John Catsimatidis

Freewheeling billionaire John Catsimatidis was told again and again it was time to for him to leave as he stood at the foot of the Verrazano Bridge in Brooklyn this afternoon.

"No, no, no..." his handlers pleaded as Mr. Catsimatidis, a Republican candidate for mayor, prepared to tell a gaggle of reporters about another press conference of his scheduled for next week.

"Now, there's another press conference coming, guess what we did in Brooklyn that nobody knows about?" Mr. Castimatidis asked as his team strained to keep  their plans under wraps.

But Mr. Catsimatidis, arriving in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to originally explain his plan to call upon the MTA to freeze additional toll and fare increases, was in his element, rambling extemporaneously about whatever subjects the assembled reporters cared to discuss. Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis smiled at his side, watching as the man who had never been an elected official said and did exactly what he wanted to do. Politicker asked Mr. Catsimatidis about Mayor Michael Bloomberg's controversial plan to ban high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces. Business leaders have attacked the proposal, which is set to go into effect March 12, but Catsimatidis, a supermarket tycoon, wasn't willing to join their ranks.

"I wouldn't want my kids to drink 32 ounce sodas,"  said Mr. Catsimatidis, explaining that he would also want more  health education programs put in public schools. "When I went to the movies a couple of weeks ago and I looked at the 32 oz soda and it said 1,100 calories, wow, never in a million years would I buy that one!"

Ms. Malliotakis rushed to agree with Mr. Catsimatidis about how it was good to make calorie counts available, but pivoted to take up the New York Post's talking point that the ban would also "tell me that I can't have a birthday party for my kids at Chuck E. Cheese with a pitcher of soda."

Mr. Catsimatidis also criticized the MTA's planned fare and toll hikes in March but, like Ms. Malliotakis, did not lay the blame on his Republican rival in the mayor's race, Joe Lhota. The MTA chairman when the tolls hikes were approved, Mr. Lhota faces potential backlash from voters on Staten Island who will have to pay even more to cross the Verrazano Bridge.

"I would say, I would have looked at it a lot more closely," said Mr. Catsimatidis  when asked if he also would have hiked fares if he was in Mr. Lhota's shoes. "I think some of the other political people in Staten Island that want to support him have to ask him the same question."

And Mr. Catsimatidis, seemingly unaware that former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion is kicking off his mayoral campaign tomorrow night and looking to run against him in a Republican primary, said Mr. Carrion should instead run for something like public advocate or comptroller.

"I think the Republican Party that I'm running in has to be diverse. We need a Hispanic, we need a black and I'd love to see Adolfo Carrion run on one of those lines or A.R. Bernard who is a very, very decent guy. I've met him and really love the guy," he said.

As for that mysterious Brooklyn press conference?

"Stay tuned to next week. We saved jobs in Brooklyn nobody knows about."

Nicole Malliotakis and John Catsimatidis (Photo: Twitter/@NMalliotakis)

There are many different endorsements growing in Brooklyn.

Indeed, despite its 2.5 million residents, the city's largest borough only has a handful of Republican elected officials and they all seem to be leaning in opposite directions when it comes to who the next mayor should be. State Senator Marty Golden endorsed Joe Lhota yesterday, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis recently announced her support for John Catsimatidis, and Brooklyn GOP Chair Craig Eaton has been backing Adolfo Carrión for City Hall's top job.

"I've known John for a number of years," Ms. Malliotakis told Politicker this afternoon. "He's somebody who has a business background. He has big ideas. He has common sense, which is all of the things we need to move the city forward. He's come out to my district. He's toured the Sandy devastation with me. He has a general interest in helping these people."

The endorsement, announced last night over Twitter, doesn't come as a complete surprise as Ms. Malliotakis and Mr. Catsimatidis, who both share Greek-American heritage, are longtime acquaintances. The two held a joint press conference last month to celebrate Mr. Catsimatidis' $10,000 donation to a local nonprofit destroyed by Hurricane Sandy on the Staten Island part of her district.

For his part, Mr. Golden, the "dean of New York City’s Republican elected officials," officially passed on his backing in the pages of the New York Post.

“I’m a Lhota guy. Joe Lhota is the only guy who has a chance to win,” Mr. Golden stated. “A lot of the elected leaders will go with Lhota. ... There will be an endorsement across-the-board.”

Despite the dueling endorsements, both legislators had nothing but kind words to say about each other's preferred mayor. Mr. Golden called Mr. Catsimatidis a "great guy" while Ms. Malliotakis told us Mr. Lhota was a "fine person."

