Ed Koch

Last night, after Hillary Clinton presented an award to Iris Weinshall at the 38th annual Women Write the World gala, Weinshall's husband, Chuck Schumer, explained how valuable his wife has been to his political career.

Taking the stage, Schumer recounted a night years ago, during Ed Koch's third term as mayor.  read more »

In order for his proposal to extend term limits to become law, Michael Bloomberg needs the support of 26 members of the City Council. At the moment, only 14 members are on record saying they will vote in favor of the bill. Five of the undecideds—Alan Gerson, Jessica Lappin, James Oddo, Helen Sears, and Peter Vallone Jr.—have been participating in this week's marathon term-limits hearings at City Hall.

Most of them claim to be hesitant to support the bill out of concern about the legal principle involved, although it seems more likely than not that the bill could stand up to legal challenges.  read more »

Former mayor Ed Koch started a fight on CNN just now, where he was appearing to discuss comments he made about Sarah Palin earlier this week-he called her “plucky, perky and scares the hell out of me.”

Here's what happened, according to my own transcription.

CNN anchor Carol Costello, who was hosting Koch, said some people may bristle at words like “plucky“ and “perky," hinting that they have sexist undertones.

Koch replied, “Oh please. Wow. It’s ridiculous. I mean you can’t compliment someone by saying they’re perky anymore?” He added, “Plucky is a compliment.”

To explain why she scares him, Koch referred to the rumor that  read more »

A new political party. From his email:

What we should do is improve on the reform model and create a new party which will state in its manifesto that it is running against the candidates of both the Democratic and Republican parties and has as its goal the sweeping out of Albany of all incumbents – the bad and the good – replacing them with the new party’s candidates. After two elections in which the new party is successful, it should agree to dissolve and allow the Democratic and Republican parties to once again take over, vying against one another on a philosophical basis, hoping they have learned their lesson and become functional.

Unlike most Democrats in New York, former Mayor Ed Koch is not endorsing Barack Obama, at least for now.  read more »

Are you morbidly minded and unsure what to do with your money in these grave economic times? Why not invest in a burial plot?

That's former Mayor Ed Koch's tongue-in-cheek plan, according to an article today in the New York Times. Sam Roberts writes:

He said he had recently paid $20,000 for the plot, a good investment, he explained, because the stock market, unlike the price of cemetery space, had since gone down.

 read more »

NY1 News tonight is going to be one big pile-on, judging by these quotes pulled from an advance transcript the network sent over:

“What he did was awful, it needs therapy to explain.”
            -former Public Advocate and Democratic Attorney Mark Green

“There are obviously deep psychological problems. You don’t comport yourself in this way given your knowledge of the criminal justice system.”
            -former U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato  read more »

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Ed Koch just sent out his review of Charlie Wilson’s War, the new film featuring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. Koch, served in congress with Wilson before being elected mayor, offers this interesting anecdote that, unfortunately, is not in the film:

We were on a junket in Israel where he was inspecting the Israeli Navy. He became involved with a female Israeli Naval officer assigned to our party. The Israeli Navy did not approve and reassigned her. Charlie was beside himself with anger. I went to a government official and said, "You are dealing with Israel’s most important non-Jewish friend in the Congress. If you make him angry, that could change. I urge you to return that naval officer to our party." And they did.  read more »

At the kick-off fund-raiser for David Yassky's campaign for city comptroller last night, I asked him to tell me a little about the race, which will be his second high-profile bid in as many years.

“Well, it all started when I was five,” Yassky jokingly began, before turning serious.

“I started in city government when Koch was mayor, 20 years ago, at the budget office. I talk about it because that is where I first saw what a difference it makes whether you spend money on something that’s a big waste or whether you spend money on something that has a big effect,” he said.

More after the jump.  read more »

Around 9pm at the New Museum on Bowery, Radar editor Maer Roshan, dressed in an extremely well-fitting John Varvatos suit, was standing next to the bar. The suit was dark, but it wasn't entirely clear what color it was in a dimly lit room on the ground floor.

