Politics

Steve Kornacki explains both why Ralph Nader's minimal success in the 2000 election was the result of "a truly extraordinary circumstance," and why it's not going to happen again this year.

Azi discovers that Eliot Spitzer claimed he didn't read Fred Dicker's articles.

A state commission said there was not enough evidence to accuse Eliot Spitzer of wrongdoing after the Troopergate investigate, even though four of his aides were found to have acted improperly.

A Spitzer spokesman said the report makes it clear that the former governor didn’t do anything wrong.

The New York Post editorial board said, “[I]t is inconceivable, given Spitzer's manic ways and his compulsive attention to detail, that he wasn't up to his eyeballs in Troopergate.”

David Grandeau, former lobbying commission chair, agrees.

Tom Precious notes, “The ethics panel is dominated by appointees of the former governor.”

The new report, which took over a year, did not substantially differ from Andrew Cuomo’s, which took three weeks, according to Jacob Gershman.  read more »

10 a.m. State Insurance Department and the Attorney General's Office hold hearing on broker compensation; New York University, Eisner and Lubin auditorium, 4th floor, Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for University Life, 60 Washington Square South.

10:30 a.m. Betsy Gotbaum calls for playground warning signs to be in English and Spanish; Mil Brook Playground, 135th Street between St. Ann's and Cypress avenues, Bronx.

12:30 p.m. Autism United and State Senator Craig Johnson announce companies that are pulling their advertising off radio host Michael Savage's program over autism comments; in front of the Wall Street bull, between Broadway and Whitehall Street.

7 p.m. Black Veterans for Social Justice holds benefit gala; The Grand Prospect Hall, 263 Prospect Ave.

There were an estimated 200,000 people at Barack Obama's speech in Germany.

Greg Sargent writes of the speech,"[T]he discussion of terror was more extensive than you might have expected."

Michael Crowley wonders about Obama's phrase "people of the world."

Ben notes that while the German press has gone nuts for Obama, the French press may not be following.

Rudy Giuliani's son is suing Duke because they kicked him off the golf team and "interfered with Giuliani's efforts toward becoming a professional golfer." 

Apparently absolutely no one can find Obama's senior thesis.

Obama will be on Capitol Hill Tuesda .  read more »

The McCain campaign just released another statement taking issue with what they argue is the presumptuousness of Obama's speech in Berlin today:

"While Barack Obama took a premature victory lap today in the heart of Berlin, proclaiming himself a 'citizen of the world,' John McCain continued to make his case to the American citizens who will decide this election," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement. "Barack Obama offered eloquent praise for this country, but the contrast is clear. John McCain has dedicated his life to serving, improving and protecting America. Barack Obama spent an afternoon talking about it."  read more »

Recent

One of Christine Quinn’s spokesman has taken a leave of absence and is now the interim director of communications for Democrat Mike McMahon’s Congressional campaign.

The spokesman, Anthony Hogrebe, was listed as the contact on a campaign press release announcing that McMahon has been endorsed by the United Federation of Teachers, which, according to the release, has 12,000 members in the district. McMahon is seeking to win the seat currently occupied by Vito Fossella, who is not running for reelection.

In a public statement, UFT's president, Randi Weingarten, said McMahon "is a champion for children and working people."

Before joining Quinn’s operation, Hogrebe worked on Gifford Miller’s 2005 mayoral campaign.

In other Quinn staffing news, her chief of staff, Maura Keaney, is expected to return from maternity leave in early September, according to another Quinn spokesman.

After Der Spiegel reported that Barack Obama canceled a trip to visit injured American troops in Germany, campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs said it would have been inappropriate to go on a campaign-funded trip.

Not surprisingly, the McCain campaign does not agree.

“Barack Obama is wrong," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers. "It is never ‘inappropriate’ to visit our men and women in the military.”

