Matt Schuerman

Jason Horowitz reports on the unparalleled Hillary Clinton fund-raising network as it roars to life and leaves her competitors with the scraps.

Matt Schuerman chronicles a difference of opinion between historians Robert Caro and Kenneth Jackson over the legacy of Robert Moses.

Steve Kornacki writes about the way that John Edwards is using his status as a former elected official to make life difficult for his fellow presidential candidates in the senate.

And Joe Conason thinks that the president's State of the Union address was shop-worn and unrealistic.

-- Josh Benson

Commercial real estate reporter Matt Schuerman says that Washington Republicans have forced Chuck Schumer into a bind, forcing him to choose between tax cuts (which, in this case, he opposes) and transportation money (which, in almost any case, he badly wants).

Here's Schuerman's take:

With the passage of the so-called "Trifecta" bill in the House early last Saturday -- higher minimum wage, but with a series of tax cuts and a lowering of the estate tax -- Schumer must now do one of the following: vote against the legislation, and miss the best opportunity so far to advance $2 billion for the JFK Rail Link, which is one of his pet projects and is included as an amendment in the bill, or vote for it and undermine his party's opposition to the lower estate tax.

A cloture vote is expected Thursday or Friday, and Republicans need five Democrats to defect to even get the bill on the table. But even the most stalwart downtown boosters of the rail link, at least the ones we talked to, are doubting that Schumer will break party ranks. (It seems pretty unlikely to us too, for that matter.)

We're waiting for a comment from Schumer's office.

-- Josh Benson

Our commercial real estate reporter Matt Schuerman passes along this wrap-up of fundraising in the Atlantic Yards-centric contest in the 57th Assembly District:

Hakeem Jeffries has blown away his rivals financially in the three-way race for the 57th, bringing in $77,610 over the past six months in individual and corporate contributions, according to his July fundraising report filed with the state.

While rival Bill Batson successfully hit up Atlantic Yards opponents to net $32,841, Jeffries, a lawyer for CBS who has leaned in favor of the Forest City Ratner development, netted contributions from prominent professionals like Carver Bank CEO Deborah C. Wright ($500) and p.r. scion Steven G. Rubenstein ($2,000).  read more »

The other candidate to represent the Prospect Heights-Fort Greene district, Freddie Hamilton, has raised just $520 in addition to her own $15,000 donation, despite her being vice chairwoman of the county Democratic organization.

"I have a number of fundraisers planned," she told us. "I am very serious about this race and I intend to win."

-- Josh Benson

A garbage masterplan is at hand.

Matt Schuerman just called in from City Hall to say that a key opponent of a plan to re-open a garbage transfer station on East 91st Street has finally conceded.

"The sites in Manhattan are all part of the plan," Dan Garodnick told Matt a few minutes ago, as members of the Council's Sanitation Committee began to emerge from an extended closed-door meeting with administration officials. "I don't think anybody was willing to budge on them."

Garodnick, who represents a relatively wealthy district in Manhattan, said he still intends to vote against the city's final plan.

-- Josh Benson

Over on The Observer's Real Estate site Matt Schuerman picked up a little dissonance in John Whitehead's account of being threatened last spring by Eliot Spitzer.

Whitehead's explosive Wall Street Journal piece was, Whitehead writes in the piece, occasioned by "rumors in the media" about his confrontation with Spitzer. Problem is, we can't find any such rumors in print.  read more »

Of course, this is quibbling. There's nothing particularly dishonorable in what has to be presumed the actual motive behind Whitehead's timing: weakening his enemy at an important point in the electoral cycle.

Ben digs into Hilary's nuanced stance on the Iraq war amidst the pressure of polarized national politics.

Matt Schuerman assesses the status of Ground Zero in the wake of Mike's LMDC board appointments.  read more »

I dash to D.C. and chat with Congressman Bob Menendez, who seems to be winning a four-way scramble for Jon Corzine's Senate seat.

And don't miss Rebecca Dana and Lizzy Ratner's hard look at media coverage of Iraq which, measured against the benchmark of Vietnam, leaves an eerily faint footprint.

I report that Bob Shrum is writing a memoir.

Jason Horowitz takes a look at whether Mike is building on Rudy's welfare policy moves -- or rolling them back. (City Limits also broke a bit of news in this area this week in a piece on toughening state rules.)

Matt Schuerman writes that Larry Silverstein isn't playing well with others on the West Side.

E.J. Kessler has a column on Tom Suozzi's charm.  read more »

And Tom Scocca writes an open letter to Arthur Sulzberger.

Over on The Real Estate, Matt Schuerman takes a look at federal legislation that would punish states and localities for using eminent domain. The bill brought a real split in the city's, and the borough's, Congressional delegation. Nydia Velazquez and Anthony Weiner, among others, backed the legislation, while Jerry Nadler and Greg Meeks were among the mere 38 Nays.  read more »

I take a look at Andrew Cuomo's non-campaign campaign in a story that tries to parse his issue advocacy, his political work, and his major supporter: Local 1199.

