Charlie King

Charlie King, who lost to Andrew Cuomo in the race to succeed Eliot Spitzer as attorney general, hopes David Paterson is up to the job of being governor.

"I think how he acquits himself over the next two years will determine whether it was a positive piece of history or a setback," said King, the director of Al Sharpton's National Action Network . "I think it is going to be a big challenge for David to run the state."

He continued: "I think he has got the skills and the personality. I think New Yorkers need a certain personality, particularly in New York City."  read more »

Here are some more post-election numbers, courtesy of the state Board of Elections:

$776,103.41 - money Andrew Cuomo has left in his account $92,782.16 - money Charlie King still has left in his campaign account $40,300 - contributions made to Cuomo between December 8, and December 12, 2006 $1,674 - money Andrew Cuomo spent on photography $1,579.35 - money Jeanine Pirro has left in her campaign account $28,800 - a contribution refunded to Richard Mack by Charlie King last week

-- Azi Paybarah

Andrew Cuomo announced members of his transition team at Fordham University this morning.

Worth noting on that transition are people like:

--Albany DA David Soares, who is investigating state comptroller Alan Hevesi over the chauffeur scandal;

--Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes, who is prosecuting former Assemblyman and Kings County Democratic Leader Clarence Norman;

--Ed Cox, one-time Republican senatorial challenger to Hillary Clinton; and

--former Democratic opponents Charlie King and Denise O'Donnell.

One group that is not heavily represented on the list are people currently in the Attorney General's office.

The full list is after the jump.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Early-bird Jason Horowitz made it to this morning's 8 a.m. press conference where the Rev. Al Sharpton endorsed Andrew Cuomo. Standing with Charlie King and Cuomo, the Rev. Al Sharpton said, "It's time to stop the politics of desperation, of mudslinging."

As if there was any doubt who he was referring to, Sharpton added, "This last minute desperation campaign is, in my opinion, what got us off the mark in 2001."

He'll be here all week, folks.

The presser, which for some reason was scheduled right before the 8:30 AG debate, ended without anyone taking questions.

-- Azi Paybarah

One of the tragedies of the Charlie King campaign was that he raised the second most amount of money in the race and, as Andrew Cuomo said repeatedly today, King was "exactly right," on a number of issues.

So how can a candidate with money, who is "exactly right" on the issues, do so poorly? First, King was locked out of the institutional support by Cuomo. Note the endorsement by Rep. Ed Towns ("While I originally supported a different candidate in the race, I have now reevaluated the candidates' credentials...") Towns, who was having troubles with unions over his support of CAFTA, switched his support from King to Cuomo, who many unions are backing.

In policy, Mark Green had King beat. King's signature issue was access to health care. The Daily News editorial board has been on a health care crusade on behalf of 9/11 rescue workers. The two crusaders never seemed to join forces. And while King set up a phone-line for people to call and make their complaints about health care, Green was reminded people of what he's already done on that issue. (The Joe Camel lawsuit, etc.)  read more »

It seems like the only place left to go was to be the the un-Cuomo and the un-Green candidate. In came Sean Maloney, who had a more legitimate claim to the title since he never ran for office before.

-- Azi Paybarah

Speaking of unity, Freddy Ferrer and Mark Green are about to make their second joint campaign appearance ever.

Just hours after Andrew Cuomo held a "united for justice" rally with Charlie King, the presumably positive event is a boon for Green, who has come under increasing pressure to stop his "comparison campaign" against Cuomo.

Ferrer and Green will be in Jackson Heights endorsing City Councilman Hiram Monserrate for state senate against incumbent John Sabini. Ferrer practically swept up all the endorsements of the elected officials in that area when he ran for mayor. For Green, who has been contributing money to Monserrate, it's a way to get a foothold in Cuomo's home borough.

The last time Green and Ferrer held a joint appearance, there was a bomb scare. Can't wait to see what happens today.

-- Azi Paybarah

Welcome back to work!

