Josh Isay

In the face of a weirdly mixed (but definitely not positive) reaction to the Post's revelation yesterday that the Council has been stashing away money through appropriations to phony organizations, Christine Quinn’s people have pushed the notion that she actually deserves credit for trying to stop a long-standing practice in the City Council and say that it actually bolsters her credentials as a reformer.  read more »

As more and more New York politicians are preparing their candidacies for the 2009 citywide races, Scott Stringer too has a decision to make. He can either coast to a second term as Manhattan Borough President or pursue a more ambitious, and hard-to-win, position.

His consultant, Josh Isay, seems to be leaving Stringer's options open. 

“He’s had the job for less than two years," Isay just told me. "He’s accomplished a lot in that period of time and is continued to stay focused on the substantive agenda he has as borough president.”

Stringer's hand is somewhat forced in the matter. If he doesn’t run for an open seat now, he’ll face the prospects of being term-limited as Manhattan Borough President when every citywide elected position is held by an incumbent.  read more »

In a notable bit of reverse-migration from private political work to the public sector, Micah Lasher -- the recently departed co-founder of Knickerbocker SKD is joining the staff of Representative Jerry Nadler.  read more »

Jennifer Cunningham, the influential executive vice president from 1199 SEIU who was an integral part of Andrew Cuomo's attorney general campaign, has just joined the Knickerbocker SKD consulting firm.

Cunningham will be working alongside Josh Isay, who worked on Cuomo's 2002 gubernatorial race, as well as Micah Lasher and Stefan Friedman, among others.

The firm doesn't include lobbying among the services it offers, which may limit the extent to which Cunningham can deal directly with state officials to affect the upcoming cuts in health care spending. In a press release, she said she was thrilled to "be able to continue to assist 1199 in a strategic consulting capacity."

The full statement from Knickerbocker is after the jump.  read more »

UPDATE: Cunningham will still be lobbying lawmakers on 1199's behalf, since she'll also be working with another firm, Featherstonhaugh, Wiley, Clyne & Cordo.

-- Azi Paybarah

Josh Isay may be new to the Lieberman campaign, but not to Lieberman himself.

"I have actually known the Senator's family for almost my entire life," said Isay. "I grew up in New Haven."

Hometown loyalties aside, Isay said he is a great admirer of the Senator, and expressed confidence Lieberman will take on and win against Democrats, Republicans and anyone else going into November's showdown with Ned Lamont.

"I think he is going to do very well with Democrats and unaffiliated voters and Republicans who want to end partisan bickering and who want progress," Isay told me.

Lamont's campaign has already jumped on the Lieberman's campaign hiring of Isay -- who recently worked on the reelection campaign of Mike Bloomberg -- and a Republican pollster as another opportunity to question the senator's Democratic credentials.

"It makes you wonder who the real Joe Lieberman is," Mr. Lamont's spokeswoman, Liz Dupont-Diehl just told us. "He has been Republican, Republican, Republican for some time. Now we are seeing it manifest itself."

But Isay, who helped reelect Republican Mayor Bloomberg, said he was a true-blue Democrat.  read more »

"I'm a Democratic political consultant who represents both elected officials and progressive causes, I believe Joe Lieberman has been a great Senator and is the best choice in this race. And I believe that this is totally consistent with my clients and my beliefs."

--Jason Horowitz

So remember those campaigns Mike was threatening to run against Republican State Senators?

Bloomberg appears to have, at least for now, backed down. But an independent group just put down $200,000 to go after two Republican State Senators, Serph Maltese of Queens and Nick Spano of Westchester, with the message that "the clock is ticking" to vote the city bundles of education money.

And the attack ads -- sinister voice, glowy letters, and all -- just happen to have been produced by KnickerbockerSKD, whose Josh Isay played a role on Mike's campaign team.

You can watch the ads on the site of the League of Education Voters.

People around City Hall have said for a while that Mike would prefer Chris Quinn as Speaker to Bill de Blasio.

And here's a tidbit in support of that thesis: Quinn retained as a consultant on her run Josh Isay, the same ex-Schumer aide who was a consultant to Bloomberg's reelection campaign. (It was a very good year for Isay and partner Micah Lasher, who also ran Scott Stringer's campaign for Borough President.)

But why would Mike like Chris? She's genuinely combative, and played a key role in foiling the stadium project.

Still, she's by her roots a local pol, not -- like de Blasio -- a Democratic operative who might have set himself up as an ideological or partisan challenger to the Mayor.

What's more, de Blasio might have fit more easily into the role of rallying constituencies outside the Mayor's liberal Manhattan base. He's an outer-borough guy with an Italian name. His roots in the black community go back to his years with Dinkins. He has ties to Democratic activists around Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.

Chris's personal style is much more combative than Bill's or Gifford Miller's, but her base is a subset of Mike's own. So the threat she poses to Mike seems, like Giff's, limited.  read more »

NOTE: One other indicator I neglected to mention: Borough Park's Simcha Felder came out for Chris in a fashion particularly damaging to de Blasio, something one thinks he might have at least run past the folks in Bloomberg's political operation after working so hard for Mike's reelection.

It has been brought to our attention that the outraged call by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids for Freddy to return his cigar cash may have a Bloomberg link.

The contact listed on this press release for the Campaign is Josh Isay, whose firm is part of Squier, Knapp & Dunn, which works for ... Mike Bloomberg.  read more »

We knew this cigar story would continue to amuse us. We also honestly look forward to seeing Freddy on the cover of Cigar Aficionado Magazine.

Word came innocuously enough-viathe Associated Press wire.  read more »

Quietly and without much notice over the past year, the newly rich entrepreneurs of Silicon Alley an  read more »