Chuck Schumer, Michael Bloomberg, Kirsten Gillibrand and Hunter Walker at the U.S. Capitol Building. (Photo: NycMayorsOffice on Flickr)

Today is this reporter's last day here at the good ship Politicker. We hoped our last post on the site would be a final journey into the "Vallone Zone," but, as of this writing, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. did not respond to our email sent late this afternoon. As a result, we have no option other than to print a series of thank yous and farewells with a few juicy bits of gossip thrown in to, hopefully, help you forgive us for publishing something so utterly self-indulgent.

A year-and-change ago this reporter was trapped in Hollywood. First and foremost, we are eternally grateful to Aaron Gell and Elizabeth Spiers for rescuing us from Tinseltown and giving us a shot to cover the city and subject we love most. Of course, none of this would have been as much fun without Colin Campbell, who made it all much more awesome by sharing our odd obsession with municipal politics and just generally kicking ass. Credit is also due to Ken Kurson for being a kind and talented editor who threw one of the craziest parties we have ever seen.

In addition to all of our other colleagues and forebears who made the New York Observer such a wonderful place to work, we also want to express gratitude to the people we have covered who have made the politics beat so wonderful. Mayor Michael Bloomberg deserves credit for submitting himself to daily briefings where he takes questions from even those reporters who clearly piss him off from time to time and, most importantly, sometimes provides truly memorable answers. Though the politicians in Albany may not always be similarly transparent, they have provided us with endless entertainment with their alleged corruption and drug use, unique decorating sensibilities and occasional chicken costumes. We also very much appreciate the current crop of mayoral candidates, even the one who had an aide tell this reporter we are "the reason good people don't get into politics" after we published a less-than-flattering story.

Though the players on the political stage have earned most of our attention, we also owe a debt of gratitude to the staffers who work behind-the-scenes, especially the gentlemen we called on the phone in the very wee hours one morning as a bit of news broke. Even the possibly corrupt and obviously inept prominent consultancy and the press person who once screamed and cursed at us for over an hour earned our respect.

There were several stories we were unable to break during our time here. Specifically, a kinky borough boss, the notable congressman with a love child,  a Hollywood editrix who made a horrified intern deal with their very personal medical problem, the "good wife" who puts another lady first, a Council candidate with completely cooked books, the pay-for-play newspaper, an operative who's much more of a swinger than anyone realized, the gangster mayoral donor, a scandal-scarred politician working on a comeback and the (non-Green Party) presidential campaign that didn't pay their staffers. We'll keep trying to bring these stories to light and look forward to reading the pages of Politicker every day as the team here does the same. Chag Kasher v'Sameach, homies.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

The first act of last weekend's annual Inner Circle show featured a spoof of Back To The Future with Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveling back in time in an attempt to find a famous historical figure worthy of serving as his successor. At his press conference this afternoon announcing the LINK initiative to connect low-income New Yorkers with job opportunities, Politicker asked Mayor Bloomberg which historical figure he would choose if he could indeed travel back in time to pick someone to follow him in City Hall. Mayor Bloomberg declined to answer the question.

"No matter what I say there is no good answer to that without you making fun of me," said the mayor. "I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid, even though that's a stupid question."

Though he declined to identify a historical leader he thinks would be worthy to succeed him, Mayor Bloomberg did shed some light on how he views his mayoral predecessors and how he believes his successor should be evaluated.

"The way I would answer your question is  ... Giuliani, Dinkins and Koch, going back in time, have addressed--have had different problems to focus on and have addressed them in different ways. All of them have used the resources and liabilities that have come from the previous administrations and they built on that. I think after all of those [administrations] the city has been better off," Mayor Bloomberg said. "The city has come a long way and I'm just--I hopefully will leave enough things in place that whoever comes after, they'll do things differently, but they'll take that and build on that. And if they don't, you know, it's up to the public."

Mayor Bloomberg also explained why he doesn't believe different leaders should be measured against one another.

"I think these comparisons of one mayor to another or one leader to another really aren't scientific--don't make a lot of sense," he said. "Just because you have different situations with different opportunities."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

At his press conference this afternoon, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked about his thoughts on the "Twitter universe" in light of a recent scandal involving an EMS lieutenant who was suspended after the New York Post revealed a series of racist statements he made on the social media site. Mayor Bloomberg described it as evidence people need to be far more careful about what they post online and suggested he'd even warned one of his fellow media moguls, Rupert Murdoch, to stay away from Twitter.

