1. early and often
    Moynihan Station, an AutopsySo what the hell happened yesterday with Moynihan Station, the new, presumed-to-be-gorgeous Penn Station that seemingly everyone wants but never actually happens? Well, as we know, Shelly Silver killed it. But why? Excellent question. And one that turns one’s attention to New York’s politics savant, Chris Smith, for answer. Seems there are many agendas at play, from all the stated ones to an unstated wish to hold things off till Spitzer’s term to win some favors from the new governor. Oh, and there’s more. Smith explains it all over at Early and Often. Moynihan Station Choked by Political Strong-arming [Early and Often]
  2. early and often
    For Tom Reynolds, All Politics Ain’t LocalAh, Tom Reynolds. The upstate Republican is running the Republicans’ seemingly set-for-disaster House campaign effort — at least when he’s not fending off charges he helped cover up Mark Foley’s nontraditional page-mentorship program. Still, he’s feeling confident. “The old saying still rings true: Voters may hate Congress, but they like their local representative,” he said yesterday in Washington. He didn’t note — as Early and Often does — that he’s also down by thirteen points in his own reelection drive. E&O has the full quote and the full perspective. Reynolds Clings to Apathetic Voting Patterns [Early and Often]
  3. the morning line
    Kids These Days • New York parents keep their kids from starting kindergarten until they’re nearly 6, or even older, all in hopes of ensuring their kid isn’t the “runt of the class.” We suggested last November it might not be the worst idea. But remember: It also increases the chance your daughter is the one who’s first to bring tampons to school. [NYT] • In other kid-related news, a New York City prosecutor wants parents to put “license plates” on their kids’ strollers so that bad nanny behavior can be reported. But what if you’re the one reported, on nanny’s day off? Awk-ward! [NYDN] • The debate over nightlife security got even uglier yesterday, with, first, the Bloomberg administration backing away from the City Council proposal to install I.D. scanners and security cameras at nightclubs; second, the New York Nightlife Association raising a hue and cry over the entire thing; and, third, NYNA and NYPD fighting over whether off-duty cops should be allowed to do security. Sit back, get comfy, and watch the fight. [NYS] • Moynihan Station is officially dead for now, thanks to Shelly Silver. He thinks the current plan to turn the main post office into a new train station isn’t comprehensive enough. He added that he’ll never let Bloomberg build a plan he wants on the West Side, ever. Then he said nanny-nanny-poo-poo. [amNY] • Rangers lost; Devils won; nobody cared. Those Mets, on the other hand… boo-yah! [NYP]
  4. early and often
    Cuomo and Pirro: Love Is All Around, No?Another day, another vitriol-filled attorney-general debate. The latest iteration came yesterday morning in Rochester; it was broadcast locally on Channel 13 at the must-see hour 12:30 a.m. last night. Early and Often stayed up to watch and found that although the event itself contained all its expected fun — you’re inexperienced! you’re under investigation! — the highlight came after the debating was done. What Cuomo-mouthpiece dis did Early and Often label the best dig of the night? Click over and find out. Pirro Zingers Fly Even After Debate [Early and Often] Pirro and Cuomo Play the Hits [Early and Often]
  5. the morning line
    Like Candy From a Little Leaguer • Yesterday we told you that Queens assemblyman Bruce McLaughlin was about to surrender on some corruption charges. That was, it turns out, an understatement. The Feds cuffed McLaughlin for stealing a cool $2.2 million in awesome ways and from awesome sources — including Little League teams. [NYDN] • A report by the state comptroller (yes, our chauffeurless pal Alan Hevesi) says Wall Streeters earn an average of $289,664 — more than five times the city’s average. Even more spectacular, the financial industry’s pay rates grow faster — a shocking 36 percent over the last two years. Of course, someone has to pay for bottle service. [NYP] • The battle is on for the title of the 300 millionth American (Manhattan’s splendidly named Zoë Emille Hudson is but one contender). The Times raises a great and uncharacteristically naughty point: Why does everyone assume that yesterday’s arrival was born yesterday? And not, say, smuggled across the border? [NYT] • LIRR is shifting 2,000 feet of track to fix the dangerous gap between the train and the platform at Shea and plans to do the same at other stations. Each year about 60 people fall in; we recall that last month one such victim was a former state senator. Coincidence? [amNY] • And the Village Voice’s “Best of NYC” issue is out, complete with the ailing weekly’s trademark mix of picks offbeat (Best Aroma Inside an ATM), earnest (Best Bus), and unfortunate (Best Performance Art Space for Dinner and a Movie goes to Monkeytown, which announced its closing weeks ago). [VV]
