Scott Stringer

In the latest in a string of outer-borough events, one of which recently took Scott Stringer to Queens, today the Manhattan borough president was in Brooklyn filming an appearance on Brooklyn Community Access Television (BCAT), a public affairs channel that serves viewers outside Stringer's home turf.  read more »

Protesters and politicans plan to rally in Chelsea on Saturday against the displacement of a handful of small businesses on Ninth Avenue by landlord Morris Monian.

Eight stores along what organizers are calling “the last ungentrified block in Chelsea” —including Chelsea Liquors, the Ninth Avenue Gift Shop, Sweet Banana Candy Store, New Barber Shop and Famous Deli—have between three months and two years before their lease expires.

Organizers said the shops cater directly to residents of the Fulton Houses affordable housing complex across the street.  read more »

The Queens County Line Democratic Club just announced that Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who has not said whether he will seek higher office in 2009, will be speaking to the organization tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Sholom in Glen Oaks.

A quote from Democratic District Leader Henry McCoy included in the release reads, "Scott Stringer has visited our organization several times including during his prior service as a Member of the Assembly and our members and friends look forward to learning about his possible plans for citywide office."

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh, Councilman Dan Garodnick, and assorted community groups are hosting a town hall meeting on Thursday evening to discuss the issues facing Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village residents.

The non-renewal notices from landlord Tishman Speyer that are allegedly flooding the mailboxes of both legal and illegal rent-stabilized tenants will be on the agenda; so will rent protection for market-rate tenants, roof improvements, and development concerns for the Con Edison site along First Avenue, according to a release issued today.  read more »

Speaking at the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats club last night, public advocate candidate Norman Siegel said he doesn't plan to use the office of public advocate as a stepping stone.

The civil rights lawyer has said before that he is interested in protecting citizens' civil liberties, but he doesn't want to make the painful decisions that an executive has to make. According to one attendee, Siegel said, as an example, that he couldn't bring himself to close libraries on Sundays as a cost-saving measure.  read more »

This Sunday, likely mayoral candidates Bill Thompson and Anthony Weiner are among those expected to deliver remarks at a breakfast organized by the West Side Community of Orthodox Jewish Organizations.

Notably absent from the invitation is Christine Quinn, another likely mayoral candidate who does, after all, represent parts of the West Side.

The March 30 event is taking place at the New York Historical Society, and will also include remarks from Representative Jerry Nadler and a tribute to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.  read more »

If the city does not get behind a proposal to build a public park on the Murray Hill segment of the East River esplanade now when a trio of high-profile construction projects are in various stages of development, the five-year-old plan to build a green space in the area may never be realized.

With the public review process for Sheldon Solow’s 6.5 million-square-foot mixed-use development from 36th to 41st streets on First Avenue wrapping up—the plans are in the last stage of the approval process with City Council—and a hearing about the neighborhood’s rezoning approaching on Monday, a host of community groups and local politicos politely reminded city and state officials just how much they want a park.  read more »

Here is another indicator that Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer may be looking to run for a citywide office in 2009.

According to this flyer from the Independent Neighborhood Democrats, a political club in Brooklyn, Stringer will be a guest speaker there later this month.  read more »

Location: What do you think about the concept behind the city’s plan to rezone 125th Street, where the city wants to allow for significantly more development along much of the corridor?

Mr. Stringer: It’s one of the more famous streets in the world and a rezoning is appropriate. But this community needs much more than just a sliver rezoning, so we need to think beyond 125th Street.  read more »

Scott Stringer, the guy whose 2009 intentions are still not clear, is having a fund-raiser at Butter, a chic place on Lafayette Street, on January 9, according to an invitation a reader just sent me.

Tickets range from $50 to $1,000. But, according to the fund-raising email that accompanied the invitation, “Members of political clubs and students can purchase tickets at the reduced price of $45.”

Speculation as to which office he’ll seek, can be made here for free.

Also worth noting are the members of the host committee, as outlined in the email: Jennifer Cunningham, an influential advocate for 1199, Patrick Gaspard, another influential labor leader, Risa Heller and Ryan Toohey, both consultants at Global Strategies, Allen Roskoff, an outspoken gay rights activist, Maura Moynihan, daughter of the late senator, and Brice Peyre, an aide to congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.