"Everything you send out is going to be retweeted, re-Facebooked, re this, re that and ... if you write it down, some day somebody's going to FOIL it or get it based on a judge's order," said Mayor Bloomberg. "You should write down, number one, only things you believe and, number two, then think about how it would look if somebody else sees it."

Mayor Bloomberg went on to say parents should explain the need to be discrete on social media to their children.

"There are just a lot of young kids who are doing things on their Twitter account, their Facebook account that later on is going to come back and bite them," Mayor Bloomberg said. "I know you want to share information and I know it's nice to be able to express yourself but you just have to have the maturity to understand."

Though the mayor, who has a robust social media presence, said he expects children will make mistakes on Twitter, he expressed surprise the EMS lieutenant who got in hot water and other adults still don't realize the site has a public audience.

"It's kind of hard to understand how anybody like that would not think that some day somebody's going to take a look at what they do," said the mayor. "The bottom line is, it's very addictive, it's easy, you hit a button and nobody thinks that the rest of the world is looking."

The questions on the Twitter scandal came from New York Post reporter David Seifman. After getting the mayor's initial thoughts on the situation and the site in general, Mr. Seifman asked the mayor if he would ever enact a policy to prevent public employees from using social media inappropriately or would just leave it up to "common sense." Mayor Bloomberg said it would be difficult to institute any specific policy.

"There are all sorts of First Amendment issues. I've looked into it," Mayor Bloomberg said. "Companies face this all the time, just like governments do. It's embarrassing to a company to have somebody go out and insult or worse."

To demonstrate just how dangerous he believes Twitter can be for businesses, Mayor Bloomberg told Mr. Seifman he had warned his "boss" to stay off the site. Mayor Bloomberg's comment seemed to be an obvious allusion to Post owner Rupert Murdoch, whose frequent tweeting has not come without controversy.

"I've told your boss I think he should stop twittering," Mayor Bloomberg said to Mr. Seifman. "It's dangerous because people can take things out of--you know, 140 odd characters doesn't give you a chance to explain what you really mean. It's just a phrase that gets taken out of context."

Mayor Bloomberg was coy when another reporter followed up by asking him to confirm he was referring to Mr. Murdoch.

"I don't know who that would be," he said with a laugh.

Mayor Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

Over the weekend Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a $12 million ad campaign dedicated to pushing senators to back legislation that would expand background checks against gun buyers. This ad blitz was the latest salvo in the expensive attack on illegal guns the billionaire mayor has focused on in recent months and it prompted National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre to accuse him of trying to "buy America." At a press conference this afternoon where he was announcing a new program to help connect low-income city residents with job opportunities, many of the questions Mayor Bloomberg fielded from reporters were about his war of words with the NRA. Mayor Bloomberg first addressed the response he's received after announcing the ad campaign and said an "enormous number" of people have thanked him for the commercials.

"Nobody's going to walk up to me and say bad things, so I'm not so sure that I can actually represent, but I've just had lots and lots of phone calls, text messages, emails, people in the street ... that are just so thankful that somebody's willing to stand up and to counter the NRA," he said.

Mayor Bloomberg went on to question the logic behind the NRA criticizing the amount of money he's spent advocating for gun control.

"The NRA has spent $100 million and they object to my ten million ... or whatever the number is," said Mayor Bloomberg. "They've had it their own way they keep trying to say what's going on from their point of view."

He went on to say the NRA believed "there is no other point of view." Bringing up the approximately $2.5 million he recently spent to back a pro-gun control House candidate in Illinois, Mayor Bloomberg said he was merely trying to present an alternative perspective. The mayor's candidate, Robin Kelly, was victorious in a race his aides said they had been able to turn into a "referendum on guns."

"In Illinois, I spent a couple million bucks and gave another point of view on terms of how people had voted, and the pub listened and then the public decided," explained Mayor Bloomberg. "Nobody's buying votes. What you are doing is, you're getting access with this money to tell the public the facts. For example, Joe Smith voted for, or Joe Smith voted against this bill and this bill does x, y, z or doesn't do a, b, c. And then, let the public decide."

When he responded to the ad campaign, Mr. LaPierre cited the mayor's previous anti-obesity initiatives and described the gun control efforts as part of a pattern of Mayor Bloomberg trying to use money to "impose his will on the American public." Another reporter at this afternoon's press conference asked Mayor Bloomberg why he thought Mr. LaPierre was focusing on him personally rather than the content of his commercials.

