Charles Hynes

Assemblywoman Diane Gordon of Brooklyn was found guilty this afternoon of two counts of receiving bribes, two counts of official misconduct and two counts of “receiving rewards for official misconduct,” according to a spokesman for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.

Gordon could face between 2 1/3 to 10 years in prison, and will, of course, be forced to give up her seat.

One politician considered a possible contender for her position is Charles Barron, a term-limited Councilman in the district who is, right now, running for borough president.

UPDATE: Here is an official statement from the city's Department of Investigation. And Gordon's official Assembly page is already down.

UPDATE II: Sheldon Silver released a statement: "This is an unfortunate situation and my heart goes out to Ms. Gordon’s family. However, this has been proven to be a breach of the public trust and the legal system is dealing with it accordingly."  read more »

Charles Hynes spoke with reporters outside City Hall earlier today about dropping murder charges against a former FBI agent after a Village Voice article damaged the credibility of the prosecution’s start witness.

Statements the witness, Linda Schiro, made a decade ago contradicted her later testimony to the Brooklyn DA's office.

Had they known about the earlier testimony, Hynes said, “It would have been unthinkable to proceed.”

Here's something I picked up at a Brooklyn street fair recently: a coloring book featuring Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes. The book, which is only a few pages long, was handed out during a recent Atlantic Avenue street fair recently, along with a small box of crayons. It features scenes in court rooms and assistant district attorneys out of the court room doing things like "teaching a student."

It's never too soon to know about your elected officials. I guess.

Eliot Spitzer's administration is bringing aboard Mark Peters, one of the unsuccessful Brooklyn District Attorney candidates who challenged incumbent Charles Hynes in a primary two years ago.

Peters will be the Special Deputy Superintendent in charge of the New York Liquidation Bureau. Previously, Peters worked in Spitzer's AG office as chief of the Public Integrity Unit.

The official statement on Mark Peters is here.

-- Azi Paybarah

At the Democratic state convention coming up next month, the Politicker has been told, candidates without 25 percent of the vote will not be able to speak or have a place on the Democratic primary ballot in September (unless they petition to do so). Andrew Cuomo could have been a victim of this rule in 2002 (he bypassed the convention and went straight to petitioning) when he ran against Carl McCall for the gubernatorial nomination.

Four years later, as front runner for attorney general, it seems he will be the beneficiary of it. When running for governor, Cuomo was quoted telling his backers, "I want to be the candidate who was placed on the ballot by the people, not by the party."

In another blast from the past, something that could trouble the leading Democratic candidates in this year's AG race is if Denise O'Donnell can coalesce her support as Karen Burstein did when she ran against G. Oliver Koppell, Charles Hynes and Eliot Spitzer in 1994, effectively splitting the primary ticket in her favor even though she lost the general.

—Nicole Brydson

Memories, it seems, are short in Brooklyn.

Just last year, Assemblyman Dov Hikind campaigned, hard, against the incumbent district attorney, Joe Hynes, and for the organization candidate, John Sampson.

But on April 2, Dov will be presenting awards at the Boro Park Jewish Community Council’s legislative breakfast, including the "distinguished guardian award for integrity in government" to... one Charles J. Hynes. A reader who followed those Brooklyn races recalls that that wasn’t exactly what Hikind was saying about Hynes at the time.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, something of a stickler on residency issues, seems to have established that the time he spends in Breezy Point doesn't endanger his legal residency in Brooklyn.

But that doesn't mean it's not a political liability, which challenger Mark Peters probes pretty directly in this spot.  read more »

The letters on the screen read: "District Attorney Charles Hynes doesn't see all the corruption in Brooklyn...Maybe that's because he lives in a gated community...in Breezy Point, Queens."

Does anyone really believe that the Indian Point nuclear-power plant deserves to continue operating?  read more »

A powerful endorsement of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's efforts to reform the beleaguered New York City  read more »