If you thought the racially tinged opposition to the 2006 congressional bid of David Yassky was rough, check out this ad attacking freshman Representative Steve Cohen of Tennessee.

The ad is ostensibly about prayer in school, but as Ben Smith notes, there's there's probably a little more to it than that.

In an appearance last night on the Perez Notes radio show, Council finance committee chair (and comptroller candidate) David Weprin discussed David Paterson's speech on the budget, congestion pricing and development in the city.

Perez also brought up the Council slush fund incident, which Weprin was quick to characterize as a minor blip in the face of a roughly $60 billion budget.

“I’m not proud of these scandals or these misappropriations of some small amount of money in a very large budget, but in the end I think the process is stronger for it, and we’re all better off for all the scrutiny that came out of this,” he said.  read more »

Pollster Joel Benenson, who is currently working for Barack Obama, confirmed he’s set to work on at least two citywide races next year.

In a brief interview this morning, Benenson said he’ll be crunching numbers for Anthony Weiner--who has all but announced formally he’s running for mayor--and David Yassky, who is running for comptroller.

Benenson was Weiner’s pollster for his 2005 mayoral race and worked for Yassky during his 2006 congressional race. Interestingly, one of Yassky’s main opponents in the comptroller’s race, Melinda Katz, has hired Hillary Clinton pollster Geoff Garin.

Also worth noting about Benenson: back in 2003, he, along with Howard Wolfson, conducted a poll that helped brand Michael Bloomberg as an out-of-touch billionaire.

Campaign finance filings for the city comptroller race show candidates getting ready for what looks like it will be one of the more competitive 2009 races. (The latest filing period is January 12 to July 11, 2008.)

According to a search of donations for those candidates between those dates:

David Yassky--$463,575

David Weprin--$334,499

Melinda Katz--$206,154

Jim Brennan--$84,577

Adolfo Carrion’s campaign finance numbers are not posted yet on the Campaign Finance Board’s Web site, but his campaign spokeswoman said he raised $600,000 this filing period.

Melinda Katz's numbers are lower than expected, but then she did just have a baby.

UPDATE: Here are the contribution numbers for the comptroller candidates:

Adolfo Carrion: $570,052
David Yassky: $452,075.00
David Weprin: $316,899.00
Melinda Katz: $192,938.00
Jim Brennan: $83,677.00

(These numbers take into account any refunded donations the candidates dealt with.)

Since campaign finance numbers for city candidates are due tomorrow, a few have begun releasing them, including two candidates in the competitive comptroller's race, David Yassky and Jim Brennan.

Yassky’s campaign said they raised almost $500,000 this period, from a total of 600 donors, bringing his cash-on-hand total to $1.25 million.

Jim Brennan’s campaign spokeswoman said he raised $104,000 this filing period, bringing his total raised to $507,000. The spokeswoman, Jill Harris, also said the campaign is eligible to receive more than $750,000 in matching funds.

Numbers for the other comptroller candidates--Melinda Katz, Adolfo Carrion and David Weprin--were not immediately available.

UPDATE: Weprin told me he raised $336,000 this filing period, bringing his cash on hand total to $1.7 million.

Earlier this afternoon, a diverse cast of politicians gathered in front of the Brooklyn House of Detention on Atlantic Avenue to protest the Bloomberg administration's plan to reopen and expand the downtown jail. (It was the Bloomberg administration that closed it back in 2003, due to high costs).

Councilman and city comptroller candidate David Yassky, comptroller and likely mayoral candidate Bill Thompson, State Senators Marty Connor and Velmanette Montgomery, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and Randy Mastro, a deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani, were among the rally participants. They all gave the current administration an earful for creating what they portray as a serious impediment to the goal of creating a financial hub in Brooklyn.  read more »

Ken Diamondstone, who recently abandoned a bid to try for the second time to unseat State Senator Marty Connor, just announced this morning that he will run for City Council in the 33rd district.

The district, which includes Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO, is currently represented by term-limited David Yassky.

In the announcement, Diamondstone’s campaign said he will “make history by becoming Brooklyn’s first openly gay representative to any legislative body in New York State.”

He has reason to believe he can do it.  read more »

The State Senate contest that Simcha Felder just decided to jump into bears some resemblance, at least on the surface, to the 2006 primary in Brooklyn's 11th congressional district in which Councilman David Yassky, who is Jewish, jumped into a field that included multiple black candidates.  read more »

Councilman Simcha Felder is not getting into the city comptroller race, but he will run for the Brooklyn State Senate seat currently held by fellow Democrat Kevin Parker, according to a source.  read more »

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