Mr. Roshan's magazine was throwing a party intended to honor "the most exciting rogues, renegades, and rule-breakers of the year." Film-maker Craig Brewer, writer Shalom Auslander, and Squid and the Whale star Jesse Eisenberg, among other rogues, renegades, and rule-breakers, were in attendance.

As Mr. Roshan surveyed the room, he considered the best time of year to host a party. "Summer, I think."  read more »

Ed Koch sees a reason that Eliot Spitzer and the New York Times want illegal immigrants to be able to obtain a driver’s license: It’s their way to recoup the gains they sought to get in an immigration bill that failed in congress.

From Koch’s latest column, emailed to readers this afternoon:

"I don’t know where Governor Spitzer stood on the Bush-McCain-Kennedy legislation, but I bet he supported it and is doing what he can with The Times to undo the unexpected and enormous defeat suffered by supporters of the self-designated “Grand Compromise.”
 
"If a general election were held today for the office of Governor, or in 2010, when it will, in fact, be held, any candidate who supports the granting of drivers licenses to illegal aliens would, I believe, go down to defeat."

Spitzer and supporters of his plan say the issue is about public and roadway safety, not immigration.

Joe Bruno will be offering his own perspective on this issue on CNN tonight at 6:30 p.m.

Ed Koch has made it official. He’s endorsing Hillary Clinton for president. He's also endorsing Barack Obama for vice president, sort of.

Here's how he begins a column he emailed to readers just now:

I'm backing Hillary Clinton for President.

I predict the Democratic ticket will ultimately be headed by Hillary, with Barack Obama as her vice presidential nominee. Some political commentators say that America is not ready to elect a ticket headed by a woman with a black running mate. Many say that one or the other would be acceptable, but not both.

I disagree.

But Koch quickly goes on to take issue, strongly, with Obama’s explanation for wearing an American flag pin for only a brief period of time immediately after 9/11.

More after the jump.  read more »

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Ed Koch, the formerly liberal former mayor, is taking on MoveOn.org, which ran an ad in yesterday’s New York Times attacking General Petraeus.

From a column Koch emailed to his readers today:

"Every decent person and responsible presidential candidate, Democrat and Republican, should denounce MoveOn.org, and if they are associated with the organization, not only denounce it, but demand it retract the ad with a superseding one apologizing for the slur. They should withdraw future support from the organization."

Yesterday, New York's political class lined up to condemn the politically insulated MTA-whose members are in effect appointed by the governor-for the third rain-caused system-wide disruption of the nation's most heavily used subway system in the past seven months.

They were right to do so.  read more »

Ed Koch wants Eliot Spitzer to testify under oath, and to “reflect” on how he’s treated people.

In an email he just sent out, Koch wrote:

“I want to believe the governor, because he is my friend and I voted for him and his reform program. His answers under oath will determine my ultimate opinion of his involvement.

[skip]

“My advice to Governor Spitzer, even before he is called to testify as he surely will be, is that he hold a press conference devoted solely to his knowledge and involvement and that of his close advisors already named as involved in the media, and answer every question.”

And lastly, “he should reflect and look back on how, as attorney general and governor, he has treated people."

Here's a shot of Ed Koch having lunch in Manhattan yesterday with Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. From the looks of it, the former mayor was either intensely interested in what she was saying or he had issues with something he ate. I'm not prepared to guess which.

 

 

 

 

 

Someone—Mark Twain, maybe—once said: “Never pick a fight with a man who buys ink by the barrel.” A modern corollary to the saying might be: “Never taunt a man who owns his own talk radio network.” But Ed Koch and Al D'Amato seem none too intimidated by the return of Mark Green, the new president of Air America Radio, to New York 1’s weekly “Wise Guys” roundtable segment. "I've been looking forward to this. I've been dreaming of this," Koch told me when I hung out with all three at the news network’s studios before yesterday's edition of the show. "We need a little irritant,” D’Amato added. “So, Mark provides the irritant, and that provides the zip."

