Azi Paybarah

WaPo's Jason Horowitz pulls the curtain back on the New York Democratic donor community and finds them not welcomed into the White House like they used to be:

After discussions with DNC representatives, [Marc] Lasry considered the event a done deal, so firm a date that the host confirmed to the city's biggest bundlers of political donations that the president had agreed to attend a 6 p.m. dinner. The guest list, the e-mail said, was limited to 40 so that each person would have face time with Obama.

But a DNC official, who wouldn't be quoted speaking about the private events, said that while Lasry's home was one of many options, his event was never confirmed. The White House, the official said, was always informed that Lasry was a potential host. The DNC then independently determined, according to the official, that the event should be held elsewhere.

Multiple sources within the donor community and the White House itself offered a different version. Their understanding: Political director Patrick Gaspard vetoed the idea as soon as it crossed the administration's radar.

 

DN columnist Errol Louis calls Andrew Breitbart “a real lowlife.”

Kristen Gillibrand’s Democratic opponent emails supporters to say, “I spent my life’s savings to gain ballot access.” [no link]

Gillibrand channels Barack Obama: “I have not been in Washington long but I've been there long enough to know that it's broken and we need to fix it.”

“Andrew Cuomo got a big boost at a campaign rally in New Paltz Tuesday when seven prominent local Republicans announced their support for him over fellow Republican Rick Lazio.” 

Reshma Saujani goes after ethnic voters.

A reader takes issue with my description of a Saujani' supporter, in part, because he doesn't play for the Knicks.

Chuck Schumer puts money on Rep. Charlie Rangel.

ChuckingSchumer.com goes live.

The Working Families Party owes $100,000 to the firm they hired in the wake of public criticism.

Manhattan Borough President, and 2013 candidate, Scott Stringer says a proposed changed to NYC voting rules would be “a reckless proposal that leave[s] parties vulnerable to billionaires steamrolling elections.”

Sean Coffey keeps talking about Eric Schneiderman’s car accident.

Kathleen Rice’s attendance is getting (more) attention.

Also, City Councilman James Sanders took a free trip to the Middle East, but can’t recall who exactly paid.

McCarthy: “The state Independence Party has reversed three key endorsements of its local committee, essentially rendering the Erie County organization powerless and dealing a serious blow to the local authority once wielded by Democratic operative G. Steven Pigeon.”

Rep. Carolyn Maloney is among the most active members of congress, sponsoring 70 bills.

Rep. Anthony Weiner’s GOP challenger makes the rounds.

State Senator Antoine Thompson has a Democratic challenger.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz used campaign cash to travel as a guest of “the Kingdom of Netherlands.”

Maloney, Meeks, Slaughter and Nadler were in the audience for a White House event.

NT2N imagines how Cuomo loses.

Assemblywoman Michelle Titus loses a Democratic primary opponent.

Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito welcomes Target to the neighborhood.

A rapper who plays an NYPD cop was arrested by NYPD cops.

Stephanie Gaskell notices a slight gap in who takes over in Afghanistan.

Michael Bloomberg breaks the seal at what used to be a politician-free cinematic event.

And actor Mark Ruffalo, who owns a home on the Delaware River, speaks out against hydro-fracking. "I feel sorry for Pete Grannis," he says.

 

Pedro Espada is helping the Working Families Party raise more than $1,000 per day. From the latest WFP email to suporters: Dear Working Families supporter, Clearly I'm not the on...

The first public poll in Rep. Charlie Rangel's race shows he's not invincible, but hovering with enough support to edge out any of his four Democratic opponents.

From The Hill:

A Public Policy Polling survey released Monday showed Rangel winning less than 40 percent of the vote in a primary race. It showed his job approval at 49 percent.

Adam Clayton Powell IV, Rangel’s closest competitor, drew 21 percent support.

It was the first poll of Democrats likely to vote in the Sept. 14 primary.

