Because here's one instance, apparently, in a mailer accusing Republican City Council candidate Bob Friedrich of not being tough enough on hate crimes. The mailer quotes Freidrich saying "all crimes are hate crimes," a position that the mailer calls "outrageous."

The return address on the literature is 205-07 Hillside Avenue, which is used by Friedrich's opponent in the race, Democrat David Weprin. That should be taken for what it's worth: I left messages for Weprin and Weprin's campaign manager asking for confirmation that it's their mailer, but still haven't heard back.

Freidrich and Weprin are running in a special election in eastern Queens for the Assembly seat vacated by Weprin's brother Mark, who is now in the City Council. The district contains a substantial number of Jewish voters.

UPDATE: A spokesman for Weprin's campaign, Corey Bearak, said their campaign sent the mail, and that including the campaign's headquarters in the return address was "sufficient."

"It seemed to make sense that the focus should be on Friedrich," Bearak said.

UPDATE II: Bearak sends this additional statement:
It's not offensive to make sure people know just how extreme
Republican-Conservative Bob Friedrich is; this extremist opposes hate
crimes legislation - it's offensive that Republican Bob Friedrich
actually opposes hate crimes legislation. Crimes driven by
anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia and other prejudices deserve special
attention and warrant extra-tough penalties. As a Jewish community
leader who speaks out against anti-Semitism and other hate and it’s
outrageous that an extremist like Friedrich, who is also anti-gun
control and against Roe v. Wade, would run for office in our
community. He will be rejected on February 9th.

A bit more Council news today: Pat Barrientos, who did press for David Weprin, landed a job as chief of staff for City Councilman Mathieu Eugene, of Brooklyn.

"He just quit smoking. Give him a plug and put him on the spot," said a supportive political observer who also noted that among Barrientos' career highlights was the time he walked into Room 9 to hand out press releases alerting reporters to the fact that Weprin was declining to comment about Eliot Spitzer's brewing troubles.

(Weprin, who lost a race for city comptroller, is expected to run for his brother Mark's Assembly seat. Mark vacated the seat in order to run for David's Council seat.)

Eric Kuo, the spokesman for departing City Councilman Simcha Felder, is collecting businessman cards and weighing his options, as I put it.

"I'm waiting for options," he politely corrected me. 

There's apparently another name to add to the mix: Simcha Felder, who I'm told has sent word to the speaker that he's interested in the position.

The current Finance chairman is David Weprin, of Queens, who lost a primary bid for city comptroller. The notion that Queens will be able to hang onto the Finance chairmanship while also holding another plum job--the chairmanship of the Land Use Committee--seems unlikely. (Land Use is being vacated since its current occupant, Melinda Katz, also ran unsuccessfully for city comptroller.) Queens lost three seats to Republicans, and the need to placate members in other boroughs, mainly in Brooklyn and the Bronx, has been growing. The Queens members got those plum positions because its voting block, combined with members from Manhattan, helped propell Christine Quinn into the speaker's position.

Fidler, Recchia and Fidler each have public and private sector experience that would easily justify their selection. But they each also have distinct and powerful sets of political allies.

Fidler is, arguably, the one closest to the speaker. It's not uncommon for calls into her office to result in a response from Fidler. He's also close with Brooklyn Democratic County Leader Vito Lopez, a power broker whose influence can't be ignored.

Recchia is also close with Lopez. But he's close with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, too. When the mayor signed the term limits extension bill, Recchia was sitting right next to him. Fidler is one of Bloomberg's biggest critics, which would make budget negotiations extremely entertaining. Having Recchia in that spot would be, theoretically, less of a headache for the mayor.

Felder would be the moderate choice. He is close with Bloomberg--he campaigned with him--but sometimes goes off-message (Five-minute grace period, funding local groups.) Felder also has a good enough relationship with Quinn, considering he walked out of the room when the Council voted for her as speaker in 2005.

UPDATE: Please also see Adam Lisberg's Sunday piece, which I neglected to mention, on said jockeying.

The question was whether any of the candidates would create a “paid clergy position” within their office.