“Wise Guys,” for those who are uninitiated, is a kind of cross between “Meet the Press” and a Friar’s Club roast. D’Amato, the Republican senator-turned-wily superfixer, weighs in from the right. Koch, the mayor-turned-movie-reviewer, brings perspective from Planet Koch. But the show has been missing a reliable voice from the left for the last year or so, ever since Green left his slot to run for attorney general. (Unsuccessfully.) The show’s producers replaced Green with a rotating series of guests: Carl McCall, Roberto Ramirez, Judith Hope, Bill Cunningham and Bob Kerrey. But none of them had Green’s game. So now he’s back, rested, ready and, yes indeed, tan.

"What I love about ‘Wise Guys’ is that it's an exchange of opinions, rather than a monologue of insults,” Green said. As a counterexample, he cited the New York Post editorial page—which had its share of fun with Green back in 2001, when he was running for mayor. (Unsuccessfully.) “Bob McManus doesn't want the other side. He can lecture to the flock and feel like he's convincing, without having to expose himself to someone saying 'on the other hand.'"

"Well, to be fair," D'Amato interjected, in typical “Wise Guys” fashion. "You can say the same thing about the New York Times, which runs ultra-liberal philosophy that appeals to that base." He went on to say, "most of the time, they're beating little Pinch’s drum to make up for the fact that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth." (If you don’t know who Bob McManus and “Pinch” are, this may not be your kind of show.)

Despite what one might think, D’Amato is not Green’s primary antagonist. “I only pile on slightly,” the former senator said. “I become the referee because Edward and Mark go at it.”

Will the dynamic change now, I asked, now that Green has returned as the president of his own media outlet? "You mean we have a dispute, he takes his marbles and goes to his station and let's us have it?” Koch asked. He laughed heartily.

Green, shifting into his earnest mode, leaned forward, and assured me that he would not be ordering the likes of Thom Hartmann and Randi Rhodes Steve Earle to pursue his political adversaries. "The talent at Air America radio would kill me if I tried something like that,” he said.

Green paused for a moment.

Now," he added, "I do have a show on Air America Radio on the weekends..."

Rupert Murdoch thinks New York State is headed for a crisis, he explained during a speech last night at Cipriani, where he and former Mayor Ed Koch were honored by the conservative Manhattan Institute.

Murdoch said that the Manhattan Institute's ideas about governance had helped improve public policy. “But," he said, "I think the storm clouds are threatening again.

"Not to be too pessimistic tonight, but the crisis has already begun.”

The problems, according to Murdoch: high taxes, the high cost of Medicaid and record-high spending on public education funding and too little to show for it.

“One effect of all this taxing and spending is clear: people are voting with their feet,” he said. “More people move out of New York state since 2000 than any other state, except Louisiana. Many who remain simply can’t leave, so they stay in spite of everything. New York’s current political thinking takes for granted that they will never leave. New York’s experiment with high taxes and higher spending has been failing for 50 years.”

Murdoch also discussed the fiscal crisis, blackout, Son of Sam murders and arson that plagued New York shortly after he and his family moved here in 1974. Then, with some amusement, he said, "It seems there are people in this town now who believe these things happened because I came to New York."

One of the few light moments came at the beginning of Murdoch's talk, when he referred to his bid to buy the Wall Street Journal:

“Before these speeches, I’m advised one should try to tell a joke. Well, I’m not a jokester. But I think I remember one. So here we go. There were these two rich guys who walked into the Wall Street Journal. Well, I think I’ve forgotten the rest, but I believe it had a good ending.”

Rupert Murdoch, in the news at the moment for his unsolicited bid to buy Dow Jones, will be honored by the Manhattan Institute on May 8th with the group’s Alexander Hamilton Award.

“The Alexander Hamilton Award was created to celebrate New York and honor those individuals helping to foster the revitalization of our nation’s cities,” according to the website for the right-of-center think tank.

Also being honored at the MI event at Cirpriani that night will be Ed Koch, whose 1977 mayoral campaign got a major boost from Murdoch when his newspaper endorsed him in the Democratic primary.

