Standing by the security gate by the West side of City Hall, Avella was overheard telling one labor official, "I think I'm going to run for a [State] Senate seat."

In a brief telephone conversation, Avella told me, "We haven't crossed all the t's and dotted the i's, but I think we're going to do this."

He said he'd like to make sure the Senate Democrats are "on board" with his campaign, and that the Queens Democratic Party is "united" on it too.

The seat in Northeast Queens Avella would be running for is held by Frank Padavan, a 37-year-Republican incumbent who narrowly held onto his seat in a nailbiter of a race against Democratic City Councilman Jim Gennaro.

Gennaro, and other Democrats, are thought to have benefited from the higher-than-usual turnout which accompanies presidential election years.

I asked Avella why he thought he would do better against Padavan than Gennaro did if there's no presidential race.

"More of my Council district covers the Senate district," he said. "I have very good name recognition," he added, and "good name recognition on reform issues." Then, after a pause, he laughed to himself and said, "I just think we can do it."

So, there you go.

The resolution they're upset about is sponsored by Gennaro and calls on the state "to prohibit drilling for natural gas within the boundaries of the watershed of the New York City drinking water supply."

The resolution, it seems, is not enough for some people.

Bloomberg praised Republican George Pataki, who is being talked about as a possible U.S. Senate candidate next year, and Democrat Jim Gennaro, who is likely to run for State Senate again.

Speaking from the podium, Bloomberg said, “It’s just a privilege to be here tonight with somebody who really has never gotten as much recognition as I think he deserves for his environmental work, and that’s our former governor, George Pataki.”

And, in a line I can easily imagine in a future campaign ad, Bloomberg said, “You’ve changed the state, you’ve changed America, and we will all live longer, healthier lives because of you.”

Later, Bloomberg shared credit for the city’s plan to shrink carbon footprint of existing buildings, saying, “Jim Gennaro’s here. Councilman Gennaro has been, I can’t tell you how much help he has been on this and I just want to say 'thank you' publicly for everything you have done.”

Directly addressing the NYLCV, Bloomberg said,
“You’ve helped Republicans. You’ve helped Democrats. You’ve helped independents. Believe me, I know. I’ve been all three."

The crowd, which greeted Bloomberg's entrance with a standing ovation, laughed.

But first!

He is hosting a free screening of FUEL tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in the LeFrak Concert Hall at Queens College.

His office reccomends reserving a seat by email (jgennaro@council.nyc.gov) or phone (718.217.4969).

The trailer is below. 

Padavan put out a statement last night  decrying Gennaro's "negative attacks" and saying he was vindicated by a re-count showing he won by 578 votes. This morning, the Gennaro camp put out a statement (in full below) saying the Padavan camp "worked tirelessly to prevent legitimate votes cast by students and people with disabilities from being counted."

I called Padavan to ask him for his thoughts at the end of a long, hard-fought and narrowly won campaign.

"We could go on and on in that kind of dialogue forever and not really end up anywhere," he said. "I'm not going to get caught up in that kind of nonsense again. He tried, in a variety of ways, particularly in literature and fliers, to distort. I told him to his face that he was lying."

Padavan's Republican colleagues have been anxiously awaiting his arrival in the State Senate, where he will provide their conference a 30^th vote (as opposed to 32 Democrats). Padavan said his first priority would be "everybody's priority, and that's dealing with the budget."

In light of the bitter campaign - which Padavan said was worse than he had ever experienced - I asked if he would run again. He didn't hesitate to say yes, and thought the race showed strength, not vulnerability.

"He spent over twice as much money as I spent, the registration is three to one in his favor, and president Obama received 70 percent of the vote in this Senate district. So despite all of those advantages, he lost," Padavan said. "That shows, I think, a very strong position in terms of our work for the last 36 years."