Melinda Katz said she’d consider it. David Weprin said absolutely. John Liu said no and David Yassky, after a long answer, said yes.

Melinda Katz, the only woman in the race, has 23 percent, slightly ahead of David Yassky, who has 19 percent. David Weprin is back with 7 percent.

It's an awfully big jump for Liu, and if the numbers are right, it would also mean that Yassky, who has the support of The New York Times and Senator Chuck Schumer, hasn't benefited from either as much as he might have expected.

One interested reader suggested that the poll may have inflated the number of minority voters while not taking into account the higher turnout many expect in places like Manhattan, which has a competitive, borough-wide race for district attorney.

I don't know about that, but one more definite reason to exercise caution while ingesting: The poll surveyed 2,300 "adults" from September 8th to the 10th, and only 622 were considered "likely voters."

John Liu: “This is the chief financial officer in the city. Not CFO in the traditional sense that works very closely with the CEO.But someone who is independently elected, [someone] that should work with the mayor whenever necessary, but will always be an independent check on the city agencies to make sure there is no waste in the budget."

Melinda Katz, on whether the comptroller can set policy: “If you make an investment decision, whether it’s diverting money to specific growth industries that’ll create jobs in the city, or you’re divesting from companies that have business ties to Iran--I mean that’s setting policies. If you do an audit where you highlight the inefficiencies of an agency or discontinue an agency that doesn’t work, that’s setting policies.”

WNYC is hosting a comptroller debate tonight at 7 p.m. Listen here.

Here's the David Weprin mailer that Maggie Haberman wrote about today, which paints two rivals, David Yassky and Melinda Katz, as having supported the death penalty at one point.

In a Democratic primary, that's an unpopular position to be associated with.

Katz voted for it when she was in the Assembly, but no longer supports it. Yassky, as I noted earlier, was the counsel for a congressional committee where legislation passed through. As Yassky told me earlier, he was working for Chuck Schumer at the time and never actually voted for any legislation in Washington.

This may seem like somewhat heavy fare for a comptroller race. But the goal here, in theory, is to tie Weprin to Democratic voters' "values."

The hits are pretty direct: David Yassky caved in on term limits and has ties to a non-profit which was criticized for benefiting a former Councilman, Steve DiBrienza. Melinda Katz is referred to, Sheinkopf-style, as a “landlord candidate” who delivered legislation that benefited a contributor, according to the ad. And the ad hits John Liu for getting caught in a “web of lies” about his sweatshop story.

UPDATE: Liu's spokeswoman Juanita Scarlett emails a response to the ad.

“Let's talk about truth in advertising: Are we supposed to believe that the Chair of the Finance Committee knew nothing about the so-called phantom funding scandal in the City Council? Are we supposed to believe that David Weprin will cut spending and waste in the Comptroller's office budget, when he doesn't even know what the budget is? It's sad that the candidate dead last in this race is running such a negative and desperate campaign.”

This may be an effort to steal some wind from David Yassky, who has been the most consistent among the comptroller candidates in campaigning on the idea of cutting waste from the budget.

Her opponents dismissed the proposal.

David Weprin said, “I haven’t seen Melinda Katz cutting her own salary in the City Council, so I don’t see what’s the difference,” noting there have been tough fiscal challenges before the start of the current campaign season. He went on to say, “I think it’s just symbolic. In a $60 billion budget, I don’t think it’s significant.”

John Liu, sounding unimpressed, said, “To the extent that 18,500 is going to make a huge dent, in what the mayor says is going to be a $5 billion deficit, I guess every little bit helps.” When I asked if he’d consider it, Liu said no.

“The salary of the comptroller’s office is set and I would not seek to change it,” said David Yassky. When I asked if he’d cut it, even as a symbolic gesture, Yassky said being comptroller is “a pretty important job for the city and I would accept the salary that is currently set for the comptroller’s office.”

Katz, after the debate, told me, “We’re asking New Yorkers all over the city to deal with the fact that we need to cut agencies and we need to cut services. They’re having trouble making ends meet” and “so, at the very minimum, the least I can do, is take a pay cut.”