Having a crowded field would usually work to the benefit of an incumbent, since the opposition vote would be diluted among the competition. But Rangel's numbers seem particularly soft, which may explain why he's taking the step of trying to block at least one opponent, labor activist Jonathan Tasini, from getting on the ballot.

Kathleen Rice did not attend this morning's forum for attorney general candidates, hosted by City Hall News, in Manhattan.

Rice's spokesman, Eric Phillips, emailed this statement: "She was at work at her DA's office. She debated twice in last five days and is looking forward to the Citizens Union debate tomorrow. She attends as many as she can in light of her responsibilities as district attorney."

Curtailing public appearances (and opportunities to be attacked directly) is one of the benefits of tending to your full-time job, while running for another one.

There’s another AG candidate’s event tonight. I’m waiting to hear back if Rice will be attending.

UPDATE: A spokesman for Rice says she will be not be attending tonight's forum. She's going to a campaign event in Brooklyn, instead.

Queens-born NBA player Ron Artest is the latest supporter featured on Democratic congressional candidate Reshma Saujani’s web site.

Artest--whose Queensbridge Houses are in the 14^th Congressional District--is seen here holding a piece of Saujani campaign literature. Along with Wall Street employees, Saujani is trying to cultivate a following among younger voters. Sauajni is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who was elected to Congress in 1992.

Saujani recently had a fund-raiser featuring artist John Legend and has rubbed elbows with Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter.

Artest would undoubtedly be part of that younger voter outreach. But, there may be a drawback. Artest is most famous for launching into the crowd at an Indiana Pacers game in what is thought to be the worst brawl in the sports history. To his credit, he has been behaving himself since.

“I just got polled,” a reader emailed recently.

This reader--who still has a landline in their Manhattan apartment and is a registered Democrat--took detailed notes about the call, including the fact that the Andrew Cuomo’s last name was pronounced “Coo-mo” by the caller.

The survey was about the AG’s race, and they were testing, among other things, which attribute is most important in picking the next AG.

The choices:

 “Cuomo's best choice.”

“They are the only candidate who has identified investigated and prosecuted misdeeds on Wall Street”

“Most progressive candidate”

“Served in military”

“Most qualified”

“Know how to get things done in Albany”

“They will fight for people who can't fight for themselves”

“Put people of NY ahead of special interests”

“Proven record of protecting New Yorkers”

“Restore trust in government”

“Best chance to win in November”

“Someone from outside the system who will be able to clean up corruption and dysfunction in Albany”

“Created nationally recognized effort to combat drunk driving”

“Only candidate who has never run for office before”

I’d be interesting in seeing which of these qualities scored highest.

Also, the caller wanted to know which critical statement made by opponents already was most disconcerting.

“They don't understand how to police Wall Street”

"They work for a firm that donated money to political candidates to get access to government”

“Too liberal and don't represent New Yorkers”

“Too rich to be in touch with average New Yorkers”

“Did not strongly support reforming Rockefeller drug laws”

“Have been in Albany too long and won't be able to bring changes to state”

“Have donated money to Republican candidates”

“Once registered as Republican”

“Not supported a woman's ability to work part time while raising a family served as elected official”

For the most part, the candidates have been shaping their identities through free media and sparsely-watched debates. Feedback from these kinds of surveys will have a real impact once the paid media (i.e. television and radio ads!) start airing.

Michael Bloomberg disagrees with Alaska's former governor, Sarah Palin, over a proposed mosque near Ground Zero.

Bloomberg’s policy aide was more critical of Palin.

The federal funding New York state and New York City were banking on isn’t likely to show up.

The Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights legislation--which recently became law--is a very big deal to Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney's campaign, and the subject of her latest mailer piece.

The mailer is basically an excerpt of a profile about her that appeared in Money magazine last year. Her opponent, Reshma Saujani, was recently featured in the Washington Post, but isn't likely to use any of its content in a mailer.

