The Obama campaign merchandise table inside one of the media areas at the DNC. The press stand is visible on the left side of the photo.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Members of the media have apparently been using "fake" names to buy official Obama gear and contribute to the Obama campaign inside the Time Warner Cable Arena where the president is due to speak in a few minutes. During our travels around the arena, Politicker spotted a souvenir stand in one of the press stands selling T-shirts and buttons supporting President Barack Obama, "Democrats Are Hot" bumper stickers and other official Obama merchandise.

The souvenir stand was in a secure area only accessible to those with a media credential and buying campaign gear means contributing to the campaign, so we asked the woman working the cash register whether anyone at the press stand had been making purchases. Her answers were quite surprising. 

The woman working at the souvenir stand told us she hadn't been "too busy" during the day, but had seen business pick up in the past half hour or so. She then asked us whether we wanted to buy anything. When we informed her that our status as a reporter means we don't buy campaign gear, she suggested a strategy other members of the media have apparently used to pick up their Obama swag.

"Have you ever thought of making up a fake name? That's what the other guys do," she said.

Buying official merchandise at the DNC means making a donation the Obama campaign, an activity that is generally frowned upon for members of the media. The Obama campaign website specifically informs shoppers that purchases amount to donations in its "Frequently Asked Questions" section where one of the queries is, "Can I receive merchandise without making a donation?"

"The only way to receive items from the 2012 store is by contributing through the official store site at store.barackobama.com," the site says.

Anna Wintour (Photo: Getty)

Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour is using her reputation as a demanding fashion editrix to raise money for President Barack Obama. On Sunday, Ms. Wintour sent an email with the subject line "I take deadlines seriously" reminding Obama supporters of the contest for donors to win a chance to attend Sarah Jessica Parker's fundraiser for the president this month.

"There's simply no excuse to let this slip," Ms. Wintour wrote with her trademark dose of mild menace. "I don't do this sort of thing often--get involved with politics, that is. But I'm doing everything I can to support President Obama this summer and fall because it's important that we all do."

Though Ms. Wintour says she doesn't generally get involved in politics, federal campaign finance reports show she has made $96,450 in political donations since 2004. The beneficiaries of Ms. Wintour's largesse include John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Hillary Clinton's 2005 Senate campaign, the unsuccessful congressional bid of former Houston Mayor Bill White andLong Island Congressman Tim Bishop.

Since 2008, Ms. Wintour has given $71,200 to the DNC. In 2008, she gave President Obama $750 for his White House bid. This time around, Ms. Wintour gave President Obama $5,000.

Read Ms. Wintour's fundraising email below.

"I take deadlines seriously.

I'm writing to remind you that you're facing one tomorrow: your last chance to join President Obama, the First Lady, and me for dinner at Sarah Jessica Parker's home in New York on June 14th.

There's simply no excuse to let this slip:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Night-in-New-York

I don't do this sort of thing often -- get involved with politics, that is.

But I'm doing everything I can to support President Obama this summer and fall because it's important that we all do.

Nights in New York like this one are a happy side benefit.

I hope to see you there.

Anna Wintour"

President Obama (Photo: Getty)

Though the Obama campaign has repeatedly attacked Mitt Romney for his career at Bain Capital, President Obama still accepted $7,500 in campaign contributions from two Bain executives. His campaign press secretary, Ben LaBolt told The Politicker the president has no intention of giving the money back.

"No one aside from Mitt Romney is running for President highlighting their tenure as a corporate buyout specialist as one of job creation, when in fact, his goal was profit maximization," said Mr. LaBolt.  "The President has support from business leaders across industries who have seen him pull the economy back from the brink of another depression, manufacturing and the auto industry revived, and support his agenda to build an economy that lasts where America outinnovates and outeducates the rest of the world and economic security for the middle class is restored."

On Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden defended the attacks on Mr. Romney's tenure at Bain Capital. Though he insisted he wasn't "criticizing private equity firms," Mr. Biden said there were many examples of Mr. Romney and his Bain colleagues causing tremendous harm.

"You hear all these stories about his partners buying companies … where they load up with a tremendous amount of debt. The companies go under, everybody loses their job, the community is devastated, but they make money," said Mr. Biden. "They make money even when a company goes bankrupt, when workers lose their jobs.”

