Mayor Bloomberg, Mayor Villaraigosa and Mayor Emanuel discussing education. (Photo: Facebook)

From the Department of Headlines: "Veterinarian Assemblyman Was Arrested For Putting Dead Dog In Dumpster"

Another: "Bill gets his bill" (to invest pension funds locally)

President Obama called Sandra Fluke.

Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis joined Democratic colleagues in criticizing Rush Limbaugh.

Kirsten Gillibrand piled on too.

Governor Cuomo continued to add to his pile of amusing redistricting quotes.

Mike Gianaris isn't a fan of the proposed constitutional amendment on redistricting.

A redistricting task force head claimed his congressional map aimed for "competitive elections."

Common Cause said the proposed congressional maps are "hyper-political."

Sheepshead Bites posted video of David Storobin at a campaign forum.

Nita Lowey wishes to be the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee.

Today's episode of the John Liu Show.

Some union leaders are shying away from him.

Google Autocomplete helps searchers look for scandal information.

A judge dropped the charges against 88 Occupy Albany protesters.

Buddy Roemer does Capital Tonight.

On the presidential race:

Polling suggests Romney has the edge in tomorrow night's Washington vote.

The Seattle Times gave an unfriendly endorsement to Romney.

Dave Weigel  mapped out Super Tuesday.

Rick Santorum still has the advantage in Ohio.

Jon Huntsman, uninvited.

Nate Silver gave a warning on polling.

Congressman Towns (Photo: Getty)

After Rush Limbaugh went on his radio show yesterday and implied Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke was a "prostitute" and "slut" for testifying on Capitol Hill in favor of President Barack Obama's contraception coverage rule, he sparked a media firestorm and had a suspicious package delivered to his home, but worst of all, he incurred the wrath of Brooklyn Congressman Ed Towns. Mr. Towns sent Mr. Limbaugh a letter yesterday asking the conservative commentator to apologize for his "vile" remarks.

"I will pray for you, Mr. Limbaugh. I will pray that you watch Ms. Fluke’s eloquent testimony, and that you apologize for stepping so far out of line – even for you," Mr. Towns wrote.

On his show yesterday, Mr. Limbaugh said Ms. Fluke should be willing to make him a sex tape if she wants insurance coverage for birth control medicine.

"If we are going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch," Mr. Limbaugh said.

Mr. Towns said he was moved to respond to Mr. Limbaugh due to the "vile nature" of his comments, which he described as "spiteful" and a "gross mischaracterization" of Ms. Fluke's testimony.

"I am almost certain that you did not have the opportunity to watch her testimony before going on the air with your spiteful words. If you had, you would have seen that at no time did she advocate for contraception coverage for herself," Mr. Towns wrote. "She told the story of her married, Georgetown law student friend who learned about the lack of contraception coverage only when she came to the pharmacy to fill her prescription and had to walk away, because she and her husband could not afford the prescription. She also relayed the story of her friend who ended up in the Emergency Room because she was denied contraception coverage when it was required for very legitimate medical reasons."

As a Baptist minister, Mr. Towns said he "respects" the religious case against contraception, but he accused Mr. Limbaugh of making "blatantly false" arguments.

"As a public figure, you should consider doing a little bit of research before spreading inaccurate information," Mr. Towns wrote.

Read the full text of Mr. Towns' letter to Mr. Limbaugh below.

Dear Mr. Limbaugh:

I am writing to you regarding the highly inappropriate comments that you made regarding Sandra Fluke, a witness in a Congressional committee hearing. As the former chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the committee that she was originally invited to testify before, I was prompted to respond, due to the vile nature of your comments and the gross mischaracterization of Ms. Fluke’s testimony.