Steve Kornacki notes that should he beat Republican challenger Rick Lazio in November, New York gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo is hoping to become like New Jersey's transformative Governor Chris Christie, but could wind up like New York's vanquished Governor, Eliot Spitzer.

Until the very end, Democrats swore that Corzine was safe and that their boilerplate attacks on the G.O.P. nominee—so successful between 1994 and 2008—would work as usual. It is impossible, therefore, to articulate what a body-blow Christie’s triumph was to the Trenton establishment.

This has been a major source of Christie’s legislative success. His victory shook Democrats, disabused them of their notions of invincibility, and compelled them to regard the new governor’s agenda with a seriousness they never afforded Corzine and his plans.

The ruling Democrats in Albany are just as arrogant as they were in Trenton, but Cuomo’s impending victory—no matter how massive the margin—won’t prompt any comparable soul-searching. The reason is simple: They’ve seen this story before.

[skip]

[F]rom the vantage point of most of the Albany establishment, the governor-in-waiting looks and sounds a lot more like an Eliot Spitzer than a Chris Christie.

The only point I'd add here is that unlike Spitzer, if elected Cuomo would have a much better handle on the politics of Albany, which he's employed for decades.

Rick Lazio has to worry about Carl Paladino.

Andrew Cuomo’s little-known Democratic opponent won’t be on the ballot.

Cuomo will have to refund more money than Rick Lazio has in the bank.

Gershman: “More than $4 million of the total Mr. Cuomo raised over the period consisted of donations of $10,000 or more.”

Cuomo spent campaign money at Tiffany’s, for gifts to donors.

Dicker hears of a new pro-business 527 group that may run issue ads this fall.

Rep. Eric Massa’s campaign paid his wife $34,214 after he resigned from office.

Governor Paterson paid $700,000 to lawyers and $150,000 for crisis communications.

Rep. Gary Ackerman hired a lawyer to answer questions from The Daily News.

Rep. Meeks hired lawyers and press aides to help with a federal probe.

Democratic Rep. Mike Aruci has $587,601. His Republican rival has $570,631.

Former City Councilwoman Helen Sears forgot to submit $101,963 in bills from the Parkside Group.

Scott Stringer hired the computer company run by the wife of the NYS Independence Party chairman.

State Senate candidate Adriano Espaillat helps fund a non-profit that employs his sister-in-law, and political allies.

Dick Gottfried clarifies his position on charter schools.

Vielkind: “The thinking is that women--who do not hold positions of power in the budget process--could do better.”

Karni looks at Bloomberg’s schedule, which is still handled by Shea Fink.

City Hall is falling down, and costing $106 million to fix.

And same-sex marraige supporters visited Albany.

A.G. Andrew Cuomo says he has over $23 million on hand. G.O.P. gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio has not released his numbers.

Cuomo's full finance numbers are not online yet. Neither are Lazio's.

Lazio's spokesman says his team's fund-raising picked up after the G.O.P. convention.

Before their first televised debate Friday night, the candidates running for New York State attorney general were showing off their fundraising numbers.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino spent $1,709,177 on his campaign, with $1,605,100 coming from his own pockets.

Paladino’s been spending his money mostly on advertising: $831,368 on TV ads, and an additional $10,069 on Internet ads. He’s also spent $79,000 on polling.

Paladino has $53,000 on hand now, but has vowed to spend as much as $10,00,000 on the race. Paladino is a successful upstate businessman running in a GOP primary against former Long Island Rep. Rick Lazio.

They're both looking to take on Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who reportedly has $23.6 million on hand.

A reader passes along this footage of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's meeting in Rockland County earlier on Thursday. As a colleague noted, Cuomo launched the first leg of his Chuck Schumer-esque 62-county tour of New York on Thursday, the day campaign finance numbers will be released.

More voters want to replace Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, rather than return her to office, according to a Siena poll released today.

Forty-three percent of voters said they “prefer someone else,” compared to the 34 percent who said they wanted to “elect Gillibrand.”

