Charlie Wang
08-05-2005, 12:42 AM
Nassau blames spam on Wang
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BY CELESTE HADRICK
STAFF WRITER
August 5, 2005
Nassau legislators have been spammed, courtesy of Charles Wang, they say.
For the past two days, legislators' computers have been inundated with identical e-mails, arriving every 10 seconds in batches of about 100 -- asking lawmakers to vote yes on Wang's proposed Lighthouse project. Legis. Joseph Scannell (D-Baldwin) received so many e-mails at once that his BlackBerry's battery died.
The e-mails urge legislators to approve a lease with Wang, owner of the Islanders hockey team, to redevelop the county-owned Nassau Coliseum. Wang wants the right to build an office-retail complex on the coliseum site in return for renovating the aged arena and extending his team's contract to play in Nassau through 2025. The new complex would be anchored by a 60-story tower dubbed "the Lighthouse."
Rather than persuading lawmakers, the e-mails only annoyed many of them.
"No one appreciates getting spammed," said Legis. Lisanne Altmann (D-Great Neck). "This is legislative junk mail as far as I'm concerned."
Worse, lawmakers say, much of the e-mail is coming from people outside Nassau County -- from Staten Island, Brooklyn and Suffolk.
"There are almost no Nassau County constituents in this lobbying effort," fumed Ed Ward, spokesman for the legislature's Republicans. "The people Nassau County legislators care about are Nassau County residents."
Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) said she was puzzled by the senders' motives. "This is an exercise that doesn't earn anyone brownie points. All it's doing is clogging the e-mail system."
Turns out the motive is fairly simple: "They send you a free hat if you sign up," said Angelo Tedesco, a Ronkonkoma hockey fan who e-mailed legislators.
The Islanders Web site offers free hats to fans who e-mail their support of the Lighthouse project, he explained, speculating that legislators had been deluged because the Islanders made a big trade on Wednesday. "Everyone went to the Web page, saw the free hat offer and went for it."
Islander spokesman Chris Botta agreed that it was fan enthusiasm, not any planned bulk spamming, that led to the flood of e-mails. "Certainly it is not our intention to cause a blackout in the county offices," he said. Botta also pointed out that fans from outside the county bring business into Nassau when they attend the games.
And Tedesco insisted that he was motivated by more than the promise of free stuff. The Islanders, he said, "definitely need a new stadium, so whatever I have to sign to make it happen, that's great[/img]
Email this story
Printer friendly format
Photos
BY CELESTE HADRICK
STAFF WRITER
August 5, 2005
Nassau legislators have been spammed, courtesy of Charles Wang, they say.
For the past two days, legislators' computers have been inundated with identical e-mails, arriving every 10 seconds in batches of about 100 -- asking lawmakers to vote yes on Wang's proposed Lighthouse project. Legis. Joseph Scannell (D-Baldwin) received so many e-mails at once that his BlackBerry's battery died.
The e-mails urge legislators to approve a lease with Wang, owner of the Islanders hockey team, to redevelop the county-owned Nassau Coliseum. Wang wants the right to build an office-retail complex on the coliseum site in return for renovating the aged arena and extending his team's contract to play in Nassau through 2025. The new complex would be anchored by a 60-story tower dubbed "the Lighthouse."
Rather than persuading lawmakers, the e-mails only annoyed many of them.
"No one appreciates getting spammed," said Legis. Lisanne Altmann (D-Great Neck). "This is legislative junk mail as far as I'm concerned."
Worse, lawmakers say, much of the e-mail is coming from people outside Nassau County -- from Staten Island, Brooklyn and Suffolk.
"There are almost no Nassau County constituents in this lobbying effort," fumed Ed Ward, spokesman for the legislature's Republicans. "The people Nassau County legislators care about are Nassau County residents."
Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) said she was puzzled by the senders' motives. "This is an exercise that doesn't earn anyone brownie points. All it's doing is clogging the e-mail system."
Turns out the motive is fairly simple: "They send you a free hat if you sign up," said Angelo Tedesco, a Ronkonkoma hockey fan who e-mailed legislators.
The Islanders Web site offers free hats to fans who e-mail their support of the Lighthouse project, he explained, speculating that legislators had been deluged because the Islanders made a big trade on Wednesday. "Everyone went to the Web page, saw the free hat offer and went for it."
Islander spokesman Chris Botta agreed that it was fan enthusiasm, not any planned bulk spamming, that led to the flood of e-mails. "Certainly it is not our intention to cause a blackout in the county offices," he said. Botta also pointed out that fans from outside the county bring business into Nassau when they attend the games.
And Tedesco insisted that he was motivated by more than the promise of free stuff. The Islanders, he said, "definitely need a new stadium, so whatever I have to sign to make it happen, that's great[/img]