Earlier in the week, President Obama described Bain and other private equity firms as a "healthy part of the free market" filled with many  "folks who do good work." However, he also said the priority of private equity companies is to "maximize profits," which is "not always going to be good for businesses or communities or workers." Because of this, he said Mr. Romney's work at Bain Capital isn't good preparation for the presidency.

"If your main argument for how to grow the economy is, ‘I knew how to make a lot of money for investors,’ then you are missing what this job is about," President Obama said. "It doesn’t mean you weren’t good at private equity. But that’s not what my job is as president. My job is to take into account everybody, not just some."

Mayor Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

After a group of unions angry over the passage of the Tier VI pension reform plan pulled support from the Somos El Futuro's annual Legislative Conference, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave the organization a pair of hefty donations.

"We think the unions' actions are unfortunate, and don't want the conference to suffer as a result. We both support the Somos El Futuro Conference and, as such, we will be donating $72,000 to Somos El Futuro and the scholarship to make up for the donations that the unions withdrew," the mayor and governor said in a joint statement.

Unions including the United Federation of Teachers and the New York State United Teachers announced they were pulling support from the conference Tuesday.

"The elected officials who are aranging the Somos festival this year all voted on Tier VI for the union pensions and voted for one of the worst redistricting plans I've ever seen," UFT President Michael Mulgrew told the Daily News' Celeste Katz about the reasons behind the withdrawal.

Though hugely unpopular with unions, pension reform was top priority for Governor Cuomo in his agenda for 2012. Mayor Bloomberg was a strong backer of the proposal. The joint statement from the mayor and governor noted Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, chairman of the Legislature's Puerto Rican & Hispanic Task Force, "was instrumental" in securing the donation for Somos.

Bill de Blasio (Photo: Facebook)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has another critic over his administration's decision to ban food from homeless shelters, because, as CBS reported, the city "can’t assess their salt, fat and fiber content." Public Advocate Bill de Blasio announced his opposition while challenging the basic rationality of the plan in a statement this evening.

“While I generally give this Administration high marks on protecting public health, the decision to ban food donations from shelters defies common sense," said Mr. de Blasio, who's a leading contender for the mayor's office himself in 2013.

"For homeless families, these donations are a rare bright spot and a sign that their fellow New Yorkers have not forgotten them," he continued. "Today we face both a profound hunger crisis and huge budget shortfalls—but we also have generous people and institutions willing to help. There has to be a way to make this work.”

This is hardly Mr. de Blasio's first time criticizing Mr. Bloomberg on homeless issues. In his first policy announcement after his 2009 election to the Public Advocate's office, Mr. de Blasio challenged the administration on a wide swath of policies affecting the homeless. Mr. Bloomberg has also recently received criticism for a policy requiring homeless people to prove their eligibility to stay in a shelter.

Update: Samantha Levine, Mr. Bloomberg's deputy press secretary, while not directly contradicting Mr. de Blasio's criticism, writes in to dispute the original reports of the issue:

I do want to clarify that, the contrary to the CBS story and the NY Post column that ran yesterday, there is no NEW policy (nor is there a change in policy) around food donations to homeless shelters. Homeless Services actually NEVER took donations: the shelter system is very heavily regulated – even beyond the City’s nutritional guidelines – with specific requirements around food handling and serving that leave little room for donations.

Scarlett Johansson (Photo: Getty)

Actress Scarlett Johansson is holding her third fundraiser for Manhattan borough president and likely mayoral candidate Scott Stringer. The event, which will be held on the roof of the Maritime Hotel in Chelsea, includes a two hour party preceded by an hour-and-a-half long "private reception." Tickets for the party start at $50, access to the reception is reserved for chairs who pony up $2,500.

Ms. Johansson's brother is a former staffer of Mr. Stringer's. She has already given the maximum donation of $4,950. Ms. Johansson hosted two fundraisers for Mr. Stringer last fall.

Mr. Stringer isn't the only likely City Hall contender with support from a Hollywood celebrity. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has the backing of his longtime friend and neighbor Steve Buscemi, who gave him $1,000 last July.

Read the invite to Ms. Johansson's Stringer fundraiser below and purchase tickets here.

