(Photo: Facebook)

Over the weekend, the influential Working Families Party announced their support in a number of key races across the city, sending a signal of labor support as candidates vie for a seat in the City Council next year.

“New Yorkers have a huge opportunity to decide the direction of our city. It’s time to choose whether we’ll be a city that caters to the rich and powerful 1%, or whether New York City can work for all of us,” Bill Lipton, the party's deputy director, said in a statement. “Every day New Yorkers can count on WFP-endorsed candidates to stand up for all of us.”

Six endorsements were for open seats, going to Mark Levine, Ritchie Torres, Rory Lancman, Daneek Miller, Antonio Reynoso and Kirsten John Foy. The rest of the endorsements, which can be viewed below, went to incumbents who are generally not facing serious re-election challenges.

As a great number of council members are term-limited out of office this year, organizations like the WFP are hoping to impact enough races so the next City Council Speaker is one sympathetic to their interests.

Incumbents:

City Council District 2: Rosie Mendez
City Council District 8: Melissa Mark-Viverito
City Council District 10: Ydanis Rodriguez
City Council District 12: Andy King
City Council District 21: Julissa Ferreras
City Council District 25: Danny Dromm
City Council District 26: Jimmy Van Bramer
City Council District 30: Elizabeth Crowley
City Council District 31: Donovan Richards
City Council District 39: Brad Lander
City Council District 45: Jumaane Williams
City Council District 49: Debi Rose

Kirsten John Foy (Photo: Facebook)

Kirsten John Foy, the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, has left that post in what several sources said was in anticipation for an upcoming campaign for term-limited Councilman Al Vann's seat in 2013.

Mr. Foy rose to political prominence after his seemingly unwarranted arrest -- along with Councilman Jumaane Williams -- during the West Indian Day parade last year.  Using that experience as an amplifier, he's become a voice for reforming NYPD policies, especially stop-and-frisk, giving televised interviews and attending rallies on the topic, which the former aide to Rev. Al Sharpton has been active in for more than a decade.

He has been openly speculating about running for Mr. Vann's seat for some time, but has declined to give definite answers as to his intentions, making this is the clearest sign yet of his political ambitions, as Mr. de Blasio doesn't let his aides openly campaign for office. Mark Murphy and Reshma Saujani, campaigning for Congress and public advocate respectively, both left Mr. de Blasio's office earlier this year for that very reason.

But in an interview last night, Mr. Foy told The Politicker he's completely focused on his new job: advising the Amalgamated Transit Union in their bus driver contract negotiations with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration.

"I'm excited," he said. "Once again, we see another example where working families are under attack. Now we have another potential obstruction of an entire profession with the new contract coming out of the mayor's office."

"My head right now is purely focused on protecting this industry and making sure these professional jobs are not destroyed by this random and arbitrary contract proposal," he said when we asked for an update on the status of his potential 2013 campaign. "I really care about these workers, who have dedicated their lives to our children, our safety and giving reliable rides to school."

The field for Mr. Vann's district is far from settled, but District Leader Robert Cornegy Jr., who ran for the Bed-Stuy-based district in 2009, is thought to be interested. Pastor Robert Waterman also has a 2013 account registered for a run and has been raising money, but has been relatively quiet on the publicity front. Mark Winson Griffith, who ran a strong campaign for the seat himself in 2009, withdrew his candidacy a couple months ago.

Regardless, with Mr. Vann's storied legacy in Bed-Stuy politics, his replacement will have big shoes to fill.

Kirsten John Foy (Photo: Facebook)

Kirsten John Foy, an aide to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and president-elect of the Brooklyn chapter of Al Sharpton's National Action Network is holding weekly vigils to push for prosecutors to take action in the death of African-American teenager Ramarley Graham, who was shot by police at his home in the Bronx last month. Starting tonight, Mr. Foy, representatives from the National Action Network, and Mr. Graham's parents will stand in front of the 47th Precinct every Thursday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. Mr. Foy says they won't stop until the district attorney or the U.S. Attorney takes up the case.

