The White House

The Times today published a correction to yesterday's disputed sub-hed:

The subheading with a front-page headline on Wednesday for an article about discussions between four top White House lawyers and the Central Intelligence Agency over whether to destroy videotapes showing secret interrogations of members of Al Qaeda referred imprecisely to the White House’s position thus far on the matter. While Bush administration officials have acknowledged some discussions leading up to the destruction of the tapes in November 2005, as the article noted, the White House itself has not officially said anything on the subject, so its role was not "wider than it said."  read more »

It's been a while since we've had a good Bush-administration-vs.-New-York-Times flare-up. But today the White House took the unusual step of issuing a public statement demanding that The Times retract the subhed to a front-page story in today's paper.

The Times reported today that four White House lawyers were more involved than had previously been acknowledged in the CIA's destruction of interrogation tapes. The story's subhed read: "White House Role Was Wider Than It Said."  read more »

From The Times' Jacques Steinberg:

Mr. Rather, 75, asserts that the network violated his contract by giving him insufficient airtime on “60 Minutes” after forcing him to step down as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” in March 2005.  read more »

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'Where's Ed Levi now that we need him?'  read more »

On Monday morning, Karl Rove stood next to President George W. Bush on the South Lawn of the White House and announced that he would be resigning from the administration at the end of the month. In front of the assembled D.C. press corp, he read a statement, and the President spoke. There was no formal opportunity for questions.

Towards the end of the appearance, as the President and his favorite pol were about to head in the direction of an awaiting helicopter, Bill Plante, CBS White House correspondent, broke the embargo.

“If he’s so smart,” said Mr. Plante, “how come you lost Congress?”  read more »

Commutations come with quite explicit guidelines of their own – promulgated by the department of Justice back in the days before it became a Rove-branded house of patronage and prosecutions to solidify G.O.P. tactics of voter suppression.  read more »

Rob Portman announced his resignation as President Bush's budget director today, which set off speculation that the 51-year-old Ohioan is preparing to re-enter electoral politics. Portman served six-terms as the representative of the Cincinnati area before joining the administration in 2005, and according to the AP's write-up he made it clear today that he is considering a future bid for Governor or the U.S. Senate.

So which will it be and what are his chances?  read more »

I tried asking Mike Bloomberg if the record-breaking fund-raising by some of the 2008 White House candidates makes it easier to use nationally the message he employed in the 2005 mayoral race: that a self-financed candidate isn't beholden to campaign contributors.

After saying he's not running, Bloomberg offered this gem: a pre-emptive argument that anybody can raise money if they have good ideas.

"I think also it's fascinating, there's no evidence that you can't raise a lot of money if the public likes you. Take a look at Howard Dean over the internet foru years ago. It was, all of a sudden, an enormous amount of money. Barack Obama, you know, six months ago, wasn't on the radar screen. Today, he can raise an enormous amount of money. So, the ability to raise money is there if you have good ideas--ideas that some people think are good."

Which is an argument a self-financed candidate may need to trot out in order to fend off accusations he's buying a campaign.

-- Azi Paybarah

Al Sharpton has some news for the Democratic White House candidates coming to his April 18-21 forum: he may criticize you, but that doesn't mean he won't endorse you.

Above, from an interview over the weekend, he explains to me how his 2008 endorsement decision is really all about his constituency, not him.

-- Azi Paybarah

Take note Kevin Sheekey. Mike Bloomberg isn't the only independent businessman looking to run for president. Daniel Imperato, a businessman and self-described "man of the globe" will be speaking to the Manhattan Libertarian Party (at 140 2nd Avenue around 7:30 p.m.) about his presidential bid.

"Being a man of the globe, and understanding the people, I felt that I should at least consider helping the United States and the world make a change by possibly throwing my hat into the ring for the White House in 2008."

-- Azi Paybarah

The impresarios of Washington, D.C.’s tourist industry have retained a battery of image consul  read more »

Senator Charles Schumer finds it “hard to believe” that embattled U.S.  read more »

Someday the Democrats may learn an important lesson about the collective wisdom of the media in the  read more »

Yesterday, I spent some time with Chuck Schumer down in his Washington office, and he predicted that while Alberto Gonzales will probably be forced to resign, the residue of the U.S. attorneys scandal will have some impact on the 2008 elections.

He's in for a busy week, as key witnesses testify before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Schumer predicted that Gonzales' former chief of staff will be a slippery witness and dismissed as "ridiculous" the terms the White House offered for a Rove and Miers testifying.

