Mike McMahon

At a press conference on the City Hall steps just now, where the DCCC and some local officials endorsed City Councilman Mike McMahon for Congress, a reporter asked the inevitable question.

Have you ever driven drunk? Or had an extramarital affair?

McMahon is running for the seat currently held by Vito Fossella, who announced he won't run for re-election after he was caught doing just that.

The councilman said no on both counts.

Democratic City Councilman Domenic Recchia of Brooklyn just announced he is dropping out of the race for Vito Fossella's congressional seat.

Staten Island Democrats recently endorsed another candidate, City Councilman Mike McMahon. Although the district lies partly in Brooklyn, Staten Island residents are a majority.

In the release, Recchia says he thinks Democrats should be "united as a party" to win the seat, currently held by a Republican.  read more »

City Councilman Mike McMahon, who is running for the congressional seat Vito Fossella is vacating, was endorsed last night by the Staten Island Democratic Party.  read more »

Congestion pricing just passed the City Council Committee on State and Federal Legislation, 6-4. Members who voted in favor included Maria Baez, Melissa Viverito, Larry Seabrook, Joel Rivera, Mike McMahon and Hiram Monserrate. Those opposed included Lew Fidler, Joe Addabbo and Erik Dilan.

It goes to the full council tonight.

Sally Goldenberg reports that Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf will be the lead consultant to Republican Jimmy Oddo’s campaign for Staten Island Borough President.

Oddo's likely opponent, Council member Mike McMahon, played Sheinkopf's reputation (he worked on Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign, among many others) in a tongue-in-cheek effort to position himself as the earnest underdog.

"I am just a simple, plain City Councilman working hard to represent the people in my district -- I don't know anything about those high-powered consultants like Hank Sheinkopf," McMahon told the Staten Island Advance.

When I spoke to Sheinkopf, he told me he hasn't actually signed contract yet with Oddo. He also took issue with McMahon's comments.

"There's nothing high-falutin' about me," Sheinkopf said. "I'm an ex-cop with a C.U.N.Y. degree who couldn't afford anything else."

More after the jump.  read more »

Here’s Bill Alatriste's shot of a press conference on the steps of City Hall earlier today where City Council members Bill de Blasio, Vincent Gentile and Mike McMahon rallied in support of a bill that would require “e waste,” like old computers and cell phones, to be collected by the dealers who sell them.

The bill was introduced last year and is still being negotiated, but a spokesman for de Blasio wasn’t quite ready to say City Hall or the Speaker’s office has been stalling on the issue.

“We’re happy with negotiations moving forward. But it never hurts having more people know about the bill and why electronic waste is a growing problem,” de Blasio spokeswoman Jean Weinberg told me.

When asked for a comment, Bloomberg spokesman Jason Post emailed say he was “surprised by the press conference.”

“The Mayor's office supports an electronic waste recycling program, and we have worked with the Council closely on their proposed e-waste legislation. Since recent negotiations have been productive and have brought us close to workable bill, we were surprised by today's press conference. This Administration will continue to work with Council Member de Blasio, Sanitation & Waste Management Committee Chair McMahon and advocates on a realistic e-waste bill."

The John Whitehead who ran for City Council - as opposed to the one who got yelled at by Eliot Spitzer -- was fined $10,000 today by the city's Campaign Finance Board for “fraud and material misrepresentation.”

In total, Whitehead, who ran in the 42nd District in Brooklyn against Charles Barron in 2005, was fined $11,889.

Other fines levied today:

• Public Advocate candidate Jay Golub, $5,460, mostly for taking $27,800 over the contribution limit
• Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, $175, mostly for taking $500 over the limit
• Councilman Mike McMahon, $125, for taking a corporate contribution

The Center for New York City Affairs and the NYC Independent Budget Office hold a panel discussion on the City's property tax system at the New School.

Council Member Mike McMahon announces funding for City Harvest to provide produce to residents at the Stapleton Houses in Staten Island.

The New York City Board of Health meets to discuss the trans fat ban proposal and dog leash rules in parks.

Eliot Spitzer meets with Andrew Cuomo to discuss transitioning at the Attorney General's Office.

Colin Powell and the CEO of New York Life discuss contributing towards the expansion of the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies at City College at the City College of New York.

A coalition of business, government, transportation, labor and community groups oppose congestion pricing schemes at a press conference on the steps of City Hall.

Global Witness and Amnesty International hold a press briefing on blood diamonds at the Open Society Institute.

—Nicole Brydson

There are a whole lot of Democratic elected officials who seem a bit reluctant to commit to the Democratic nominee. Not sure if this presages a long, slow roll-out of Bloomberg endorsements -- seems likely, doesn't it? -- but a couple of these uncommitted Dems who have been raising eyebrows are Councilman Mike McMahon of Staten Island -- in part because he's seen as a potential Congressional candidate next year -- and the rarely shy Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

One reader caught Marty on WB11 this morning:

"The usually very soft news anchors were very aggressive asking him if he was supporting Freddy. He was extremely equivocal. He said Mike was a very good Mayor, but that Freddy would be a good one too. He then quite oddly said, 'I'm a Democrat...'

"I expected him to say Freddy, and instead he said he'd be making up his mind about who he's supporting soon."  read more »

We've obtained, direct from Washington, a copy of a poll performed for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee of Vito Fossella's congressional district, with an eye toward a challenge next year. It's a partisan poll, so you should probably rotate the results about 73 degrees right to compensate for spin. Even given that, though, the results could augur a real race there next year.

The summary, from Peter Hart's polling firm, finds "an ominous note for Republican incumbents such as Vito Fossella.

"Despite Congressman Fossella's relatively easy reelection victory last November, the environment has turned harshly against Republicans, and his solid party-line voting record makes him vulnerable to a credible Democratic challenger. Each of the three possible Democratic contenders tested in the survey would present a strong challenge, although Councilman Mike McMahon has the slight edge because he starts with a strong base in his council district."

The news for Vito isn't all bad. The pollsters concede that "Congressman Fossella enjoys a solid job rating and is relatively well-liked," noting that 56% of voters give him good or excellent marks in job performance.

But only 43% of the voters surveyed said they'd like to see Vito reelected. And when pollsters asked voters whether they'd prefer a Democrat with an "independent approach" to a Republican who supports the President, more votes swung away from Vito.

Much will depend on national trends, and on where the Social Security fight is more than a year from now. Democrats would like to think this is their 1994, and we go back and forth on how sanguine New York's Dems should be. But the DCCC is clearly hoping a serious candidate -- the three they tested were McMahon, Diane Savino, and Mike Cusick -- will jump in to the race.  read more »

"The poll was conducted May 17 and 18, 2005, among a representative sample of 401 likely voters. The margin of error is ±5.0 percentage points."

NOTE: We should note that Fossella wins the three head-to-head contests the DCCC tested.