Here's an invitation to a November 14 fund-raiser for state Senator John Sabini of Queens, which is being organized by Scott Stringer, the Manhattan Borough President.

Sabini is in a safely Democratic seat in Jackson Heights, Queens, but he may face a strong challenge from the Democratic City Councilman who almost beat him in a previous race, Hiram Monserrate.

For Stringer, the benefits of making friends outside Manhattan could pay off if and when he decides to seek higher office.

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew Cuomo will introduce Scott Stringer at a fund-raising breakfast tomorrow in the Time Warner Building, according to an item in Crain’s today.

(The event is tomorrow morning, at 8 a.m. at Landmarc.)

Stringer, right now the Borough President in Manhattan, hasn’t said what office he’ll be seeking in 2009. He's term-limited in 2013 [updated].

Scott Stringer is looking for interns to help with campaign fund-raising.

Adolfo Carrion is hiring a research analyst.

And an Assembly member in Queens is looking for a community liaison.

As more and more New York politicians are preparing their candidacies for the 2009 citywide races, Scott Stringer too has a decision to make. He can either coast to a second term as Manhattan Borough President or pursue a more ambitious, and hard-to-win, position.

His consultant, Josh Isay, seems to be leaving Stringer's options open. 

“He’s had the job for less than two years," Isay just told me. "He’s accomplished a lot in that period of time and is continued to stay focused on the substantive agenda he has as borough president.”

Stringer's hand is somewhat forced in the matter. If he doesn’t run for an open seat now, he’ll face the prospects of being term-limited as Manhattan Borough President when every citywide elected position is held by an incumbent.  read more »

Here's a shot of some firemen searching City Hall last night around 7 p.m. after the building was briefly evacuated because of a possible smoke condition.

As quickly as the orders came to evacuate, the firemen gave the go-ahead for everyone to return.

Line of the Day came from Scott Stringer, whose tribute to Italian-American culture was abandoned as the dozens of attendees were forced out onto the City Hall Steps. His (deadpan) reaction: "Was it something I said?"

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is looking for a director of community affairs.

He's also hiring a director of communications.

The Transport Workers Union, which is fighting the effects of penalties levied against it for an illegal strike, wants to hire a political assistant.

Local 32BJ is hiring a director of communications.

The US-Ukraine Foundation needs a political analyst in D.C.

A private contractor in D.C. needs a writer to help the “Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Office.”

And campaign staffers are needed immediately in D.C. $15 an hour. No experience necessary.

Columbia University pledged today to spend more than $32.5 million in West Harlem on affordable housing, a new park, landscaping for public housing complexes and the like. In return, the school’s expansion plan received the endorsement of Borough President Scott M. Stringer.

It was, if you think about it, a small investment to make, given that the new 17-acre campus, north of 125th Street and generally west of Broadway, is going to cost something like $6 billion.

President Bollinger, who shared the podium with Mr. Stringer at a press conference this afternoon in the borough president’s offices, said, however, “We want to do our part… This is not a trivial amount.”

Mr. Stringer’s endorsement is not binding; only the City Planning Commission, the City Council and the Mayor have a real say in rezoning. But it helps turn around a narrative that has been dominated by community opposition to the plan, including the local community board’s 31-2 vote against Columbia.

Some $20 million will be devoted to an affordable housing fund that will partially offset the indirect displacement that the new campus is expected to cause outside the footprint.

But given the fact that it costs, conservatively, somewhere around $400,000, and sometimes as much as $1 million, to build an affordable apartment in Manhattan, the contribution would only go so far in alleviating the indirect displacement. The draft environmental impact statement, for instance, says that “approximately 3,293” nearby residents would be forced out because of gentrification.

In addition, Columbia said it would turn a piece of its campus into a park, pay for its maintenance, and make other improvements around the area, including $11.25 million over 25 years to keep up a new waterfront part nearby.

Mr. Stringer said he would recommend against the use of eminent domain in the plan, but did not make that a condition of his support. (The university has already forsworn eminent domain to take residential property.)