And Roberto Ramirez comes out of hiding to meet Jess and me in the neighborhood, talk up Freddy's prospects, and drop a hint: he's thinking of running for office again.

In the same article, Jess examines some data from an exclusive Pace University poll that has more bad news for Freddy.

The poll also turns up some interesting data for Matt Schuerman on the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, which has more supporters than opponents, with strong backing by Brooklynites (50%) and blacks (59%).

In a separate piece, Matt asks the inevitable question: Mike may suddenly be talking about Ground Zero again, but is it just talk?

The Observer's rockin' coverage of the mess at the Times continues.  read more »

E.J. Kessler looks at the divided labor movement.

And The Observer's edit heads endorse Mike....while, quietly, The Politicker remains committed to Jimmy McMillan.

Jess Bruder gets an interview with an unusually frank Bloomberg supporter Steve Rattner, whose "The Party, c'est moi" stance gets him a pounding from fellow Democrats. (Bits of this story are not, presently, in the Web edition; I'll put a full version of Rattner's comments up on The Politicker in a minute.)

Jason Horowitz sits down with Stu Loeser, the Bloomberg aide who knows Freddy better than anyone outside the candidate's immediate family.

Matt Schuerman eulogizes the Freedom Center.

Eve Kessler speculates on the return of the WASP. It's a storyline that didn't work so well for Giff Miller, but Bill Weld brings new hope.  read more »

And Joe Conason watches the Right's reaction to the Miers nomination.

Lizzy Ratner and I have the week off...but you should have seen the one that got away.

Governor Pataki, the last defender of the ground zero Freedom Center, pulled the plug today, citing "controversy."

On the political front, this frees Jeanine Pirro and Ed Cox from their uncomfortable position to the left of Hillary Clinton. She had freely denounced it while they, bound to Pataki, held back.

More broadly, though, as Matt Schuerman got at in his piece on the subject in today's Observer, this is about the collapse of the center. There used to be uncontroversial ideas -- freedom, say -- and people -- call them moderate Republicans -- who embraced them. Tom Bernstein seems to be the last of that species. And Pataki is left sounding a bit plaintive:

"I strongly believe in this nation's core principle of freedom..."  read more »

I dig into the controversy over the City Council's decision to subsidize security at only three cultural institutions, the Museum of Natural History, Lincoln Center, and BAM, which has perplexed and angered officials at other leading groups.

Anna Schneider-Mayerson chats with the liberal Democrat who is Karl Rove's lawyer.

Matt Schuerman profiles Bertha Lewis, noting that Acorn's chief has gone from being Bruce Ratner's adversary to being his best friend, and in return won a chance to bring affordable housing to Brooklyn -- and a little help balancing her organization's books.

Jason Horowitz evaluates how two world-class architects, Renzo Piano and Frank Gehry, have developed very different niches in New York.  read more »

And do not miss Jessica Bruder's adventures in the suburban wilderness of her native New Jersey, where she found Ryan Mauro, 19, the self-styled Youngest Hired Geopolitical Analyst in North America. As it turns out, tracking terror is no easy feat. Particularly when you live with your parents.

We see the beginnings of a romance between Hillary and Rupert Murdoch.

Also, Conason blows the embargo on the scummy new Hillary bio, and Sheelah Kolhatkar profiles the author.  read more »

And we talk to Shelly Silver, and find him back in his shell.

And Matt Schuerman catches up with Doctoroff at his 25th Harvard reunion.

We explore the Democrats' Rudy problem, and Mike's complex relationship with his predecessor. Note Wolfson's musings, Jimmy Oddo's letter to Verna Eggleston, and cameos from people named Tomasky and Thrush.

Matt Schuerman explains what that Freedom Center thing is, and says it's going well.

Simon Doonan demands you stop whining about the Plaza.

Sheelah Kolhatkar has a counter-intuitive look at the recently controversial shortage of female newspaper columnists.  read more »

And our editorialists congratulate Joel Klein on the test scores.

We profile David Rosen, the Clinton fund-raiser on trial in Los Angeles.

We also try to untangle the troubled Sharpton-Ferrer relationship. And we claim partial, er, credit for starting the trouble.

Matt Schuerman explores Governor Pataki's, so far fruitless, efforts to wring money for a rail tunnel out of his Republican allies in Washington.

And Lizzy Ratner spent a whole lot of time, well, researching the Prime Grill, world center of Kosher power noshing.  read more »

And Jess Bruder heaps the requisite amount of scorn on that new New York theme song you all loved so much, and interviews composer Frank Wildhorn (third item).

Also, the Forward's E.J. Kessler makes a cameo with her take on the Democrats' efforts to pick up congressional seats.