Reverend Al Sharpton (Photo: Getty)

MSNBC host and civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton released a statement this morning reacting to former Mayor Ed Koch's death. In his statement, Mr. Sharpton noted he eventually came to "understand Koch," though he was initially a staunch critic of the mayor and received his "first arrest" protesting the Koch administration.

"I am saddened to hear of the passing of former Mayor Ed Koch," Mr. Sharpton began. "Throughout his twelve years of being mayor, I was one of his most vociferous critics. In fact, my first arrest was leading a sit-in on him about summer jobs for youth in 1978. We later united and worked together around the country in a national campaign for nonviolent drug offenders to give them a second chance in life, and we ended up getting to know and understand each other."

Despite describing how he eventually worked together with Koch, Mr. Sharpton said they still had their share of disagreements in the former mayor's later years.

"Although we argued about everything from my marching in Bensonhurst, to Florida and Trayvon Martin, and although we disagreed on politics from his views on President Obama to other matters, I have found that he was never a phony or a hypocrite," said Mr. Sharpton.

Mr. Sharpton concluded his statement by praising Koch's frank nature.

"He would not patronize or deceive you," Mr. Sharpton said. "He said what he meant. He meant what he said. He fought for what he believed. May he rest in peace."

Allen West (Photo: West.House.gov)

Florida Congressman Allen West appeared on Fox & Friends this morning to discuss a campaign commercial released by his rival that shows him punching an old white woman in the face. Mr. West, who is African-American, said he believes the ad is evidence of a double standard where liberals are not rebuked for making racially charged attacks that would get conservatives in hot water.

'Think about this, think about if the Republican Party or a conservative PAC ran a picture of a black Democratic politician or congressman punching white women and white seniors. I'm sure that MSNBC, NBC and the Huffington Post and everyone would be going apopleptic right now," said Mr. West. "But once again, there are different rules."

Mr. West said liberals feel like it is open season for them to target black conservatives because the Democratic Party has African-American activists, specifically the NAACP and the reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, "well-placed." As evidence of this, he cited the fact that none of these activists came to his aid when the controversial ad was released.

"I think that on the left, they believe that when you look at black conservatives especially, they feel that they have an open game," Mr. West said. "You know, where's the outrage from Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton and the NAACP about this? They're not going to say anything because they're nothing but an effective wing of the Democratic Party whatsoever. And they have effectively kept them well-placed so that they can continue to make sure that they have a black electorate voting bloc."

Mr. West also said he believes the attack ad ran against him may have been illegal. The ad was released by the American Sunrise PAC, which supports Mr. West's Democratic opponent, Patrick Murphy, and is run by Mr. Murphy's father, Thomas Murphy Jr. PACs are prohibited by law from coordinating with campaigns.

"I would find it hard to believe that the son does not know that the dad is running this super PAC and what the dad is doing," said Mr. West. "And so, again, if this was something happening on the Republican side or the conservative side you would see the liberal media just going just crazy, but there are different rules that apply to them. There's different rules as far as integrity and character."

Watch a video of Mr. West's Fox & Friends appearance below.

Reverend Al Sharpton eulogizing Sylvia Woods at Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon. (Photo: Getty)

Harlem restaurateur Sylvia Woods was a legendary chef, but she was also a key figure in the Uptown political scene. At her funeral service at Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon today, many of the high-powered regulars from Woods' eponymous restaurant showed up to share their remembrances and pay tribute to Woods as a pioneering African-American businesswoman, an ally in the civil rights struggle and, of course, a superb chef.

"Every protest, every movement, every plan, every law started with a breakfast, or lunch or a dinner at Sylvia's," former Governor David Paterson explained.

Today's service was one of three memorials for Woods. On Saturday, her family is holding a "homegoing celebration" in her native Hemingway, South Carolina. Yesterday evening, Bill Clinton and Mayor Michael Bloomberg were among the luminaries who gathered for a "salute" to Woods at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Woods' granddaughter, Tren'ness Woods-Black, spoke to reporters prior to today's service and said the turnout at yesterday's event showed her grandmother was beloved by average citizens as well as the boldface clientele.

