politics
Going big on a sordid story about the teachers union
A lawsuit against United Federation of Teachers head Michael Mulgrew alleges that he had sex in a classroom in 2005 with a married guidance counselor and helped that woman get a plum union job, and then traded away members' rights in contract talks in exchange for keeping the affair quiet. More
Bill Clinton steps away from Charlie Rangel
2012
Obama uses Sarah Jessica Parker the way he used George Clooney. [Jonathan Lemire]
2013
"And like the 'super PACs' that are playing such a huge role in the presidential race, these big-money, school-based political entities could be determinants in the mayoral race." [Mary Ann Giordano] More
'Be not involved': A Democratic senator's wish for Andrew Cuomo
"Most Democrats, including the Democratic Assembly and the governor have been politically against us," State Senator Kevin Parker said in an interview. "For me, it would be a step up if the state party, Assembly Democrats and the governor would just not do anything. Stand on the sidelines. Be not-invovled. That would be a step up from what they have done to this point, which has been against us on issues that are important to us," he said.
Union leader to candidate: 'Support it as a tool'
It's not common that a union leader tells a politician what to say in front of a live microphone and television cameras.
But look here, toward the end of this clip from NY1 from a press conference yesterday at which Councilwoman and Democratic congressional candidate Elizabeth Crowley was asked if she supported the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy. More
(1)Obama raffles off Sarah Jessica Parker
The Obama campaign is trying its hand at another celebrity raffle.
After raffling off a couple of spots at his glitzy fund-raiser with George Clooney in California last month, the Obama campaign is taking the same tack with an event at Sarah Jessica Parker's home in New York. More
Quinn, continuing her NYPD balancing act, will attend a Fifth Avenue protest
Christine Quinn, the only major Democratic mayoral candidate to have skipped a press conference announcing plans for march along Fifth Avenue to "end" stop-and-frisk, will attend the June 17 event, according to a source with direct knowledge of the Council speaker's plan. More
A new coalition tries undoing Bloomberg's education policies
A new group whose goal is to reverse much of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's education policy announced itself to The New York Times this morning.
The group, a coalition of unions and advocacy groups, is intended to be a sort of counterweight to the pro-Bloomberg, pro-charter StudentsFirstNY group, headed by Bloomberg's former aide Micah Lasher. (That group, of course, fashioned itself a sort of counterweight to the teachers union. So if you're losing track, it's not your fault.) More
Conservative super PACs are coming home to roost
Mitt Romney says he wants to focus on the economy, but that's easier said than done.
First there was the same-sex marriage issue, which gave way today to a super PAC plan to fund an ad campaign about Obama's former association with Jeremiah Wright.
Romney denounced the ad campaign and the billionaire who was reportedly going to fund it, Joe Ricketts, followed suit. More
Tish James wonders who Ray Kelly has been talking to
City Councilwoman Tish James of Brooklyn, who says her brother, cousin, nephew and neighbor have all been stopped-and-frisked this past week, strongly disagreed with New York Police Department commissioner Ray Kelly's assertion that some people in "communities of color" want more stop-and-frisks. More
The Joe Ricketts agenda hasn't always worked out well for the G.O.P.
Even without a $10 million, Jeremiah Wright-themed ad campaign, conservative billionaire Joe Ricketts is poised to have an outsize effect on the 2012 cycle.
But it might not be all bad for Democrats. More
Messina to Romney: You're no John McCain
President Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, emailed a statement this morning reacting to the New York Times report that the conservative activist (and owner of DNAInfo) Joe Ricketts is considering an aggressive assault on the president's character, including incendiary clips of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright that John McCain reportedly declined to employ during the 2008 campaign. More
Schumer grills Mueller over the 'bumps' in the NYPD-FBI relationship, tells him to call Ray Kelly
Senator Chuck Schumer prodded FBI Director Robert Mueller on his agency's rocky relationship with the NYPD, during a Judiciary Committee hearing on FBI oversight yesterday. More
Romney raises an Obama-like $40 million in April
One day after President Obama announced that he had raised $43.6 million in April, Mitt Romney announced a combined haul of $40.1 million for his campaign and the Republican National Committee. More
The NYPD will answer a Council committee's questions, or not
The last time New York Police Department commissioner Ray Kelly testified at a City Council hearing, he responded forcefully to criticism about the NYPD's stop-and-frisk program and told lawmakers they were carping without offering their own crime-fighting alternatives. More
What did Bloomberg give Quinn today?
Mayor MIchael Bloomberg said today that he thought City Council Speaker Christine Quinn "would be a very good mayor."
It's not a formal endorsement, as the mayor was careful to point out, but it's also not a compliment he's uttered about any of the other mayoral candidates looking to replace him, as David Seifman noted. More
