Simcha Felder

Technically, Michael Bloomberg’s $59.1 billion budget increases spending -- albeit by one tenth of one percent -- but the loudest critcism it's facing so far is from officials and interest groups that want him to spend more.  read more »

Assemblyman Jim Brennan of Brooklyn, who is also running for city comptroller, introduced his own congestion pricing bill today. A spokesman, when asked, did not say whether he will support the plan as it is currently presented to lawmakers.

Brennan's new bill would ensure the program comes up for renewal in three years, and wouldn't allow the state to issue bonds against the program's future earning. Critics say allowing the bonds means the current congestion pricing plan wouldn't be temporary enough because it would last for the life of the bonds.
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Last night two city comptroller candidates -- Melinda Katz and David Weprin -- voted against congestion pricing, while three of their likely opponents in the race -- David Yassky, Simcha Felder and John Liu -- voted for it.
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Here’s a shot from the breakfast hosted Sunday morning by the Council of Orthodox Jewish Organizations on the West Side, which, as Grace Rauh noted, attracted nearly every 2009 candidate for citywide office.  read more »

During an interview on The Perez Notes last night, Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf delivered a hypothetical negative ad against Councilwoman Melinda Katz, one of the leading candidates for comptroller in 2009.

“I haven’t written it yet," said Sheinkopf. "I’m going to write it write now. Somebody can steal this and do what they want with it:

"‘Melinda Katz wants to be comptroller of the city of New York. Her credentials? Well, she was the Land Use Chair of the City Council. Here are some facts. During her Land Use [Committee] chairmanship, New Yorkers lost more affordable housing than in any other time in history. Rents skyrocketed. She’s taken millions from land lords. Some of those landlords'--lets do it this way--

"'She’s taken hundreds of thousands from landlords, slumlords, the worst kind of people. Those who want to jack up our rents and throw us on the street. So there you have it. Melinda Katz, for the landlords. Think she ought to be comptroller? Ha. Absolutely not.'

Response from Katz's office after the jump.  read more »

Adolfo Carrion just announced two more co-chairs for his city comptroller campaign: former city comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman and Merryl H. Tisch, chairperson of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty.

Last month, Carrion rolled out two others: former state comptroller Carl McCall and business executive Leo Hindrey Jr.

Locking up the support of two former comptrollers gives Carrion, at least, a distinction among a field that also includes Melinda Katz, David Yassky, David Weprin, Simcha Felder and James Brennan.

The official statement is after the jump.  read more »

Lew Fidler is somewhat skeptical about Assemblyman Dov Hikind’s notion that Jewish voters would flock to John McCain if Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination, a claim Hikind made in the New York Post today.  read more »

St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, and so is the big parade, meaning it's once again for local politicians to make a statement one way or another on the organizers' decision not to allow gays to participate under their own banner.

I asked a few possible citywide candidates about their parade plans, and here’s what I heard back so far.

Mayoral candidates:

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Inspired by the ado over Barack Obama's use of Deval Patrick's phrasing, and similar use by Hillary Clinton of at least one Obama phrase, I emailed a few quotable people in New York for them to give them the opportunity to put a catchphrase of their own on the record.

Here they are:

Simcha Felder:
“Do not place unsolicited advertising materials on this property."

Brian Ziff-Levine:
“It’s the undecideds, stupid.”

Joe Mercurio:
“Silence is an incredibly stupid communications strategy. No wait I actually stole that from Frank Luntz.”

Doug Muzzio:
"'If a frog had wings he wouldn't be bumping his ass on the ground' (cribbed from my father-in-law, Darrell Saunders)."

Phil Anderson:
"No reform, no raise."

Charles Barron:
“The renter's rebate. Rock Hackshaw gave me that idea when I was running for mayor in 2005. The next thing I know, Gifford Miller is talking about it, and now, Christine Quinn is."

More after the jump.  read more »

In a bit of role reversal, Simcha Felder interviews this City Hall reporter, with his fellow Council member Vinny Ignizio as the cameraman.

The co-chairs for Adolfo Carrion’s comptroller campaign will be former state comptroller H. Carl McCall and business executive Leo Hindrey Jr. of InterMedia Partners, the campaign announced this morning.

Hindrey, the former C.E.O. of the YES Network (which broadcasts Yankees games) also helped raise money for another Bronx politician seeking citywide office: Fernando Ferrer, who ran for mayor in 2005.  read more »

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Here’s Simcha Felder, an Orthodox Jewish City Councilman from Brooklyn, explaining his decision to vote for Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton “in protest” over how the Clinton campaign handled the issue of race during the South Carolina primary.

Felder is the first, as far as I know, elected official in New York City bolting from Clinton for this reason.

Felder goes on to say he ultimately might be voting for Michael Bloomberg in November.

