By David Freedlander 5/01/12 6:02pm

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Roundup: We Honestly Have No Idea Which Way He Would Go

Bob Turner refused to rule out tax increases as a way to balance the federal budget.

A number of Dan Halloran domain names were purchased by  a defunct, neo-pagan charity founded by Halloran.

State Financial Services Superintendent Ben Lawsky announced a new regulations that give insurance companies more leeway to decline claims if they suspect fraud.

Mitt Romney had a private breakfast with Mike Bloomberg at his philanthropic foundation this morning.  Read More

By David Freedlander 5/01/12 7:23am

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Morning Read: Living Wage Politics; Liu Gears Up for 2013; Santo, Gingrich Have Demands

Christine Quinn’s leaving of a living wage press conference after a participant heckled the Mayor as “Pharaoh Bloomberg” could be viewed either “as a principled stand that makes her appear mayoral or a fit of pique that could prove a liability,” writes Kate Taylor.

Michael Powell says that the bill isn’t anything to cheer about, noting that Quinn “spent months trimming and cutting the bill down to the size of a hat box,” so that in the  In the end the bill would affect 0.013 percent of the jobs in the city.

Nicole Gelinas concurs: “Why pass a “living wage” at all if it’s not big enough to matter much, good or bad? Politics. The anti-poverty “advocates” and union honchos whose support Quinn needs have seized upon the bill as a top issue.”

The Times meanwhile calls Read More

By David Freedlander 4/30/12 5:49pm

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Roundup: Even Jimmy Carter

Rudy Giuliani will campaign with Mitt Romney at a midtown fire house tomorrow.

Peter King thinks that  Obama should not campaign on the Osama bin Laden killing.

Mitt Romney said that “even Jimmy Carter” would have ordered the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Since Mayor Bloomberg is calling for the public release of teacher evaluations, Bill de Blasio is calling for the public release of performance evaluations of Bloomberg staffers. Read More

By David Freedlander 4/25/12 1:50pm

The Legislative Process

bloomberg speech

Bloomberg Emphatically Vetoes Prevailing Wage Bill

Mayor Mike Bloomberg took an unusual tact today in vetoing a City Council measure that would have mandated a higher wage for some workers.

Rather than simply veto the bill and do so with little fanfare other than a press release, Mayor Bloomberg gave a somber speech in the Governor’s Room at City Hall, and –without taking questions from the press–issued a forceful defense of his administration’s pro-business agenda and a denunciation of the Council’s action. Read More

By David Freedlander 4/19/12 3:50pm

Rules

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In Wake Of Crane Collapse, Bloomberg Imposes New Licensing Requirements

When a crane collapsed in Hudson Yards earlier this month, killing one and injuring four, it set off a big battle between the Bloomberg administration and the crane operators union, the Local 14 of the International Union of Operating Engineers.

The administration wanted stricter standards and crane operators to pass a national certification test; the union said that the administration was merely doing the bidding of real estate developers, who wanted to break their hold on construction jobs, and said that New York City was such a unique environment that a national test wouldn’t be appropriate.

Today, it appears as if the administration won. Read More

By David Freedlander 4/19/12 2:35pm

2013

NYPD-Chief-Ray-Kelly-Hold-007

Why Ray Kelly Won’t Be The Next Mayor

The call for Ray Kelly to turn in his badge, and start shaking hands and kissing babies in advance of a potential 2013 mayoral run are growing louder. Last night State GOP chairman Ed Cox called for him to make a run; today, The Post (which has unabashedly been pushing this story) reported that the city’s billionaires, including Ken Langone and Hank Greenberg have climbed aboard too.

And Mr. Kelly may end up making a run. Fears of crime and terrorism are real, and they rank with housing and education as the issue New Yorkers care most about (witness the widespread support for the NYPD’s Muslim surveillance in polls.) There is concern—particularly among the city’s business elite, and more moderate white-ethnic and Jewish voters in the outer boroughs—that the current crop of Democrats are too beholden to labor and to ideology to make hard decisions, and guide the city in the manner that Mike Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani did.

But if Mr. Kelly does run, he is unlikely to follow the path cleared by Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg and keep the streak of Republican mayors alive. Here are five reasons why: Read More

By David Freedlander 4/09/12 1:29pm

The Mayor and the Senator

Chuck Schumer is pictured

Schumer: ‘I Love Mike,’ But Disagrees With Bloomberg Over Taxes

Sen. Chuck Schumer was on “CBS This Morning” today to boost support for “The Buffett Rule”–the Democratic plan to balance the federal budget by levying heavier taxes on the wealthy.

And he was shown a clip of an earlier guest on the morning show–Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who has repeatedly said that merely tax the rich (of which he is of course one) is insufficient, and that instead Congress and President Obama should impose higher taxes on all Americans.

“I love Mike,” Mr. Schumer responded, before tweaking Hizzoner over the trace of a Boston accent that he still retains. “It’s true the high end people are not the whole answer to the problem, but they are gaining a greater percentage of  income. For instance, the top one percent in income made 23 percent of the income last year. So you do get some money but it is also a question of fairness.” Read More

By David Freedlander 3/01/12 8:38am

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Morning Read: Obama in NYC; Maps Out; Liu Defiant

Traffic alert! President Barack Obama will be in Manhattan today for a series of star-studded fundraisers.

The event is Obama’s 100th fundraiser of the campaign.

Assembly Democrats and Senate Republicans released Congressional maps--the Democrats pit  Joseph Crowley and Robert Turner  in the same Democrat-heavy district, while the Senate GOP wipes out the Queens-Nassau district of Democratic Rep. Gary Ackerman.

Longtime GOP fundraiser Read More

By David Freedlander 2/29/12 7:27am

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Morning Read: A Shaken Liu; Cuomo Knocks Spitzer and Paterson; On To Super Tuesday

Asked if he would run for mayor or run for re-election after the arrest of his campaign treasurer yesterday, a “shaken” John Liu told reporters “I’m going to sort out what exactly happened and figure out how to move forward.”

Jia Hua, John Liu’s campaign treasurer, likely has the option to “trade up” to federal prosecutors, according to noted defense lawyer Benjamin Brafman. “If you are the campaign treasurer, and you can give them the candidate, you can get a lot of mileage in an effort to cooperate with the government.”

Andrew Cuomo took a bold swipe at both Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson in his speech at the Citizen’s Budget Commission. “Relatively, we have made progress in Albany. It has been 14 months since the governor of the state was indicted or admitted committing major felonies,” he said. Read More