"He doesn't have an argument," Mayor Bloomberg said of Mr. LaPierre. "Standing there and saying, 'Oh, I think we should leave guns in the hands of people that kill everybody and put our kids in danger,' is probably not a good strategy for him. So, he's got to find spomething else to talk about."

Politicker then asked Mayor Bloomberg what he thought about the fact NRA robocalls against gun control legislation have been received by residents of Newtown, Connecticut, which was the site of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December. At this point, Mayor Bloomberg was in no mood to discuss the gun battle any further.

"Enough with the NRA," he said, attempting to move to another question.

However, we pressed the point and Mayor Bloomberg said the NRA "ought to be ashamed" for making their robocalls in Newtown.

"You know, sometimes people just dont express--don't use good judgement. I guess the word shameless sort of comes up," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Of all the places you shouldn't be doing robocalls, I would think most people would say that's not a good place to do it. They ought to be ashamed."

Christine Quinn (Photo: YouTube)

On Sunday, MSNBC host Chris Hayes is hosting a roundtable featuring many of the main Democratic mayoral candidates on his eponymous show, Up With Chris Hayes. However, the panel won't feature the woman who's currently enjoying a large lead in the polls--Council Speaker Chris Quinn. Though Mr. Hayes has been highly critical of Ms. Quinn of late, both her aides and MSNBC spokespeople attributed her absence from his roundtable to scheduling.

"Speaker Quinn has been able to make 14 candidate forums thus far--two yesterday alone-- and she has another 12 committed over the next six weeks. Unfortunately, we just couldn't make this one work," Mike Morey, a spokesman for the Quinn campaign, told Politicker.

Mr. Hayes has repeatedly slammed Ms. Quinn on air for her opposition to the Paid Sick Days legislation. He brought up the issue on his show multiple times last month including in an episode in which he referenced a report that claimed norovirus, which causes a variety of unpleasant digestive symptoms, was chiefly spread by food workers.

"Nearly 80 percent of food workers don't have paid sick days. ... Most food workers who already make very little money must choose between coming to work sick or forfeiting a day's wages and, when they make the decision to work even though ill, well you may end up ill as well," Mr. Hayes said. "Here in New York several members of the City Council have proposed a bill that will require employers to give workers just five sick days a year, but Council President and mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn opposes this commonsense measure and has not brought it to the floor for a vote. If you're a New Yorker who has had the misfortune of contracting norovirus, maybe you should send Christine Quinn a note of gratitude."

On Twitter this afternoon, Mr. Hayes promised to discuss the Paid Sick Leave issue in his mayoral roundtable. The show will air Sunday at 8 a.m. on MSNBC and will feature all of the other major Democratic candidates: Sal Albanese, Bill de Blasio, John Liu and Bill Thompson.

(Photo: 92Y.org)

With less than six months to go until the primaries, the New York Observer and the 92nd Street Y have teamed up to host an evening of discussion with all of the major mayoral candidates.  The event starts in one hour and, if you can't make it to the 92nd Street Y to see it in person, you can watch live online right here. 

The evening will include two separate debates. First up will be the Republican candidates; John Catsimatidis, Joseph Lhota and George McDonald. Next will be the Democrats; Sal Albanese, Bill de Blasio, John Liu, Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson. Both debates will be moderated by New York Observer editor-in-chief Ken Kurson and Cozen O'Connor member Kenneth K. Fisher.

Tune in below to watch the action at 7:30.

Charles Barron (Photo: Getty)

Outspoken Councilman Charles Barron is backing John Liu in the New York City mayoral election this year and he's also getting involved in races out of state. On Tuesday, Mr. Barron served on the host committee of a Soho fundraiser for Chokwe Lumumba, who is running for mayor in Jackson Mississippi. Mr. Lumumba is an attorney and City Council member whom Mr. Barron said he has known for years through their work in activist circles.

"Chokwe Lumumba is a long-time friend and freedom fighter," Mr. Barron told Politicker at a forum on stop-and-frisk last night in Brooklyn. "He got elected to the City Council in Jackson, Mississippi, which is, you know, a majority-black population town. There's seven Council Members. So it's good to see black, strong, conscious people getting involved in the electoral arena. And [when] he becomes mayor of Jackson Mississippi--that's going to be a historic moment."

