The Berger Commission has just recommended that nine New york hospitals be closed.

At least one of the named hospitals, Victory Memorial in Brooklyn, had tried rather strenuously to avoid making the list. Here's a contract the hospital signed with the Staten Island-based lobbying firm, the Molinari Group, home of the former borough president.

Altogether, the hospital paid about $100,000 to the firm to lobby the state Department of Health, and specifically to raise the subject of a "possible hospital merger."

So much for that.

It's now up to Albany lawmakers to accept or reject the commission's recommendations.

-- Azi Paybarah