Charles Simon

Here's an invitation for a David Yassky fund-raiser tonight on the Upper West Side.

One of the event's hosts is Andrew Tomback, a long-time Yassky contributor who has also given some money to Eric Gioia and, once, back in the day, to Alan Hevesi.

Other notable names include John Alschuler, who has contributed to progressive Democrats like Mark Green and Ruth Messinger. Alschuler has also given money to another comptroller candidate, Melinda Katz ($250 on July 7, 2007).

And there's also Charles Simon, who ran in a special election for an Assembly seat, but was defeated by Linda Rosenthal.  read more »

The Upper West Side’s special election on Feb.  read more »

The Upper West Side’s special election on Feb.  read more »

Jason Horowitz looks at the power-elite support for Charles Simon's (so-far) failed bid for the State Assembly. Matt Schuerman has a thoughtful look at whether MIke has become a "housing activist," and notes that a task force considering reform of the 421a program -- which critics say is a subsidy for already-profitable luxury housing -- is a fraught issue for housing developers. Joe Conason rises to the defense of the opposition to the Dubai ports deal led by poor, embattled Chuck Schumer. Well, embattled by the counter-intuitive editorial-page types anyway. [UPDATE: This is slighly edited to make the point that Conason isn't defending Chuck personally, but rebutting the line that criticism of the deal is "xenophobic."] And Nicholas Von Hoffman tries to take an honest look at Coretta Scott King in a discussion of how dishonestly America treats its icons.

Some of the numbers are in for the contest to replace Scott Stringer in the State Assembly, a race whose first round will be fought in a vote of Democratic State Committee members sometime soon, and which will really be decided in what's expected to be a contested Democratic Primary in the fall.

Charles Simon leads the pack with $174,000 on hand, which includes a $100,000 loan from himself. Marc Landis has $123,600 on hand. And Linda Rosenthal, the Nadler staffer who is seen as a frontrunner, has just $10,000.  read more »

Of course, the state committee race is pretty much free. The fall primary probably won't be though.