Nick Sprayregen, owner of storage facilities in the footprint who could see his properties taken by eminent domain (albeit with "just compensation”), e-mailed to say, “Mr. Stringer is now in effect backing Columbia’s continued forced relocation of tenants and the threatened use of eminent domain against all who refuse to sell to Columbia with the threat of condemnation hanging over their heads.”

Councilman and all-but-announced city comptroller candidate Simcha Felder of Brooklyn hired another staffer: Eric Kuo, who will be the new new press person.

Kuo previously did press for Councilman Vincent Gentile, a Democrat in the conservative-leaning Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn (the same area that produced Democratic operatives George Fontas, Scott Gastel and Sam Cooper). He also worked for Councilman Oliver Koppell in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. (There are probably some notable operatives from there too, but I'll need some help on that one.)

More on Kuo after the jump.  read more »

About that talk going around that City Councilman David Yassky of Brooklyn will enter the already-crowded City Comptroller’s race in 2009...

"I’m not trying to be coy about it," Yassky just told me. "I want to stay in government. I love this work. I think I’ll want to keep doing it after my term is over. And I think I’ll be in another election," but 2009 is "too far away and I have not decided. We’re not there."

Though there are at least five candidates, it's not that outlandish for Yassky to calculate that there may be room for one more. The list of announced and likely candidates for comptroller include Simcha Felder and James Brennan of Brooklyn, and John Liu, Melinda Katz and David Weprin of Queens, if I'm not missing anyone. The pool of voters in Manhattan, in the absence of another entrant (Scott Stringer, maybe?), are anything but locked down.

Yassky is popular with the New York Times and with Michael Bloomberg, who has already held two fund-raisers for Felder, but has shared national TV time with Yassky. So, if he can line up backing uptown and in his part of Brooklyn... who knows?

Here is a one-minute interview with Assemblyman-elect Micah Kellner circa 11 p.m. last night after giving his victory speech to supporters at a bar on Second Avenue. He says it’s great to be a 28-year-old heading into public office, hopes to vote for a gay marriage bill, and wants to block development of a waste transfer station on East 91st Street.

Among the people celebrating Kellner's victory last night were his old boss, Comptroller Bill Thompson, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Council members Dan Gardonick, Jessica Lappin, and Vinny Gentile, to name a few. Not there was one of his key consultants, Evan Stavisky, who spent most of his day overseeing the election of several candidates in local New Jersey primaries.

Here are Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz at a luncheon of the Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn on Saturday.

At the event, Stringer explained to the crowd he had simply made a "wrong turn" and ended up there.  read more »

• Horrifyingly, the basement lounge at the Chelsea Hotel (where Leonard Cohen remembers you well) has been transformed into "an offbeat retreat." Designer Richardson Sadeki even had the gall to drop in some dead-Sex Pistols references. [Interior Design]
• After taking seven bad hits of L.S.D., Robert Scarano reimagines Stuy Town as a post-apocalyptic, post-Blade Runner wasteland [above]. [NY Post, via Curbed]
• Manhattan Prez Scott Stringer organized a city-wide preservation love-train. "It was great to have Uptown talking with Downtown," he said, "East Side talking with West Side and all of them talking with me." People all over the world, join hands. [Villager]
• Now that the Jitney has come to Brooklyn, The Great Jitney War of '07 is heating up! In a nutshell: West Side psychoanalysts are furious. [Sun] - Max Abelson
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Mayor Bloomberg surrounded himself with a gaggle of supporters in the blue room the other day when announced the appointment of a citywide parent coordinator to help rebuff the notion he's not including enough parent input about education.

On the February 28 press release, Bloomberg named a few more supporters who didn't turn up for the event. One of them was Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who went on NY1 later that night as one of critics of the mayor's education plan.

Stringer's communication director, Eric Pugatch, emailed me to explain his boss' position on the mayor's education efforts.

"It has become increasingly clear that those with the most at stake in the system - parents, teachers and students - are frustrated and confused. Borough President Stringer has had positive discussions with Chancellor Klein and Deputy Mayor Walcott about taking concrete steps to improve parental involvement in restructuring decisions. When he agrees with such decisions - as he did with the appointment of a Chief Family Engagement Officer - he will be right there to applaud the moves. When he disagrees and believes there is more to be done to improve the policies at DOE, he won't be afraid to speak out."