Sources in Schumer's office told me that subpoenas for the high level White House aides have already been authorized, though whether they will actually be issued is another story.

I also caught up with Bill Richardson during his busy trip to New York this week, and got an unexpectedly frank assessment of where he and his campaign are in relation to the Big Three.

--Jason Horowitz

Geraldine Ferraro doesn't want you to believe the hype that Hillary Clinton doesn't need your money. In an email to Hillary supporters, Ferraro included this post script:

P.S. Don't believe it when you read that Hillary doesn't need your contribution -- trust me, she does. This is going to be a hard race fought on all sides, and every dollar matters. With so many big states moving their primaries up, we need to show now that Hillary can go all the way to the White House.

Letter is after the jump.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Geraldine Ferraro doesn't want you to believe the hype that Hillary Clinton doesn't need your money. In an email to Hillary supporters, Ferraro included this post script:

P.S. Don't believe it when you read that Hillary doesn't need your contribution -- trust me, she does. This is going to be a hard race fought on all sides, and every dollar matters. With so many big states moving their primaries up, we need to show now that Hillary can go all the way to the White House.

-- Azi Paybarah

Hillary Clinton's campaign just sent out an email from former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack explaining his reasons for endorsing her for President.

For one thing, he says, it was simply a matter of returning a favor:

"When I first ran for governor of Iowa in 1998, many people didn't give me much of a chance. But not Hillary. She told me she'd do everything she could do to help, and she followed through."

Full letter (and fund-raising solicitation) after the jump.  read more »

--Jason Horowitz

A new book about Bill and Hillary Clinton hit book stores today.

It's called "The Clinton Crack-Up," and it's written by American Spectator editor and veteran Clinton critic R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.

The book warns about the possibility of Bill Clinton getting back into the White House as "First Man" and paints the 2008 race -- and Hillary's bid in particular -- as a last chance for 1960's radicals to seize power.

Given Hillary's success at using the hostility of people like Tyrrell to motivate supporters -- and in light of the fact that the only members of the book-buying public likely to read this thing will be the ones who already hate the Clintons as much as the author does -- am I crazy to think she's not sweating this one?

-- Azi Paybarah

Someday, historians will wonder why the highest officials in the Bush Justice Department believed th  read more »

At an appearance yesterday evening at the 92nd Street Y to promote his new book on environmentalism, John Kerry talked about what he called the "mythology" surrounding his weak response to the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" during the 2004 presidential campaign.

Here's part of an exchange he had with moderator Charlie Rose:

CR: "I know you don't want to redo that campaign."

JK: "Actually I do. Let's go back and recount those votes."

CR: "That is my very first question. Did you win Ohio or not?"

JK: "I don't look backwards."

But just moments later...  read more »

Forty percent of Republicans expect Democrats to win the White House in 2008, according to a new New York Times/CBS News poll.

The AP looked at why Rudy Giuliani's "moderate" social positions are not slowing him down.

Anit-war protesters camped out in front of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home in San Francisco.

Ellen Barry has details of a funeral for the Bronx fire victims;

Eliot Spitzer and his critics in the health care industry agreed to pull their television ads, for now.

In an interview with the Sun, Spitzer said he would consider restoring some proposed cuts to Medicaid and reducing his plans to increase charter schools.

The Times editorial board opposes Spitzer's plan to detain some sex offenders after they've completed their time in jail.

The search for WTC remains continues and there are plans to dig under West Street to look for more.

The city's Schools Chancellor said criticism from the city Comptroller aired at a conference yesterday was "all old news."

No city health inspector has been fired for taking a bribe since 2003.

The Coffee Shop, a Union Square eatery featured in Sex and the City, was shut down for health code violations.

And Seton Hall denied a connection between the $1 million the school received from Jon Corzine, and the scholarship they gave to his former girlfriend, union boss Carla Katz.

-- Azi Paybarah

I felt that I knew Arthur long before I actually met him, because of his books.  read more »

Day by day, witness by witness, exhibit by exhibit, Patrick Fitzgerald, the prosecutor in the trial  read more »

Of the suggestion that Senator Joseph Lieberman will up and leave the Democratic Party for good, the  read more »

The government put I.  read more »

Hillary Clinton wants to end arrogance in the White House.

There is a determined effort "to cleanse the campaign of the Clinton name," Peter Funt wrote in an op-ed for the Times.

Staffers for Assembly Republicans may have been forced to attend a fund-raiser where 1 percent of their salaries were assessed.