Candidates-at-yesterday's-parade coverage is here, here and here, flying doughnut coverage is here and here, and the Times combines the two themes in a B1 story that notes Jeanine Pirro's choice of heels over flats for march-wear.

The Post reports that "black foe" Charlie King is about to endorse Andrew Cuomo.

Jennifer Medina writes about Labor Day campaigning in the Connecticut Senate race and makes Lamont campaign manager Tom Swan the Man in the News.

The Post floods the zone on the story of Senate Democrats raising money in New York, saying in a news story that New York is their top source of campaign money and on Page Six that other Dems have been "invading" Hillary Clinton's turf in order to get their share from local donors. The Times reports that Dan Garodnick is trying to put other people's money where his mouth is trying to raise public and private money to buy Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village and rent them below market rates to middle class tenants.

Chuck Schumer gives the federal government a C- for their efforts to improve homeland security.

The New York Sun reports on David Paterson's attendance at a United Federation of Teachers event for increased hiring, and interprets Eliot Spitzer's absence as a "signal" of his ambivalence towards the measure.

Forest City Ratner is reacting to public pressure by scaling back the Atlantic Yards project.

And Dave Seifman writes that Charles Barron is the king of campaign poster violations.

-- Josh Benson

Was it a set-up, or a frank discussion about race?

Last night's forum about race and discrimination with Andrew Cuomo and Charlie King at the House of the Lord Church in Brooklyn attracted only about a dozen people (not counting staffers, reporters and elected officials). Perhaps a few more would have showed up if they knew firebrand Councilman Charles Barron, a member of the church, would get to ask a question.

"I'm very familiar with the history of HELP homes inc and Genesis homes, you're structure was white males... the higher up you went in HELPinc, the whiter it got...We had to demonstrate against your organization because of the structural racism, you had no black vice presidents - none...you brag about building homes and all the things you did in East New York, but there was a lot of structural racism in your organization...why should we believe you now"

Cuomo's responded:

"When I was there that wasn't the case, I then left and went to Washington...the exact opposite facts that you just stated are my record at HUD..."

The forum's moderator - who used to support King, but now backs Cuomo - Assemblyman Daryl Towns, finally got around to asking Barron to sit down...after about five minutes. [More of the exchange is after the jump.]

Afterwards, Towns turned to questions from the audience, which they submitted on index cards. The questions were picked by King's campaign manager and hand delivered by Cuomo's political director, Joe Percoco.

During the Barron exchange, Charlie King sat quietly with his head bowed.  read more »

Caitlin Klevorick, King's campaign spokeswoman, said there was no set up.

"Charlie Barron's question was of his own making we were totally unaware of the question until it was asked," she said. --Jason Horowitz

Andrew Cuomo stayed above the fray and towards the end, came off more relaxed than in previous appearances. Which is good, since he said he'll likely decline future debate invitations and instead, campaign at smaller forums across the state from now on.

Charlie King got more emotional than ever talking about his father's death from cancer. He even seemed to bury the hatchet with Cuomo, joking about his hairline and shaking hands with him before the debate ended.

Sean Maloney, who said Democrats have to talk about their passion and their belief, said he would defend every state law, despite his personal passion and beliefs. But he did have some great on-liners about literally, being between Cuomo and Mark Green.

Green seemed to say anything and everything to provoke Andrew Cuomo into an outburst. Towards the end, he seemed to have one himself when responding to a comment by Maloney.

Your observations?

-- Azi Paybarah

Hillary Clinton's lack of campaigning gets some attention from the Times.

This, on the day The Post comes to the defense of her anti-war challenger, Jonathan Tasini, saying Hillary's position on Iraq could "stand a little clarification" and asks why NY1 has barred Tasini from a debate while allowing "fringe Democrats" Charlie King and Sean Patrick Maloney to participate Thursday evening.

Can't wait for NY1's response.