-- Azi Paybarah

Maloney, Lappin, Garodnick, Bing... Stringer!

Another uptown Democrat endorses Micah Kellner for Assembly. The release is after the jump.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

With a number of Assembly members vying for the comptroller position, it's hard see how one is substantially more qualified than the others.

It's safe to say that from the point of view of the reform-minded governor, independence from the legislative leaders ranks high on the list of qualifications. One way that could have been demonstrated, apparently, was to buck the Assembly leadership two years ago by signing on to a resolution written by former Assemblyman Scott Stringer supporting some rules changes recommended by the Brennan Center.

That's what Joe Morelle of Monroe County did, and he was later rewarded with a letter of support from the Brennan Center folks Jeremy Creelan, a lawyer now in private practice but who earlier helped put together the Brennan Center's report.

The changes were designed to democratize the legislative process by empowering rank-and-file members and reduce the power of the Assembly Speaker. A risky move in the pre-Spitzer days.

The other most often-mentioned comptroller candidates - Richard Brodsky, Tom DiNapoli, and Pete Grannis - didn't sign on.

Update: Creelan was in private practive by the time he sent his letter in support of Morelle. The Brennan Center does not support any candidates.

-- Azi Paybarah

Despite stern letters to the city's Buildings Department from heavyweights like City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Donald Trump appears to be moving forward in Soho with his grand condo-hotel. Recent photos show a hole for the condo-hotel off Spring Street only getting bigger. - Tom Acitelli

With all the (self-induced) buzz about Mike Bloomberg's presidential run, it is easy to forget he still has to deal with local issues, like traffic.

Streetsblog notes that's the issue Bloomberg is being to task over, by Manhattan's Gale Brewer and Scott Stringer, who both want to explore congestion pricing.

Gridlock may be the last vestige of New York's legacy as an ungovernable city. And if he can solve that, how tough can Medicaid and Social Security be to solve?

-- Azi Paybarah

The Real Estate originally reported on Wednesday about the Donald's premature sales moves regarding his planned condo-hotel in Soho. Seems Trump posted a questionnaire on the condo-hotel's Web site asking potential buyers if they would use the project as a "primary residence," "secondary residence," or "investment property."

According to an email sent on Wednesday night to The Real Estate by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's office, it was the Beep who called Trump out on the questionnaire. (If Trump is, indeed, building a condo-hotel, he can't sell the units as primary residences, and probably shouldn't be touting them as secondary or as investment residences.)

Trump's people took the questionnaire down on Wednesday afternoon.

After the jump, Stringer's stern Wednesday letter to the city Department of Buildings, which has yet to grant Trump a permit for the condo-hotel (but probably will soon). It's signed by other notables, including U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose name on the letter is misspelled.  read more »

UPDATE: Stringer's office tells The Real Estate on Thursday morning that it caught the Nadler misspelling before the final letter went to the Buildings Department. The one after the jump is an earlier, uncorrected version. Whew! UPDATE 2: Stringer's office also tells The Real Estate that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn "wrote her own strong letter" to the department regarding Trump's questionnaire. - Tom Acitelli

Refreshing

Yesterday morning, Manhattan Borough Prez Scott Stringer stood in front of a petite crowd of protestors -- eight folks from the Municipal Art Society, plus many more cameramen and reporters.

Why were they there? "Black mail advertisement!" Mr. Stringer said. "Excuse me. Black market advertisement!" He gestured to the Citibank billboard behind him, a mammoth ad that wraps around the entire Flatiron Building on scaffolding.

"If you see it on a scaffold," he said, "it's not legal."

"This is a sophisticated operation yielding millions of dollars. The Munipal Art Society identified 44 of the worst spots, and close to 80% were never inspected or fined. 29% are on landmarked or historic buildings! If Philadelphia can register legal ads, so they can go after the illegal, why can't we?"

We can. The Department of Buildings just passed new regulations against outdoor advertising--which involve registration and $25,000 fines against "visual clutter." But that new law wasn't mentioned by Mr. Stringer.

