2012: "There is zero chance that Donald Trump would ever be hired by the American people," said Plouffe. Trump's response: "They are very concerned because I am challenging him as to whether or not he was born in this country where there is a real doubt." [Lukas Alpert]

2012: Trump's birthed talk is getting under their skin. [S.A. Miller]

Federal Budget: " Obama is conspicuously failing to mount any kind of challenge to the philosophy now dominating Washington discussion." [Paul Krugman]

Campaign Finance: "public disclosure serves the interests of incumbents running for re-election by discouraging support for challengers." [James Huffman]

NY26: Lots of TV ads. [Robert McCarthy]

GOP Fund-raising: Cox paints Levy's problem as a Democratic problem. [Dan Janison]

Tea Party Scofflaws: Central figures in Buffalo's Tea Party have a history of not paying taxes. [Jerry Zremski]

Changing Chancellors: Walcott is "a different kind of crony." [Mike Lupica]

Hiram Monserrate: "I am currently consulting and assisting in the management of Papaya Pizza." [New York Post]

Cuomo's Agenda: His to-do list is not short. [Joseph Spector]

Cuomo's 100 Days: His interview crashed The Capitol Pressroom servers. [Teri Weaver]

Staffing Cuomo: Prosecutor tapped for key job with state police; Kessell meets Glaser tomorrow. [Fred Dicker]

Albany Ethics: "The rules for a more open government are being negotiated secretly." [New York Times]

Pension Costs: Politicians' fault. [EJ McMahon]

Forced Confessions: It sends people to jail and remedying the situation is problematic. [Rory Lancman]

Illegal Cars: Compartments for hiding guns would be outlawed. [Bob Kappstatter]

After rattling of a list of Cuomo's goals, Dicker said, "The governor is also committed to same-sex marriage, but there is little I think he can do about that, as long as the Senate just doesn't have the votes to pass the measure."

Cuomo is reportedly looking for a vote on legalizing same-sex marriage by June. It's passed the Assembly by wide margins, twice. It was defeated in the State Senate two years ago, but since then, a number of people who opposed it have left, or signaled a possible shift.

Some of the changes that have taken place in that chamber, since the last vote, include:

George Onorato, a Democrat who retired and was replaced with Michael Gianaris, a progressive Democrat who voted for it in the Assembly. Hiram Monserrate, a Democrat who was expelled and replaced with Jose Peralta, a Democrat who voted for it in the Assembly. Pedro Espada, a Democrat who was replaced by Gustavo Rivera, a progressive Democrat [Correction: Espada voted for the bill]. Joseph Addabo, conservative Democrats who voted no, now says he's reconsidering the issue.

A report released today says that one of every 11 legislators who left office since 1999 has done so on account of ethical or criminal charges, making it more common reason than being voted out of office as a impetus for legislative turnover.

"One would think in a democracy, electoral defeat would be the major reason for a change in representation in the legislature," said Rachael Fauss, policy and research manager at Citizens Union. "Yet since 1999, more legislators have left their seats because of retirement or a private sector job than through losing a competitive election."

Between 2005 and 2010, the number of government officials who have left office due to ethical or criminal misconduct has more than tripled from the previous six-year period. During this time period, 13 government officials left office in scandal, showing a massive jump since the 1999-2004, where only four legislators left office for such reasons.

The study, produced by good government group Citizens Union, comes on the heels of Rep. Chris Lee's recent resignation after shirtless photos surfaced of him contacting a woman through CraigsList.

In the wake of the report, Citizens Union is calling for a quick passage of ethics legislation to prevent further occurrences.

"This acceleration of criminal and ethical misconduct among our state's elected officials over the past four years is alarming and needs strong corrective action," said Citizens Union executive director Dick Dadey.

"If there ever was a need to address this crime wave of misconduct, the time is now to enact meaningful ethics reform," Dadey said.

Former governors Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson are cited in the report for their respective scandals, along with former comptroller Alan Hevesi who accepted a plea bargain for defrauding the government. State Senator Hiram Monserrate received special mention for being the first legislator to be ousted by the legislature itself as opposed to outside legal authorities.

The report was released shortly before State Senate Democrats held a press conference detailing their six-point ethics package that they hope will be brought up for debate in coming weeks.

And yet, Hiram Monserrate is not going away quietly.

He invited himself to a street renaming ceremony in Queens on a recent Saturday and managed to squeeze his way into photographs by holding on to a piece of rope dignitaries pulled to unveil the new sign honoring Corona's Ecuadorean population.

As the celebration wrapped up, one guest, State Senator José R. Peralta, hollered at him: "It's disrespectful, man! It's a disgrace to Ecuador." To which Mr. Monserrate fired back, "José, get a life."

Provoking people like Mr. Peralta, a Democrat from Queens, does not bother Mr. Monserrate in the least. In fact, he seems to feed on the hostility. Mr. Monserrate's thinking is that if people are saying bad things about him - in interviews, he was called egocentric, delusional, crazy, clueless and worse - it is because he still matters.

And they have this to say about Monserrate's opponent in the race for a Corona Assembly seat, Francisco Moya:

In interviews, his supporters described Mr. Moya as a smart and loyal soldier for the Queens Democratic Party chairman, Representative Joseph Crowley. Mr. Crowley’s posters are all over the windows of Mr. Moya’s campaign headquarters on 37th Avenue, a narrow store situated where a clothes boutique called D-Lishus used to be.