Liz has more on Felders's decision here.

* Pictured above is Councilman James Gennaro with Josh Tickell, the producer and star of “Field of Fuel,” a documentary about foreign oil dependence that has been selected for the Sundance Film Festival. As Gennaro’s press release puts it, “The film also features a variety of people, including Woody Harrelson, Julia Roberts and Councilman James F. Gennaro, Chair of the Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection.”

* Councilman Simcha Felder will hold the second of two kick-off fundraisers for his bid for comptroller in Queens this Thursday. The suggested donation is $18, perhaps an effort to draw a contrast with rival David Yassky, who asked supporters for $500 at his kick-off. Felder’s first event was in Brooklyn on Monday night.  read more »

Christine Quinn's office just released a statement which manages to oppose the M.T.A.'s proposed budget, but which (not coincidentally, I'm guessing) doesn't mention the governor. (Spitzer first articulated the plan and he praised the M.T.A.'s budget this morning.)

Quinn isn’t the only one carrying out this balancing act. Council membersEric Gioia and Simcha Felder similarly avoided attacking Spitzer in their statements opposing the M.T.A. budget, while Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz’s statement mentions the governor several times, but stops short of criticizing him.

Christine Quinn’s statement:  read more »

Simcha Felder sent over this unfunny statement about the M.T.A.’s proposed budget:

“I'm not surprised that the MTA has found a new way to rip us off by holding the base fare favored by tourists at $2, while raising every other fare, including the fares of the weekly and monthly unlimited passes. Hard working New Yorkers, who have to deal with crowded trains, delayed and intermittent service, and dirty subway stations every day should be the ones shielded most from fare hikes. This is a slap in the face to everyday New Yorkers."

More after the jump.  read more »

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This evening, David Yassky kicks off his City Comptroller campaign with a fund-raiser at the Harvard Club.

He's part of a fairly crowded field in which some of the candidates have already started to raise money and endorsements: Melinda Katz, David Weprin, Jim Brennan and (all-but-declared) Simcha Felder.

The next Campaign Finance Board disclosure filing deadline is January 15. Any predictions as to what the candidates will show?

UPDATE: Also tonight is a birthday party/fund-raiser for Assemblyman Micah Kellner of Manhattan at XES Lounge, 157 West 24th Street, starting at 6:30 p.m.

Over the weekend, the Rudy Giuliani billing scandal that has been dubbed both the "Shag Fund" and Judygate played on, with both national and local press seizing on angles to further the story.

The New York Post reported that, in addition to the mayor himself, one of Giuliani's top aides also spent at least one summer night in the Hamptons on the city's dime, while the Daily News added that, in addition to chauffeuring Judith Nathan around, the N.Y.P.D. apparently took her to visit her parents in Pennsylvania, and occasionally even walked her dog. According to CBS, her family got to ride around with the N.Y.P.D. as well.

ABC News reported that Ray Kelly doesn't think Giuliani's story adds up and Michael Bloomberg's girlfriend says she has never had her own security detail. David Seifman calculated that the breakup of Rudy's marriage to Donna Hanover also cost the city a whole bunch of money.

In commentary, Michael Goodwin wrote that Giuliani's personal life is his last hurdle to the presidency, Josh Marshall explained why, contrary to intuition, Giuliani isn't guilty like Alan Hevesi, and Gail Collins just thinks, "Rudy is one of those people who doesn’t handle power well."

More after the jump.  read more »

You may have noticed that City Council member Simcha Felder is on a mission to do something about the city’s pigeons. Specifically, to starve them, but also, to discipline them by installing a pigeon “czar” into the city bureaucracy.

His zealousness has elicited some inspiring quotes from other council members, some bad press from the Daily News today and this news clip, which provides the rare spectacle of a public official saying "poop" on TV.

UPDATE: Felder's office sent over an email which reads in part:

"I did want to clarify that our pigeon feeding ban would not starve the pigeons. Both PETA and the ASPCA have said things in support of our proposal."

The email goes on the mention PiCAS (Pigeon Control Advisory Service) International, which supports controlling pigeon populations through reducing food supply.

The other day, I asked City Council member Simcha Felder of Brooklyn what's happening with a modest bill he has proposed that would ban unwanted flyers from being delivered to people's homes.

Here's his explanation of how it has fallen victim to the James Bond-like atmosphere in Albany, which (I think) is a reference to the ongoing fight between Eliot Spitzer and Joe Bruno fight.

It's official: David Yassky is running for comptroller.

He filed paperwork with the Campaign Finance Board late last week and it just popped up on the CFB’s web site a few minutes ago.