Eliot Spitzer declined to comment on the Supreme Court's decision to review a case about how judges are elected in this state, a process which Spitzer once said was "in dire need of reform."

Spitzer did say there should be a "very public discussion" about how names of WTC victims are listed on a memorial at Ground Zero.

"Spitzer seems to have struck a decent deal," to build a casino in the Catskills, writes the Daily News editorial board.

Mike Bloomberg repeated a myth about how New York obtained Staten Island.

"Clarence Norman is a thug in a suit and tie," said an assistant District Attorney in closing remarks yesterday.

The Brooklyn DA is writing a novel called "Triple Homicide," to be published in June.

Jonathan Hicks recaps the special elections from yesterday.

Wesley Clark's ghostwriter said that a memoir and a presidential exploratory committee are in the works.

And the media columnist for the Washington Post, Howard Kurtz, likes the XM-Sirius merger because, "It's filling a void created by the utter sameness and existential lousiness of commercial radio."

-- Azi Paybarah

6 a.m. Polls open for the two special elections for City Council seats in Brooklyn's 40th District, and Staten Island's 51st District.

11 a.m. Community Service Society releases a report on the school "drop out epidemic" on the steps of City Hall.

11:30 a.m. Brooklyn advocates protests plans to omit International Studies High School from a Bensonhurst campus at the Tweed Courthouse.

1 p.m. Corporate leaders discuss a plan to fight climate change at Columbia University.

2:30 p.m. Cab Watch donates 3,500 "911 only" cell phones to Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes at the DA's office on Jay Street.

6 p.m. Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy delivers his State of the City speech at P.S. 4 on Bright Street.

8 p.m. "Questioning the White House Press Corps" forum, with Bob Schieffer of CBS and White House Spokesman Tony Snow, airs on C-SPAN.

9 p.m. Polls close in today's elections.

And Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg host a fund-raiser for Barack Obama in Los Angeles.

-- Azi Paybarah

Democrats will no doubt hail the non-binding resolution just passed in the House of Representatives as another victory towards forcing the administration to change its course in the war.

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey sees the non-binding House resolution opposing the Iraq troop increase as a defeat for the Democrats.

Discussing the 246 to 182 vote, which included 17 Republican defections, Armey said, "The White House is doing good then, if they held it to 17. I think they felt if they could keep it to 20 or below then they are in good shape. I think that settles the deal."

"They didn't get enough of a show of Republican votes, so that it will drift into the category of little-noted-no-longer-remembered," he said.

The Democrats have convened an unusual Saturday session of the Senate in an attempt to make sure that doesn't happen.

--Jason Horowitz

At long last, the fog of mystification generated by the Bush administration and the Washington media  read more »

I continue to get heat from Chomsky supporters for my (yes, ill-tempered) post the other day. Richard W. Symonds writes,

I still question your view that he did not "deliver" his "$5 lecture" - it was not advertised as a lecture - as you will see here : http://nchomsky.meetup.com/105/boards/view/viewthread?thread=2637079 As I read it, that evening lecture went as advertised - except he wanted his audience to ask questions after Pinter - he diidn't give a formal 'lecture' as such..but that's his style, I understand.

Norman Finkelstein has also criticized me, for trying to make my bones by being mean to Chomsky, something he says a lot of people on the left do. Finkelstein says I should have shown more grace.

Just to stand up for myself for a second, let me say that: a, the guy had a bad night, and I said so, justly. Alas I was also a 7-letter word that begins with a about it, and I apologized for my tone. Enuf.

b, Chomsky was wrong about Walt and Mearsheimer last year. He was wrong because he does not seem to have a sociocultural or psychological bone in his body, but tends to (fudging that one; I haven't read him) see everything in Marxist terms, always talking about the corporations. And so he would finger Cheney's evil Halliburton backstory, ignoring the fact that Cheney also had a long AEI backstory, in bed with neocon intellectuals who obviously influenced him (his wife worked there, too), and whom he then moved into the White House en masse, and whom he and Bush then listened to; and Chomsky thereby immunizes a powerful ethnic-religious lobby of any role in the Iraq disaster.

From a poll commissioned by Crain's:

"The survey of 600 registered voters across the state... found that Rudy Giuliani would handily win a Republican primary but lose the state in a final race for the White House. In addition, the results show that Mayor Michael Bloomberg, if he runs as an independent, would be little more than a long shot."