The event will be open to the press but there will be no media availabilities, according to an MI spokeswoman.

Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui mailed out a disturbing video to NBC News in which he says things like, "You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience."

Reactions to the late-term-partial-birth abortion ban from the 2008 candidates was quick and broke along party lines.

Hillary Clinton's favorable ratings sunk in a USA Today/Gallup survey.

John Edwards may be having lunch with Mario Cuomo today.  read more »

• The booming home-security market now offers "super-luxe security" [above]. For example: It costs $5,000 to "monitor 20 video cameras in your Manhattan home--via PDA--from a beach in Cote d'Azur." It's a wonderful world. [Forbes]
• Gotham Bar and Grill has everything anyone could want from a Village eatery: Maine lobster, artichokes, and Jay McInerney's new wife repeatedly assaulting Ed Koch. [House & Garden]
• It's a bad time for New York music: Tonic, "one of the city's most popular small clubs," is closing on Friday the 13th. Plus, the hip Mercury Lounge may or may not be doomed, and the essential Irving Plaza is being reborn (or, at least renamed). [Time Out New York]
• The 'UWS Asian-Food Crisis' is tragically spreading, claiming three of the five Ollie's restaurants. Maybe the restaurant deserves their problems: Workers claim they were being paid $1.40 an hour. [NY Mag, D.I.] - Max Abelson
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Like any shrewd businessman, Michael Bloomberg knows the importance of test-marketing a new product&  read more »

Mike Bloomberg discussed one of the worst fires in recent history.

The list of committee chairmanships for the Assembly is here.

Ed Koch, Tom Suozzi and others will help review the state comptroller's office.

Newsday's Errol Cockfield has become the second Newsday staffer to defect to the ESDC.

John Edwards won't participate in the Fox News-sponsored debate for Democratic presidential candidates.

Ben has some vintage Rudy material.

And above is a Mathieu Eugene supporter explaining what all the fuss is about.

-- Azi Paybarah

The public sided with Eliot Spitzer over the legislature in the comptroller controversy, according to a Siena poll out today.

Here's the snappy analysis:

"Spitzer's popularity continues to steamroll along with the public, with nearly three-quarters of New York voters - including 61 percent of Republicans - having a favorable view of the Governor," said Steven Greenberg, Siena New York Poll spokesman. "And if Spitzer were to pull an Ed Koch and ask 'how am I doing?' he would like what he heard."

Poll results are here.

-- Azi Paybarah

In a sign that a plague of locusts may soon descend upon us, Ed Koch said that he agrees with the legislature in its fight with the governor.

Hillary Clinton's electability question is getting answered...by Republicans.

An NYU professor who went to college with Barack Obama says that his former classmate is less qualified than George W. Bush was when he was elected president.

The GOP state chairman waved his finger in a bunch of faces and got loud.

George Pataki has an Iraq plan.

Jerry Skurnik reports that Gerry Hopkins, Ferdinand Zini and Mozell Albright were removed from the ballot in the special council election in Brooklyn.

Aaron Naparstek has Iris Weinshall's going-away letter.

My interview with John Catsimatidis is stirring up Republican chatter about the possibility of another rich mayor, and "whether offering Bloomberg the GOP line was worth it."

A list of the 15 most important thinkers and doers working on racial justice is here.

And pictured above is Joe Bruno at a press conference earlier today.

-- Azi Paybarah

Andrew Cuomo had his public swearing-in ceremony yesterday at the Museum of Art, where he trotted out themes from his campaign including social justice, gun violence and governmental reform.

Cuomo added a special thank you to the audience:

"This was not an easy campaign. This was a hard campaign. I wasn't able to self-finance the campaign. I needed the generosity of over 4,000 donors to make this possible. I needed you to give me a second chance, and the benefit of the doubt that I could win a new campaign. And you did that and I can only say thank you with the best public service I can muster. "

(Historical footnote: Cuomo's much-praised predecessor in the attorney general post actually did self-finance a campaign for that office, and Cuomo absorbed some criticism for rolling over money from his failed gubernatorial campaign to help fund this year's race.)