Yet maybe this corporate graffiti is an implacable enemy: four trees blocking the view of a Chelsea cell phone billboard were recently cut down. No one seems to know why.

See also: NY1 (and Curbed/MAS)  read more »

Update: Citibank says it will "look into the matter" of its Flatiron eyesore. - Max Abelson

• Brokers have it so bad these days. Sure, sky-high rents help boost brokers' fees, but apparently they also boost the "incentive to avoid" those fees in the first place. The solution? William B. May agent David Francis Calderazzo points out that "a broker can make a person's life very miserable if they want to." Yet Mr. Calderazzo swears he had nothing to do with that whole Krazy-Glue-in-the -locks-of-a-deadbeat-client incident. (New York Times)
• Residents of West 75th street complain about their gorgeous gardens. Landlords have cruelly begun to pave over straight-from-Cape-Cod flowers--on account of the horrid rodent infestation. Thankfully there are the proud rebels who cry: "We have the largest garden on the block and we're not going to pave it." (New York Times)
• NYC is charging the late Nicholas Bartha $230,000 to clean up after his obliterated home on East 62nd. On the other hand, his wife is owed $4 million. (AP, via Newsday)
• Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer sets out in search of local real estate vacancies. Manhattan Borough Presidents: they're just like us! (NY1)
- Max Abelson  read more »
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Tonight, Tom Suozzi will hold a town hall meeting at a Knights of Columbus in Queens to answer questions about his candidacy and his plans for New York.

Tomorrow, the Lexington Democratic Club host Jessica Lappin and Scott Stringer at their monthly meeting at Brown Gardens.

The Women's National Republican Club hosts a summer BBQ.

A benefit to save Washington Square Park will be held at St. Mark's Church. A peace rally will take place at the U.N. —Nicole Brydson

Urban Elephants rounds up the parade schedule for the weekend.

On Saturday, the Stonewall Democrats brunch with Carl Andrews.

Anti-war activists will gather at the New York Public library and walk to the Intrepid to hold a vigil.

Monday, Scott Stringer and Gale Brewer host a memorial service and walk to Grant's Tomb.

Enjoy the holiday weekend!

—Nicole Brydson

Tonight, Scott Stringer speaks to housing activists and West Side residents at P.S. 51 on West 45th Street.

Tomorrow morning, Marty Markowitz breaks ground for the tallest tower in Brooklyn.

Then, Charles Barron and Kendall Stewart hold a press conference on the Voting Rights Restoration Act.

And in the evening, John Crawford discusses his book The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell about his time as a soldier in Iraq.

—Nicole Brydson

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's new set of Community Board has been anxiously awaited in Manhattan political circles, and it's out today, with a couple of notable names and a general sense of a change of course. Stringer instituted a new, open, application process, and apparently dropped sitting members who didn't bother participating. He purged quite a bit downtown and, with Councilwoman Inez Dickens, replaced some of the Harlem allies of Virginia Fields and Bill Perkins. Jo Hamilton, whom Virginia removed, is back on Community Board 2.

Other notable new Community Board members: Stringer aide and political consultant Micah Lasher; erstwhile Working Families Party Mayoral Candidate Kevin Finnegan; former City Council chief-of-sfatt Forrest Taylor (a Dickens appointment); and smoothing things over in Harlem, Amsterdam News publisher Elinor Tatum, who will sit on Community Board 3 -- which is not, by the way, anywhere near Harlem, but never mind.

Anyway, you can read the full list here.

The Upper West Side’s special election on Feb.  read more »

The Upper West Side’s special election on Feb.  read more »

Brian Kavanagh, the second-place finisher in a crowded East Side City Council race last year, didn't contest the special election to the State Assembly by Sylvia Friedman yesterday in an essentially uncontested race.

But a recent call to Knickerbocker SKD, Kavanagh's consultants (who also worked for Mike, Scott Stringer, and new West Side assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal) found that their voicemail now has an option for "Kavanagh for Assembly."

This could produce one of the year's harder-fought primaries. Among other factors, Friedman didn't have to raise much money for her insider-driven Assembly win; Kavanagh broke $100,000 for his Council race, and a source says he's already brought in $60,000 for this fall.