"We're hoping that the district attorney does a complete, thorough investigation and concludes that these officers committed a crime, as most of the community now believes," Mr. Foy told The Politicker. "Worst case he decides theres no value in the prosecution and then the U.S. Attorney decides to look into this, because what went down here was egregious and criminal."

Mr. Graham, 18, was shot in his bathroom February 2 after running from a group of police officers who tried to stop him after becoming suspicious of his movements. The officers chased him to his home and broke down the door before shooting him in the chest. A bag of marijuana was found by his body.

"Police broke in to this young man's home where he lived with his mom, his grandmom and his little brother. They broke in and they shot him dead in his back for no reason other than they were illegally on the premises in the first place," Mr. Foy said. "So, we have breaking and entering, and we have a homicide here. They shot this man for no reason in his home, in his bathroom in front of his grandmother and six-year-old brother."

Mr. Foy, who is a reverend at Abiding Love Ministries in Brooklyn, delivered the eulogy at Mr. Graham's funeral.  He described the experience as a wake up call about "the relationship between the Police Department and the community." In addition to Mr. Graham's death, the NYPD has faced a slew of controversies in recent months including public outcry over the controversial stop-and-frisk policy reaching record levels and the department's widespread program of Muslim surveillance. Mr. Foy said he believes the city is "approaching a precipice of dire consequences if we aren't able to arrest the trajectory of our decline in our relationship with the police." If things don't improve, Mr. Foy believes police officers may also be the victims of violence:

"What we've seen are a culmination of grievances and a culmination of injustices that have now accumulated on the back of this NYPD, and the question is, what actions, what event, what incident is going to be the final straw? We're hoping that it won't take a final straw. We're hoping that the NYPD from the ground up will recognize the importance and the value of a strong, positive cooperative relationship and engagement with the communities that they serve as an alternative to all out conflict and an all out cold war where the community suffers and the police suffer as well. That's what we're starting to see, the cold war getting hot. You've seen more officers get shot in recent months than in a long time and that's unfortunate."

Mr. Foy believes stop-and-frisk and issues of police brutality puts officers at risk by

"Bad policy is what's ultimately jeopardizing these officers. These officers are enforcing discriminatory policies, the communities are feeling under siege, they're feeling disrespected," Mr. Foy said. "They're feeling like there's a wholesale disregard for their human rights and these frustrations are festering. You see a criminal element that shows no regard for human life now saying we're going to extend that disregard for the police and what have we got to lose? Now, the community, all elements, those illegal elements and those legal elements, now saying enough is enough."

While Mr. Foy doesn't think criminals who are violent towards the police are directly responding to stop-and-frisk, he believes the department's policies contribute to treacherous climate.

"Oppression is responded to in various manners by various different people. Some people respond to it immediately, some people react and respond to it gradually. So, what we're really trying to get at here is not just a political agenda, but the psychology of this kind of dehumanizing policy," Mr. Foy said. "I'm not saying that cops are getting shot out of a direct protest of stop-and-frisk. What we're saying is, that policy creates a pathology in both the implementer of that policy and the target. It creates a pathology that works against the concept of cooperative engagement. We believe that it encourages a disdain for both authority as well as civility."

Though several politicians have come out against stop-and-frisk and attempted to address other controversies surrounding the NYPD, Mr. Foy believes progress in this area is not moving fast enough. Hoever, he hopes next year's mayoral election can help move things forward.

"I do think we are in very, very slow motion and I'm hopeful, but I'm not enthusiastic. You know, we do have a mayoral election a year-and-a-half away," Mr. Foy said. "I said this at Ramarley's funeral, if the mayoral election is not about police accountability, we will see more and more young men put into the ground at the hands of our police officers and we're going to see more police officers killed by the criminal element. We're going to se emore bloodshed."

Bill de Blasio (Photo: Facebook)

Public advocate and likely 2013 mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio issued a statement asking the Bronx District Attorney's office to speed up its investigation into the shooting of Ramarley Graham, an unarmed teenager who was shot and killed by Richard Haste, a narcotics officer, after running into his home to evade the police.

