Stefan Friedman

So, Al Sharpton endorsed 1199 in their fight against Eliot Spitzer's health care spending plan.

Does that have anything to do with the fact that both Sharpton and 1199 are clients of the same media consulting company, KnickerbockerSKD?

When I asked the company's president for strategic communications and public relations, Stefan Friedman, about this, he first joked, "It's all me."

Then, slightly more serious, he added, "One has nothing to do with the other. In fact, we all chuckled that I would have remotely that much power."

-- Azi Paybarah

Here is an item rescued from Ben Smith's site, which wasn't ready for the Drudging they got this morning and is temporarily inaccessible.

When Crains reported this morning that Yvette Clarke hadn't graduated Oberlin, it also reported that she'd never claimed to -- which is pretty crucial in stories like this.

As it turns out, however, she has made that claim. Her 2004 congressional campaign site, archived here, says:

"A graduate of public schools and Oberlin College - and a Public Policy Fellow at Stonybrook University - Yvette knows first-hand the strengths and weaknesses of our education system."

A spokesman for Clarke, Stefan Friedman, sends over this quote in response:

"Yvette Clarke attended Oberlin College and completed her coursework - three classes - at Medger Evers College. Case closed."

Update: Clarke is listed as an alumni in an Oberlin newsletter. The newsletter refers to a Times article that says:

"She wanted to become a pediatrician but switched gears to business and economic development at Oberlin College and did a Congressional internship in 1983."

Here's a tidbit that closes a few circles in New York politics.

All Sharpton's Keepers of the Dream conference, at which John Kerry is expected to appear next month, is being represented by the new P.R. wing of KnickerbockerSKD (along with the Rev's longtime aide Rachel Noerdlinger). The move extends Al's embrace to Stefan Friedman, a former reporter and editorial hand at a tabloid that never really liked Al, as well as his two partners: Josh Isay, who worked on Mike's campaign, and Micah Lasher, who worked for Mark Green in a capacity that, one imagines, didn't endear him to the Rev.

You can read about Al Sharpton's attack on the Post, the Bush Justice Department, and various others elsewhere, but one scene after his press conference this morning said a lot.

After the Rev wrapped up and marched into the News Corp. building to face Bill O'Reilly, his press secretary, Rachel Noerdlinger, waved Post reporter Stefan Friedman through the crowd. Then Post columnist Robert George helped her through security and into the building.  read more »

Which was all a reminder of that Wayne Barrett point about how much Al and the Post need each other. From actual business relationships -- like the campaign against Nielsen ratings -- to general street theater, Al and Rupert really are one of those great New York love stories.