Mayor Bloomberg partied with the press and joked about Occupy Wall Street at his annual holiday fête.
Apple swore city government officials to secrecy about its new store in Grand Central Station.
The new tax deal may mean higher fares on public transportation. Read More
Former Governor Eliot Spitzer won’t rule out a return to politics.
Folk singer Joan Baez is playing an Occupy Wall Street concert.
Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. changed his Facebook profile photo to a picture from his trial after he was acquitted of bribery charges. Read More
Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer appeared on Keith Olbermann’s “Countdown” yesterday and suggested that protesters occupying Zuccotti Park could finally spur Barack Obama to take action against the major financial institutions.
“This is organic, it is genuine, it is amassing more and more support day by day, it has touched a nerve and I think this could really begin to say to the Obama administration, ‘Hey you don’t understand what we, the public are saying to you.’ He has been so flat on this issue of Wall Street and the economy, maybe this will finally push the president to speak with a new more aggressive dynamic voice.” Read More
NY-9: “He’s starting to lose races in which he’s not even a candidate,” Comedy Central says of Barack Obama and his impact on the race. [Dennis DiClaudio / IndecisionForever.com]
NY-9: “The protest announced yesterday drew just three attendees.” [Colby Hamilton / WNYC]
NY-9: Turner gets endorsed by a newspaper that no longer publishes; “[W]hat we can imagine being the start of a revival of the Republican Party.” [NY Sun]
NY-9: “In a grand tradition that dates back to 2009, every special House election has become a referendum on the president and national politics.” [Noah Rothman / Ology]
NY-9: “Weprin has been going after Turner with the same game plan employed by national Democrats, pinning the Republican to the Tea Party movement and claiming that he intends to cut Medicare and Social Security.” [Caitlin Huey-Burns / Real Clear Politics]
NY-23: NRCC ties Rep. Owens to Obama. [Liz Benjamin / Capital Tonight]
Same-Sex Marriage: Alesi, O’Donnell lead October 13 discussion in Albany. [Nick Reisman / Capital Tonight]
Red Lights Cameras: “I think we should have them on every corner,” Bloomberg. said. [Rich Lamb / CBS]
Vacancy: Upstate Assembly Republican leaves for job at a Goldman Sachs-owned firm. [Casey Seiler / Times Union]
DSK: A history of bombshells. [Adam Martin / Atlantic]
DSK: Investigate leaks, urges Perkins. Dropping charges may deter future victims from coming forward. [Celeste Katz / Daily News]
DSK: “No one with half a brain would ever put her on the stand” lawyer in Vance’s office reportedly said of accuser. [John Eligon / New York Times]
Defamation: Spitzer sued for $60 million over his Slate column. [NY Post]
Eliot Spitzer’s 2010 campaign is, finally, down to $0.
Among the former governor’s last expenditures were over $100,000 in charitable contributions made on July 10 — the last day of this filing period.
The breakdown: $25,000 went to Harvard Law Fund; $25,000 to Horace Mann School; $25,000 went to Skadden Fellowship, and $50,000 to President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Spitzer’s charitable streak comes after his CNN show was canceled, taking away the major vehicle he had for a potential 2013 return to politics. As the head of a huge real estate empire, his philanthropic endeavors could continue.
[h/t Bill Mahoney]
Eliot Spitzer’s second career has come to an end, and, most likely, so have his chances for a return to his first.
With CNN dropping Spitzer’s talk show — In The Arena nee Parker Spitzer — the combative, wonky talk show host has lost the vehicle that allowed him to publicly flirt with running for mayor in 2013.
Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf — who cut a few all the ads for Spitzer during his 1998 run for attorney general — emailed me to say: “Former attorney general, resigned governor, former cable show host is just so former. The closest he’ll get to being elected mayor 2013 is voting.”
Read More
Eliot Spitzer’s In the Arena has been canceled, according to Media Decoder.
CNN had hoped a Crossfire-like exchange between the former New York governor and conservative columnist Kathleen Parker would help restore its prime-time ratings, but it didn’t happen. So they tried shedding Parker and the forced camaraderie, but apparently that didn’t help. Read More
In addition to providing an unintentionally funny campaign slogan, he tells Reuters his preconditions for a 2013 mayoral run: Read More
From Cindy Adams:
Two black SUVS arrived. The lead car carried shirtsleeved Mayor Bloomberg, who donned his jacket immediately. “What kind of food we having?” asked our city’s emperor. “Hamburgers? I love hamburgers. Melon’s has good ones.”
Discussing hamburgers brought up hot dogs, which brought up Weiner. Said our liege: “Notice, nobody’s defended Anthony. Like Spitzer, he had no friends. Weiner should have owned up right away. But, listen, the public quickly forgets. Half don’t even remember Monica Lewinsky. In Sao Paolo recently, they’d forgotten Goldman Sachs’ chairman Lloyd Blankfein, who contributed to our financial crisis.
“I think some of these people do things like that just because they’re bored.”
So why don’t they just take up Scrabble?
“I don’t know. I don’t play Scrabble,” replied our sovereign, who then decided enough of me and walked away.
Jimmy Siegel, the guy who crafted ads for Hillary Clinton, Eliot Spitzer Spitzer and John Liu, tells me the kind of ad he’d run for a certain embattled congressman.
Jimmy Siegel: “I think what I would say is, something along the lines of ‘Hey, it’s what being in New York is all about. You get up, you fuck up, you fall down, you get up, you keep going. You make mistakes, you keep going, and that’s what New York is all about.’
“I would sort of couch it in a, sort of, New York thing.
“We all fuck up, we all fall down, we all make mistakes, but you get up and you keep going and that’s what’s great about the city and that’s what’s great about me.’
“Something along those lines.”
Azi Paybarah: “Do you do that with any humor?”
Jimmy Siegel: “No no no no no no no. No you don’t do it with any tinge of humor. This is not a humorous sort of thing. Read More
