So there may be a little less at stake now for the officials girding for the opportunity to succeed Upper East Side-based Representative Carolyn Maloney. That unofficial mini-contest, of course, was contingent on Hillary Clinton having a chance of becoming president, and on Maloney having a chance of taking Clinton's place in the Senate.  read more »

So, there have been calls for Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster's resignation since the crane collapse last month. It finally happened today, and Assemblyman Jonathan Bing thinks that's because there is an assembly hearing on the subject this Thursday.

"I was going to delve very deeply into the issue of why a building was built that caused the crane collapse, without proper permits,” Bing says.  read more »

Michael Bloomberg and his aides have presented the demise of their congestion pricing plan, which occurred without a floor vote in the Assembly, as an example of Albany’s well-noted dysfunction.

Not surprisingly, the view from within the Democratic-held Assembly is different.  read more »

Here's a flier from Assemblyman Jonathan Bing, who is running to be a Hillary Clinton delegate from the 14th congressional district in Manhattan.

It sort of looks like he's trying to hide who he would be a delegate for, but actually, thanks to some complicated McCain-Feingold rules, delegate candidates can't feature too prominently the presidential candidate they're supporting.

It’s not easy being a volunteer in Iowa.

Assemblyman Jonathan Bing, who is volunteering for Hillary Clinton in Davenport, Iowa, emailed me this morning to say: “Right now I'm sitting in my car waiting for it to thaw. It's 2 degrees here right now. The wind chill is negative 12.”

Council member and Hillary Clinton volunteer Bill de Blasio will be joined in Iowa by Jonathan Bing, an Upper East Side Assemblyman who will is heading to Davenport on Jan. 1 to do his part.

"They asked me to do some driving of supporters," said Bing, speaking from from North Carolina, where he’s visiting in-laws.

More after the jump.  read more »

The jostling for New York's official Democratic convention delegate spots has been quietly playing out in political circles here for some time. And since a Hillary Clinton win in New York is kind of a foregone conclusion, it's really a contest to be named by her campaign.

Officially, delegates have to run and win the spot in party elections, so anyone can still grab a slot. But the campaign has its own list, which is pretty determinative.

Here’s a list of a few of those delegates, this one coming from the 14th congressional district, based on information from two Democratic sources:  read more »

Here's an invitation to Joe Bruno's Fall Fest at 7th Avenue and 51st Street, on October 17. That's quite a way away from Bruno's Rensselaer district and right in Eliot Spitzer's backyard. It's also taking place around the time some people expect the state's new Commission on Public Integrity to issue its report on Spitzer's use of state police to track Bruno's traveling. (It'll be interesting to see how he's getting there.)

This fund-raiser should, if nothing else, provide some indication of how enthusiastically donor-class Republicans are rallying around Bruno.

On an unrelated fund-raising note...On October 1, Jonathan Bing is having an event featuring Chef David Burke. It's being hosted in the home of Sally Minard, who is a pretty generous contributor to local and national Democrats.

UPDATE: A reader brought to my attention the fact that three of the four people listed on Bruno’s fun-raiser as members of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee are also members of the committee investigating the governor.

UPDATE 2: Bruno's spokeswoman, Lisa Black, emailed to say, "Members of any Senate committee are chosen by the Majority Leader based on seniority. (Just look at the members of the highly coveted Finance Committee - Majority members sitting on that committee have a decade or more of Senate tenure).  The Investigations and Government perations Committee members were in place far before the Governor's dirty tricks campaign, aka 'Troopergate.' "

 read more »

Tonight's "Party in the Garden" at the home of Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney might be about more than raising money for Democrats and for her congressional reelection. According to one close Maloney supporter I spoke to, tonight also serves to build her election war-chest for a 2010 Senate run if Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election.

Asked directly about the possibility that funds raised tonight are at all connected with the prospect of a Senate campaign, Maloney's office was dismissive.

"New Yorkers already have two great U.S. senators who, working with the rest of our congressional delegation, are providing strong and effective representation for the Empire State on Capitol Hill," Maloney said in a statement read to me by consultant George Arzt.

"The funds that I am now raising will be devoted to preserving and enhancing the Democratic majority in the house as well as my own reelection to Congress."

But Conrad Foa, a supporter who said he will be attending the party, seemed open to the idea that the money could be used for another possibility.

"That door is there for her to knock on," he said. "Maybe she stands first in line or very close to first in line to that door, but I feel that she has an unerring political sense to do what's best for her constituency. The question is what does she perceive her constituency will be, and I think she'll at least have the funds to do what's best."

Either way, tonight's event -- which will be held at her 92nd street home -- will only be the latest event to invite chatter about Maloney eyeing the Senate seat, according to one Democratic operative.

"There has apparently been fund-raising events the congresswoman has held so far where she has been introduced as 'the next U.S. senator from the state of New York'," the operative said, adding that whether or not the funds will be set aside for her own run, "what she would be able to do is use that money to raise her profile nationally."

Assemblyman Jonathan Bing, who will be attending the party tonight, told me he did not know how the funds would be spent. But he did say that he'd like to see Maloney in the upper Capitol chamber.

 read more »

Practically every major Democrat in the city was at the corner of 14th Street and First Avenue yesterday afternoon to announce the formation of a what they say is the largest housing coalition in the city’s history.

The group, New York Is Our Home, includes labor and tenant groups, the Working Families Party and others.

The most heated rhetoric (video here) came from the Central Labor Council's Ed Ott, who said, “The price of housing in this city is effectively theft” and that affordable housing units, like the ones in Stuyvesant Town behind him, “are being stolen by the greed of developers and the market.”

Which drew applause and energetic head nods from the crowd of elected officials behind him.

In attendance at the rally were Christine Quinn, Bill Thompson, Betsy Gotbaum, Tom Duane, John Sabini, Ruben Diaz, Jr., Keith Wright, Jonathan Bing, Linda Rosenthal, Dan Garodnick, Eric Gioia and Charles Barron, among others. Most of them spoke but none matched Ott’s directness.

After the speeches, the group formed a human chain around Stuy Town, which is several blocks long, and marched down to Union Square.

Practically every major Democrat in the city was at the corner of 14th Street and First Avenue yesterday afternoon to announce the formation of a what they say is the largest housing coalition in the city’s history.

The group, New York Is Our Home, includes labor and tenant groups, the Working Families Party and others.

The most heated rhetoric (video here) came from the Central Labor Council's Ed Ott, who said, “The price of housing in this city is effectively theft” and that affordable housing units, like the ones in Stuyvesant Town behind him, “are being stolen by the greed of developers and the market.”

Which drew applause and energetic head nods from the crowd of elected officials behind him.

In attendance at the rally were Christine Quinn, Bill Thompson, Betsy Gotbaum, Tom Duane, John Sabini, Ruben Diaz, Jr., Keith Wright, Jonathan Bing, Linda Rosenthal, Dan Garodnick, Eric Gioia and Charles Barron, among others. Most of them spoke but none matched Ott’s directness.

After the speeches, the group formed a human chain around Stuy Town, which is several blocks long, and marched down to Union Square.

UPDATE: Adolfo Carrion, Brian Kavanagh and Adam Clayton Powell IV also attended.