"From presidents on down to 70-year-old people who have been eating at the restaurant every day, that's what showed up yesterday and that was a true representation of what Sylvia's is all about," Ms. Woods-Black said.

Before the service got started, Woods lay in state in an open casket as the mourners packed into their pews. As the ceremony began, Grace Baptist's associate pastor, Reverend William Franklyn Richardson III, plead for brevity from the scheduled speakers, who included Mount Vernon Mayor Ernest Davis, Abyssinia Baptist Senior Pastor Dr. Calvin Butts, Hazel Dukes, president of the NAACP's New York State Conference and former New York City Mayor David Dinkins.

"We would like you to keep your remarks to two minutes," Reverend Richardson said. "Do that out of respect for this family, who has already had one service and will go to South Carolina for another, so I ask that you would not labor them or any of us by going over two minutes."

None of the speakers managed to stick to the time limit.

Woods' eulogy was delivered by Reverend Al Sharpton who reminisced about watching "Sylvia's grow from a counter to a global sightseeing place." He said he was introduced to Woods and her restaurant while he worked as a tour manager for legendary soul music singer James Brown.

"The first time I met her was in the late 70's when James Brown brought me to Sylvia's. He used to go there when it was just a counter, but he loved the food there," said Reverend  Sharpton. "When he was in town...I would be with him and he would look at everybody and say, 'Let's go by Sylvia's.' And I would go, one, because I lived in New York and, two, because I was one of the few that understood what he was saying when he was talking."

Reverend Sharpton also shared stories of visiting Sylvia's with two other famous dining companions.

"I remember one night Bill O'Reilly from Fox News--that Bill O'Reilly--he wanted to go to dinner," the Reverend said. "He goes, 'I want to go to Sylvia's.' We went to Sylvia's and he got out of the car waiting for everybody to recognize him, but when you're going to Sylvia's, you're just somebody else going to Sylvia's."

Reverend Sharpton noted Mr. O'Reilly got into a bit of a controversy following their meal at Sylvia's when he went on his syndicated radio show and expressed surprise that "all the people up there are tremendously respectful" despite the fact "it's run by blacks" and has "primarily black patronship."

"I was amazed he was amazed," Reverend Sharpton said.

The Reverend also described eating at Sylvia's with President Barack Obama.

"There's a picture as you come into Sylvia's of then-Senator Barack Obama and I eating at Sylvia's. And that night he was on his way to the Apollo to have a fundraiser in his quest for the presidency, but you look at the picture and he's eating fried chicken and cornbread. I was on a diet, I just had coffee in front of me," said Reverend Sharpton, who recently became a vegetarian.

Reverend Sharpton also gave his explanation for Sylvia's appeal among Harlem's power lunch set.

"She built that restaurant as a family business and all of Harlem became her family....Sylvia was connected to the community. Today, we have others in business, but they see the community as something to go through on their way somewhere else," said the Reverend. "Sylvia wasn't trying to go somewhere else, she was connected to us. Wasn't no accident we had our meetings in Sylvia's. Other folks had chicken, wasn't no accident that every political figure went to Sylvia's, every major cultural actor went to Sylvia's, every major minister went to Sylvia's. She was connected to us."

After the ceremony, Reverend Sharpton accompanied several of Woods' crying family members to a private gathering in the back of the church as the guests walked out into the street. The Politicker spotted Mr. Paterson and asked him what he generally ordered at Sylvia's. He answered without the slightest hesitation.

"Fried chicken, collard greens and potato salad. Sylvia's problem with me was that I would always eat it. She was like, 'Why do I even put a menu in front of you, because you just want to eat the same thing.'" Mr. Paterson said. "I always say I'm going to have something else, but rarely did I."

A group of pallbearers placed Woods' casket onto a hearse were it made the journey from Mount Vernon to Owens Funeral Home in Harlem, taking the restaurateur's body on a final trip down 125th Street.

Reverend Al Sharpton at the march to end stop and frisk.

Among the thousands who turned out to march down Fifth Avenue in protest of the NYPD's stop and frisk policy Sunday were several prominent political opponents of the practice, which saw police stop over 685,000 people, the vast majority of whom were people of color, while collecting 780 guns. Likely candidates in next year's mayoral election have focused on reforming some elements of the controversial policy, but many of the leaders who participated in the march explained to The Politicker that they want stop and frisk ended entirely.