The numbers in this fantasy scenario:

49 percent for Hillary 27 percent for Giuliani 7 percent for Bloomberg

-- Azi Paybarah

Bloomberg Keeps Heat On Schools    read more »

Bloomberg Keeps Heat On Schools    read more »

Bloomberg Keeps Heat On Schools    read more »

The Freakin' Popper    read more »

The Freakin' Popper    read more »

The Freakin' Popper    read more »

Yes, Barack Obama is black, but he's really only half-black—"[my father] was black as pitch, my mother white as milk," he says in his autobiography. I think this may make him more acceptable as a presidential candidate. It's not strictly racism: Americans like to feel that someone is assimilating into mainstream culture before they award him with high office, they want to know that he truly cares about people other than his own tribe. Obama does not seem at all particularistic.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney is Mormon, which the Washington Monthly and New Republic say ought to disqualify him from the White House. "How Mormon are you?" a reporter once asked Romney. Maybe too Mormon, say the opinion journals. Point taken. John Kennedy needed to demonstrate that he was free of the Pope before he could be president. When Mario Cuomo was readying himself for a run, he went on and on about not cleaving to the Vatican on abortion.

And what about Jews? There's a theory that not only the Supreme Court cost Al Gore the 2000 election, so did Joe Lieberman's Jewishness. Gore couldn't win his home state, Tennessee. I'm sure some of this resistance was anti-Semitism; I heard some anti-Jewish comments about Gore's v.p. choice, Lieberman. But some of it was understandable: Lieberman is a nationalistic Jew; and I wonder "How Jewish" he is—that is to say, how he feels about his children marrying non-Jews, how important Israel would be in his foreign-policy considerations (high!). The first Jew in the White House is likely to be someone more assimilated than Lieberman, somebody intermarried, someone who makes a clear distinction between Israel's interests and ours.

John McCain's chief strategist says he can't get over the publication this morning of an incredible Giuliani campaign document that was apparently lost by one of Rudy's operatives and obtained, inconveniently enough for the former mayor, by Ben Smith of the Daily News.

"There is nothing in there that is particularly surprising to me other than the nature by which it became public," said John Weaver, a senior advisor to McCain.

Referring to Giuliani's private sector business, Weaver said, "I thought it was a security company."

About the major donors listed as targets in the document who have since signed on with McCain, he said, "Senator McCain is honored that so many key fund-raisers and activists are encouraging him to run, and they would be at the top of the list for anyone running for president, whether it be McCain, Giuliani, Romney, whoever. We feel both fortunate and honored that they have chosen us."

The primary lesson, according to Weaver: "Don't put pen to paper."

The detailed plan was, according to Ben's exclusive account in the Daily News, obtained from "a source sympathetic to one of Giuliani's rivals for the White House."

-- Jason Horowitz

So about that scintillating rumor - the one picked up and held firmly at arm's length last week by super-sub Andrew Rice -- about Westchester native and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer running for the Sue Kelly seat in 2008...

Fleischer wishes to put the speculation to rest once and for all.

For the record, he said in an impressively Shermanesque email, "I do want you to know that I am NOT running. Now that I have children, I would never do anything that could risk making them into Redskin fans."

-- Josh Benson

A fun rumor that's been bouncing around for the last day or so says that Ari Fleischer, the former White House Press Secretary, is considering a run for Congress. Fleischer comes from the Westchester County district long represented by Republican Sue Kelly. But Kelly went down in November, narrowly losing to Democrat John Hall, a liberal activist best known as the lead singer of the '70s neo-doo-wop band Orleans. A race between Fleischer and Hall would make for all sorts of interesting contrasts, such as: Does Fleischer possess as many hairs on his head as Hall sports on his chest on this famous album cover?

(In Fleischer's defense, Hall seems to be a bit of a cue-ball now, too.)

Let's add the caveat here that Fleischer hasn't actually said anything publicly about running. The rumor seems have originated from a story on the conservative magazine Human Events' webpage, in which "friends" of Fleischer note that he "has done just about everything congressional" except run for Congress. But the speculation that Fleischer might make a run has followed him ever since he announced he was quitting his White House job and planning a move back home. All of which leads us to this story from April 2001, from the New York Times' Westchester Weekly, "Native Son: Pound Ridge Still Beckons." It's behind the TimesSelect wall now, so let's summarize a few key details:

--Fleischer hung framed prints of Bedford Village on the wall of his White House office.

--The Westchester County Republican Committee named him its 2001 "Man of the Year." (Come on--Al Pirro can't win every year!)