A person close to the Moya campaign, who requested anonymity so as not to antagonize Mr. Moya or Mr. Crowley, put it this way: “Francisco took a pass whenever he needed to take a pass. He’s been overlooked without complaining. Now it’s his turn.”

More here.

Excavation at the World Trade Center uncovers an 18th-century ship, preserved within a "cocoon of ooze." [NYT]

Other cities want to copy the High Line. [NYT]

Arts groups miss mayoral money. [WSJ] 

Brian Williams, whatta guy. Playing softball and buying drinks. [NYP]

Apple has an announcement to make. Will they be recalling the iPhone? [CNN]

Have the Clintons outgrown Chappaqua? [NYT] 

Best use yet of "I Write Like." [Gawker]

Angelina Jolie wants Anna Chapman at the Moscow premiere of Salt. [NYP]

Hiram Monserrate files to get his seat back. [NYT] 

Page Six John Paulson real-estate porn. [NYP] 

Now England has a problem with the Iroquois lacrosse team. [NYDN] 

Thursday Styles examines the "art of the pants roll." [NYT]

Philippe Petit will teach tightrope walking in Williamsburg this summer. [NYP]

Condo sales are on the rise. [WSJ]

Want to read an awful account of Hiram Monserrate's date with the woman he abused? [NYDN]

The KGB tried to recruit NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. [WNYC]

Cuomo goes after two Brooklyn landlords who discriminated against would-be black renters. [NYP]

Annie Leibovitz tapped for another fashion ad campaign. [WWD]

Wal-Mart is, for some reason, trying to escape association with that trampling death on Long Island. [NYT]

UES carriage house, former studio to Richard Avedon and currently owned by Nicholas Sarkozy's half brother, hits the market. [WSJ]

Heat wave precipitates stink wave. [NYT]

LeBron James will announce his decision tomorrow. [NYP]

Syracuse students didn't really get naked to protest Jamie Dimon. [NYP]

Uncharted frontiers of fatty meat: sheep-pig bacon. [NYDN]

Analyzing NBC's leaked fall lineup. [BI]

Gramercy Park showdown! [WSJ] 

David Carr meta-protests online headlines. [NYT]

Cuomo to pick running mate before convention. [NYDN]

Schumer faces second challenger. [Politico]

Gawker writer, Steve Jobs duke it out over email. [Gawker]

Marc Jacobs store in Soho receives package of cocaine, employees assume it’s anthrax. [NYP]

Woody Allen reiterates his support for Roman Polanski. [AP]

Can Monserrate win Peralta's seat?

A breakdown from yesterday's election seems to suggest not. The Senate district that resoundingly rejected Monserrate yesterday is made up of primarily three Assembly districts. Monserrate trailed by far in each of them, including Peralta's.

Here's the breakdown, courtesy of Peralta's campaign:

34 A.D.: The heart of Jackson Heights, represented by Assemblyman Michael DekDekker
Peralta: 70 percent
Monserrate: 21 percent
Beltrani:9 percent

35 A.D.: Represented by Assemblyman Jeff Aubry
Peralta: 60 percent
Monserrate: 36 percent
Beltrani: 5 percent

39 A.D.: Represented by Assemblyman Jose Peralta
Peralta: 66 percent
Monserrate: 27percent
Beltrani: 7 percent

Also worth noting: The City Council district Monserrate represented for nearly eight years is split between the 35 and 39 Assembly districts. So, if he ran for Peralta's seat, only half of those constituents who may remember him from his old Council days are there to help him out.

Also, the Lefrak building, a place where Monserrate had campaigned strongly in when he nearly ousted John Sabini in a 2006 state senate race, isn't in Peralta's Assembly district, so, one demonstrated source of Monserrate votes won't be available.

Either way, it's been a weird campaign. Let's review:

After declaring himself the torchbearer for Yes We Can, Mr. Monserrate decided to borrow Barack Obama's logo--adding a little flourish on the bottom to make it a Q--for Queens!--so as not to be confused with the president's nearly-identical symbol. (Which didn't quite work.)

In other fliers, Mr. Monserrate's supporters--who have rallied around his opposition to same-sex marriage--called him the "Defender of Our Christian Principles" and branded his opponent, Jose Peralta, the "Gay Caballero."

Mr. Peralta, for his part, sent out a nice glossy mailer with a photo of Mr. Monserrate getting arrested, and included the URL where voters could find a link to a surveillance video of the then-senator dragging his girlfriend through a hallway--footage that Mr. Peralta also used in his campaign ads.

Mr. Monserrate also used his web site to roll out endorsements and supporters from previous campaigns, and, according to this morning's Times, took to his Facebook page to accuse Mr. Peralta of infidelity.

However, we could not seem to find this particular allegation on Facebook--which might be because we are not "friends" with Mr. Monserrate, or perhaps, because we are bad at navigating that site--but, in either case, it would seem to underscore the importance (particularly in Queens?) of producing and distributing one's allegations on real, actual paper.

The polls close at 9.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this item included a comment from Twitter, which has been removed.