Afterwards, Cuomo went to a closed-press reception with Chuck Schumer, Ed Koch, Denny Farrell and campaign co-chair Andrew Farkas where, according to one guest, he stood with invitees and posed for picture after picture for the better part of two hours.

-- Azi Paybarah

As Eliot Spitzer gets close to his much heralded first day as governor, at least one of his supporters is already looking down the road to Washington.

"I expect that we are going to have a gubernatorial term that is going to be unique and much of it is going to come from the fact that Eliot aspires to be President," said Ed Koch. "And there is nothing wrong with that. If he does a terrific job as I believe he will, he will certainly be a candidate for president and I hope ultimately, the winner."

-- Jason Horowitz

Here is how the 2008 Democratic and Republican Parties presidential tickets will shape up, according to Ed Koch, who appeared on NY1 last night with Al D'Amato and Carl McCall:

Hillary Clinton, with Barack Obama as her running mate, against John McCain and Rudy Giuliani.

As for why Giuliani would take a backseat to McCain on a national ticket, Koch explained it's because "he's young enough to dream" that he could still be president.

D'Amato warned his party not to underestimate such a Democratic ticket -- Hillary's fund-raising, Obama's charm, etc.

But McCall, it should be noted, poured cold water on the idea, saying who that Clinton would need a Southern Democrat in 2008 -- John Edwards? Wes Clark? Bill? -- because she and Obama represent similar portions of the Democratic Party.

-- Azi Paybarah

So last night Andrew Cuomo held a party at his headquarters at 1740 Broadway to say thank you to his volunteers and supporters. It was an informal potato chip and pretzel affair, but with two full bars to keep the festivities moving.

According to a Cuomo staffer at the party, Cuomo expressed his gratitude to his early supporters, and recognized that their backing was no small thing considering his 2002 misadventure. He singled out the support of Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, and said, according to the staffer, that the "easier" thing to do at the time would have been to sit out the race or back a different horse.

Mario Cuomo picked up on the theme and emphasized that he knew a thing or two about people sticking their neck out for him early. In 1982, he recalled, support was heavily lined up behind Ed Koch.

We'll see how Cuomo interacts with those officials who, like the governor-elect, waited until later in the game to endorse him.

--Jason Horowitz

The Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust hired Jim Capalino to lobby on its behalf for Moynihan Station back in June. Though he is also registered to lobby the Governor's office and state legislature, insiders say he is more likely their choice to influence City Hall (maybe to relent on the Garden's tax break?). Capalino, who didn't return messages, worked for Ed Koch, and most of his other accounts (High Line, the cultural affairs budget, Hudson Yards rezoning) appear to have focused on city issues. -Matthew Schuerman

Here's the open letter the Rev. Al Sharpton just wrote to Joe Lieberman, who pointed to Sharpton's endorsement of Ned Lamont as evidence that Lamont was not a strong supporter of Israel.

"For you now to totally flip the script to hopefully incite some race based hysteria in a desperate attempt to save your political career is beneath the dignity of the man I thought I got to know in 2004."

And on Lieberman's record as a young activist registering blacks to vote in the South:

"Little did I know that you would adapt the political strategies of those southern bigots you marched against. Is it just to try and win an election, Joe? You and I often talked about the bible. I remind you then of the biblical verse, "What profits a man to gain the world, and loose his own soul?"

The full letter is after the jump.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Sheldon Silver supports moving the primaries away from Sept. 11 and holding them in June. Jerry Skunik notes it was Gov. Carey who initially moved the primaries to September in order to help Mario Cuomo (and to a lesser extent, Ed Koch) in the mayor's race.

200,000 voters were sent to the wrong polling place today because of outdated information mailed to them from the city's Board of Elections.

Newsday wonders if Tom Suozzi will endorse Eliot Spitzer tonight, or just support him.