The third Republican elected official representing any part of the borough, Congressman Michael Grimm--whose district contains same Bay Ridge neighborhood as Ms. Malliotakis' and Mr. Golden's--has yet to endorse in the race.

Mr. Eaton indicated his support for Mr. Carrión some time ago, but as Mr. Carrión is not a registered Republican, he'll need the backing of three of the five GOP county chairs in order to run in their party's primary, a possibility that looks increasingly unlikely. Mr. Carrión has vowed to campaign in the general election on the Independence Party's line regardless, however, and he may lose some of his Republican support if he runs directly against the GOP nominee.

A scene from The Tudors, an unrelated television show set in 16th century England.

Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis doesn't have much to do with State Senator Marty Golden's decision to host a nationally mocked "Feminine Presence" seminar, but that didn't stop her Democratic rival from seeking to tie her to the infamous, now-canceled event.

“My opponent, who has been awfully silent throughout this matter, has the opportunity now to defend the women of her district by distancing herself from Senator Golden," John Mancuso declared in a statement sent this evening. "This is just a mailer, but it’s quite obvious how her Republican colleagues view the role of women in New York today."

Mr. Mancuso's argument is that Ms. Malliotakis, who is a closely political ally of Mr. Golden's, has a unique obligation to speak out against the event and the taxpayer-funded mailer promoting it.

“I believe it’s important for the Assemblywoman, who shares office space with Senator Golden, to publicly and forcefully denounce the despicable mailer which went out district wide last week," he posited. "It is simply unacceptable for this type of language to be used and distributed by an elected official in this day and age. The constituents of the 64th Assembly District deserve to know where their representative stands on this blatant attack on women."

Mr. Golden's own Democratic opponent wasted no time in pouncing on the issue, issuing a press release last Tuesday declaring it “discriminatory and offensive,” and “downright degrading to women,” but whether the canceled event has enough traction to expand into other races remains to be seen.

In the photo, Congressman Grimm is seen wearing the familiar zebra stripes of a referee and he seems to be officiating over something called "Third Avenue Festival Table Tennis Grand Slam."

"Gasp! Somebody Actually Let Congressman Grimm Referee?" the DCCC says in the email header. 

"Few members of the 112^th Congress have faced more ethics questions than Congressman Michael Grimm (NY-11), yet that apparently didn’t stop him from once again playing dress-up and pretending to be a referee. Judging from the picture below, even Congressman Grimm is shocked that somebody would trust him to make sure others obey the rules," the eamil continues.

The DCCC is referring , of course, to some of the ethics questions that Mr. Grimm has suffered as of late. 

(Photo: Getty)

Yesterday evening, the Albany Times-Union reported that Staten Island Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis was dropping fake dog testicles, or "neuticles," from her legislation banning unnecessary animal surgery, as, apparently, implanting them turned out to be far less invasive than originally thought. And late last night, John Mancuso, a Democrat challenging the freshman GOP lawmaker, declared neuticles to be an unnecessary distraction on Facebook.

"Neuticles? ......Really? How about worrying about the prescription pill epidemic, or the lack of funding for our public schools, or even the promises you made to expand the MTA and bus service," he wrote. "Let's start worrying about the real issues facing the 64th district and STOP chasing cameras and publishing non-sense."

"Smoke screens and mirrors! The waste of tax payer money on such non-sense is sickening!" he exclamatorily added.

However, Ms. Malliotakis preempted skeptics in her own argument for the bill, telling the Times-Union, “Government’s role is to help not only vulnerable citizens, but those without a voice, defend themselves. That includes animals.”

And, apparently, these implants are a real thing. Kim Kardashian's dog even has them.

If there are any further developments on this, we'll be sure to update you.

John Mancuso (Photo: Facebook)

John Mancuso, an owner of a Staten Island catering business active in Democratic politics, will kick off his race against freshman GOP Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis tomorrow evening, his campaign announced. City & State had originally reported Mr. Mancuso was eyeing the race, but tomorrow marks the official firing off point for what will be one of the few competitive assembly races in New York City this year.

"I'm a fourth generation Staten Islander," Mr. Mancuso told The Politicker this evening, professing his love for Staten Island and Brooklyn. "Right now the 60th Assembly District is not getting what it deserves."

"I want to make sure whoever represents us this year, hopefully me, will bring back the bacon," and make sure programs are funded, he explained. Mr. Mancuso made sure to devote attention reigning in "out of control" tolls, an incredibly important local issue that Ms. Malliotakis (and pretty much every Staten Island politician) focus on as well.

Mr. Mancuso said, however, being a member of the Democratic Party, which dominates the State Assembly, will allow him to accomplish more.

"If you're a majority member, naturally you're going to be able to get bills passed and naturally you'll be able to get things done a lot easier," he said.