“As our community continues to mourn the loss of Ramarley Graham, our city must remain vigilant in its investigation into this tragedy. Time is of the essence; the Bronx District Attorney must expedite his investigation into the incident," Mr. de Blasio said in a statement.

Mr. de Blasio also called for the city to review police policies for training and use of undercover officers.

"It is also imperative that a thorough review of the NYPD’s policies governing the training and deployment of undercover officers be conducted," Mr. de Blasio said. "Reports that Officer Richard Haste lacked the necessary training to be serving on the streets in an undercover narcotics unit are especially troubling and demand further scrutiny.”

Mr. Graham's wake was held this afternoon at Crawford Memorial United Methodist Church. It was attended by Mr. de Blasio's director of community affairs, Kirsten John Foy. The funeral will be held at the same church tomorrow morning.

Scott Stringer speaking at City Hall yesterday. (Photo: Hunter Walker)

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Councilman Jumaane Williams held a press conference outside City Hall yesterday where they called on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to end the NYPD's controversial stop-and-frisk policy in the wake of a report by the New York Civil Liberties Union showing the police department stopped and interrogated a record number of people last year. The NYCLU report showed the NYPD conducted stop-and-frisks 684,330, the highest total since the department began collecting stop-and-frisk statistics in 2002 and a 603 percent increase since that year. About 87 percent of those stopped and frisked were black or Latino.

"This report, I think, makes it very clear that it is time to end this policy of stop and frisk as presently constituted," Mr. Stringer said. "Communities of people who are caucasian, people who look like me, never worry about their child or grandchild going to the store for a glass of milk. They're not worried about the police, they welcome the police on their street corner." 

Mr. Stringer, a likely 2013 mayoral candidate, asked Mayor Bloomberg to "step out of the shadow" of NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly and lead on this issue."

"Mayor Bloomberg, you've done some great things and we're very proud of Commissioner Kelly, but we must ask you now to stand up and say something," he said.

Mr. Williams began his remarks by wishing Mayor Bloomberg, who turned 70 yesterday, a happy birthday.

"First, as a human being to another human being, I want to wish Mayor Bloomberg a happy birthday," Mr. Williams said. "Now we've got to get down to business, because the mayor, on this issue and as it relates to communities of more color, I believe he's doing a terrible job."

The NYPD has defended stop and frisk by saying the policy helped them take about 800 guns off the street. Mr. Williams suggested gun buyback programs would be a more effective alternative.

"Any time you hear that a young, unarmed person was killed, you can bet everybody's bank account here that they were black or latino," Mr. Williams said. "There are more guns taken off the street by gun buyback programs. Where are the monies for those programs?"

Kirsten John Foy, the director of community affairs for public advocate and likely 2013 mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio, was also on hand at the press conference to read a statement on Mr. de Blasio's behalf.

"There is a place for stop and frisk in our police tactics, but not on the scale or in the way that the NYDP is using it today. If we are truly going to be committed to convincing communities around this city that law enforcement are partners with communities, we have to reign in this policy," the statement said.

The NYPD has argued minorities are targeted for stop-and-frisks more often because the majority of criminal suspects are black or latino. Mr. Williams dismissed that rationalization.

"You can quote me on my answer, that's bullshit," he said. "If that was the case, we'd see every white man with a suit stopped--and with a briefcase, because they may be committing a financial crime."

Fernando Cabrera (Photo: NYC Council)

This afternoon, Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera will be marching across the Brooklyn Bridge to ask Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Department of Education to reverse the upcoming ban on religious institutions  using public school buildings on weekends for meetings and worship.

“We stand firm on our position. Equal access for houses of worship makes New York City communities better. Mayor Bloomberg and the Department of Education need to see just how many people are on this side
 of the debate,” Mr. Cabrera said in a statement announcing the March.

The ban on religious institutions using public school space is scheduled to take affect February 12. Mr. Cabrera, who is senior pastor of New Life Outreach International in the Bronx, was arrested earlier this month while committing an act of civil disobedience to protest the ban.