As for the other all-but certain candidate running right now, Eliot Spitzer, his mystery is revealed. Daily News columnist Bill Hammond has a crack at explaining "how the millionaire's son who graduated from Horace Mann, Princeton and Harvard morphs into a champion for average New Yorkers." (Hint: cool TV ads.)

Mayor Bloomberg auditions for quote of the week, with this line about why he opposes paying for 9/11 health-related injuries. "[I]f we pay for this, there will be some library that won't be able to stay open an extra day..." How many TV ads can his (potential) '08 rivals make from that one?

And finally, in a story about how the federal government keeps suing NYC agencies, this odd fact:

"The federal government is arguing with the transit authority over an informational flyer that features a photograph of a Sikh transit authority employee wearing a turban with the logo...The transit authority is willing to remove the photograph only if the Justice Department pays a model to don the turban..."

-- Azi Paybarah

Even as Charlie King's campaign trails in the polls and struggles for attention from major media outlets and much of the Democratic political establishment, he's quietly collecting a pretty significant number of endorsements from minority officials.

Earlier today, he officially announced the backing of Assemblyman Carl Heastie, the youngest African-American in the legislature.

That's in addition to Ruth Hassell Thompson , Kevin Parker, Crystal Peoples , Annette Robinson and councilmembers Larry Seabrook, Charles Barron, and Kendall Stewart.

As Ben noted in the past, King has been willing to talk about race in this campaign -- particularly when he cast ballot access as a civil rights issue. It's worth asking how much of his support this year from minorities had to do with that. Or, for that matter, how much it has to do with the other candidates in the primary.

Thoughts?

-- Jason Horowitz

This morning, all the Democratic candidates for Attorney General sent out letters supporting Eliot Spitzer's call for the legislature to pass the Martin Act for Health Care and the False Claims Act before the conclusion of this year's legislative session.

While the two pieces of legislation would be an effective tool of the new AG, whoever it may be, it sure doesn't hurt to be putting out press releases with Spitzer's name in the text, especially for the candidates without the party's stamp of approval. Likewise, it doesn't hurt Spitzer to have all the warring AG candidates uniting to praise, as Charlie King says, "our next Governor."

Let the coronation continue.

- Jason Horowitz

Here's something we haven't seen a while: Charlie King coming to Andrew Cuomo's defense.

From the King campaign:

Today, Jeanine Pirro held a press conference outside of Andrew Cuomo's campaign office. In her statement she criticized Cuomo for being a non-practicing attorney. King campaign spokeswoman Caitlin Klevorick issued the following statement in response: "For Republican Jeanine Pirro to attack a Democrat for being a non-practicing attorney is like George Bush attacking Dick Cheney for being a compassionate conservative. New Yorkers need an Attorney General candidate who focuses on helping them and does not play games. Charlie King is that candidate."

Ben Smith has AG candidate Charlie King's new ad up here.

The first reviews from commenters on The Daily Politics aren't good.

In other AG water-treading exercises, Jeanine Pirro's Web site looks like it re-launched yesterday. (Are we wrong about that?)

Medicaid fraud gets top billing, just above sexual predators, a rather more grisly forte to tout, and a little less "of the moment." - Tom McGeveran

The Maryland Senate candidate and former NAACP chief is holding a fundraiser there tonight with an impressive host list, including Bill Cosby, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., H. Carl McCall, David Dinkins, Earl Graves, and Charlie King.

Tomorrow morning bright and early, Bill Weld will be the featured guest at Crain’s Business Breakfast.

Council Member John Liu will address the New York City Transit Riders Council.

In the evening, the Brookhaven Town Democratic Committee will host Eliot Spitzer, Alan Hevesi, Richard Brodsky, Andrew Cuomo, Mark Green, Charlie King and Denise O’Donnell at their monthly meeting. [UPDATE: Sean Patrick Maloney will also be in attendance.]

And Jonathan Bing hosts a wine tasting fundraiser.

—Nicole Brydson