Mayor Bloomberg and Senate Democrats argue about who's more "meshugenah" when it comes to control of the New York City schools.
City Hall News rails against New York City's arcane petitioning rules candidates for City Council and other offices must follow to get on the ballot. The newspaper editorial board says it injects a "fair amount of cronyism and fundamental unfairness into what should be the most basic expression of democracy."
Incidentally, our story on last week's deadline to submit petitions generated some buzz in TLD's comment section, from detractors and supporters of PJ Kim. Today's the deadline for challenges to be filed with the Board of Elections. More on that this afternoon.
City Hall News recaps the old news that City Councilman Alan Gerson was stricken with the swine flu. But they have some new details about the money race in the District 1 campaign:
still lagging behind two of his opponents in fundraising—he raised
$54,000 through the latest campaign filing period—so he will have a
smaller initial payout in matching funds. Gerson did not receive a
campaign donation between June 25 and July 11, according to his
campaign finance filing, which coincides with the period he was ill.
Nonetheless, (David) Hartshorn (campaign manager) said he was still confident Gerson would max out
his fundraising, and that the fundraisers had gone relatively well
without Gerson. “We got started late, which was our fault,” Hartshorn said. “But we’ve been doubling it every filing.” Gerson
has also recently had some tough luck with union endorsements, with the
DC 37 endorsement going to opponent P.J. Kim. Meanwhile, the Working
Families Party has declined so far to make an endorsement in the race.
A source at the party said that Gerson’s vote to extend term limits was
a factor in not endorsing him, but that none of his three opponents
stood out enough to throw the party’s support behind them either.
The Villager looks at the plight of the residents who were forced to vacate 11 Essex.