"I don't know how you can keep it and take the quotas and the profiling out of it and, therefore, I think they need an entirely new program. I don't know how you mend something based on quotas and race," said Reverend Al Sharpton, one of the organizers of the march.

The NYPD has consistently denied quotas or racial profiling play a role in the policy, though a record number of citizens were stopped last year. According to the NYCLU 88 percent of the people stopped last year were totally innocent and 87 percent were black or Latino.

Mr. Sharpton has not yet decided who to back in the mayoral race, but he said the candidates' positions on stop and frisk would figure prominently in his decision.

"A lot of what we support will be based on this and other issues," he said.

Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane Williams, who has been an outspoken critic of the policy, said he believes many of the mayoral candidates need to "stay with the pack" and that "some have been much stronger than others" on this issue, though he declined to name names.

"This issue of reform on stop and frisk is kind of a misnomer, because inherent in a police officer's job is their ability to stop someone if they feel there's reasonable suspicion to do so. Nobody wants to take that away ,what we want to take away are the abuses and the racial profiling," said Mr. Williams. "Call it however you want, the current policy needs to end. You call it reform, you can call it an end. What I'm saying is, the way the police are doing business, the way people are stopping people just because they are black or latino is what needs to stop. So, I'm not going to get caught up in who's saying what as long as theyre saying this behavior, this policy as it currently exists needs to end."

Earlier this month, Mr. Williams was part of a delegation of City elected officials who traveled down to Washington D.C. to bring their concerns about stop and frisk to Congress and the Department of Justice. Sources told The Politicker Attorney General Eric Holder expressed his interest in conducting an investigation during a meeting with members of the delegation. Mr. Williams said he was confident the DOJ would take action on the issue in spite of the controversies currently surrounding the department.

"I think the Department of Justice seemed to be very interested in doing something, we were discussing what that something would be," he said. "I'm hoping they'll kind of honor what they said and follow up with us and I have no reason to believe that they won't."

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who is running for Congress in Brooklyn's 8th district echoed the sentiment racial profiling is the main problem with the current stop and frisk policy.

"The Supreme Court has said that stop and frisk is constitutional, the question that we face here in New York is having it conducted in a manner that complies with the law," said Mr. Jeffries. "Many of us believe that stop and frisk as it's implemented consistently violates the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution. It completely inappropriately subjects large communities to racial profiling and leads to the persistent violation of civil rights and civil liberties. That's the problem with stop and frisk as it currently exists."

Mr. Jeffries also said he believes a potential solution lies with the Department of Justice.

"The Department of Justice needs to step in and conduct a patterns and practices inquiry, even if it's preliminary in nature, to evaluate whether the NYPD is engaging in consistent violations of the civil rights and civil liberties of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers every year," Mr. Jeffries said. "I think the Justice Department is in a strong pos to do so. The Office of Civil Rights is charged with conducting inquiries into civil rights violations allegedly occurring as a result of police department behavior. The Department of Justice has conducted such police inquiries in Detroit, Newark, San Juan and other cities across the country. They should come into New York City.

Comptroller John Liu is the only major likely mayoral candidate who has called for the stop and frisk policy to be ended altogether. He declined to answer when we asked why he thought the other probable candidates don't share his position.

"That's a question you have to ask them," he said. "The stop and frisk tactic, it just doesn't make sense in a democratic society, that nearly a tenth of the population will be stopped and frisked, almost all of whom have done nothing wrong. And because almost all the people that are being stopped and frisked are people of color, this is racial profiling and racial profiling's not accepted even by the NYPD."

Mayor Bloomberg and the police department have continually said the stop and frisk policy is one of the factors behind the declining crime rate in New York. Mr. Liu disputes the notion stop and frisk makes the City safer.

"It's a tactic that has created huge divisions between communities and the police, thus making it unsafe for everybody. The numbers don't really show any significant reductions in murder or signifcant increases in numbers of guns being taken off the streets," said Mr. Liu. "It's causing great pain and humiliation for too many people. Other cities have seen significant reductions in crime without employing these kinds of stop and frisk tactics. Let's figure out what they're doing and bring those strategies to New York City."

