Democracy for New York City, the progressive group related to Howard Dean's Democracy for America, is holding a forum on Sunday, May 18 for the candidates in two upcoming elections: the one for Sheldon Silver's Assembly seat, and the challenge to State Senator Marty Connor.
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David Brock's group Progressive Media has scaled back its planned $40 million effort because the Obama campaign disapproves of 527s. [The Fix]

Obama said George W. Bush's comments about appeasement were a false attack. [AP]

Kirsten Gillibrand had a boy. [Capitol Confidential]  read more »

Should Governor Paterson indeed move the Moynihan Station project under the control of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as he said he wants to do, at least two members of the State Assembly are poised to resist the action: Richard Gottfried, the district’s representative, and Richard Brodsky, the chairman of the committee that oversees public authorities.

“It’s a New York project; it ought to be run by a New York agency,” Mr. Brodsky said. “As a bi-state authority, they [the Port Authority] have been unresponsive, remote and immune to reform.”

Moving Moynihan from the state-controlled Empire State Development Corporation to the Port Authority would remove the Legislature from any direct control over the project, taking away its ability to pass laws about the plan or have approval power via the Public Authorities Control Board. (The PACB blocked the project from moving forward in a phased plan at the end of the Pataki administration.)  read more »

The executive director of the Working Families Party, Dan Cantor, showed support for Sheldon Silver in an interview with OpenLeft published today, calling attacks from the left on the incumbent Democrat “intellectually shallow and politically naive.”  read more »

Sheldon Silver is giving money to the Stonewall Democratic Club for the first time. In the past, the 32-year-incumbent and Orthodox Jew has not conspicuously supported the causes embraced by many gay activists in his district--or at least he didn't before bringing gay marriage legislation to a vote in the Assembly last June.

Silver paid $500 for a ticket to the May 15 annual fund-raiser for Stonewall, which is based in his district and considered one of the major Democratic clubs for the gay community. He is also expected to attend.

According to a search of campaign finance records, Silver has never given a contribution to the group before. Nor has he given to Lambda Independent Democrats.

The May 15 fund-raiser is the first major event the group has hosted since the Assembly passed the same-sex marriage bill last year. It's also in the run-up to the September primaries, which Silver is taking more seriously than usual as he faces two spirited challengers.  read more »

Inez Barron, wife of outspoken City Councilman Charles Barron, just kicked off her campaign for State Assembly, and, while vowing to be an independent voice for change, hasn’t ruled out seeking the support of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

“No I have not been in touch with Shelly Silver -- our campaign is a grassroots campaign,” she said.

When asked if that meant not seeking Silver’s support, Inez replied, “I didn’t say that.” So, would she? “I might.”  read more »

With all the talk about Sheldon Silver's efforts during the congestion pricing fight to keep his members happy, it's easy to overlook the fact that he's been quietly tending to his other constituents—the ones who will, barring a shock upset, vote to return him to his seat on the Lower East Side later this year.

A reader passed along this ad for Silver, which appeared in this week’s issue of Downtown Express.

A spokesman for Silver’s campaign said it was paid for by the campaign and ads like this have appeared throughout the past decade. (His campaign finances show he has run ads as early as February in any given year.)

Silver is facing two Democratic primary challengers this year, and may have inspired a billionaire mayor (and his top political aide) to look at the race anew.

Here's spokesman Jonathan Rosen's e-mailed explanation:  read more »

Michael Bloomberg is having another run at Albany lawmakers, but this time, he's taking a less direct approach.

At an event in midtown yesterday afternoon, Bloomberg said he was donating money to help Arnold Schwarzenegger’s effort to push nonpartisan redistricting in California and said he hoped the efforts out there would advance the issue here.

If California could do it, Bloomberg said, it might "shame" New York lawmakers into doing likewise.  read more »