Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz called to dispute City Councilwoman Maria Baez’s account of what happened last night at a meeting of the Bronx County Democratic Party.

Baez, who supports Jose Rivera, told me she saw Dinowitz "fighting" with some attendees.

As Dinowitz tells it, he walked into a conflict that had already started between supporters loyal to Rivera—who Dinowitz says were trying to remove sign-in sheets recording who was eligible to vote—and supporters of Assemblyman Carl Heastie, who's trying to unseat Rivera. (And may have succeeded, depending on what the court says.)

Then the usually mild-mannered Dinowitz took a (figurative!) shot at his accuser.

“I’m amazed, considering her attendance record, that you found her at City Hall,” Dinowitz said.

Baez recently faced criticism for have the worst attendance record in the City Council.

Here's City Councilwoman Maria Baez, an ally of Jose Rivera, describing last night's contentious Bronx County Democratic Party meeting.

According to Baez, she is one of four people authorized to start a county committee meeting. She says that when the group alligned with her political opponents failed to open the meeting, she did.

Liz Benjamin reports that, according to Carl Heastie, Baez did not have authority to begin the meeting. 

Candice Giove also has a different version of events. 

   read more »

Here’s Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz of the Bronx talking about the water filtration plant that the city is building in Van Cortlandt Park, which Dinowitz has long criticized.

]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/dinowitz-and-water-filtration-plant#comments Politics Jeff Dinowitz Michael Bloomberg Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:08:35 -0500 Azi Paybarah 65834 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/jose-rivera-tv

Here's Bronx Democratic chairman Jose Rivera endorsing Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz for Public Advocate, an office Dinowitz is not seeking.

"I want you print that," Rivera tells reporter/videographer John DeSio.  read more »

Continuing with our holiday programming...

A reader familiar with 17th congressional district, which includes the Bronx and Westchester, emailed this list of prospective Hillary Clinton delegates:

Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz (who features Clinton on his legislative web site), Rockland County Legislative Chairwoman Harriet Cornell (the first woman to hold that position) and Carl Heastie, who once held a "get out the vote comedy and talent showcase."