The Journal News gets a sad phone call:

I was stunned to get a phone call this evening from a woman asking me for the name of the Republican running for governor. I even had to spell it out for her.

When she asked me the name of the Republican running for AG, I asked her if it was a prank call.

It wasn't.

The New York Times unloaded some television stations it owned.

Joe Lieberman leads Ned Lamont 51 to 38 in a new poll.

NJ Senator Bob Menendez unveiled a new television ad attacking Bush on port security.  read more »

And pictured above is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who visited Ground Zero yesterday while the names of WTC victims were read.

-- Azi Paybarah

Andrew Cuomo is pulling out all the stops to fend off the challenges on the credibility of his public record.

Yesterday, Cuomo was endorsed by the attorney general from Connecticut, who was involved in the lawsuit over HUD's failure to enforce pesticide regulations when Cuomo led the agency. Then, Cuomo's team released a letter from Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau thanking Cuomo for his "three years of public service..." (A Cuomo aide notes that those three years weren't all in Morgenthau's office, but rather referred to time Cuomo also worked for his father, the newly elected governor.)

Today, Cuomo announced he was endorsed by the New York League of Conservation Voters and is trotting out Ed Koch at an event tomorrow later today in order, basically, to endorse Cuomo again.

-- Azi Paybarah

Ed Koch and Mr. Peanut will be in Times square tomorrow offering campaign tips to 2006 nominees, plugging Ad Week's contest to determine America's favorite commericals.

The NYC Board of Elections will discuss its compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act and demonstrate the Avante VoteTrakker ballot marking device for disabled voters at BOE headquarters.

In the evening, Kevin Powell hosts a fundraiser for his congressional run.

—Nicole Brydson

The city's fathers of yore relived some of the good old days this morning when a remade plaza at Liberty Street and Broadway was christened Zuccotti Park, after John Zuccotti, the 68-year-old co-chairman of Brookfield Properties, which owns the plaza and several other properties nearby, including the World Financial Center.

Look, there's Ed Koch! And Al D'Amato! They were all buddies back in the good old days when Chock Full o' Nuts still had a presence across the street and New York almost went bankrupt. (Zuccotti was chairman of the city planning commission and deputy mayor in the 1970s.)

"I owe him one because when I was running for mayor he was importune to run and had he run, he would have become mayor," Koch said.  read more »

"Ed Koch--I have to say his memory is a little faulty. It comes from his age and his weight," Zuccotti said during his comments.

-Matthew Schuerman

A reader writes in to note today's obituary for Anthony Ameruso, transportation commissioner under Ed Koch. Ameruso passed away in April, although his death was not announced at that time.

The Times writes:

In January 1986, Mr. Ameruso was forced from his job at the Department of Transportation after the authorities uncovered an extortion and bribery scandal at the Parking Violations Bureau, which was part of the department.

There was no evidence tying Mr. Ameruso to that scandal, but in December 1986, he was charged with perjury for failing to disclose his financial interest in a New Jersey company, Chief Realty, that did business with a contractor that won a city permit to provide ferry service.

—Nicole Brydson

AG candidate Denise O'Donnell was spotted at the Regency Tuesday, breakfasting with Ed Koch and lawyer Arnie Kriss. Could that be what put Koch in such a bad mood?  read more »

The Observer's tape recorder ran out before Andrew got up to speak at the Stonewall Democratic Club (blame Alan Hevesi!), so I asked the Times's Pat Healy for his transcript of the event, and he kindly obliged. The controversy is over whether Andrew Cuomo denied that anti-gay Koch fliers ever existed, or simply denied that he had a role in them. Our reporter, and a lot of other people, left with the former impression. Healy's interpretation, in the paper today, was the latter. The transcript is ambiguous, but Cuomo apparently clarified it to him immediately after speaking.