According to the statement announcing the March, Mr. Cabrera will be joined by several other local politicians including; two likely mayoral candidates, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu, Assemblymen Nelson Castro and Marcos Crespo, State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. and Council members Tish James, Ydanis Rodriguez, Jumaane Williams, Peter Vallone and Margaret Chin. Mr. de Blasio's aide, Kirsten John Foy, a minister and potential Council candidate who has been one of the main organizers of the movement protesting the ban, will also be in attendance.

In addition to putting pressure on Mayor Bloomberg and the DOE, the marchers are also expressing support for bills currently pending in the State Legislature and City Council that would reverse the ban.

The rally featured a petition to Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly.

A number of elected officials and community activists rallied for "recommitting to police accountability movement" this afternoon, in response to issues ranging from the NYPD's stop-and-frisk practices to an offensive Facebook page. The rally was hosted by Councilman Jumaane Williams and the Public Advocate's Director of Community Affairs, Kirsten John Foy, who were both infamously arrested last year. "If you're not going to acknowledge that the NYPD has treated us like second-class citizens, has created a system of apartheid in the city of New York, we're going to show you that there will be no peace," Mr. Foy said to applause.

Councilman Williams placed special emphasis on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's upcoming State of the City speech. "If the Mayor does not acknowledge the NYPD accountability issue in this city at the State of the City address next week, what he's saying is that he doesn't care about most of the population of the city," Mr. Williams announced. "He doesn't care about the black community. He doesn't care about the Latino community. He doesn't care about the Muslim community. He doesn't care about the poor among us."

"If it's not good for everyone in our society, it shouldn't be OK for one segment of our society," Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs added in a later statement. "To borrow from the famous Holocaust-era quote, first the NYPD came for the black and Latino community; if we don't speak out, there will be no one left to speak out when they come for us."

The rally also prominently featured an oversized petition to Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly. At the bottom of the resolution, there was a place for both officials to sign the petition declaring that "the undersigned" will take specific steps to address the police's treatment of young black and Latino men.

"We want to make sure that everybody understands -- for some reason the press never plays this part when I say it -- this is not an anti-NYPD rally," Councilman Williams also cautioned in his speech. "This is a pro-better policing and safer streets rally. We can have those conversations at the same time."

Watch the opening part of the rally below:

Mark Winston Griffith (Photo: Facebook)

Mark Winston Griffith, who ran for City Council in 2009, just registered a committee to run again in 2013, a strong step forward to making an eventual run for the seat.  The incumbent Mr. Griffith challenged last cycle, Councilman Al Vann, is term-limited out, creating an open seat and a prime opportunity for local aspiring candidates.

Currently Mr. Griffith is a member of the Adjunct Faculty at CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism and is particularly passionate about bringing more progressive leadership to Central Brooklyn. "I don’t think Central Brooklyn has been adequately represented in progressive campaigns and addressing some of the deepest needs in our neighborhoods," he said, citing the Living Wage Bill and education issues in particular.

The prospective candidate also sounds eager to shift the broader City Council's relationship with whoever New York City's next Mayor will be in 2013. "I think we need to build a progressive force within the City Council that has the ability to go toe-to-toe with the Mayor," he said while explaining his vision for the office. "Really try to build a progressive agenda."

The focus on enabling the City Council to more effectively check the Mayor is especially notable in light of the backroom politics surrounding who the next Speaker will be. With so many term-limited Council Members in 2013 -- thanks to a temporary term limits extension in 2009 -- there will be a flood of new members and it's unknown whether the next majority coalition will favor a more establishment-oriented Speaker or one that more aggressively pushes progressive issues like the Living Wage Bill.

Open City Council seats often draw a large number of candidates, and Councilman Vann's seat, which drew a large number of challengers when the incumbent himself was running in 2009, looks to be no exception.

Already, a number of other potential contenders have emerged. Pastor Robert Waterman has a 2013 campaign account open for the district, but has not raised any money since 2009. District Leader Robert Cornegy Jr., who also ran in 2009, is expected by some Brooklyn insiders to make another effort in 2013 as well. While Kirsten John Foy, an aide to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said that he's considering taking the plunge too.

