David Weprin

Councilman David Weprin, a Democrat from Queens, sees a funny side in the failure of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill in the House.

“It’s very ironic that it’s the Republicans who are responsible for the federal markets tanking," he said. "It was a Republican administration pushing a Republican package and it’s the Republicans who usually are defending business interests.”

“It’s kind of an ironic, bizarre twist of politics,” he said.

The city comptroller's race continues to shrink as Assemblyman Jim Brennan just announced he's out of the race. 

Brennan, who's from Brooklyn, dropping off the ticket is a boon to City Councilman David Yassky, also from Brooklyn.

Another Brooklyn candidate, Simcha Felder, dropped out in June. That leaves Yassky competing most intensely for votes in Queens, where City Council members Melinda Katz and David Weprin are from. Another candidate, Adolfo Carrion, is from the Bronx.

Of course, there's still plenty of time for someone else to jump into the race.  Here's Brennan's email:   

State Assembly member Jim Brennan (D.W-F, Bklyn) will not seek the office of the Comptroller of the City of New York in 2009.

 read more »

I showed up just after the start of the press conference David Weprin held yesterday to express opposition to extending term limits legislatively.

It was to ignore the fact that there were only two other City Council members with him: Bill de Blasio and Eric Gioia. (Ken Moltner of the Ron Lauder-funded group Citizens for Term Limits and Susan Lerner of Common Cause also attended.)

As they spoke, you could hear City Council Speaker Christine Quinn speaking at a rally for same-sex marriage in City Hall Park.

In the clip above, Weprin cautions against reading too much into attendance at the event. Also, de Blasio and Weprin did not rule out running for re-election if term limits are extended.

Tony Avella got some major coverage today for sponsoring a bill to block the City Council from extending term limits legislatively.

He's not the only one. David Weprin has also asked that bill drafters in the Council write up a bill opposing the possible extension, his office said.

Also, Weprin is organizing a press conference for this Sunday at noon on the City Hall steps about his own bill. Expected to attend the event are groups like Citizens Union and New Yorkers for Term Limits--Ron Lauder’s group.

UPDATE: According to this document, Weprin's request to draft a bill on this issue was made on September 5. 

City Comptroller candidate David Weprin is having a fund-raiser this Thursday at the Sheraton Hotel downtown.

The invitation doesn't show a dollar amount, but Weprin told me the ticket price is $250 and up.

Looking ahead to other 2009 citywide races, all three mayoral candidates are expected to be in Denver for the convention. Bill Thompson arrived yesterday, Anthony Weiner is arriving today, and Christine Quinn's office said she will be here.

In an appearance last night on the Perez Notes radio show, Council finance committee chair (and comptroller candidate) David Weprin discussed David Paterson's speech on the budget, congestion pricing and development in the city.

Perez also brought up the Council slush fund incident, which Weprin was quick to characterize as a minor blip in the face of a roughly $60 billion budget.

“I’m not proud of these scandals or these misappropriations of some small amount of money in a very large budget, but in the end I think the process is stronger for it, and we’re all better off for all the scrutiny that came out of this,” he said.  read more »

A legislative breakfast for a Brooklyn-based educational group, Shema Kolainu, on August 5 will be something of a who’s who of New York politicians.

Amusingly, attendees will hear both “remarks” from State Senator Kevin Parker, and “greetings” from one of the Democrats looking to unseat him, Simcha Felder.

The chairman of the event is possible mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis, whose company, Gristedes, is the sponsor.

(Honorary chair status is given to Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, which may help sell a few more tickets.)

The event is paying tribute to, among others, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, the State Senate minority leader, Malcolm Smith, comptroller candidate and City Councilman David Weprin, and City Councilman Bill de Blasio, who is also a candidate for Brooklyn borough president.

Campaign finance filings for the city comptroller race show candidates getting ready for what looks like it will be one of the more competitive 2009 races. (The latest filing period is January 12 to July 11, 2008.)

According to a search of donations for those candidates between those dates:

David Yassky--$463,575

David Weprin--$334,499

Melinda Katz--$206,154

Jim Brennan--$84,577

Adolfo Carrion’s campaign finance numbers are not posted yet on the Campaign Finance Board’s Web site, but his campaign spokeswoman said he raised $600,000 this filing period.

Melinda Katz's numbers are lower than expected, but then she did just have a baby.

UPDATE: Here are the contribution numbers for the comptroller candidates:

Adolfo Carrion: $570,052
David Yassky: $452,075.00
David Weprin: $316,899.00
Melinda Katz: $192,938.00
Jim Brennan: $83,677.00

(These numbers take into account any refunded donations the candidates dealt with.)

Since campaign finance numbers for city candidates are due tomorrow, a few have begun releasing them, including two candidates in the competitive comptroller's race, David Yassky and Jim Brennan.

Yassky’s campaign said they raised almost $500,000 this period, from a total of 600 donors, bringing his cash-on-hand total to $1.25 million.

Jim Brennan’s campaign spokeswoman said he raised $104,000 this filing period, bringing his total raised to $507,000. The spokeswoman, Jill Harris, also said the campaign is eligible to receive more than $750,000 in matching funds.

Numbers for the other comptroller candidates--Melinda Katz, Adolfo Carrion and David Weprin--were not immediately available.

UPDATE: Weprin told me he raised $336,000 this filing period, bringing his cash on hand total to $1.7 million.

Even in these days of increased transparency when it comes to the City Council's appropriation of member items, the process remains, unavoidably, one that rewards people who know people.

For example, the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a non-profit group whose executive director, William Rapfogel, is married to the Assembly Speaker's chief of staff, Judy Rapfogel, got $556,250 in member items this year.

The Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Center, a group founded and closely associated with Vito Lopez, an Assemblyman and Brooklyn Democratic County Leader, got $658,089 in member items.

In the comments section of my original post on these member items, Mendy points out that Leib Glantz, a politically active Satmar rabbi, is a big winner because his group, UJCare, got a $200,000 member item to fund "a variety of services.  read more »