  7. early and often
    ‘Esquire’ Endorses, Reconsiders If you’re anything like us, you take all your political advice from men’s lifestyle magazines. So naturally you were as pleased as we were to discover that the November Esquire offers election endorsements for every race in the country. This is no easy task for a long-lead monthly, which runs the risk that campaigns can dramatically rise or fall between when the issue closes and when it arrives on newsstands. Early and Often notes that Esquire fell into just that trap — but saved itself thanks to the wonders of the Internet. What happened? Over to you, E&O. Endorsements and Takebacks [Early and Often]
  8. the follow-up
    One More Thing About the Pirros: Al Wants Counseling When Jeanine Pirro’s campaign for attorney general is over — or, to be cruel but precise, once she loses — she’ll be going straight into marriage counseling, at least if her husband has anything to do with it. New York’s Steve Fishman profiled the Pirros’ increasingly confounding marriage for this week’s magazine, and he found Al Pirro, Jeanine’s wayward husband — by all accounts a screamer, a bruiser, a brusque alpha male — surprisingly wounded and therapized, talking about his anxieties. Al knows he needs to be flattered, to be reminded that he makes more money than Jeanine, to feel generous (Fishman zeroes in on his compulsive need to pick up the check, even for parties of 30). He denies the infidelities that drove Jeanine up the wall (and into the dubious confidences of Bernie Kerik) while readily admitting something even more hurtful to a relationship: that he needs outside female companionship, be it platonic or not, because he doesn’t feel encouraged, admired, or appreciated at home. And he knows the couple needs to work on these issues. “He was essentially stewing,” Fishman says. “He feels that he’s been shut out, silenced, and attacked, both by the campaign and by his wife personally.” Is there enough therapy in the world to get the pair past all that? Maybe, Fishman says. The real turning point for the relationship, he says, was Al’s tax-evasion conviction. “But it was never a fake marriage. There’s a basis of deep mutual admiration — hell, love.” Can This Marriage Be Saved? [NYM]
  9. early and often
    Pirro, Cuomo Make Us Regret Skipping Their Debate We didn’t watch Sunday morning’s debate between Jeanine Pirro and Andrew Cuomo — did anyone? — but now we’re pretty sad we didn’t. “When two candidates stand at podiums and list the names of persons both alive and dead their opponent should apologize to,” as Early and Often recounts, it seems like the rare political debate that was perhaps actually worth watching. “The attacks were heavy-handed, light on the facts, personal, visceral, catty, mousey,” E&O continued. And now we’re disappointed we decided to sleep in. Early and Often, thankfully, did not. A Sunday-Morning Mud Bath [E&O]
  10. it just happened
    Air America Declares Bankruptcy; Dog Bites ManAP is reporting — and CNN is giving top placement to — what is likely the least surprising news you’ll read all week: NEW YORK (AP) – Air America Radio, a liberal talk and news radio network that features the comedian Al Franken, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a network official told The AP. It’s like an anniversary present to Republicans, whose let’s-make-it-harder-to-declare-bankruptcy bankruptcy reform went into effect a year ago next week. Air America Radio Files Chapter 11 [CNN.com]
  11. early and often
    Gov. Candidates Debate; Almost No One Cares So did you have your TV all fired up to NY1 last night, tub of popcorn by your side, Spitzer (likely) or Faso (ha! right!) banners festooning your apartment? Yeah, us neither. But Early and Often is a dedicated sort; he actually stayed home and watched. What did he discover? An aggro Republican, a harrumphing Democrat, and, worst of all, “dyspeptically public-access-worthy lighting.” Catch all the highlights — such as they were — at Early and Often. Faso Plays Dennis to Spitzer’s Mr. Wilson [Early and Often]
  12. the know-it-all
    What Ails Mrs. Hevesi?Early and Often brings the exciting news that state comptroller Alan Hevesi’s name has received the greatest of honors. It has been verbed. To “hevesi” apparently means “to illegally convert governmental assets or resources to one’s personal use; and, when caught, to offer to make full restitution and public apology.” It also reminded us of another issue we’ve had about Hevesi’s whole hevesi-ing episode. Namely, that he claimed he’d used the state employee to chauffeur his wife both due to security concerns and also because his wife is — as all the papers say — “ailing.” Why is the comptroller so concerned for his wife’s safety? And, more intriguingly, what ails Carol Hevesi?
