Mayor Bloomberg's press conference today.

At last year's New Year's Eve festivities, Mayor Michael Bloomberg lit up the stage when he shared a smooch with the pop sensation Lady Gaga. This year, however, Mr. Bloomberg will be joined by the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall's precision dance group. At his press conference this afternoon trumpeting another record year for New York's tourism industry, Politicker asked Mr. Bloomberg if he expects tonight's celebration to top the time he spent with Lady Gaga.

"You know, I don't--Lady Gaga, she was--I don't know. I mean, I just--you know, with these six here, what am I supposed to say?" Mr. Bloomberg stammered, gesturing to the Rockettes who joined him for the media availability. The dancers laughed and smiled politely.

Mr. Bloomberg went on to describe the difference between his New Year's dates in terms of their ages.

"There are a lot of great entertainers, Lady Gaga is a great entertainer and she's very good for New York. The Rockettes are a a great group of dancers, they've been here for  85 years I think," the mayor said. "Lady Gaga is not 85 years old. But the Rockettes are."

Taking the spotlight off himself, the mayor finished the discussion of his evening by rattling off options available to year-end revelers who won't be spending the night with the Rockettes.

"And incidentally, you want glamour, and you want fun, and you want entertainment, [there are] Broadway shows," he said. "Off Broadway. There's performing arts groups in every borough in this city. Classical dance. [Dance] from every place in the world."

Correction (4:03 p.m.): Mr. Bloomberg was initially quoted using the word "chicks" instead of "six."

(Photo: YouTube)

Hurricane Sandy has apparently brought together a pair of borough presidents who previously clashed over pop sensation Lady Gaga. The last time we saw Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer mentioned in the same breath, they had a tiff over Mr. Molinaro's claim that Ms. Gaga was "a slut." Now, they have teamed up for post-Sandy relief work in Staten Island.

In later September, Mr. Molinaro went off on Ms. Gaga after she smoked marijuana on stage in Amsterdam. At an anti-drug event a few days later, Mr. Molinaro had harsh words for the singer, declaring, “To me, she's not an actress, she is a slut, in the pure, in the pure meaning of the word."

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who is friendly with Ms. Gaga's family took offense, however, and rushed to defend the singer's honor.

“Lady Gaga’s work is a symbol of individuality and artistic expression. In addition to her artistic pursuits, she is a social justice activist and a real leader for marriage equality in this country,” he told us. “And no matter which continent Gaga happens to be in today, she remains an Upper West Sider at heart.”

Mr. Stringer, a potential candidate for mayor in 2013, was rewarded with a tweet from the star herself, praising his political integrity in front of her millions of followers.

However, in the wake of the hurricane, Mr. Molinaro and Mr. Stringer have apparently made peace. Today,  Politicker spotted a photo of the two borough presidents working together to deliver a few hundred blankets Mr. Stringer obtained from a private donor to Staten Islanders left in the cold by Hurricane Sandy. It looks like time--and storms, heals all wounds.

Lady Gaga (Photo: Getty)

Earlier this week, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer issued a statement in support of the pop singer Lady Gaga after Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro deemed her a "slut" due to her alleged onstage drug use. Today, Ms. Gaga returned the favor.

"To @scottmstringer of Manhattan, thanku for your support of my activism as a new yorker. You show political integrity + a modern vernacular," the musician wrote on Twitter. 

Mr. Stringer's statement praised Ms. Gaga's oeuvre as"a symbol of individuality and artistic expression." He also noted her activism on behalf of "marriage equality. Mr. Stringer is a friend of Ms. Gaga's parents and her father has contributed to his campaign fund.

If Mr. Stringer manages to turn even a fraction of Ms. Gaga's more than 29.7 million Twitter followers into votes, his political future would be quite bright.

Scott Stringer (Photo: Wikimedia)

At an anti-drug event yesterday, Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro slammed pop singer Lady Gaga for her alleged drug use and called the musician "a slut in the pure, in the pure meaning of the word." Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who is a friend of Ms. Gaga's family, took objection to Mr. Molinaro's comments and came to the singer's defense with a statement today.

"Lady Gaga's work is a symbol of individuality and artistic expression. In addition to her artistic pursuits, she is a social justice activist and a real leader for marriage equality in this country," Mr. Stringer told Politicker. "And no matter which continent Gaga happens to be in today, she remains an Upper West Sider at heart."

Mr. Stringer, who, like the singer is an Upper West Side native, has known Ms. Gaga's parents, Joe and Cynthia Germanotta, for several years. According to the New York Post, Mr. Stringer and his wife "occasionally double-date" with the Germanottas. Since 2011, Mr. Germanotta has donated $350 to Mr. Stringer's campaign war chest.

The smooch.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg held a Muppet-themed press conference earlier today where he announced that the Muppets will be "the official NYC Family Ambassadors" in 2012, but all the action was the romantic tension between Mr. Bloomberg and one of the Muppets, Miss Piggy.

"Can I throw Miss Piggy a kiss, because we're friends?" Mr. Bloomberg asked before bending over and planting one on Miss Piggy's cheek.