After learning of your remarks, I am almost certain that you did not have the opportunity to watch her testimony before going on the air with your spiteful words. If you had, you would have seen that at no time did she advocate for contraception coverage for herself. She told the story of her married, Georgetown law student friend who learned about the lack of contraception coverage only when she came to the pharmacy to fill her prescription and had to walk away, because she and her husband could not afford the prescription. She also relayed the story of her friend who ended up in the Emergency Room because she was denied contraception coverage when it was required for very legitimate medical reasons.

Mr. Limbaugh, I am an ordained Baptist minister. I respect the religious arguments being made. However, some of the arguments being raised by you and by some of the other critics of this new rule are blatantly false. As a public figure, you should consider doing a little bit of research before spreading inaccurate information.

I will pray for you, Mr. Limbaugh. I will pray that you watch Ms. Fluke’s eloquent testimony, and that you apologize for stepping so far out of line – even for you.

Sincerely,

Edolphus “Ed” Towns

Member of Congress

Sandra Fluke (Photo: YouTube)

Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke talked to The Politicker today about her rejection from yesterday's House oversight committee hearing on President Barack Obama's controversial contraception coverage rule. House Democrats wanted Ms. Fluke to be a witness at the hearing, but the committee's chair, California Congressman Darrell Issa, denied the request and said she was ”not found to be appropriate or qualified.”

"He said that I was not an appropriate witness or a qualified witness. The appropriate witness part just really struck me because I can't imagine who would be more appropriate to address this policy than the stories of the women I wanted to share," Ms. Fluke told The Politicker. "They are the women affected by this policy, they are the appropriate witnesses."

Ms. Fluke, who was a former president of the Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice, planned to share testimony describing how students at her school would be impacted by the policy, which would require religiously affiliated schools and businesses to give students and staff access to insurance plans with birth control and abortion coverage. Ms. Fluke said the rule "would be just really, really huge for women at schools like Georgetown" because being denied contraception coverage "impacts them economically, emotionally and medically."

"In terms of the financial consequences, it can cost up to $100 a month or even more and that's $3,000 approximately over law school," Ms. Fluke said. "For a public interest student, that's how much we make in a summer, so it's just an incredible financial burden for women."

Critics of the contraception coverage rule say women working or attending school at institutions with religious affiliation should seek contraception through clinics, but Ms. Fluke argues that isn't feasible.

"Especially in this economic recession, clinics are severely underfunded. They're having to cut their hours, and cut their staff and some are closing their doors and women are being turned away," she said. "And you know, let's not forget that we have state and federal government officials attempting to defund these very clinics and then turning around and saying that that's where women should go instead of having this policy."

Because Ms. Fluke was rejected from the hearing, there were no female witnesses on the panel, which has angered several lawmakers including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Upper East Side Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.

"There need to be women represented, but what's more important is not just that it be a woman, it needs to be a woman speaking on behalf of the women affected by the policy," Ms. Fluke said. "So, the second panel included two women, but they were not there to talk about the lives of women who were affected. That's the real point, it's not just about demographics."

Generally the first panel at a House hearing receives far more attention than subsequent panels. Congressman Issa has argued Ms. Fluke's testimony did not address the topic of the hearing, which was religious liberty rather than contraception.

"He said that this is not a hearing about women's rights, or reproductive rights, or contraceptives and health. That's just a really stunning comment," Ms. Fluke said. "While I understand what he meant by that, it's a very good demonstration of the fact that you can frame an issue very narrowly if you want to include some voices and exclude others. What it comes down to is, Chairman issa has power to decide whose voices were heard by the public and by the members of Congress, and he chose to exclude women's voices."

Following her rejection from the panel, Ms. Fluke said she doesn't have "any specific plans at this time" to try to communicate further with Mr. Issa.

"I felt that the dismissive way he referred to me and to the women I wanted to represent was all the communication I needed," she said.

Since Ms. Fluke attends school in Washington D.C., we asked her what she'd say if she ever runs into Congressman Issa.

"Well, my Sunday school teacher taught me that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all," Ms. Fluke said. "I think I would just say hello and wish him a good day."

Read the testimony Ms. Fluke wanted to present on the panel here.