--Fleischer's parents are avid Democrats. Of her son's Republicanism, his mother says: "He'll grow out of it."

--During his years as a Washington up-and-comer, he often "brought 20 of his Washington friends up [to Westchester County] for a July 4th party at his parents' house and fireworks in the town park."

Hmmm... Sounds like someone's been laying the groundwork for a while.

--Andrew Rice

With a big fund-raiser only hours away, Rudy Giuliani has officially launched joinrudy2008, a website soliciting financial contributions and volunteers for the former mayor's increasingly likely White House bid. --Jason Horowitz

Before the publication of the Iraq Study Group report, predictions abounded that the committee, chai  read more »

At the GOOD Magazine party last night celebrating the second issue of the guide for do-gooders, Albert Gore III sat down for a rare interview. The young Mr. Gore - he's 24, and goes by Albert, not Al (and never 'lil Gore') - had lots of nice things to say about GOOD, where he is the associate publisher. He also had a little something to say about his father's presidential ambitions: Al Gore's not running.

"The political environment right now is incredibly toxic," said Mr. Gore, acknowledging that he was "running the risk of repeating some of what my dad has already said." He wore jeans, a blue polo shirt and a dark blue blazer. He has blond hair and fair skin - a sort of Nordic version of dad. "There's way too much money involved. It's not one person, one vote any more. It's really one dollar one vote or something equivalent to that. The more money you have the more power you have in politics, and the type of populism that my grandfather, I guess, conducted himself with, and the same with my father - I'm not sure there's as much room for that as there was. And, I don't know, I don't plan to go into politics for a lot of the same reasons - well, I don't know all of his reasons - but I know that he has no plans to run in 2008."

In the years since Al Gore has been out of office, Al and Albert have grown tighter than ever. They spend a lot of time talking and it's not all global warming, "though that's definitely his passion," said the son. "He's one of the smartest people I've ever met in my life, he's my best friend, and he's taught me more than anyone," he said. "I think that the country would be a lot better off but selfishly I'm glad that I get to spend a lot more time with him and I'm glad that he gets more days off a year."

And he's making more money, right?

"Well, and he's working in Hollywood. He's in my neighborhood all the time. He worked very hard in the years that he was in the White House and now I get to see him all the time and I treasure every moment."

So he's definitely not running?

"Well, I guess I have to add his addendum. I think the way he always says it is, 'I don't see any circumstances under which I would run for president.'"

-- Spencer Morgan

Tom Delay said Hillary Clinton will be the next president.

One of Hillary's closest advisers, Patti Doyle, gets profiled.

Bill Clinton's former economic adviser was named the new head of the Congressional Budget Office.

Former White House National Security Adviser Richard Clarke says Democrats should, among other things, distribute anti-terrorism funding to cities and states based on population size.

In the AG's report on Alan Hevesi, it says the state comptroller used four state employees as chauffeurs for his wife.

The money to repay the state for the work those four employees must come from Hevesi's personal funds, not his campaign account.

Of the $150.6 million the state Senate spent on member items, $36.6 million went to projects on Long Island.

George Pataki will let Eliot Spitzer fill some appointments.

Mike Bloomberg warned of rush hour lasting up to 12 hours in 2030 if the city doesn't plan for massive population growth and improvements to its infrastructure. And the Times looks at two new state lawmakers.

-- Azi Paybarah

Right before Eliot Spitzer gets sworn in as the new governor, and officially starts having his name floated as a White House contender, the City College of New York has announced the creation of the first-ever Anne and Bernard Spitzer Chair in Political Science.

The chair was created by a $2.1 million gift the Spitzers gave to the school, where Bernard graduated in 1943.

School spokesman Ellis Simon said the position was created for the purpose of attracting scholars in the field of international politics.

The first Spitzer Chair is Dr. Randall C. Forsberg, a nonproliferation specialist who was appointed by Bill Clinton to the Advisory Committee of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

-- Azi Paybarah

The paddling Jimmy Carter is receiving for making criticisms of Israel that are common in Israel demonstrates a law of the Israel conversation: It is one thing for Jews to criticize Israel, but it's not O.K. for non-Jews to do so. This law is demonstrated by the Hillel chapters I wrote about the other day: it's OK for Jewish groups to host the Israel veterans Breaking the Silence, but those same groups will criticize Palestinian organizations when they sponsor the very same program—as if the Arab groups are doing so as the first step toward a pogrom. Jews feel that they can claim this exclusivity as a (historically) persecuted people. In the same way it is O.K. for blacks to use the n-word, but Michael Richards ended his career by using the word.

