Anthony Bologna and Occupy, according to the video
Briefing: Bologna. via Youtube
7:22 am Aug. 3, 2012
Though the Bloomberg administration forcefully and repeatedly defended the NYPD's conduct in managing the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, the city is pointedly not defending a department official, who was videotaped pepper-spraying protesters, in a civil lawsuit.
The incident, replayed endlessly on YouTube, was highly inconvenient for the mayor and the department, undermining their assertions at the time that officers were only using force out of necessity. The officer in the video, Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, is now being represented by a lawyer paid for by his union.
The city isn't saying it outright, but it seems they've found Bologna's explanation for his actions wanting, when compared to the video. He's on his own.
It makes a difference when there's hard footage, which is the message in a Daily News op-ed by David Galarza, who videotaped a police officer body-slamming a teenage suspect in a train station. What's not captured is the suspect hopping a turnstile and running away from the officer who yelled at him to stop. The News earlier gave a glowing review of the officer's conduct, as seen in the video.
Thanks the presence of videocameras, members of the public can see for themselves who acted appropriately.
Quote
"she's neither for it or against it or knows about it or cares about it!"--@JenChung, on Mindy Meyer's position on same-sex marriage [Twitter]
Events
8:05 a.m. Michael Bloomberg talks to John Gambling on WOR710.
10:30 a.m. Andrew Cuomo makes an announcement in the Data Center Building on the University of Rochester campus, in Rochester.
11 a.m. Cuomo's record on transparency, and his prospective 2016 White House bid, are discussed during "The Brian Lehrer Show". (Host: Anna Sale, guest: me)
1 p.m. Cuomo has a media availability after touring the Cooper Crouse-Hinds laboratory, at Wolf Street and 7th North Street, in Syracuse.
Birthdays: Daily News' Josh Greenman, DSCC's Josh Cherwin
2012
The FEC and IRS can't regulate campaign spending because they're broken. [Andy Kroll]
Obama's 100 Day video looks like he's running more as a movement candidate and less like an incumbent with a record. [my.BarackObama.com]
The American Spectator sees signs of a second conservative rediscovery. [Jeffrey Lord]
Maybe Harry Reid is saying reckless things about Mitt Romney because he's in a position to take one for the team. [Steve Kornacki]
2013
Malcolm Smith may not be a real mayoral candidate, but "There's an opening for a fusion candidate in the 2013 race." And: "[an] obvious alliance would combine Republican voters, the Orthodox Jewish bloc, outer-borough 'Koch Democrats' and minority voters." [Michael Benjamin]
A reporter in Queens is skeptical. [@NRafter]
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio's push to protect small businesses from excessive fines is genuine and not motivated by politics, according to some Queens Republicans. [Peter Mastrosimone]
Tech
Parking meters you can pay by phone. [Miguel Helft]
"[S]he likely doesn't truly understand what she did wrong in the first place," an editorial board writes about City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's push to have N.Y.U. remove Chick-fil-A. [New York Post]
SD-21
The fact that "bloggers and thinkers" were expecting Orthodox leaders to denounce Mindy Meyers speaks to journalists' misunderstanding of Orthodox Jews. [Yossi Gestetner]
City Hall
Bloomberg is still donating to the city's five Republican county organizations that allowed him to run for re-election on their line after he left the G.O.P. [David Seifman]
The city isn't defending NYPD Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna who is being sued after he was videotaped pepper-spraying OWS protesters. [Sean Gardiner] "Open your eyes, mayor" an editorial board pleads, in a screed about NYCHA's shortcomings. [Daily News]
The guy who videotaped a police officer body-slamming a teenager thinks there ought to be more cameras. [David Galarza]
City Council
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the Department of Education will help 7,000 students wrongly denied the chance to participate in their high school graduations. [Yoav Gonen and Lorena Mongelli]
City Councilwoman Liz Crowley was kicked off the ballot as a candidate for Democratic district leader by the Queens Democratic Party, whose preferred congressional candidate she ran against recenty. [Vera Chinese and Lisa Colangelo]
Albany
Ravi Batra, the Senate Democrats' appointee to the state ethics commission threatened to quit because the group may not force the Committee to Save New York to disclose enough of their donors in accordance with a law passed that took effect in June. [Jacob Gershman]
The New York State Democratic Party's new executive director will be Rodney Capel. [Jacob Gershman]
Cuomo will have a "yogurt summit" in Albany on 8/15, to discuss how to meet the state's growing need for the stuff. [Erik Kriss]
On camera, Cuomo defends JCOPE's decision not to apply a disclosure rule about donors retroactively to the Committee to Save New York. [Dave McKinley]
Headline: "Gov. Cuomo offers rhetoric, no specifics on how state will deal with synthetic drugs." [Howard Owens]
A critic links Cuomo's conservative budget agenda to the fact he hasn't done more to change the state's campaign finance rules. [Richard Kirsch]
Out and About
Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor ate at Almond, the restaurant run by Anthony Weiner's brother. [Sally Frank]
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and City Councilman Brad Lander were photographed attending a major Jewish event in East Rutherford, NJ. [VosizNeias.com]
From Capital
Obama will have an expensive, but family-friendly basketball fund-raiser at Chelsea Piers. [Reid Pillifant]
Senator Chuck Schumer is pushing a tax break for mass-transit users that the House probably won't do anything with. [Dana Rubinstein]
The Observer's editor and president are leaving. [Tom McGeveran]
Front Pages
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