The Fray

Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have introduced in the Senate a bill already passed by the House of Representatives to name the Monroe post office after a Monroe native who died overseas while working for the CIA.

The bill, introduced in the House by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-Cold Spring, would designate the post office in the ShopRite shopping center off Route 17M as the “National Clandestine Service of the Central Intelligence Agency NCS Officer Gregg David Wenzel Memorial Post Office.” Wenzel, a Monroe-Woodbury High School graduate who was inspired by the 2001 terrorist attacks to join the CIA, was killed at age 33 in 2003 in a car accident in Ethiopia.

The House passed the bill without opposition in June. Maloney’s Republican predecessor, Nan Hayworth, had sponsored identical legislation that also passed in her chamber but fizzled without a Senate sponsor.

Schumer and Gillibrand issued the following statements on Monday:

“Mr. Wenzel was a great New Yorker and a true American hero. Called to serve his country following the horrific events of September 11^th, he made the ultimate sacrifice in order to protect the freedoms we all know and cherish,” Schumer said. “Someone as heroic as Mr. Wenzel deserves to have his legacy live on in an enduring way, and that is why I am honored to be able to introduce this bill in the Senate. Naming the Monroe Post Office after such an incredible local hero would be a truly fitting tribute to his courage, dedication and sacrifice.”

“Officer Gregg David Wenzel served his country during a time when it was needed the most,” Gillibrand said. “He put his life on the line to protect our freedom and will always be remembered by the Monroe community. Naming the Monroe Post Office after Officer Wenzel will honor his life and create a memorial to forever commemorate his legacy.”

Former Rep. Nan Hayworth is going after the Democrat who unseated her, Sean Patrick Maloney, for ariel footage recorded recently at his wedding by a drone, saying he should have known from serving on a committee that oversees the Federal Aviation Administration that the agency was investigating businesses that use drones.

Hayworth, who is campaigning to win back New York’s 18th Congressional District seat, twice called on Maloney to give up his seat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee — first after the Daily News broke the story about the wedding video and an FAA ban on commercial drone use, and then again after the Associated Press reported that the FAA is investigating  “a report of an unmanned aircraft operation in Cold Spring, New York, on June 21 to determine if there was any violation of federal regulations or airspace restrictions.”

“It is a blatant conflict of interest to be sitting on a committee while being investigated by an agency it oversees,” Hayworth said in a press release. “As a member of the committee, Representative Maloney was fully aware that the FAA has investigated businesses across the country for commercial use of drones, yet he apparently decided the law doesn’t apply to him.”

The FAA banned commercial drone use in 2007 out of fear that unmanned aircraft would crowd the skies and collide with planes, but has been ordered by Congress to develop regulations that would govern how such enterprises may operate. Those rules have not yet been written.

Maloney spokeswoman Stephanie Formas said the photographer hired for Maloney’s wedding to longtime partner Randy Florke got another business to do the aerial footage, conducted by what she described as a “remote control helicopter.” That video has since circulated online and includes overhead scenes of the church where the ceremony took place and the outdoor reception at the couple’s estate.

She dismissed the jabs from Hayworth’s campaign, saying Maloney intends to keep his seat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. She also provided a USA Today article about a federal court ruling in March that declared there was “no enforceable FAA rule” or regulation that applied to a business that had shot drone video at the University of Virginia and was later fined $10,000 by the FAA.

“On their wedding day Sean and Randy were focused on a ceremony twenty-two years in the making, not their wedding photographer’s camera mounted on his remote control helicopter,” Formas said. “The operator of the photography business was following the most recent rulings regarding FAA regulations.”

Finance reports filed Tuesday by the campaigns of Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney and Republican challenger Nan Hayworth show Maloney had $700,000 more in his coffers than Hayworth had in hers as of June 30, with a little more than four months to go before their rematch election.

The Cold Spring Democrat reported raising around $337,000 and spending about $52,000 between June 5 and June 30, leaving him with almost $1.8 million on hand. The reporting period was shorter than the usual quarterly statements because of an interim filing before the candidates’ June 24 primary for the Independence Party line, which Hayworth won.

Hayworth’s camp declared $158,000 in donations, $85,000 in expenses and a $500,000 personal loan Hayworth made to her campaign during that same 25-day period. Her campaign had already announced the infusion of her own money, as well as a surge in donations after her victory in the Independence primary.

Hayworth had about $1.1 million in her account as of June 30.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney outraised Republican challenger Nan Hayworth in the second quarter, but Hayworth surpassed his income by pumping $500,000 of her own money into her campaign coffers as a loan, according to fundraising previews the two camps gave before filing official reports next week.

The cash intake is accelerating for both campaigns. Maloney, D-Cold Spring, reported raising $550,000 between April 1 and June 30, and more than half of that money came in the 26 days since the June 4 cutoff for a previous financial filing. His announcement didn’t say how much the campaign has on hand. The previous tally, as of June 4, was $1.5 million.

Hayworth’s campaign reports having $1 million on hand after raising more than $250,000 in the second quarter and kicking in her $500,000 of her own. In the six days after beating Maloney in an Independence Party primary on June 24, Hayworth collected $95,164 in donations.