Long Island Courthouse Named for D'amato

Newsday ^ | June 17, 2003 | Frank Eltman

[lainie]

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. -- Long Island's federal courthouse was named in honor of former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato at a ceremony that brought out friends, family and a fistful of old political enemies.

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Charles Schumer and Joseph Biden, all Democrats, were present Monday to celebrate D'Amato's 18 years in the Senate as New York's pugnacious Republican representative.

The former first lady and then-President Clinton were once the focus of a Senate committee investigation headed by D'Amato that looked into the Whitewater land deal.

"I have to confess that if a few years ago someone had in the same sentence said Al D'Amato, Hillary Clinton and courthouse, I don't think this is what we would have had in mind," Clinton said to a roar of laughter. "But life is full of surprises."

Also heaping praise was Schumer, who defeated D'Amato in 1998.

"Somebody said, `Well, it's gracious of you to be here, Senator.' I said, `Absolutely not.' It was gracious of Senator D'Amato to personally pick up the phone and invite me to come. That is true grace," Schumer said.

Biden, who represents Delaware and is a close friend of D'Amato's, noted the irony.

"Only in New York could this happen. Chuck Schumer embracing Al D'Amato, and Al smiling," Biden joked. "You know why he's smiling? He's making more money than all of us put together."

[lainie]

Hillary: "Life is full of surprises."

Sounded like quite a mutual admiration society up there yesterday to christen ..the Taj D'amato?

(excerpted out of necessity)

[dead]

Howard Stern's mother was there too. I have no idea what that symbolizes however.

D'Amato was a conservative who was ashamed of his conservatism. The NY Times continually hurt his feelings by calling him mean names like "right wing" and "extreme."

So he tried to out-liberal Schumer, which was about as smart as him trying to out-box Mike Tyson.