Here's Healy's transcript, which he notes he gave me as a professional courtesy (a courteous guy, Healy), and not at the request of any campaign:

Q: Now that this campaign is heating up, old stuff is cropping up. One of the ones we're hearing a lot these days on blogs and in whispering campaigns are about the posters that popped up during your father's campaign against Ed Koch, which read "Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo." Fairly or not, a lot of the times you are described as a driving force behind this postering campaign, which we know did happen. I just was wondering here, today, at the community center, if you once and for all disavow any involvement on your part with this postering campaign, and if you say - if you catch anybody in your campaign involved in that kind, what would be the consequences?

Cuomo: May I ask you something?

(Man nods.)

Cuomo: "When you said that you know that it happened, how do you know that happened?"

Q:"It's been written about in a lot of books, it was in Jack Newfield's books, the one that just came out, Ladies and Gentleman the Bronx is Burning—"

Cuomo: "Jack Newfield said that it had anything to do with the Cuomo campaign?"

Q:"Uh, I don't know—"

Cuomo: "Ok. He didn't. Anyway. In 1977 Mario Cuomo ran against Ed Koch. That was one of the rumors that came out of the campaign, which is now folklore. It was an ugly cheap rumor then; it's a more ugly cheap untrue rumor today. And the previous question, when we talked about negativity in campaigns, let Mark Green say he's better. Let Sean Patrick say he's better. But rumors, gossip, untruth about other people is not positive, and it re-enforces stereotypes. It's just not true."  read more »

Pat adds:

"After Mr. Cuomo finished, I told him in an interview that his wording was muddled and asked him to clarify - was he saying the posters did not exist at all, or was he saying that a connection between him and the posters did not exist? He told me he was saying the connection between him and the posters did not exist, saying that was the point on his mind because it was the point raised, and noting his question back to the man about whether Jack Newfield reported a link between the posters and the Cuomo campaign. Mr. Cuomo then told me that the posters themselves were 'disgusting' and added, 'I condemn them.'"

An old piece of New York political folklore surfaced at the Stonewall Democratic Club's meeting last night, The Observer's Nicole Brydson reports, where Andrew Cuomo took a question on his father's 1977 race against Ed Koch, and the famous slogan: "Vote for Cuomo, not the Homo."

It's been whispered for years -- without, as far as I've seen, any evidence -- that Andrew was involved in that savory piece of politics, and Cuomo tried to put it to rest.

"Not true," he said. He also questioned whether posters with that slogan ever existed.

(Koch thinks they did, writing in Newsday in 1999 that "posters were hung up and down Queens Boulevard which read: ‘Vote for Cuomo, not the Homo.' We never knew who it was.")  read more »

Also -- despite some questions about his stance that gay marriage isn't currently legal in New York State -- Eliot got the club's endorsement, a sign that he's probably fairly safe on this flank.

And Azi has a comprehensive rundown of the meeting, including a round of raucousness that might (pace Sean Patrick Maloney) be interpreted as "Vote for the Homo, Not the Cuomo."

Perky Regis-sidekick, Kelly Ripa, continues making Soho real estate deals, in Manhattan Transfers. On the Upper East Side, a $20 million apartment at tony 720 Park sells (while a unit on a higher floor coincidentally enters the market). And a new trend emerges this week: the $2 million luxury drop. Just ask Harry Belafonte.

David Gunn, the man who saved New York's subways in the 1980s, tells Matthew Schuerman why he got canned from his latest job, as Amtrak president, and why Ed Koch was so much better a person to work for than President Bush.  read more »

Ever wonder where those commissions go? This year, Douglas Elliman brokers party at The Four Seasons! And guess who might have to crash the Corcoran holiday party? See The Observer holiday party roundup for the answer.

Tom Suozzi thinks he’s ready for Broadway—or so it would seem by his performance on the  read more »

Tom Suozzi thinks he’s ready for Broadway—or so it would seem by his performance on the Long Bea  read more »

Michael Bloomberg is not a man who confuses the trappings of power for power.  read more »

Mark Green is likely to depart NY1's Inside City Hall, his weekly tangle with Al D'Amato and Ed Koch, sometime next year when his run for Attorney General really gets underway.

Meanwhile, there's a