For his part, Mr. Sharpton also took note of the fact Rodney King, whose 1991 beating at the hands of the LAPD sparked the Los Angeles riots, died on the same day as the march against stop and frisk.

"I worked with Rodney King in '92. I marched for him and about four weeks ago, he came to New York, did my radio show and my television show," Mr. Sharpton said. "We talked a lot about how things were done then and I think it's ironic on a day that we raise a question of police abuse is the day we lost Rodney."

According to Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski, Newt Gingrich is very impressed with Al Sharpton's figure.

Newt Gingrich tells Al Shaprton he is awe struck about how much weight he has lost.

—
Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) June 12, 2012

TV appearances by Mr. Gingrich and Rick Santorum gave Politico's Jennifer Epstein a bad case of déja vu.

looks like three months ago: Gingrich on one channel, Santorum on another

—
Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) June 12, 2012

Reuters reporter Sam Youngman took note of a connection between the location of a Mitt Romney fundraiser in Florida and an infamous sports scandal.

Romney's fundraiser is in the same hood where Tiger was trapped in his SUV after hitting hydrant. Saintly (ex)wife freed him with an iron

—
Sam Youngman (@samyoungman) June 12, 2012

Senator John McCain hoped his Tweets about the Farm Bill would elicit a wide variety of emotions from readers.

Coming tomorrow: I'll tweet Top 10 pork projects in the #FarmBill - you won't know whether to laugh or cry!

—
John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) June 12, 2012

Lastly, this one is from yesterday, but it is just too good not to include. California Congressman Darrell Issa is apparently a Sex Pistols fan.

@BillTrack50 I'm only pro anarchy of it's "Anarchy in the UK"

—
Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) June 11, 2012

Michael Bloomberg and Al Sharpton (Photo: Getty)

As Albany moves forward with its budget negotiations, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Reverend Al Sharpton made sure to tout a recent agreement to reform juvenile detention centers. The changes will allow New York City to place young offenders in facilities closer to the city, and it appears likely this reform will ultimately come to pass.

“For too long, too many of our City's young people have been shunted off upstate – hundreds of miles from family, school and community and far from the support they need to get back on course," Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Sharpton said in a statement this afternoon. "Today's budget agreement includes a landmark overhaul of our juvenile justice system, paving the way for young people in the system to receive services close to their families and more easily transition back into their communities and productive lives."

Mr. Bloomberg had personally lobbied Mr. Cuomo to include the initiative, entitled "Close to Home,"  in the budget, and Mr. Cuomo, who once declared “an incarceration program is not an employment program” for Upstate communities, seemed more than inclined to make it one of his priorities.

And, accordingly, Mr. Sharpton and Mr. Bloomberg applauded Mr. Cuomo for his efforts.

"We are grateful to Governor Cuomo for making the ‘Close to Home’ initiative a top priority for his administration. Building on the City's legacy of juvenile justice reform – reducing the use of detention and placement, increasing community-based alternatives and lowering recidivism rates, all the while making our City even safer," they said.

Al Sharpton speaking to the Cablevision workers. (Photo: YouTube)

Martin Luther King Day has passed us by, but Al Sharpton became the latest political figure to invoke the late Civil Rights hero in the fight between Cablevision and their employees in Brooklyn who want to unionize with the Communications Workers of America. Mr. Sharpton made his comments about MLK while speaking to Cablevision staffers yesterday. "Martin Luther King died in Memphis, Tennessee because he was there for the AFSCME union garbage workers. What was he there for? The right for them to have a union, the very thing we're meeting about tonight is why Martin Luther King was in Memphis," Mr. Sharpton said. "So, why would Dr. King die for something that 43 years later we're even debating on whether we should have? I mean how can you celebrate King's birthday on Monday and wonder whether do we need a union on Thursday?"

Mr. Sharpton said the Dolan family, which owns Cablevision, should keep Dr. King's legacy in mind.

"In his name we ought to make the Dolans understand ... if people would die for us to have a union what makes you think that we are not going to demand that now?"