A rabbi protests the recent Mosque attack (Photo: @Ali_Najmi)

Republican voters in Iowa will gather at 8pm EST tonight for one of the biggest days of the presidential primary campaign.  Here are some highlights:

Here's a direct explanation of how the caucus works.

While here's a "Survival Guide" for tonight.

The candidates are battling to beat expectations.

Getting deep into the weeds, there are six Iowa counties to watch.

Mitt Romney's campaign looks beyond Iowa.

While his opponents finally start taking shots at him.

His campaign is quite different from Rick Santorum's.

Santorum's V-neck sweaters make the New York Times.

Swinging back to New York:

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos says there's a "good chance" of increasing the total number of state senators.

A lobbyist involved in former State Senator Carl Kruger's corruption case will also plead guilty.

Assemblyman Jack McEneny, a key player in the redistricting process, discussed its timeline.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio hired a veteran D.C. operative to be his new communications director.

One of de Blasio's aides, Kirsten John Foy, speculates on making a 2013 run for term-limited Councilman Al Vann's seat.

Governor Cuomo signed a tax incentive for handicap accessible cabs.

Almost 100-year-old police demographic maps create an interesting perspective on the NYPD's new demographics unit.

Mayor Bloomberg doesn't make his own restaurant reservations.

Councilman Jumaane Williams (Photo: Facebook)

Councilman Jumaane Williams and Kirsten John Foy, an aide to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, sent letters to Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly on Monday asking if they could schedule a sitdown to "discuss police accountability" together.  "You had in the past expressed an interest in the value of sitting down over a beer to work out the issues, and we hope you are just as willing to sit down with myself, Kirsten and a number of young black and Latino New Yorkers that have been affected by unfair policing tactics," Councilman Williams wrote.

In September, Councilman Williams and Mr. Foy were arrested at the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn after getting into a dispute with police officers who wouldn't let them cross a barricade. Afterwards, Mayor Bloomberg suggested Councilman Williams and Commissioner Kelly "have a beer together and work it out." Last month, after investigating the incident, the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau disciplined three officers involved with the arrests.

Since his arrest, Councilman Williams has become an increasingly prominent critic of the NYPD speaking out about a variety of issues including the department's controversial stop-and-frisk policy, incidents of corruption and police conduct during the Occupy Wall Street protests. Councilman Williams was arrested again while performing an act of civil disobedience during the Occupy Wall Street "day of action" November 17.

In his letter to Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly, Councilman Williams said his desire to share a beer came from a meeting he had with a group of politicians and activists following his arrest at the West Indian Day Parade. Though his arrest with Mr. Foy was the impetus for his invitation, Councilman Williams said he's not focusing on police issues for personal reasons.

"This is not about justice for either of us, but rather justice for the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers that have been discriminated against by this police culture," Councilman Williams wrote.

Yesterday, one day after the letters were mailed, the New York Times published a story about a Facebook group where police officers made a series of racist and offensive comments about the West Indian Day Parade. This afternoon, Councilwoman Tish James, hosted a press conference in response to the Facebook scandal on the City Hall steps where Councilman Williams brandished his letters before the assembled news media.

"In one hand he took the seventy pages of the Facebook posts and he said, 'This is the powder keg,' and in the other hand, he had these letters and he said, 'This is part of the solution, this is a way to come together on this," said Councilman Williams' spokesman, Stefan Ringel. "We're really hoping to take the momentum of what's going on and really push forward with the police accountability movement. We're hoping that the Mayor and Commissioner will take this opportunity to respond, otherwise there will be more action."

Along with his letters to Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly, Councilman Williams sent a message to Department of Education Chancellor Dennis Walcott asking the Chancellor to meet with him and Mr. Foy to discuss mandating "Know Your Rights"  training in schools to advise students on how to handle being stopped by the police. Councilman Williams didn't offer Chancellor Walcott a beer.