...to the Ground Zero derby! New Manhattan Beep Scott Stringer just sent out a press release calling for the city Independent Budget Office to analyze the need for office space downtown. Borough presidents and the I.B.O. are, it is probably safe to say, bit players in the drama of city politics, but the move could have interesting ramifications. Does this mean that Stringer doesn't believe the Mayor, who has predicted doom and gloom for Larry Silverstein's rebuilt World Trade Center, or does he? -Matthew Schuerman

Jason Haber, the Executive Director of the now-vacant West Side Assembly district office, emails the news that Scott Stringer's old office on 72nd Street ("which looked like a scene out of a 1970s horror flick") has been taken over temporarily the producers of a Ben Stiller comedy, "Night at the Museum," who have rechristened it the "Big Apple Employment Agency."

The production company is contributing $3,000 to local schools and fixing up the office.

"Its like being on extreme makeover -- Assembly edition here," writes Haber, who's hoping to have a cameo.

The film is about a bumbling security guard at the Museum of Natural History who finds that the taxidermized animals come to life each night. Kind of like certain members of the New York State Assembly, actually.

The complex, weighted County Committee members' vote on who will get the Democratic nomination to succeed two departing members of the State Assembly is by definition an inside process, but yesterday's results suggest that it isn't quite as under control as, say, the bygone institution of judicial conventions. (Nostalgia sets in fast around here!)

Scott Stringer's choice to take his West Side seat, Linda Rosenthal, won a first round victory, albeit over a real challenge; but on the East Side, Sylvia Friedman Freedman beat Steve Sanders's preferred candidate for his seat.

Some of the numbers are in for the contest to replace Scott Stringer in the State Assembly, a race whose first round will be fought in a vote of Democratic State Committee members sometime soon, and which will really be decided in what's expected to be a contested Democratic Primary in the fall.

Charles Simon leads the pack with $174,000 on hand, which includes a $100,000 loan from himself. Marc Landis has $123,600 on hand. And Linda Rosenthal, the Nadler staffer who is seen as a frontrunner, has just $10,000.  read more »

Of course, the state committee race is pretty much free. The fall primary probably won't be though.

Not since the days when George Washington Plunkitt represented the West Side in the State Senate has  read more »

People around City Hall have said for a while that Mike would prefer Chris Quinn as Speaker to Bill de Blasio.

And here's a tidbit in support of that thesis: Quinn retained as a consultant on her run Josh Isay, the same ex-Schumer aide who was a consultant to Bloomberg's reelection campaign. (It was a very good year for Isay and partner Micah Lasher, who also ran Scott Stringer's campaign for Borough President.)

But why would Mike like Chris? She's genuinely combative, and played a key role in foiling the stadium project.

Still, she's by her roots a local pol, not -- like de Blasio -- a Democratic operative who might have set himself up as an ideological or partisan challenger to the Mayor.

What's more, de Blasio might have fit more easily into the role of rallying constituencies outside the Mayor's liberal Manhattan base. He's an outer-borough guy with an Italian name. His roots in the black community go back to his years with Dinkins. He has ties to Democratic activists around Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.

Chris's personal style is much more combative than Bill's or Gifford Miller's, but her base is a subset of Mike's own. So the threat she poses to Mike seems, like Giff's, limited.  read more »

NOTE: One other indicator I neglected to mention: Borough Park's Simcha Felder came out for Chris in a fashion particularly damaging to de Blasio, something one thinks he might have at least run past the folks in Bloomberg's political operation after working so hard for Mike's reelection.

Among the contenders for the West Side assembly seat vacated by Scott Stringer is Tom Weiss, the son of legendary, liberal Congressman Ted Weiss, who sought to impeach Ronald Reagan over the Grenada invasion. (Those were the days!)

The younger Weiss is not a West Side political insider. His connection to politics has been via Israel, of which he's a dual citizen and where, according to the bio on the Web site of the pro-Israel group he now runs, he was one of the "top three voice-over artists."

Says his press release: "The thought process behind Tom's platform is 'Don't sit on the sidelines, come join the team. Let's connect people, providing hope and making peoples lives more enjoyable, more aware and certainly happier.'"