Earlier, I noted the strategy will likely be to pick up support in his vote-rich section of Brooklyn and, since the race is full of outer borough candidates, scoop up the largely unclaimed votes in Manhattan. The other candidates in the race are David Weprin, Melinda Katz and possibly John Liu, all from Queens, plus Simcha Felder and James Brennan from Brooklyn. There's low-level grumbling about Adolfo Carrion getting into that race (although Carrion indicates he'd prefer to run for mayor).

When I spoke with Yassky on Friday, he didn’t confirm or deny he was entering the race. Instead, he said, “I still feel like it’s a long time away. And when given that we still have a city that is almost entirely reliant on diesel fuel to heat itself, when there is biofuels that would make so much of a difference, in terms of carbon emission, and we’re still spending all this money on tax breaks that would happen anyway, which we shouldn’t be doing. I feel like those are the things to be focusing on. Over and above atoning for my sins.”

He added, “It seems too far away to be talking about 2009.”

UPDATE: Just to clarify, Yassky's statement about atoning for sins was a eference was to Yom Kippur, which started on Friday, the day we spoke.

Councilman and all-but-announced city comptroller candidate Simcha Felder of Brooklyn hired another staffer: Eric Kuo, who will be the new new press person.

Kuo previously did press for Councilman Vincent Gentile, a Democrat in the conservative-leaning Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn (the same area that produced Democratic operatives George Fontas, Scott Gastel and Sam Cooper). He also worked for Councilman Oliver Koppell in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. (There are probably some notable operatives from there too, but I'll need some help on that one.)

More on Kuo after the jump.  read more »

Now that Simcha Felder is beefing up his campaign staff in a preparation for a possible citywide bid, it occurred to me that this might be a little bit what his candidacy would look like.

It's a clip taken earlier this week of Felder demonstrating some legislative dexterity. He offers a minor tweak to the rules for ticketing homeowners with dirty property by directing that the tickets only be issued during hours more convenient for residents. Then he says the entire thing should be scrapped because ticketing homeowners doesn't encourage them to keep their property clean.

A little something for everyone. What's not to like?

About that talk going around that City Councilman David Yassky of Brooklyn will enter the already-crowded City Comptroller’s race in 2009...

"I’m not trying to be coy about it," Yassky just told me. "I want to stay in government. I love this work. I think I’ll want to keep doing it after my term is over. And I think I’ll be in another election," but 2009 is "too far away and I have not decided. We’re not there."

Though there are at least five candidates, it's not that outlandish for Yassky to calculate that there may be room for one more. The list of announced and likely candidates for comptroller include Simcha Felder and James Brennan of Brooklyn, and John Liu, Melinda Katz and David Weprin of Queens, if I'm not missing anyone. The pool of voters in Manhattan, in the absence of another entrant (Scott Stringer, maybe?), are anything but locked down.

Yassky is popular with the New York Times and with Michael Bloomberg, who has already held two fund-raisers for Felder, but has shared national TV time with Yassky. So, if he can line up backing uptown and in his part of Brooklyn... who knows?

Bill Thomson and Adolfo Carrion had a friendly chat during last night’s dinner for the Bronx Democratic County Organization at the Marina Del Rey.

At one point, I and two other reporters ran into Denny Farrell, who was hanging out with his daughter. He cheerily noted that earlier in the day he’d gotten another pro-congestion price mailing, making it three so far. “It must be good to be a billionaire,” he said. (The mayor, about whom Farrell was referring, has denied that he's providing any direct funding for the effort.) Then, Farrell rhetorically asked how many phone calls he’s gotten, smiled, and made a big zero with his fingers.

In introducing Christine Quinn, Assemblyman Jose Rivera, the county leader, said, “If I decide to go back to the City Council in ‘09, I want her to be my speaker again.”

Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz told me he won’t be in town when Sheldon Silver convenes his conference meeting in Manhattan on July 16.

Non-Bronx officials who made their way to the dinner include David Weprin, Melinda Katz and Simcha Felder - all comptroller candidates in 2009, Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, and state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Also floating around the room were former City Council Speaker Gifford Miller (no tie!) and Democratic Mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer.

And state Senator Efrain Gonzalez, who was indicted last year for misusing public money, was at the dinner before I arrived and stayed after I left, seemingly having a good time.

Melinda Katz is going full steam ahead with her bid to be the next city comptroller in a race that, technically, doesn't happen until 2009.

“I’ve been in it for two or three months,” Katz, a Councilwoman from Queens, told me.

She's already picked up a major endorsement from RWDSU, the union representing sales and retail workers, to be announced formally tomorrow.

And aside from process, Katz is casting herself as the most experienced candidate for the job, reminding me that she is the chair of the Council’s Land Use Committee, a former state Assembly member, and former associate at Weil, Gotshal and Manges.