The law came to mind after I got a small book published by the American Jewish Historical Society, called "Essays on American Zionism." (1980). There is an essay in this book by Abba Eban, the famously eloquent Israeli Ambassador to the U.N.

Eban's essay is about Jewish influence on the White House. "Influence" is his word, so is "pressure." In fact Eban describes as absolutely key to Israel's emergence the very thing that the Times recently dismissed as an antisemitic delusion—Jewish influence on Harry Truman.

Some statements from Eban:

—"Public influence" by the American Zionist movement leader Rabbi Abba Silver "would have failed if other avenues of pressure and influence had not been brought to bear on presidential decisions."

—Before the 1944 Democratic Convention, Jewish leaders were told that Senator Harry Truman needed $25,000 for publicity so that he might replace FDR's then-VP Henry Wallace. "I told Boyle that I didn't know Senator Truman,' [Zionist and manufacturer Dewey] Stone later recalled, 'but... if he wanted me to take a gamble I would make the $25,000 available'... When President Roosevelt died in 1945 Harry S. Truman succeeded him and Dewey Stone was among the few to whom he owed a political debt."

—In '48, Truman feared losing, and Stone raised crucial funds, along with his friend Abe Feinberg, another leading Zionist; and they "thereafter had fairly free access to Truman in times of crisis."

—Also in '48, when Truman complained of pressure from Zionists, Jewish leaders arranged for the visit to the White House by Truman's former haberdashery partner Eddie Jacobson in order that Jacobson might become "a lever of influence in the central international predicament of the age."

—The "need for Israel's friends to have a permanent link with the White House arose again" in the case of JFK. Stone and other friends of Israel did not trust JFK because of his father's equivocal views of Nazi Germany. In Aug. 1960, Kennedy came to Feinberg's apartment at the Hotel Pierre and met with "a group of influential Jewish leaders [who] interrogated Kennedy stringently on matters affecting Jews and Israel." As a result, Stone had a "close, personal relationship" with Kennedy till he died.

—Indeed, "without the support of American Jewry" Israel would not have been able to emerge from "vulnerability and weakness into sovereignty." This "extraordinary solidarity and kinship... enlarged Israel's power beyond the limited dimensions of its space and size."

God bless him, Eban is merely describing the workings of part of the Israel lobby. For statements less emphatic than Eban's, Walt and Mearsheimer have been described in the press as antisemites. Keep in mind that one of the key things these influencers were trying to influence was Truman's decision to support the formation of a Jewish state in '47 and recognize Israel in '48. If he hadn't done so, English control of Mandatory Palestine would have gone over to a United Nations trusteeship of the territory. You have to wonder if a more deliberate process might not have worked out better.

Columbia University research scholar and former White House aide Gary Sick discusses "Is a U.S. Military Clash with Iran Inevitable?" at the Columbia Club.

The newly appointed board of the Chinatown/Lower East Side Empire Zone will hold their first meeting.

The National Press Club in DC hosts "Hillary and the Presidency: Ethics, Policy and 'Bill.'"

Malcolm Smith announces upcoming legislative meeting on police procedures and community relations in response to the shooting of Sean Bell at Thomasina's in St. Albans, Queens.

Stephen Berger discusses the NYS Commission on Health Care's report on hospital closings at the Grand Hyatt.

Silda Wall Spitzer, Christine Quinn and Joel Klein speak at the Second Annual Hispanic Education Summit at Baruch College.

NYC DOT and Transportation Alternatives unveil new signs and pavement markings to promote safe cycling on Grand Street and East Broadway.

The New York State Urban Development Corporation meets at Empire State Development Corporation headquarters.

Carolyn Ho, mother of Lt. Ehren Watada, charged with refusing to deploy to Iraq, holds a press conference with peace activists at Church Center in UN Plaza.

Peter King keynotes New York Institute of Technology's conference on "Homeland Security: Safety, Immigration and Port Security" at the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury.

—Nicole Brydson

The day Mike Bloomberg is featured on the cover of New York magazine as a possible presidential candidate, he was in Florida meeting with the president's brother.

And what did CNN political analyst Bill Schneider make of all this?

"Bloomberg¹s too liberal and as for Jeb, this doesn't seem like a good time to talk about a third Bush in the White House."

A reader who emailed this item to me wondered, "why would someone give the order to have this official transcribed?"

-- Azi Paybarah