"What we must remember is that at the base of this discussion are real, live people here in New York and the values for what this country stands for," Weiner said.

He was joined by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and Cheryl Sikovitz, a Queens resident who is on her 73^rd week of unemployment benefits.

"This isn't a political inside bank-shot game. That there are real people that we should be fighting for, that solving problems is what we're supposed to be in Washington to do, and this is not just who's up, and who's down," Weiner said.

"I am very troubled by the idea that we lost sight of that. And we said, who are we supposed to be fighting for? I believe every day we should be fighting for the middle class, those people struggling to make it into the middle class. That's who I wake up trying to fight for every day. That's who Cheryl represents."

About 190,000 New Yorkers stand to lose their unemployment insurance at the end of the year, according to Weiner, unless Congress passes--and the president signs--an extension of those benefits. The compromise floated by the White House yesterday would extend the benefits through 2011, in exchange for keeping the tax cuts on the highest tax bracket for the next two years. (The deal would not extend the benefits beyond their current 99-week limit.)

"We have been hit pretty hard here," Marshall said of Queens, which currently has about 47,000 residents who stand to lose their benefits next year. "Although the recession officially ended in 2009--in June--the need continues for unemployment benefits."

Weiner said that the deal-making and backroom politics are to blame for politicians losing sight of the true matter at hand.

"The fact of the matter is that this debate is an odd one: it pits millionaires and billionaires, who already have done very, very well, against people who have suffered in the down turn of this economy," he said.

"[Those receiving unemployment benefits] should not be held captive on the altar of whether someone gets their third, fourth, or fifth millionth dollar, or their second or third billionth dollar. This is a fight about what this country is all about and I think the President of the United States needs to understand that."

Here's the listing:

POSITION OPENING: QUEENS BOROUGH HISTORIAN

The office of Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall announces the search to fill the unsalaried position of Queens Borough Historian.

New York State law requires every municipality in the State, including each borough of New York City, to have a government-appointed local historian. The position is described in §57.07 & §57.09 of New York State Arts and Cultural Affairs Law (see http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/services/artslaw.html ). The Queens Borough Historian will join a statewide network of public historians that are recognized for their expertise in their respective municipalities.

The Queens Borough Historian will promote and preserve local history through accurate historical data for internet and print outlets, and through public programs such as lectures, conferences, tours, workshops and media appearances. He/she will respond to history-related inquiries from the public and press. He/she will encourage the collection and preservation of governmental and non-governmental historical materials. He/she will encourage (and may conduct) research related to the history of Queens. In addition, the Borough Historian will offer advice to the Borough President on items of historic significance, and identify important milestones in Borough history.

The Queens Borough Historian serves at the pleasure of the Borough President, and currently receives no monetary compensation from the Borough, City or State. However, the Borough Historian will be provided with basic office resources including email, website, phone, fax and mailing privileges through the Borough President's Office and through the cooperation of Queens Historical Society, the Archives at Queens Library, the La Guardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College/CUNY and other entities.

The Borough Historian reports to the Borough President's Director of Culture & Tourism.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Queens resident

Passionate about history

Strong communication skills

Willing to devote time to public activities

Computer, internet, website, email skills

Please email cover letter and resume to: resumes@queensbp.org by May 5, 2010.

Final selection will be announced in mid-June.

drubinstein@observer.com

It’s the latest sign of the how close Marshall is to Bloomberg. In March, Marshall said Bloomberg would win Queens, and that he should have sought the Democratic nomination.

I asked Marshall today if appointing Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott to the Board of Education was a precursor to an endorsement later.

No, she said, in a quick chat on the bench outside Room 9 in City Hall. Then, Marshall said, “The mayor wanted me to endorse him” in 2005. “He didn’t ask me this time, but he asked me last time. He worked really hard to get it last time.” Marshall said Bloomberg “sent people to my office,” but ultimately, she did not endorse him.

I asked if she was disappointed in any way that he didn’t ask for her endorsement this year.

“No, no,” she said. “It would be wrong to ask me again.”

Marshall said Democrats endorsed Bill Thompson and his name is on the petitions her supporters are carrying in Queens.

"I’m a Democrat, honey,” she explained, patiently.

“It’s unfortunate that we would allow ourselves, as Democrats, to join the Republican Party,” said Ruben Diaz Jr. of the Bronx, who served more than a decade in the Assembly. “That is not acceptable.”

When I asked him about possible viable challengers to one of the Democrats in the coup, Pedro Espada of the Bronx, Diaz said, “I don’t know the answer to that question right now.”

Diaz also said there’s no real pride among Latinos in seeing one of their own become Senate president pro tempore.

“There’s a way to do it and if you do it the right way, then there would be a sense of pride. But to do it with Republicans—for the most part, Latinos are Democrats, people in the Bronx are Democrats—and they really don’t accept any type of marriage between Democrats and Republicans when they know how harmful Republicans have been to us.”

“I thought I’d seen in all in the last coup attempt,” said Scott Stringer of Manhattan, who also served in the Assembly. “This breaks new ground. This is unbelievable.”

“Whoever takes control better start thinking about public campaign financing, real reform and starting to deal with rent-protection. That’s what voters want, from Democrats and Republicans and people have to get their act together now.”

Helen Marshall, who served in the Assembly for nine years, said “there was a lot of disloyalty” and “that narrow majority was really rough to deal with.”

She criticized Tom Golisano, not by name, for playing a role in the coup, saying, “I think that is an infringement that borders on something not so very nice.”

When I asked her if she’s surprised that one of the Democrats in the coup was Hiram Monserrate, who represented the same Corona neighborhood Marshall once did, she said, “Not really.” She smiled as she said it.

Then she said, “You don’t want me to say that on the camera, do you?”

It's from the Queens Courier, which wrote in a caption that since the Queens G.O.P. endorsed Bloomberg for re-election, he "came to their Gala in Flushing to endorse their candidates for Borough President and City Council.

They would have been the first endorsements Bloomberg has made in the 2009 cycle. It also would have been a noteworthy development because the Republican candidate for Queens borough president, Robert Hornak, is trying to unseat the Democratic incumbent, Helen Marshall, who has been very supportive of Bloomberg.

Bloomberg campaign spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker emailed to say, "He did not endorse anyone at the event."

A person who attended the event said that Bloomberg spoke about building the party from the grassroots level, but also said that he did not make any endorsements.

Marshall was speaking to me at an event in Sunnyside where Bloomberg was addressing a local chamber of commerce last night.

Asked if she’d support Bloomberg for re-election, Marshall said, “I’m a Democrat. I can’t change that. It’s in my blood, OK? And so he will be among those running.”

She then described the field as she sees it: “Right now, we got three of them running: him, Thompson and also Tony Avella. Well, Tony Avella is--"she brushed her hand away and made a dismissive noise, “OK.”

Marshall continued. “Whoever the Democrats appoint, is the person I’ll support. He [Bloomberg] should have tried to go for the Democratic designation too. He should have,” she said. “I think it would have been close. I think he would have had a good shot.”

At a fund-raiser for Peter Vallone Jr. last weekend, Marshall greeted Bloomberg warmly, and said, “It's a pleasure to welcome the mayor back to our borough. He won this borough before and he will again.”

Last night, when I asked her about that comment, Marshall clarified herself, and said, “Well, maybe he’ll win it again. Maybe he’ll win it again.”

She did not seem bothered by the notion.