Congressman Paul Tonko waxed poetic about his opposition to tying an extension of a payroll tax credit to approval of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

New York's congressional delegation talks about Israel more than any other in D.C. 

Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb said there's no conflict of interest with his ethics committee pick.

Donald Trump cancelled his planned presidential debate, but he reserves the right to re-start his campaign for the White House.

Newt Gingrich has donated $260,560 to 42 members of Congress through his leadership PACs and committees, but none of the beneficiaries of his largesse have given him their endorsement.

White House staffers are giving the presidential kitchen a kosher makeover for Hanukkah.

(Disclosure: Donald Trump is the father in law of Jared Kushner, the owner of Observer Media Group)

Ed Koch (Getty)

Former Mayor Ed Koch thinks Chris Quinn is the best person to take his old job in 2013 now that he's given up his dream of seeing NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly in City Hall.

"I urged Ray Kelly to run for the last year-and-a-half. He told me he would not. I urged him again, he told me he would not. And when he decided he would not, I started backing Chris Quinn," Mayor Koch told Politicker. 

Back in March, Mayor Koch still held out hope for a Kelly campaign. He spoke before a crowd at the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association and said the commissioner was his top pick to follow Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Ms. Quinn was his second choice. In late June, he gave Ms. Quinn a $1,000 donation, and now, he thinks she's clearly the cream of the Kelly-free crop of current candidates.

"I believe that she is the best one for New York because I think she'll be in the tradition of being in the center--a center candidate like I was center left," Mayor Koch said. "I think she'll follow in the tradition of Mike Bloomberg, and of all the candidates, I think she has the most experience and the best philosophy to lead New York in these difficult times."

Earlier this year, Ms. Quinn backed the proposal to rename the Queensboro Bridge in Mayor Koch's honor. We asked the former mayor if her support for the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge helped secure his endorsement.

"It had nothing to do with the bridge," Mayor Koch said. "That's idiotic, I endorsed her before the bridge."

Anthony Weiner Announces His Resignation in June

Social media enthusiast and former Congressman Anthony Weiner has continued to spend campaign contributions in the three months since he resigned from office in a naked photo scandal in June. Mr. Weiner has spent $130,000 on travel expenses, consulting, research and legal fees.

Congressional newspaper The Hill checked up on Mr. Weiner's expenses as well as those of two of his fellow scandal plagued ex-New York Congressmen--Chris Lee and Eric Massa. All three men continue to spend campaign contributions.

Mr. Weiner, who is married, resigned from his post representing Queens' ninth Congressional district June 16 after it was discovered he sent numerous lewd pictures to women on Facebook and Twitter. His post-scandal spending was documented in campaign disclosure reports filed with the federal election commission for the third quarter of this year, which began about two weeks after he resigned and ended September 30. According to the The Hill Mr. Weiner’s campaign spent $10,000 on travel expenses, $25,000 on consulting firms and “policy research” and just under $30,000 on legal fees during the third quarter.

Spending campaign cash after resigning from Congress isn't illegal as long as the costs are connected to official activity

Mr. Lee, who represented a district in Western New York became known as the "Craigslist Congressman" after a topless photo he sent start an affair on the online personal site surfaced on Gawker in February. He resigned the day the pictures were published. Mr. Lee spent a little over $1,100 last quarter, but his campaign also received $2,750 from the New York State Republican Committee. A spokesman for the committee told The Hill Mr. Lee gave contributions the state Republican party as he closed down his campaign. They gave his gifts back to him.

Mr. Massa resigned from his Western New York district in March 2010 amid an ethics investigation for sexually harassing a male aide. His campaign spent nearly $12,000 during the third quarter with $5,000 going to his wife to serve as a treasurer. Most of Mr. Massa's money spent during the last three months went to legal expenses including inquiries relating to his scandal and a legal dispute with a former aide.

Mr. Weiner has refunded many donors who gave to his Congressional campaign committee. His campaign had $91,754 remaining at the end of last month. Shortly after his resignation, officials from the state Republican party sent a letter demanding Mr. Weiner return funds from his aborted Mayoral campaign to donors. Mr. Weiner still has about $4 million in that campaign war chest.