Ms. Malliotakis won't necessarily be an easy target as she is one of the most prodigious fundraisers in the entire New York State Assembly and considered a rising star in some Republican circles.

Mr. Mancuso, who's a former Deputy Chief of Staff for former State Senator Seymour Lachman and Chief of Staff for Councilman Vinnie Gentile, said he has plenty of contacts and Ms. Malliotakis' fundraising "doesn't intimidate me one bit."

(Photo: Facebook)

Everyone who hasn't been living under a rock knows the New York Giants whipped up an impressive victory in the Super Bowl last night. However, even rock-dwellers were aware of the news if they were friends with any elected officials on Facebook.

Generally, the excited politicians' responses needed at least five exclamation marks.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley and State Senator Marty Golden were examples of this. Ms. Crowley wrote "NY Giants XLVI Super Bowl Champions!!!!!" while Mr. Golden wrote "Congratulations to the SuperBowl Champions the New York Giants!!!!!! Go Big Blue."

Councilman Jumaane Williams, who correctly predicted the score of the game, might have been the most excited of them all. "UH...Yeah! We did it again. ANY DAMN QUESTIONS!!!!!!!" he declared, adding "WHOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" He also had another "WHOAA" post containing 50 exclamation marks.

Councilman Peter Vallone took a more specific tack, gleefully rubbing Patriots coach Bill Belichick's taping scandal in his face by announcing "ELI - 2 , brady -0. sorry bill, guess it's harder to win when you dont have the other teams plays. GIANTS!!!!"

Even politicians who don't normally follow football were eminently pleased. State Senator Diane Savino wrote "wow! and i really don't care about football,but damn, that was impressive in the end! congratulations to the Giants and all their real fans!"

Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, no less excited, was already thinking of the friendly wager she made with a Massachusetts legislator on the outcome of last night's results. "I can almost taste the lobsters, clam chowder, and Boston cream pies that Senator Golden and I are about to win from Massachusetts State Rep. Jay Barrows!"

Meanwhile, New York's chief executive's response was a little more dry and measured. "I congratulate the New York Giants on beating the odds and winning Super Bowl XLVI," Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. "After nearly missing the playoffs, the Giants have made history by becoming the first NFL team to win the Super Bowl after going 9-7 in the regular season. I look forward to celebrating this victory with all New Yorkers."

Diane Savino and Nicole Malliotakis driving to Albany (Photo: Facebook)

Democratic State Senator Diane Savino and Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis both get along extremely well, and their Staten Island-based districts even overlap. According to the Staten Island Advance, both Ms. Savino and Ms. Malliotakis shop together at the same Staten Island Mall Macy's, arrive together at many of the same political events and drive up to Albany together as well.

"In a testament to those differences," the Advance writes, "Ms. Malliotakis's cell phone has "The Odd Couple" theme song as Ms. Savino's ring-tone."

The public interaction between the two has indeed been friendly. In addition to the events mentioned above, Ms. Savino refereed a ping pong match between Ms. Malliotakis and other elected officials. On a Facebook photo of them driving up to Albany together, Assemblywoman Malliotakis jokes that, "Diane is driving, I am the D. J." While on a photo of  of Ms. Malliotakis holding her goddaughter, Ms. Savino talks directly to the Assemblywoman's mother, jokingly assuring her that the Senator is "actively looking for a suitable husband for her!"

They work also together in an official capacity.  On the more lighthearted side of things, they issued a joint press release expressing "disappointment" with the Staten Island Mall, "for their poor judgment in arranging a public appearance for 'Snooki' to sell her new line of sunglasses."  They've also issued joint press releases making more serious statements, such as calling on the Department of Environmental Conservation to avoid overregulation of New York's harbor industry.

Even though she is one of the most progressive State Senators, Ms. Savino has engaged in some fairly radical bipartisan efforts up in Albany as well. She was one of four State Senators to leave the Democratic conference and form the Independent Democratic Caucus, which has a strong relationship with the Republican majority despite being composed entirely of Democratic members.

For her part, Assemblywoman Malliotakis could be facing a competitive reelection and having some bipartisan credentials certainly doesn't hurt politically. Democrats have already lined up a challenger in the form of small business owner John Mancuso, and if the Assembly Democrats control their own lines in redistricting as they have in years past, they could theoretically endanger the freshman Assemblywoman's electoral prospects even further.

Regardless of Albany politics, the friendship between Ms. Savino and Miss Malliotakis doesn't seem especially likely to slow down anytime soon. Even as recently as yesterday, the two posed together for a photo at a party in Democratic District Leader Kevin Peter Carroll's apartment.