Ms. Piggy asked how the kiss compared with Mr. Bloomberg's famous smooch with Lady Gaga, to which Mr. Bloomberg quipped "I never kiss and tell."

However, a relentless reporter later asked Mr. Bloomberg again how the two kisses compared.

"They were both wonderful," he responded.

"Very diplomatic of you," Kermit the Frog commented to the Mayor.

"A kiss with Diana is better," Mr. Bloomberg made sure to add. "Just to get me through the evening."

Watch the exchange below, and the full press conference beneath that:

Michael Bloomberg and Jimmy Fallon

Mayor Michael Bloomberg went on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night, to discuss, among other things, his current occupation.

"It's the best job in the world, you get a chance to change the world," Mr. Bloomberg told Jimmy Fallon. "And I get a chance to be invited to be here with you. I got the chance to kiss Lady Gaga on New Year's Eve."

"I don't think my girlfriend was happy about that," he quipped afterwards.

Asked if the kiss was planned, he simply said, "There are no coincidences."

As for his future plans, Mr. Bloomberg said he wasn't sure, but jokingly suggested he might steal Mr. Fallon's job.

"No idea, I got a years and three quarters to think about it," he explained. "I was thinking actually, I can just see it now: Late Night with Mike Bloomberg."

Watch both segments below:

Diana Taylor

Mayor Michael Bloomberg rang in the New Year by sharing a smooch with Lady Gaga after they dropped the ball in Times Square together. At Mayor Bloomberg's post-State of the State address press conference today, The Politicker spotted the mayor's girlfriend, Diana Taylor and got her take on the now infamous smooch.

We asked Ms. Taylor whether Mayor Bloomberg got her permission before locking lips with Lady Gaga.

"He always asks for forgiveness, never permission," Ms. Taylor said.

She walked away before we were able to find out whether she was willing to forgive him, but it seems like the two were able to patch things up. At a press conference yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg said Ms. Taylor gave him a kiss of her own after his peck with Lady Gaga—and he was sure make clear he thinks Ms. Taylor is the far superior smoocher of the two.

Lady Gaga and MichaelBloomberg (Photo: Getty)

At a press conference earlier today in Queens, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked about kissing Lady Gaga on New Years night.  After reflecting on it for a moment, he jokingly said that he "would be remiss if I didn't also add to that the best kiss of the night came after that, from Diana."

"Just so that I can get through the night," he added laughing. "All kidding aside, she couldn't have been nicer. She posed for pictures with Diana and me, and with my youngest daughter."

Overall, Mayor Bloomberg seemed to be quite the fan of Lady Gaga's career. "Very few people who've gotten into a very tough business have risen so quickly to the top as she has," he extolled. "And if you go back and look now, it's been a few years, she's stayed at the top, which is really hard to do."

Apparently Lady Gaga was  quite in awe of the moment as well.  "Are you nervous?" Mayor Bloomberg recalled asking the pop sensation. "She said, 'A little bit.' I said, 'Why, you've performed in front of big crowds all the time.' She said, 'Yeah but this is my home.'"

Watch below:

Mayor Bloomberg and Lady Gaga drop the ball. (Photo: ABC)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg flipped the switch to launch the Times Square ball drop and ring in 2012 last night with the help of Lady Gaga and an awesome, patriotic sweater. Happy new year from all your friends at The Politicker!

Scott Stringer. (photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mitchwaxman/)

Scott Stringer is raising money from people with ties to his one-time opponent, Eva Moskowitz, who lost the Manhattan borough presidents race to Stringer in 2005 and now runs a charter school Manhattan.

Stringer got $150 from the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, Joe Williams. The group "only support[s] nonunion charter schools, bash[es] unions and get[s] subsidized by Wall Street hedge-fund managers," according to the teacher's union web site.

A board member of the group also co-founded the charter school now run by Moskowitz, in Harlem.

Stringer is the only 2013 candidate Joe Williams donated to, according to campaign records released on Friday.

Stringer also got $2,000 from the president of a school organization that advocates for "longer days" and "higher expectations and increased pay in lieu of tenure." The organization, Green Dot Public Schools, headed by Gideon Stein, "is one of a handful of charter management organizations that has been able to create a climate of common trust with teachers unions," Stein's web site says.

Other interesting donors:

An interested reader noted Joe Germanotta --  Lady Gaga's father -- donated $175 to Stringer.

Assemblyman Denny Farrell's legislative aide, Earnestine Temple, donated $60, as did Farrell's 2012 campaign, which gave $1,000.

Chairman of Manhattan Media -- which publishes City Hall News,  The Capitol, Our Town on Manhattan's East Side and the West Side Spirit on the other side of Manhattan -- donated $2,000 to Stringer.

Actress Martina Garcia donated a modest $25. The founder and editor in chief of Women's eNews, Rita Jensen, donated $30. The editor of Print Magazine, Aaron Kenedi, donated $175.

And during the Weiner scandal -- May 27, the day of the errant Tweet, to June 17, the day Weiner resigned -- Stringer raised $105,581. That's roughly the same amount as De Blasio and a little less than Quinn, and about half of Liu.