Mr. Lumumba was a key member of the Republic of New Afrika movement, a group that began in the late 1960's and was dedicated to pushing for slavery reparations and the establishment of a sovereign, African-American nation located in the southeastern United States. Now, Mr. Lumumba is among a crowded field of candidates who are vying to replace incumbent Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr., who's running for a second term. Mr. Lumumba has described his platform as being based on the idea "that Love plus the Power of the people equals progress."

"It's going to be great for all people to see a new kind of leadership that's a lover of human rights, effective in dealing with an objective--a locked-out, a most oppressed people in the country. He has a history of going all over the country doing that," said Mr. Barron of Mr. Lumumba.

Newark Councilman Ras Baraka was also on the host committee of Mr. Lumumba's Manhattan fundraiser and his father, the controversial poet, playwright and activist Amiri Baraka, performed at the event. The younger Mr. Baraka has declared his intention to run for mayor in Newark and Mr. Barron said he would be backing him as well as Mr. Lumumba.

"So to support Chokwe Lumumba for mayor, and looking at Ras Baraka, Amiri Baraka's son--I'm supporting him for mayor of Newark," said Mr. Barron. "Get rid of the Cory Bookers, the sell-outs, those who are afraid to speak truth to power. It's going to be beautiful day."

Jose Canseco (Photo: Getty)

After traveling to Albany last month to support State Senator Jeff Klein's push to ban the nutritional supplement DMAA, baseball great, reality television star, MMA fighter, admitted steroid user, author and social media enthusiast Jose Canseco's latest cause seems to be the number of deaths linked to sugary drinks. After Mr. Canseco took to Twitter this evening to urge the president to "declare war on sugar," Politicker asked whether he'd be interested in teaming up with a man who is perhaps the nation's most high-profile anti-sugar crusader--Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"maybe your next mayor isnt bloomberg a lame duck," Mr. Canseco tweeted, referring to the fact Mr. Bloomberg is in the last few months of his administration.

We informed Mr. Canseco that Mayor Bloomberg still has some time left in office and also seems poised to use his vast personal fortune to advocate for his pet causes once he leaves City Hall. Upon hearing this, the former Major League slugger said he would be interested in working with the mayor if he continues his anti-sugar efforts.

"I would partner with Mike if he keeps fighting sugar," tweeted Mr. Canseco.

We also reached out to the mayor's office to see whether they would be interested in having Mr. Canseco serve as a spokesman for their public health initiatives. As of this writing, we have yet to receive a response.

Joe Lhota (Photo: NY1.com)

Prior to launching his mayoral bid, Republican former MTA chairman Joe Lhota was an extremely prolific Twitter user. Since hitting the campaign trail, Mr. Lhota has made far fewer posts on the social media site and stopped tweeting the witticisms he was previously known for. When Politicker saw Mr. Lhota at lunch yesterday, we asked him why he reduced his Twitter presence. Mr. Lhota attributed his lower Twitter profile to instructions from his campaign press team, specifically, his spokeswoman Susan Del Percio.

"I eventually will get back. You know I get handled by my press people," said Mr. Lhota. "Susan, she threatened me, so I have to be careful."

After we brought up Twitter, Mr. Lhota began gushing about one of his favorite pages on the site.

"Drunk Hulk, have you followed Drunk Hulk?" Mr. Lhota asked. "I love Drunk Hulk. I got to meet this guy who does this."

Mr. Lhota's love for the superhero parody account, which he frequently re-tweeted prior to starting his mayoral campaign, was previously chronicled in a New York Times story about Mr. Lhota's Twitter use last September. That article provoked a response from Drunk Hulk himself. Mr. Lhota told us he, quite literally, treasured the response he received from his favorite parody Twitter.

"When the New York Times did the story about me tweeting ... and the Hulk tweeted, 'Now I'm responsible for Lhota too?' That's when I said, 'I got to meet this guy,'" explained Mr. Lhota. "I actually saved it, somebody framed the tweet for me."

Drunk Hulk is the work of Christian Dumais, an American writer who lives in Poland. We emailed Mr. Dumais and asked when he'll be in New York and if he'd like to meet Mr. Lhota.

"While I'm not sure when I'll be back in the States, the idea of meeting with Mr. Lhota sounds like a lot of fun," said Mr. Dumais. "I only have a peripheral awareness of the political scene in New York, but I'm honored to have anyone appreciate my work as Drunk Hulk. And the idea that he framed the tweet brings me endless joy."

Joe Lhota and Tom Allon dining together at Michael's.