“I’ve become the known entity in this race,” she said, on her way to City Hall. That's where two of her three likely opponents for the race currently work: fellow Queens-based Council member David Weprin and Councilman Simcha Felder of Brooklyn.
Also considering the race the race is Assembly member James Brennan of Brooklyn.

I just ran into Councilman Simcha Felder on the City Hall steps and asked him about his possible bid for city comptroller.

He said he's eyeing that seat first because, as a certified public accountant and tax auditor for a number of years, "I have a better understanding of numbers than most of the people" who are considering that race.

That would be a reference to the Chairman of the council's finance committee David Weprin, Brooklyn Assemblyman Jim Brennan and possibly Queens Councilman John Liu.

And being known as a jester in the Council doesn't hurt either, he said.

"People tend to relate to someone they like," he said, "We've seen that over and over again in elections. Personalities certainly come into play."

-- Azi Paybarah

Although Councilman Simcha Felder joined yesterday's rally criticizing the way the city's Board of Elections is testing new voting machines under the Help America Vote Act, he ended up protesting the rally itself.

HAVA is the federal law that funds upgrades in local voting machines so hanging chads and punch cards will be a thing of the past. Albany didn't agree on how exactly to comply with HAVA until recently. Now, some worry that the new voting machines will only face their first real test in 2008, during the presidential primaries.

At the rally, Felder and others said the upgrades in voting technology were desperately needed. Councilman Oliver Koppell took it one step further, connecting the need for new voting machines here to allegations that the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections were basically stolen in places like Ohio and Florida, which use not-so-tech-savvy voting machines.  read more »

Upon hearing this, Felder turned and walked away from the crowd, saying in a stage whisper, "I don't believe that."

-- Azi Paybarah

Assemblyman Dov Hikind and City Council member Simcha Felder might have broken bread with New York Police Department Chief Joseph Esposito in an effort to quell tensions after last Tuesday's riots between black-hatted yeshiva bochers and blue-uniformed police officers.

But the controversy is far from dead, as this video that has been making the rounds in Borough Park shows.

Partisans of the ultra-Orthodox community see the video, allegedly shot during the riots, as evidence of police misconduct and even brutality against both rioters and bystanders.

But police department spokesperson, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, saw a different scene. "The civilian in the video tried to push past a Police Captain and was restrained from doing so and he was then allowed to go on his way," said Deputy Commissioner Browne. "Nothing in the video depicts any unnecessary use of force."

For his part, Assemblyman Hikind, who represents Borough Park in Albany, said that he has both seen videos and heard reports of officers using their nightsticks against innocent bystanders as well as rioting car-burners.

"What was done by the community was absolutely outrageous, inexcusable," the Assemblyman said. "But any police officer who violated the rules and was involved in any kind of brutality, that's a separate issue and that has to be addressed. There is no excuse for that either. They are supposed to be disciplined. They are supposed to be professionals."

- Lizzy Ratner

Jason Horowitz is hitting the pavement in Borough Park today.

He called in with this report:

In the storefront Yidel's Grocery on 12th Avenue between 48th and 50th streets in Borough Park, there's a photo of a guy wearing a varsity jacket with a letter on it, no yarmulke, and he's about to light a bunch of posters on fire. All of these 13- and 14-year-old Orthodox kids are circled around him, eyes agog, looking pretty psyched.

In the neighborhood, the photo, and the amateur video from which it's taken, are in high demand. The idea is that opportunistic criminals who aren't orthodox Jews are responsible for much of the mayhem on Tuesday night.

Boro Park councilman Simcha Felder told The Politicker: "It is irrelevant to me." It was "inexcusable" that young people in his neighborhood watched and egged on the riot.

"I think there are a number of tapes floating around now," he said. But he also said he thought it unlikely they'd surface. Even if they do show non-Jews lighting fires at the riot, they also show large groups of young Orthodox men comporting themselves in a generally ungentlemanly manner.

Around City Hall, there continues to be quite a lot of chatter about who the next Speaker of the City Council will be.

But it's beginning to appear that this one isn't going to shake out in any real way until after the November election.  read more »

A reader points out an two items The Politicker missed in Crain's Insider last week: First was a claim that Bill de Blasio had a dozen votes in the bag. Then two of the four names on his list, David Yassky and Simcha Felder, appear to have asked for retractions, and another item pulled them off the list.

So it does seem a bit early to be counting votes.

One reader reports that Der Blatt, the largest Yiddish newspaper in the state, is running a forceful editorial against Dov Hikind and his stance on racial profiling.

And another Politicker source suggests that the racial profiling issue may have driven a fracture between Simcha Felder and Hikind, his former boss. He writes:  read more »

"I was at the 66pct national night out last night and a Sgt came over to Councilman Simcha Felder and asked him to comment about this. He answered that he has trust in GD and the NYPD and he is against racial profiling.

"I was standing there when he said it."