George Pataki and witnessing campaign finance shenanigans fist hand, it seems like Greg Camp hasn’t learned that New Yorkers are crying out for campaign finance reform.”said Kellner campaign strategist Evan Stavisky.

Which is one way to look at it.