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Jill Colvin

Fraux Pas

#Fromentum Momentum Meets Social Media Backlash

By Jill Colvin 8/28/13 4:22pm

go-woth-the-fro

Fro no!

Mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio’s campaign has been bolstered by the very prominent role of his biracial family including, most notably, his 15-year-old son, Dante. But some feel that Mr. de Blasio’s campaign is going too far in capitalizing on the appeal of his son’s prominent afro.

Yesterday, the campaign released a new image intended to make the rounds on social media, with the hashtag, “GoWithTheFro.” While the media’s fascination with Dante’s hair had already raised eyebrows among some critics, the latest effort struck a nerve among many supporters. Read More

attack dog

Bloomberg Deputy Goes After Bill de Blasio on NY1

By Jill Colvin 8/26/13 10:31pm

Howard Wolfson. (Screenshot: NY1)

Just in case it wasn’t already clear from the barbs on his Twitter feed, Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson is not a fan of Bill de Blasio’s vision for the city.

During an appearance tonight on NY1, the man who has become the mayor’s chief mouthpiece, continued to dig into the sudden front-runner in the mayor’s race, doubling down on previous criticism and accusing the city’s public advocate of flip-flopping on term limits.

The attack comes as various forces are ramping up their efforts to halt Mr. de Blasio’s unexpected gains in the polls with just two weeks to go until the primary. Read More

Of love and politics

Anthony Weiner’s Relationship With Former Staffer Raises Questions

By Colin Campbell and Jill Colvin 8/15/13 11:17pm

Anthon Weiner. (Photo: Getty)

Before he married his wife, former Congressman Anthony Weiner had a previously undisclosed relationship with an on-again-off-again congressional and campaign aide nearly two decades his junior.

In pushing back against the publication of this story, the spokeswoman for his current mayoral campaign, Barbara Morgan, phoned The New York Observer‘s editor in chief. Partially confirming the relationship, she said the two “had a personal relationship.” (At that point, Ms. Morgan stopped mid-sentence to request the conversation be continued off the record.)

In a cease-and-desist letter sent to The New York Observer today, an attorney for the woman said his client, Dolev Azaria, “vehemently denies” that she and Mr. Weiner had any romantic relationship “while Ms. Azaria was working for Mr. Weiner.” Read More

Chairman of the Bored

Will the Real Joe Lhota Please Stand Up?: Candidate’s Allies Long for Lhota Who Used to Retweet Drunk Hulk

By Jill Colvin 7/17/13 1:53pm

Joe Lhota. (Illustration by Drew Friedman)

Some politicians adore campaigning; buttonholing commuters, making the church rounds to share their visions for the city and having heart-to-hearts at senior centers.

And then there are candidates like Joe Lhota, the leading Republican running for mayor.

Chatting up passersby recently outside a subway stop on the Upper East Side, Mr. Lhota’s energetic hellos and handshakes were interspersed with awkward pauses and commentary, as he stood with his hands on his hips, arms framing a bulky white shirt and blue striped tie.

“I’m leaving as soon as it starts raining,” he said to his staff, only half-joking, during a lull between handshakes under an increasingly threatening sky.
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Cash Money

Weiner Raises More Than $800,000 in Two Months

By Jill Colvin 7/16/13 8:59am

Anthony Weiner: Fund-raising machine.

Despite speculation that Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s sudden jump back into politics would drag Anthony Weiner’s name back into the mud, his campaign appears to be getting off to a good week.

The former congressman, who is now leading the polls in the mayors race, raised an impressive $828,886 dollars over the past two months, according to new disclosures filed with the city’s Campaign Finance Board earlier today.
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hot air

Big Inflatable Rat Installed Outside Anthony Weiner’s Building

By Jill Colvin and Gideon Resnick 7/12/13 1:58pm

Parents protested outside Anthony Weiner's building Friday.

Education activists and union members furious about Anthony Weiner’s plans to scrap paid parent coordinators if he’s elected mayor erected a giant, inflatable rat outside of his building this morning during a protest urging voters to keep him off the general election ballot.

“I think he’s doing a lousy-ass job,” said Yvette McClamb, vice president of the PTA at Jackie Robinson Junior High School 13 in East Harlem, who was one of about a dozen women who gathered outside of Mr. Weiner’s ritzy Park Avenue South apartment building, next to the rat.
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Numbers Game

Eliot Spitzer Collects 27,000 Petition Signatures for Comptroller’s Race

By Jill Colvin 7/12/13 12:35am

Eliot Spitzer gleefully displays a page of his petition signatures.

Disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer managed to collect a whopping 27,000 petition signatures in the four days since he announced his last-minute, comeback bid for city comptroller.

A beaming Mr. Spitzer, joined by staffers, arrived at the Board of Elections headquarters in Lower Manhattan shortly after 10:30 p.m. carting four large boxes of signed petitions–which he gleefully displayed to the throngs of waiting press. Read More

party time excellent!

Spitzer Wines and Dines Supporters at Last-Minute Petitioning Party

By Jill Colvin 7/11 12:38am

Eliot Spitzer arrives at his petitioning party.

Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer arrived late to and left early from a last-minute “petitioning party” thrown to boost confidence in his surprise comeback bid for city comptroller as he races against the clock to collect the nearly 4,000 signatures he needs to make it onto the ballot ahead of tomorrow’s deadline.

But tonight’s event, held at Sprig, a bar and restaurant in the lobby of Midtown’s Lipstick Building, likely didn’t make much of a dent, with no more than several hundred signatures collected over the course of a two-hour open bar.
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girl power

NOW Urges Female Voters to Steer Clear of Spitzer and Weiner

By Jill Colvin 7/10/13 3:17pm

The National Galvanization of Women protested Spitzer's candidacy.

The National Organization for Women is urging voters to stay far, far away from this election’s two comeback candidates: disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who is running for comptroller, and former Congressman Anthony Weiner, a candidate for mayor.

Advocates with the pro-women’s group, which has endorsed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for mayor, held a press conference on the steps of City Hall today where they slammed the two redemption-seeking polls as anti-women.
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