Lobbyist D'Amato Booted from NY-Bound Flight

Alfonse “Al” D’Amato, the former New York Senator and founder of lobbying powerhouse Park Strategies, was kicked off a JetBlue flight yesterday after speaking out against the plane's crew.

The New York-bound flight, which was traveling from Fort Lauderdale, was delayed for several hours before flight attendants began requesting passengers seated near the front of the plane relocate to seats near the rear, as a means of improving the aircraft’s weight distribution.

When those passengers refused, D’Amato allegedly confronted them, according to a CNN report, before berating the flight’s captain for not forcing the passengers to move.

Former New York Senator Al D’Amato rallies his fellow passengers to stand up against a JetBlue flight’s crew just before he’s escorted off the plane by Broward County Sheriff’s officers.

The Brooklyn-born Republican was then escorted from the plane by Broward County Sheriff’s officers, “because I complained about what they were doing,” D’Amato said in a cellphone video clip captured by a fellow passenger.

“I want to tell you something … we can still speak in this country … and I’m making an appeal to all you people … stand up for what’s right and walk out with me,” D’Amato said in the video. “That’s the only thing they’ll know. Stand up and walk out. If you don’t, then what do you stand up for?”

At least one other passenger can be seen in the video complying with D’Amato’s rallying cries and leaving the plane along with him. Other passengers can be heard angrily airing their grievances against the crew as D’Amato is ejected from the flight.

D’Amato, who was in the U.S. Senate for nearly two decades, served as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee as well a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. He earned a reputation as New York’s “Senator Pothole” for his knack at getting things done in the Empire State. He was ousted in 1998 by Democrat Chuck Schumer, who is now the Senate minority leader, succeeding retiring minority leader Harry Reid.

D’Amato founded Park Strategies the following year and is a frequent commentator on NY1 and Bloomberg Radio.

Speaking to CNN, Park Strategies said D'Amato had been in Florida visiting “an ailing friend.”

Passengers on the delayed flight received a $200 voucher for use on future flights, according to CNN.