Even in these days of increased transparency when it comes to the City Council's appropriation of member items, the process remains, unavoidably, one that rewards people who know people.

For example, the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a non-profit group whose executive director, William Rapfogel, is married to the Assembly Speaker's chief of staff, Judy Rapfogel, got $556,250 in member items this year.

The Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Center, a group founded and closely associated with Vito Lopez, an Assemblyman and Brooklyn Democratic County Leader, got $658,089 in member items.

In the comments section of my original post on these member items, Mendy points out that Leib Glantz, a politically active Satmar rabbi, is a big winner because his group, UJCare, got a $200,000 member item to fund "a variety of services.  read more »

Leading up to tonight’s scoping meeting of the Coney Island revamp, various advocacy groups and others are staking out positions on the city’s plan, a few of which have ended up in our inbox. The comments are on the latest iteration of the plan, which was altered after it met opposition from Councilman Domenic Recchia, who sided with landowners including major property owner Joseph Sitt.

The hearing, which starts at six in Coney Island, has attracted a large bit of attention given that it's ostensibly intended for comments on what should or should not be included in a draft environmental impact statement.  read more »

Democratic City Councilman Domenic Recchia of Brooklyn just announced he is dropping out of the race for Vito Fossella's congressional seat.

Staten Island Democrats recently endorsed another candidate, City Councilman Mike McMahon. Although the district lies partly in Brooklyn, Staten Island residents are a majority.

In the release, Recchia says he thinks Democrats should be "united as a party" to win the seat, currently held by a Republican.  read more »

City Councilman Mike McMahon, who is running for the congressional seat Vito Fossella is vacating, was endorsed last night by the Staten Island Democratic Party.  read more »

"How about making some noise for opening the beach?" Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said from the podium, as brightly dressed protesters standing behind a police line chanted, "Thor no more! Thor no more!"

So began another politically charged season at Coney Island under appropriately gloomy skies on Thursday morning.  read more »

Here's what I've heard so far about who might run for Vito Fossella's seat now that the congressman has said he is staying in office but not seeking re-election.

A spokesman for Democratic City Councilman Domenic Recchia of Brooklyn, the best-funded challenger, said he’s still in the race, despite some rumblings that he might drop out. Democratic attorney Steve Harrison is also still running.

On the Republican side, the names of State Senator Andrew Lanza and District Attorney Dan Donovan have been floated. But a bid by either would come at a cost to the party. A Lanza run could jeopardize one of the State Senate seats that give Republicans a majority. And Donovan would have to give up his safe seat as district attorney, in which case David Paterson would almost certainly appoint a Democrat to that borough-wide position.  read more »

Here's something counterintuitive. Amid all the jockeying for Vito Fossella's seat, City Hall News reports that the best-funded candidate in the race, City Councilman Domenic Recchia of Brooklyn, who was challenging Fossella long before the congressman was arrested, called "at least one elected official" and discussed dropping out.

From CHN:  read more »

The jockeying to run for Republican Vito Fossella’s suddenly winnable congressional seat has opened a bit of a rift between Brooklyn and Staten Island Democrats.

The seat is mostly in Staten Island, but for years, Democratic elected officials there have taken a pass at challenging Fossella since that would have meant giving up their own safe re-elections in order to run (and probably lose). The result was a string of unmemorable candidates who got slaughtered by Fossella and his Republican predecessor, Susan Molinari.

The Brooklyn side, at least, has produced some feisty challengers, namely Frank Barbaro and Steve Harrison. This year, in addition to Harrison, the Democratic field will include Councilman Domenic Recchia, who has even more campaign money at his disposal than Fossella. The Brooklyn Dems, in other words, would seem to have a pretty good chance of producing the nominee this year.

But now it's gotten more complicated. There’s blood in the water, thanks to Fossella’s love child scandal (not to mention a pretty good Democratic trend nationwide), and Staten Island Democrats are looking for someone to get in on the action. This is particularly significant because if Fossella resigns, designating a Democratic challenger for the resulting special election will fall to the folks on Staten Island.

Will Brooklyn get edged out?

Here's how Council member Vinny Gentile made their case: “It seems to me that to suggest that it’s a Staten Island seat, if you look at the last three Brooklynites who were the nominees, they did as well if not better than the State Islanders who were nominees."  read more »

The Staten Island chapter of the Independence Party, which supported recently arrested Republican Congressman Vito Fossella in 2006, is interviewing “all prospective candidates” who want to seek their endorsement this year.

Interviews will take place on May 25, according to Frank Morano, an executive committee member of the New York State Independence Party.

Morano said Fossella “would have a shot at the nomination,” but also said that it would not be “a lock."  read more »

Last week I reported that an endorsement vote at a Democratic Club in Bay Ridge was split evenly between Vito Fossella's two official Democratic challengers, Domenic Recchia and Steve Harrison.  read more »