Joanna Rose

Talk about kicking a man when he's down.

John Koblin just called from Ditmars Boulevard to report that on her visit to some businesses in the affected area, Hillary Clinton said it was "a real mistake" by the governor not to ask for northwestern Queens to be declared a federal disaster area, which she and Chuck Schumer have both advocated.

"Unfortunately the governor doesn't agree," she said.

Accompanied by Carolyn Maloney, Mike Gianaris, Eric Gioia, Peter Vallone Jr., John Sabini and a mob of sweaty television and print reporters, she also called for an independent board to oversee the utility and a federal investigation into what went wrong.

It's worth noting that, like a number of the Democratic officials who have been most outspoken about the blackout, she didn't seem as inclined to criticize Mike Bloomberg.

When someone asked her about the mayor's kind words for Con Ed's leadership, she limited herself to the following statement: "I'm thinking for myself, and I'm very disappointed about how this whole matter was handled."

-- Josh Benson UPDATE: Pataki spokesperson Joanna Rose called to declare, not for the first time, that the governor can't make such a request without the mayor first doing so. Referring to Hillary Clinton's comments, Rose said, "She's obviously ignorant of the process. The local municipality would have to request such a designation to be made. The governor cannot unilaterally make that declaration."

Governor Pataki is usually the mild one when it comes to Ground Zero skirmishes. There must have been something he didn't like though about the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation saying it would stop fundraising, because his spokeswoman Joanna Rose has just sent this excoriating e-mail to reporters:

"The Mayor and the Governors are already on the same page--we have the Arad/Walker design and we have a $500 million budget, of which over $200 million is already committed from public sources. The Memorial Foundation should focus on their most important task-- fund-raising."

Huh, you mean the foundation voted on this without consulting its biggest donor, the state?

-Matthew Schuerman

Governor Pataki--who, last we heard, was in Puerto Rico--announced this evening that the Senate Finance Committee had approved an important revenue stream for the much-vaunted rail link from JFK to Lower Manhattan: the left-over Sept. 11 tax credits. This could be a big deal—the $6 billion connection, which would run on LIRR tracks and under the East River through a new tunnel, has only about one-sixth of its funding secure. Not that everyone wants this one-seater funded: transit advocates would rather see money spent elsewhere (like on Second Avenue, say).

According to Joanna Rose, a spokeswoman for the Governor, the committee vote today did not answer the crucial question: the exchange rate. As tax credits to businesses in Lower Manhattan adding employees and depreciating their equipment, they would be worth $2 billion, but a congressional committee earlier this year determined that they would convert to $727 million if used for other purposes. Stay tuned….  read more »

-Matthew Schuerman