Earlier this week, several potential 2013 mayoral candidates and a host of local politicians also connected Dr. King to the Cablevision dispute at a rally in Midtown Monday.

Watch video of Mr. Sharpton's Cablevision speech below.

Cablevision Logo (Photo: Wikimedia)

Demonstrating the traction that the issue has among elected officials, a plethora of prominent officials have signed a letter to the CEO of Cablevision, James Dolan critical of what they feel are anti-union efforts on behalf of the company. The list includes several top 2013 candidates in Comptroller John Liu, Speaker Chris Quinn, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, as well as other notable names like Reverend Al Sharpton, Minority Leader John Sampson, Congress Members, Council Members and more.

"We are very disappointed that Cablevision refused to participate in the public, union-management debate this past Wednesday, over the merits of union representation for your Brooklyn workforce," the letter begins. "This debate would have provided an opportunity to bring conversations about joining the union out of the darkness of your 'captive audience' meetings and into the public where Cablevision, union organizers and workers could have an open discussion."

The elected officials and community activists then request a sit-down meeting with Mr. Dolan next Monday.  Underscoring their point, Reverend Sharpton will be headlining a rally outside of Cablevision's offices along with a collection of elected officials and activists.

"We hope Cablevision management will have the courage of its convictions and agree to meet with our delegation to discuss ways in which the company can let the process unfold free of intimidation and harassment," the letter concludes.  "We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience."

Read the letter below:

Christine Quinn

Several New York City Council members want to wade into the battle over Arizona's controversial illegal immigration law, SB1070. Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilmen Ydanis Rodriguez and Daniel Dromm plan to introduce a bill today urging the Supreme Court to uphold a federal injunction against the law. SB1070, which was originally signed into law by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer in April 2010, mandates immigrants in Arizona to carry their federal registration documents at all times and requires police officers to detain those they suspect are here without authorization and verify their immigration status "when practicable." Three months after SB1070 was passed, the Department of Justice successfully sued in federal court to stop enforcement of the law before it took effect. Arizona appealed the injunction, and on December 12, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the case.

"New York is a town founded by immigrants, built by immigrants and today nearly 40% of our population are immigrants," Councilman Rodriguez said in a statement announcing the bill. "So when we in the Council see other parts of the country stripping immigrants of their rights, there is no question that we have to act. As the Supreme Court gets ready to decide on the Justice Deparment's challenge to SB1070, we want them to know that New York City stands with the immigrants of Arizona in saying that this law has got to go."

Councilman Dromm said the solution to the illegal immigration in this country is "comprehensive" reform rather than "the passage of draconian laws like SB1070. "

“I am proud to join my colleagues in the City Council in supporting the lawsuit against Arizona’s blatantly unconstitutional anti-immigrant law popularly known as SB.1070,” Councilman Dromm said. “By filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, New York City will add its voice to the chorus of municipalities across the country that recognize that such local usurpation of federal immigration authority is bad policy. Pitting local law enforcement against the immigrant communities they are sworn to protect endangers all of us."

In May 2010, the Los Angeles City Council took drastic action against SB1070 by voting to ban most official city travel to Arizona and future contracts with companies based in the state. Protests against sb1070 have been held around the country and Al Sharpton has called for a boycott of the entire state.

According to the release:

Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network, and one of the country's foremost leaders for civil rights, along with the National Action Network's  Board of Directors, are appealing to NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign the historic five-borough taxi legislation saying it is about fairness and justice: fairness for all of the neighborhoods that the yellow taxi industry has refused to serve for decades, and justice for 40,000 livery drivers who would finally be able to earn a living without hiding in the shadows.  

According to Rev. Sharpton, "by signing this bill, the Governor will stand on the side of fairness and justice and would help deliver an early Christmas for so many underserved and struggling New Yorkers across our city."

The appearance in this debate is a smart one for the Bloomberg administration. Mr. Cuomo has been accused of ignoring the African-American community--a community in which Mr. Sharpton is a heavy hitter to say the least--and it is very much a narrative that Mr. Cuomo would like to beat back.

Gov. Cuomo has threatened to veto the bill unless a provision is made for handicapped accessible livery cabs.