At the moment, the several candidates are preparing for a special election, and under the state's peculiar rules, a serious edge will go to whomever the local members of the Democratic Committee pick, likely with the guidance of Stringer and Rep. Jerry Nadler, Ted Weiss's successor. That, I'm told by people who follow these things, is likely to be Nadler aide Linda Rosenthal. If the Democratic nominee does with the special election, however, he or she is still likely to face a real primary in September from one of the other candidates, who are listed here.  read more »

(And -- don't worry Betsy -- he's not that Tom Weiss.)

NOTE: It took about three seconds after I posted this for another person who follows the race rather closely to get in touch to argue that there's no clear frontrunner, and that in fact it's "a nine-way race with a crazy process in which there are no kingmakers and jerry/scott/eric are waiting to see."

It's a blog stroll! Or just consider call it a pre-debate hors d'oeuvre: The Wonkster reported on young Dems who can hardly wait to see a debate...on The West Wing. A 16-foot long, 800-pound pig will menace Manhattan tomorrow, forecasts Scott Sala at Urban Elephants. The creature will arrive in City Hall Park to protest Proposal One, bearing a "Stop the Pork!" sign. Counter-protesters welcome; hibachis and BBQ sauce are optional.

If you haven't been following the Manhattan BP, er, race since Scott Stringer won the Democratic primary, Karol at Alarming News offers some revelations on Republican candidate Barry Popik. She reads Barry's odd entry in the voter registration guide ("'I will never forget finally dedicating 'Big Apple Corner,' alone, in the rain, while my mother was dying") and admits total freaky bafflement. (last asterisked item) Chuck Schumer got mad props over at TPMCafe for pushing the leak investigation.  read more »

Harriet Miers spoke to the good folks at SNL's Weekend Update, and there's an amusing snippet of her appearance the sketch over at the Crooks and Liars blog (along with some Stewart-on-Scooter). For all it lacks in breadth, the Stop Her Now campaign certainly makes up for in, errr, punchiness [via Eschaton].

At the end of this afternoon's press conference, Freddy parted ways with Howard Dean, who'd just endorsed him as "the education candidate." Freddy hopped into a black sedan; Howard descended the stairs at 86th and Broadway to catch a downtown 1 train.

After a brief scuffle with a disagreeable MetroCard machine and a cranky turnstile, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee made it out to the platform just as the train's doors bing-bong'ed shut. The next train was full of rush hour commuters, most too exhausted to notice him. "This is my corporate jet!" Dean jibed, responding to a barb from Bloomberg earlier today.

So what came out of the actual presser? Freddy and Howard tried to maintain a tight focus on education, taking shots along the way at Mike's limitless campaign fund and his support for Bush. But everyone else wanted to talk about the flap over Freddy's blog. Finally, an exasperated Dean intervened: "What is this obsession with blogs? Does anybody care about education in this city?"

Piping up from behind, Senator Schneiderman joked: "You started it!"

Freddy was asked if he feels slighted by the Working Families Party, which will endorse him but won't bestow the coveted ballot line. "An endorsement by the Working Families Party is an endorsement," he insisted. "And as you all know, the Bloomberg forces very heavily contested this, so I'm very proud to have the endorsement of the Working Families Party."

Finally, Freddy and Howard wandered to Broadway where, along with a beaming Scott Stringer, they greeted straphangers coming out of the subway station.

"Weclome home West Siders!" Stringer hollered. His constituents looked bewildered as they surfaced into the media fray. "We've been waiting for you," he yelled. "This is the welcoming committee!"

From the edge of the crowd, an intrepid Columbia J-School student managed to shout a question: "Freddy, what do you say to Democrats for Bloomberg?"  read more »

Before the candidate could speak, Dean fired back. "What Democrats for Bloomberg?"

The Working Families Party is continuing to hedge at the top of the ticket, running one Kevin Finnegan as the party's Mayoral candidate. But while they're holding out on the Mayor's race, they have endorsed Scott Stringer for Borough President, joining a number of labor groups that seem to be spending more time and energy on that race than on the Mayoral.  read more »