About two hours after announcing he was ending his campaign for mayor, local media mogul Tom Allon had lunch with a man he would have faced off against in September's Republican mayoral primary, former MTA chairman Joe Lhota. Both men insisted their meal at Michael's in Midtown was already on the schedule and wasn't a sign Mr. Allon will be endorsing Mr. Lhota following his departure from the race.

"We had an appointment to meet a couple weeks ago and it's just by happenstance," Mr. Lhota said when asked about the timing of the meal. "It's the honest to god truth."

"Anybody that reads anything into it is coming up with their own conclusions," added Mr. Allon. "I'm happy to meet with any candidate who has interest in hearing my views on education, but I happen to agree with Joe on many things and I like him a lot."

Mr. Allon and Mr. Lhota spent over an hour together at the legendary power lunch spot. Mr. Lhota ate cobb salad while Mr. Allon had chicken. They did not enjoy any alcoholic beverages and split the check leaving a combined tip that was ever-so-slightly under twenty percent. At the conclusion of their meal, the two politicos ended up getting grilled by Politicker and Daily News reporter Celeste Katz who got wind of the meeting and showed up to see what the pair was discussing.

Mr. Allon said there were three factors behind his decision to drop out. He cited a desire to spend more time with his young daughters and the reasoning he described in his statement announcing the decision--that he had an opportunity to acquire City and State, the political newspaper formerly owned by the company he was CEO of, Manhattan Media. Mr. Allon also admitted his campaign didn't seem to be catching on with voters and had nearly emptied its war chest, most of which came from his own pocket. He said he does not expect to "see that money again."

"I wasn't getting traction, there's no doubt," said Mr. Allon.

Mr. Allon was a longtime Democrat, but he joined the Republican Party and launched what he described as a "fusion candidacy" on both the Liberal and Republican party lines about five months ago. He said Mr. Lhota and billionaire John Catsimatidis both prevented him from attracting more voters when they kicked off their own GOP mayoral campaigns soon after.

"Listen, when Joe and John entered the race, there was little room for someone like me on the Republican side," said Mr. Allon. "Joe is a true Republican. John is very wealthy."

Mr. Lhota chuckled when his dining companion described his as a "true Republican."

"My social issues get me kicked out of the room," explained Mr. Lhota about where he differs with the GOP.

According to Mr. Allon, in addition to making it harder for him to win, Mr. Lhota's entry into the mayoral race made it easier for him to drop out.

"I have an affection for Joe and, actually, I have to say, one of the reasons I felt comfortable jumping out of the race is because I knew Joe jumped in," said Mr. Allon. "I feel that voters have a good choice now."

Despite his praise for Mr. Lhota, Mr. Allon said he won't be endorsing because of his new role with City and State. As part of his acquisition of the paper, he said he relinquished his role with Manhattan Media and started a new, separate company, City and State NY LLC, last week.

"I'm going to be owning a majority stake in City and State. ... I'm going to be spending 100 percent of my time on it whereas I spent five percent of my time beforehand. And by the way, I was totally handcuffed editorially before, because I recused myself completely. Now I don't have to tiptoe around the editorial department," Mr. Allon said. "I'm not making any endorsements. ... I would love to make an endorsement ... City and State never makes [endorsements]. ... I said to my reporters and editors this morning, I apologize for the last year-and-a-half because I know I made your lives difficult. I am going to not do that anymore, so now I'm a publisher and a private citizen."

In his new capacity as a "private citizen," Mr. Allon said he will happy to meet with the mayoral candidates and "advise" them. He wouldn't rule out a potential run for office down the road, but if Mr. Lhota is victorious, Mr. Allon said he would not launch another mayoral bid until Mr. Lhota finishes his two terms.

When Politicker informed Mr. Catsimatidis about Mr. Allon's departure from the race, the billionaire said he would want to have Mr. Allon "running" the public education system in a hypothetical Catsimatidis administration. We asked Mr. Allon if he would be willing to leave his new, expanded role at City and State if he got that offer.

"I'm going to be focusing on a private business for the next couple years," said Mr. Allon. "Maybe in a Lhota or Catsimatidis second term I could be chancellor."

Mr. Allon also said he would be willing to take a position in the administration of Democrat Bill Thompson if he secures himself a second term.

Since Mr. Allon seemed willing to work with Mr. Lhota in 2017, we asked Mr. Lhota if he would be willing to promise Mr. Allon a spot in his administration as Mr. Catsimatidis had. 

"It's illegal to do that," Mr. Lhota said.