  13. intel
    Byrne Bikes for BeepManhattan Borough President Scott Stringer organized a big-deal transportation conference for nine o’clock this morning at Columbia University. The point was to talk about government policy — how do we all get around in a continually growing city? — and the folks at Transportation Alternatives had a great way to gin up attention for some transportation alternatives. A group of biking celebs — David Byrne, Matthew Modine, Moby — would join Stringer’s keynote speaker, Enrique Peñalosa, the former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, for a ride up the West Side Highway to the event.
  14. the morning line
    Plane Crash, Gay Bash, and Mary Jo Kopechne • Not much new was revealed overnight about the plane crash that killed Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and gave a jolt to the UES. Turns out the hit building’s tenant list is full of semi-boldface names including, weirdly, the Mets’ third-base coach Manny Acta. [NYT, NYDN, NYP] • In a repellent turn to a repellent story, a suspected racial-bias attack turns out to be a gay bash turns out to be a robbery. Four Sheepshead Bay youths are charged with luring a man via e-mail to a Plumb Beach cruising spot to rob him; the victim broke free, fled, and was struck by a car. Prosecutors say the hate-crime tag still applies. [amNY] • Rep. Chris Shays, the GOP congressman from Connecticut, achieves the impossible by somehow managing to lower the discourse level of the Foley scandal. How? By bringing up, apropos of nothing, Ted Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick incident. Early and Often’s take here. [NYDN] • The Columbia Queer Alliance is puzzled by the light attendance of the public-makeout event it staged on the university’s Low Library steps. The turnout reportedly shrank ten times compared to last year’s, despite an effort to involve the shy and the single (who were offered apples to kiss). [Bwog] • And the Post’s Andrea Peyser unleashes a jaw-dropping attack on “sluttish, revolting monster” Madonna for “raping Malawi” (by adopting an African child). Choice quote: “Madonna has traveled far beyond her… loser antics to grab attention — and flesh.” Don’t worry, a slave auction gets mentioned too. [NYP]
  15. intel
    Bloomie’s Lawyer Digs Oil, Cigs, Japanese Food The corporation counsel is the city’s top lawyer, and Michael Cardozo, who fills this role for Mayor Bloomberg, has a stock tip for you: diversify. According to recently released financial-disclosure forms, Cardozo — formerly a senior partner at Proskauer Rose — has amassed a wide-ranging personal portfolio, holding positions in more than 140 stocks and mutual funds. Cardozo has stock in Benihana (smart: it’s doubled since last year), Winnebago (also up, but he shorted it), and shopping-mall sensation Build-A-Bear Workshop (where you make your own teddy bears; Cardozo shorted it). He’s also got stakes in several in major defense contractors (Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications), Big Oil (Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil), and several gold-, silver-, and uranium-mining outfits around the world. Cardozo also holds stock valued between $5,000 and $34,999 in the Tisch family–controlled Loews Corporation’s tobacco subsidiary the Carolina Group (it makes Newports). We’d advise him, given his employer, not to try enjoying that investment in a bar. — Geoffrey Gray
  16. early and often
    Who Are You to Question Jeanine Pirro? So you suspected your philandering, tax-cheating, speed-limit-averse husband was philandering anew. And so you asked your philandering (with Judith Regan!), corruptly apartment-renovating former-police-commissioner buddy to look into it. And you get caught, because the Feds are wiretapping aforementioned philandering, corrupt, former commish for entirely different reasons. How do you salvage your foundering law-and-order campaign for state attorney general? By releasing a new 30-second spot in which you masterfully play both victim and avenger, and, to top it off, falsely suggest your rival has a plan to offer “amnesty to criminals.” Early and Often has Pirro’s new ad, which leaves “you the viewer … apologizing for even thinking about counting her out.” Jeanine of Arc [Early and Often]
  17. intel
    Who Told You You’re Allowed to Rain on Her Skit? People may need people, but if they were the type who need George W. Bush — and, in fairness, who knew we had those in Manhattan? — they were very unlucky at Barbra Streisand’s latest farewell concert at Madison Square Garden last night. It was her first show at the arena since a previous farewell concert in 2000, and Streisand larded it with shtick including a skit starring a Bush impersonator. The bit got mostly applause but also some jeers. After one fan yelled something — we couldn’t make it out, but witnesses suggest it was “Communist!” — Barbra had had enough. “Shut the fuck up, would you?” she yelled back. “Shut the fuck up if you can’t take a joke.” Ah, the art of making art.