More from Glenna:

Peter Vallone, Jr. went to court this morning to argue against one base jumper's claim that, if Vallone introduced a bill last week to outlaw leaping off the Empire State Building (and other tall structures) with a parachute, it wasn't illegal when the jumper tried to do it.

Vallone, who advocates a tough line on graffiti and dangerous thrill-seeking activities, disagrees.

Here’s part of the invitation a reader sent over for Queens Borough President candidate Peter Vallone, Jr.'s birthday party and fund-raiser for next month.

Many fund-raisers feature a cutesy way of referring to different levels of contributors. This one takes the cutesiness to a whole new level.

A reader safely tucked into her office at One Centre Street sent this picture from far above the festivities celebrating the Super Bowl victory of the New York Giants.

"This is madness," writes the reader. "I'm already panicked about how to get lunch."

It took me about 30 minutes to work my way through the crowd, and I ran into Peter Vallone, Jr., who was having the same problem.

Coucilman Peter Vallone. Jr.'s resolution to limit homework in New York City public schools has faced resistance since he started talking about it last November. Today's attack, Vallone says, is unfair.

In a column today, John Dipaolo, whose organization runs two charter schools, opposes Vallone’s resolution, and supports his case by referring to the film Two Million Minutes, which compares the time that high school students in various nations spend on schoolwork.

Vallone told me, “In order to attack my resolution about grade school homework, he cites a film about high school homework, which is like comparing apples to oranges.”

“My resolution talks about grade school homework,” he continued. “You would think that somebody who ran two charter schools could find some evidence to refute me, as opposed to comparing apples to oranges.”

Vallone's proposal would limit homework to 10 minutes per grade every night for students up to the eigth grade, with one night off a week.

UPDATE: Dipaolo's column does make reference to elementary school homework, citing a study fifth graders reading habits. 

Welcome Republican operative Robert Hornak officially to the 2009 race for City Council.

Hornak, who has been raising money to run for the Astoria seat that Peter Vallone Jr. will be term-limited out of, is having a kick-off event on February 2 featuring: Niger Innis, Herb London, Queens G.O.P. leader Phil Ragusa, and the unmistakable Curtis Sliwa.

Astoria has been electing the Vallone family—generally conservative (like on the graffiti issue!) Democrats—for generations, which has exposed Peter Jr. to some criticism from the left.

But in 2009, there won't be a Vallone on the ballot in Astoria, since Peter’s brother Paul is running for a City Council seat in Bayside.

Hornak has been diligently toiling away in Republican circles for years and currently works for Republican Assemblyman and Minority Leader leader Jim Tedisco.

The question this race won’t be whether Hornak is Republican enough, but if a district that has elected right-leaning Democrats will vote for a someone with similar views, who happens to be in the other party.

Here’s Hornak’s announcement, which he emailed to supporters this morning:

Here’s what Democratic City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who already flirted with the idea of supporting a Bloomberg presidential bid, said during a taping of NBC's News Forum this morning:

Although it's usually not a particularly popular event, Peter Vallone, Jr., told me that all the press was at this morning’s bill signing ceremony because the newspapers were full of Bloomberg '08 speculation.

“So, we’re doing my public lewdness bill," Vallone said. "It’s the third bill to go and I get up and I go, ‘I think getting tough on public lewdness is a great way to launch a presidential campaign.’ So, he’s [Bloomberg's] behind me and he goes, ‘Why--are you running?’"

Vallone said he responded, “Of course, I meant borough president.”

According to Vallone's retelling, Bloomberg then looked around at the room full of City Council members and noted, “Looks like I’m the only one up here not running for anything."

When I said that Vallone sounded like someone who is ready to endorse Bloomberg any day, he responded, “I was one of the first Democrats to endorse him for mayor. So nothing is outside the realm of possibility.”

City Councilwoman Helen Sears is another council member who will be term-limited out of office in 2009 and may be running for a higher office.

Sears is seeking donations up to $3,850, the Campaign Finance Board’s contribution limit for borough president candidates, at a December 19 fund-raiser. The event takes place at 5:30 at the restaurant 17 Murray and the invitation gives top billing to Christine Quinn.

A message left for the treasurer of Sears’ campaign committee was not immediately returned.

Over the weekend, the Rudy Giuliani billing scandal that has been dubbed both the "Shag Fund" and Judygate played on, with both national and local press seizing on angles to further the story.

The New York Post reported that, in addition to the mayor himself, one of Giuliani's top aides also spent at least one summer night in the Hamptons on the city's dime, while the Daily News added that, in addition to chauffeuring Judith Nathan around, the N.Y.P.D. apparently took her to visit her parents in Pennsylvania, and occasionally even walked her dog. According to CBS, her family got to ride around with the N.Y.P.D. as well.

