Patricia Lynch

On the top of this invitation for Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's June 5 fund-raiser is a name I haven’t seen associated with his campaign before: Patricia Lynch.

She’s a major Albany lobbyist who most recently was charged with getting congestion pricing passed in the capitol. Lynch is also an experienced fund-raiser--last year, Bill Clinton headlined one of her events.  read more »

Even as Darren Dopp prepares to take a job with Patricia Lynch Associates , he's still listed on the state government's web site as the governor's communications director.

Which prompted the question, during a discussion I had with another reporter last night, of who's going to replace him.

One candidate would seem to be the director of communications for the state Division of Budget, Jeffrey Gordon, who has been working in the governor's press office "on an interim basis" since Dopp's suspension from his job in July. (Which, by the way, marked the first time since Spitzer's been in elected office that he didn't have Dopp as his communications director.)

Any other ideas?

UPDATE: Gordon told me in an email that no changes to the press office have been made.

The fact that Darren Dopp now has a job at Patricia Lynch’s lobbying firm seems to demonstrate, among other things, that he's viewed as a valuable commodity on the ground in Albany even after being named as a key figure in the biggest scandal to affect the Spitzer administration so far.

(As Wayne Barrett and Bill Hammond note, just because it's the biggest doesn't mean that it's that big.)

“Either Pat Lynch is the smartest person in the world, or the dumbest. And my bet is she is the smartest,” said Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf.

Why?

More after the jump.  read more »

Hillary Clinton's campaign and supporters have said that there would be greater emphasis on small-dollar events in the second quarter of the race's fund-raising cycle.

Except, apparently, when Bill Clinton is headlining.

The invite for last night's event, organized by powerhouse lobbyist Patricia Lynch at the Westside home of Michael Del Giudice, specifically stated "minimum contribution of $2,000 per person" for "cocktails and conversation" with the former President.