A majority of Democratic voters supporting electing her, 42-32 percent, and, predictably, a majority of Republicans oppose her, 59-20.

Gillibrand is losing among independent and unaffiliated voters, who want to replace her, 48-32 percent. In New York City, voters are split on keeping Gillibrand; 36 percent says keep her, 35 percent get someone else.

But there’s a silver lining for Gillibrand: she has no strong Democratic opponent (sorry Gail Goode), and her Republican rivals haven’t solidified voters on that side of the aisle.

The leading GOP challenger to Gillibrand is Joe DioGuardi, who leads the three-person field with 24 percent of the vote. Another 64 percent of voters say they don't know enough about DioGuardi, or the other candidates, Bruce Blakeman and David Malpass, to have an opinion.

Blakeman is a former legislator from Long Island, and Malpass was a White House official under President Bush. DioGuardi, a former congressman from Westchester, has the distinct advantage of having a daughter be an American Idol judge, boosting his name recognition somewhat.

Overall, the inability for Republicans to really capitalize on this race speaks to the wider issue of New York not having much of a functioning two-party system anymore.

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuilani opted not to run, as did former Governor George Pataki. Former Senator Alfonse D’Amato is now a lobbyist raising money for the leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate. D’Amato is also backing Blakeman, giving some astute (cynical?) observers the distinct impression D'Amato is ensuring Gillibrand's victory.

D'Amato, after all, was pretty happy to see Gillibrand get into the office in the fist place.

Governor Paterson has until Saturday to decide whether to sign a bill banning the NYPD from a database of information about people the police have stopped and frisked, but not arrested. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has been lobbying the governor, urging him not to sign the bill, saying the database has been an effective way to track down criminals.

The debate hinges on whether the database infringes on people's basic rights to privacy and if the info has been used to track down suspects in crimes not associated with initial 'stop and frisk' who otherwise may have gotten away.

Kelly, after a few meetings with Paterson, is now pointing to specific cases where information stored in the database lead to the arrests of criminals.

Paterson's decision about whether to sign the bill hinges on that newly presented information, he told WOR's John Gambling.

“Now he brings in evidence of 170 people who were stopped who were later arrested for different violations and crimes," said Paterson. "And we have to determine whether the database assisted in those arrests or not."

Andrew Cuomo is starting the first leg of a tour his campaign said will bring the candidate to each of New York’s 62 counties.

Cuomo starts out in the Hudson Valley tomorrow, and, over 11 days, will go to the Hudson Valley and North Country.

The Citizen Budget Commission raises a red flag on the most recent budget deal NYC lawmakers agreed to in June. In short, the CBC says we can expect the city’s financial situation to look very ugly very soon:

This year, the City will exhaust the last of the accumulated surplus; the fiscal year 2011 budget is balanced thanks to $3.6 billion in surplus from fiscal year 2010, a combination of those accumulated surpluses from the boom-years and increased tax revenues due to a stunning comeback in profits on Wall Street fueled by low interest rates. After that, the buck literally stops here; such good fortune is unlikely to continue, and actual expenditures will exceed revenues by $4.6 billion in fiscal year 2012.

[skip]

If the federal government does not come through with $600 million in aid for Medicaid that is included in the adopted budget, a scenario looking more and more likely, more cuts are all but certain.

Gov. Paterson is unhappy legislators haven’t finished the budget: “I have no idea why they would act so irresponsibly at a time like this." Paterson’s spokesman: “We're waiting for them to finish a budget. We're not negotiating a revenue bill." State Senate spokesman: “We need a negotiated agreement to complete the budget, not another unnegotiated press release.”

The Times editorial board urges Paterson to sign a bill banning police from keeping stop and frisk data: “It is simply unacceptable to put innocent New Yorkers under permanent suspicion because they happened to be walking down a street in a minority neighborhood.”

The mosque slated near Ground Zero changed its name from Cordoba House to Park51.