ABC News reported that Ray Kelly doesn't think Giuliani's story adds up and Michael Bloomberg's girlfriend says she has never had her own security detail. David Seifman calculated that the breakup of Rudy's marriage to Donna Hanover also cost the city a whole bunch of money.

In commentary, Michael Goodwin wrote that Giuliani's personal life is his last hurdle to the presidency, Josh Marshall explained why, contrary to intuition, Giuliani isn't guilty like Alan Hevesi, and Gail Collins just thinks, "Rudy is one of those people who doesn’t handle power well."

In other problems for the former mayor, the Washington Post editorial board wrote that Giuliani's new ad is absolutely wrong on taxes, and over at Salon.com, Joe Conason reminded readers of the week's other Giuliani investigation, which didn't get much airtime. Rudy might be feeling the pressure of all this negative press, because he uncharacteristically brushed off reporters and refused to answer questions at a campaign event in South Carolina over the weekend.

But to reinvigorate his law and order image, he was fortunate to get the backing of the influential New Hampshire Troopers Association, and, according to the Concord Monitor, he was able to use Hillary Clinton's hostage situation as an opportunity to talk about security.

Speaking of, the Clinton campaign's hostage situation seemed to end with a minimum of conjecture over what it means for her campaign, although Hillary did get positive reviews for her "presidential" handling of the crisis. Ben has her statement, plus a link to the video; most of her New Hampshire offices reopened over the weekend.

Barack Obama is the Iowa frontrunner now, along with Mike Huckabee, who has a greater lead over his nearest rival, Mitt Romney. Obama might want to listen to his fellow top candidate, who was quoted as saying that what he learned from battling the Clintons in Arkansas politics is, "They are never going to make the same mistake twice. They are going to be ruthless."

Even if he is in first place in the first caucus state, Obama seems to be making a habit out of criticizing Clinton without mentioning her by name, and his campaign's efforts to recruit students to their caucuses who go to Iowa colleges, but aren't residents of the state, is not going over well with David Yepsen.

At the Brown & Black Forum on Saturday night, John Edwards seemed to unnerve reporters by being extremely docile towards Obama, and even Hillary. She had to answer the drivers' license question, yet again.

Also in election news, Democrats have set their primary dates, and stripped Michigan of its delegates.

In statewide politics, Jim Tedisco's chief of staff says of an invitation to an event yesterday from Eliot Spitzer, “We hope this is a sign of people laying down their swords." Of course, even if Spitzer lays down his sword and makes nice in breezy interviews with New York Teacher, it doesn't mean he won't hear about the failures of the last couple of months for a long time. Over the weekend, Larry Littlefield had some words of advice for Spitzer as he sets out to "determine our priorities for how to best use the state's limited financial resources." The New York Times implied the governor needed serious historical study to come to his senses.

And in an open letter, Fred Dicker wrote, "Governor, you may think you still have plenty of time left to change direction, but if you don't sooner rather than later, someone in your own party - say Attorney General Andrew Cuomo—or a potent Republican candidate—say Mayor Bloomberg—will come gunning for you in 2010." In other news from Albany, it turns out that Joe Bruno works for a firm that also manages millions of dollars for state labor unions.

In the city, ousted Arabic-themed school principal Debbie Almontaser said on the witness stand, "What upset me the most was I knew Mayor Bloomberg, and I couldn't believe he was taking the word of the [New York] Post over my word." Bloomberg, Clinton and Schumer are all up in arms after George W. Bush announced there would be a reduction of anti-terrorism funding.

Schumer also blasted the city's plan to prioritize a new pedestrian boulevard over a new subway station in the West Side redevelopment plans. Peter Vallone, Jr. is not happy about the M.T.A.'s plan to cut an emergency safety program for riders, especialy with the prospect of fare hikes, and Queens City Council members have serious concerns over the use of eminent domain in the Willet Points redevelopment project.

The City Council got some good press when the Daily News called the council's vote to stop using taxpayer dollars for self-promotional holiday ads, "an unusual but admirable display of self-restraint, " and some news it probably wanted to hear when Bloomberg said he is willing to allow a referendum on City Council term limits. Liz reports that Bloomberg also said yesterday in his radio address that he backs judicial pay raises.

And in case you missed it, on Friday, pro-pigeon activists asked Councilman Simcha Felder and others to “Give pigeons their peace."

Also, via Michael Crowley at the T.N.R.'s The Stump, pictured above is a 2006 magazine cover featuring Rudy and Judith Giuliani.