David Freedlander
Former New York State Assembly member Frank Seddio told The Politicker this afternoon that he spoke with indicted State Senator Carl Kruger last week after an associate of the Brooklyn lawmaker said he helped Kruger and his top aide solicit bribes. "I didn't do a thing. [Chief of Staff] Jason [Koppel] didn't do a thing. This guy is a fucking liar," Seddio said Kruger told... MORE >
Brooklyn State Senator Carl Kruger surrendered to authorities only this morning, but already the talk in political circles is over who will replace... MORE >
Peter King, wearing a crown (get it?) inveighs against radical recruiters in America, who wisely set up their booth at the Park51 Career Day fair. Or, if you want to watch the hearings for reals, click... MORE >
City Comptroller John Liu is slated to appear at a public forum entitled "Why Are We Funding Low-Wage Jobs" at the Brooklyn College Graduate Center for Worker Education this afternoon that labor and progressive groups hope kicks off a major effort to create a living wage standard for city... MORE >
The New York Times reports that Andrew Cuomo is convening a meeting a high-ranking LGBT officials, including Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell and State Senator Tom Duane in order to strategize for a push to legalize same-sex marriage. Needless to say, this doesn't sit well with Bronx Democratic Senator Ruben Diaz, a Pentecostal minister and fervent opponent of same-sex... MORE >
Mayor Mike Bloomberg's budget director, Mark Page, has sent a memo to all city agencies ordering them to come up with $600 million worth of cuts in the next few weeks. "I am asking City agencies to focus on their operations in Fiscal Year 2012 to determine how best, to the extent necessary, we can maintain balanced City operations," Page writes. "The total target is $600 million for FY2012. I am asking that each agency... MORE >
Wisconsin has been gripped by a weeks-long sit-in in the state Capitol. The governor of New Jersey has fingered public school teachers as enemies of reform. Thousands are protesting changes to collective bargaining in Ohio. And now into the debate over the public sector workforce enters John... MORE >
When David Foster Wallace hanged himself with a black belt and his arms bound by duct tape on the patio of his home in Claremont, Calif., on Sept. 12, 2008, he had published a history of the concept of infinity, three collections of short stories, two books of essays and two novels. The last of the novels--the towering, 1,088-page Infinite Jest--came out in... MORE >
Whoa! There are fireworks in the normally sedate confines of the New York State Senate as Democrats and Republicans are engaged in heated debate over redistricting and the rules over how that debate can proceed. You can watch live... MORE >
Say this for Peter King's hearings this week on "The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community's Response;" it is certainly generating the guy a lot of press coverage. King himself has a full run-down of the positive press coverage on his website, and he just posted onto his Youtube page a medley of sorts of his responses to the negative press... MORE >
Today Erin Einhorn reported that Council Speaker Christine Quinn has agreed to hold hearings on a living wage bill pushed the last several years by unions and... MORE >
Park Slope Council Member Brad Lander held a hastily-arranged news conference on the steps of City Hall today to refute charges laid out in a lawsuit that seeks the removal of a bike lane in a tony neighborhood in... MORE >
A number of members of the New York City Congressional delegation gathered at City Hall this afternoon to discuss with Mayor Bloomberg and members of his administration strategies to blunt some of the cuts being proposed by the Republican House of Representatives. "These cuts are real and they are deep and they are going to hurt people," Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said. "It is a serious time for the city and we are talking about ways... MORE >
Earlier today we reported about how Congressional Democrats from New York City disapproved of Peter King's hearings on Muslim radicalization. Since King is a Republican, and the White House is similarly concerned about the hearings, it was not too much of a surprise that local Dems wouldn't back their longtime colleague. But now it appears that even local G.O.Pers have... MORE >
Members of the New York City Congressional delegation were at City Hall today and several of them expressed concern to The Observer about Rep. Peter King's upcoming hearings on Muslim radicalization. "I don't where that is all coming from and I am not supportive of polarizing any community within our country," said Rep. Joe Crowley of Queens. "I think it's unfortunately been divisive and I would prefer that our government not be engaged in these kinds... MORE >