John Riley tries to figure out why Eliot Spitzer wasn't charged in the Troopergate probe, although four others were. [Spin Cycle]

In testimony to the state Commission in Public Integrity, Spitzer denied that he made the infamous "red-hot poker" comment. [Politics on the Hudson]

According to Liz Benjamin, Rich Baum, in a public statement, will "agree that he did something wrong, but not that he did it on purpose." [Daily Politics]

The judge that was looking into Joe Bruno's outside business activities just got appointed to the federal bench. [Daily News]

Earlier today the state's Commission on Public Integrity settled their claims against two of the four people investigated in the Troopergate probe--and now the agency has published several of the sworn testimonies online, including Spitzer's.

It will take me a while to go through them all (the files are so large it will take me a while to even open them), so if you see anything of note put it in the comments section.

Also, testimonies from Christine Anderson, Darren Dopp, Daniel Wiese, William Howard and others are here.

UPDATE: While still trying to open Spitzer's testimony, I skimmed through the Ethics Commission summary, which makes this powerfully worded (if not self-evident) point rather clear:

"The Executive Chamber's actions were flatly ad odds with its duty to assist this Commission's investigation and the promises of Governor Spitzer that his Administration was cooperating fully with the Commission's investigation.  read more »

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Here’s an invitation for a July 29 fund-raiser in Manhattan for Democratic State Senator Eric Schneiderman, which asks people to join David Paterson at the event.

Paterson has been criticized for not helping Democrats work towards winning a majority in the State Senate, and just this morning he made a friendly appearance on a radio show guest-hosted by Republican State Senator Joe Robach, who Democrats are trying to unseat.

The host committee for the fund-raiser includes four members of the Soros family, union leaders Stuart Appelbaum, Ed Ott and Randi Weingarten, and Empire State Pride Agenda executive director Alan Van Capelle.

Here's the prepared version of the speech Obama is giving now in Berlin, in which, like John F. Kennedy, he emphasized the theme of freedom, and like Ronald Reagan he spoke about the tearing down of the Berlin wall.

Citizen Obama attempts to pick up where those presidents left off, saying that the great danger in a globalized world with the threat of international terrorism is building new walls.

"That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another," he said. "The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand.  read more »

It's not an easy thing to do in electoral politics, but Kevin Powell, who would like to unseat Representative Ed Towns of Brooklyn, is trying, once again, to make a break with his violent past, which includes numerous incidents of physical violence against women.

Tomorrow Powell is hosting a breakfast, billed as a "media meet-and-greet," at Junior's to respond to a recent column, by the Daily News' Errol Louis, titled "B'KLYN RACE NO PLACE FOR EX-ABUSERS." [UPDATE: It was pointed out to me that Louis has a more recent column on Powell as well]. The release, which just came out, notes that members of a group called Women for Kevin Powell will be in attendance.  read more »

David Paterson just called in to a Rochester radio show guest-hosted by Republican State Senator Joe Robach, one of the senators Democrats would like to unseat this year.

Paterson recently faced criticism that he hasn’t done enough to help his Democratic colleagues take control of the State Senate. (Republicans currently have a slim majority.) One Democratic senator reacted to Paterson's radio appearance by asking me, “What was he thinking?”

Robach was filling in this morning for 1180 WHAM radio host Bob Lonsberry, and spoke to Paterson about the need for a property tax cap.

“You’re very much like me,” Robach said at one point.  read more »

People are already gathering for Barack Obama's speech in Berlin. [The Page]

Obama had a wide-ranging talk with Angela Merkel, but no back rubs. [AP]

John McCain will meet Friday with the Dalai Lama in Aspen? [Jonathan Martin]

A Pew Hispanic Center poll just released shows Obama leading McCain among Latinos, 66-23. [AP]

John Riley is a little suspicious of Tom Suozzi's tax-cap tour of New York State. [Spin Cycle]

Con Ed announced that electricity usage, once again this summer, is way up. [Green Brooklyn]

A Brooklyn blogger says that after Marty Markowitz is done being borough president, the borough should "simply appoint him as Brooklyn Master of Ceremonies." [Flatbush Pigeon]

Em Whitney talks to Eric Gioia, Norman Siegel and Tony Avella at the DFNYC Fourth Annual Summer Cocktail Reception, organized around the theme of "Unity '08."