Shams Tarek is leaving his job as spokesman for Democratic State Senator John Sabini and going to work for Democratic City Councilman Jim Gennaro--both politicians represent Queens.

The move is significant, since it looks like Tarek, a veteran of at least two of Sabini's re-election campaigns, will not be on hand for what may be another tough re-election.

And it's may be an important advantage for Gennaro, who is looking to unseat Republican State Senator Frank Padavan. Tarek brings not only contacts in the state Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, but a long history in local Queens journalism (where he and I both worked for years).

More after the jump.  read more »

According to that Citizens Union study, one of the City Council’s most prolific advertisers with public money is James Gennaro of Queens.

His spokeswoman, Lee Landor, emailed over this reaction to the report:

"We do not believe that our ads are excessive. Additionally, all of our ads provide our constituents with our district office information so that anyone who has questions or concerns can easily reach us. These ads make us even more accessible to our constituents and assist in making it known that we're here and available to them.

"Also, all political ads are paid for by Councilman Gennaro's campaign committee funds; if there's a political message in an ad, it's an ad paid for by the campaign committee."