Gennaro for New York campaign spokesman Mike Barfield made the following statement today: "From election night and at every step of the recount, Frank Padavan and his Republican cronies have worked tirelessly to prevent legitimate votes cast by students and people with disabilities from being counted. "Each time Padavan and the Republican lawyers tried to prevent votes from being counted they were rebuffed and in the end thousands of valid ballots Padavan objected to were counted. "His latest statement is as out of touch with the realities of the recount as his ultra-Republican voting record is with the people of Queens. This statement is the latest example of Frank Padavan's style: saying one thing in the district, but acting completely differently elsewhere. "Jim Gennaro ran an issue-based campaign and received more than 49% of the vote in this election. Jim has never been afraid to speak out about critical issues, whether it's protecting New York City's water supply or exposing Frank Padavan's 23 votes against women's health and safety. Now that the recount is settled, and the votes have been counted, Frank Padavan should stop the senseless political attacks and work with Sen. Smith and the new Democratic majority to address the critical issues facing New Yorkers."

It wasn't all that long ago that supporting nuclear power as a Democrat in New York State was an easy way to lose an election.

"In 1992 I was in a three-way race for the State Assembly," said Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, whose opponents in that race were a high school math teacher in his fifties and a "self-described '50's housewife," according to Cahill.  "We sat before the active Democrats of our community. And the question came up about nuclear power. And the moment it came up, I knew I was going to be the last person standing. Because they both said they were O.K. with it. And my community was definitely not."

Mr. Cahill, who represents much of Ulster County and the area around Rhinebeck, in Dutchess County, stressed that his win was "coincidental." Even so, the sentiment remains powerful: supporting nuclear power did not earn votes.

That's changing somewhat—although it should be said, not much in the Hudson Valley, which is home to numerous environmental groups and represented by one of Indian Point's most visible opponents, Representative John Hall.

"It's split," said Assemblyman Michael Gianaris of Queens, one of very few local elected Democrats—and perhaps the only one in New York City—who openly supports expanding nuclear energy. "It used to be all against, and now it's become split."

Read the rest.

State Senator Frank Padavan was first elected to office 35 years ago, and his Republican conference has been in the majority for nearly the entire time. But if his 723-vote lead over Democratic challenger Jim Gennaro holds steady through next week's official count, Padavan will, for the first time in a long time, be a member of minority conference.

It's not something he wants to discuss.

"I'm not going to talk about a hypothetical," Padavan said in a brief telephone interview this afternoon. He went on to say he felt there was a good chance Republicans will peel away enough votes--presumably from the four Democratic members of the "Independent Caucus"--to maintain their majority status. But, Padavan added, "I'm not directly involved in those deliberations."

Padavan said Gennaro ran a "despicable campaign" and that his consultants were that "sleazy outfit, the Parkside Group" which, according to Padavan, "are famous for that type of campaign."

Padavan's said his opponent distorted and misrepresented his voting record. He said he supported increasing access to health care and tougher gun control measures, but that Gennaro's campaign said the complete opposite.

The response from Evan Stavisky, a Parkside consultant who worked on the campaign, was on message.

"It's not despicable to inform voters that Frank Padavan voted against women's health and safety 23 times, it's despicable to actually vote against women's health and safety 23 times," Stavisky said in an e-mail.

Padavan said he decided to focus his campaign's message on "our record." He also said that in hindsight he would not have changed his message.

"There are lots of things I could have done, but I chose not to," he said. "We ran a very, very clean campaign. Everything we put out was positive."

But he told me the attacks they could have made.

There was the issue of Gennaro "having been found guilty by the New York City Board of Elections, and he paid a fine,"said Padavan. "There was his involvement in that scandal in the City Council [with] those phony organizations, and the fact that he received the bulk of his funding from developers, which have been the enemies of my constituency and want to change the character of the neighborhood."

Padavan said he didn't raise these issues because they were not germane to the job of being a legislator.

"I've heard of desperate last minute political attacks," said Stavisky, responding to what Padavan told me, "But desperate post-election political attacks are kind of bizarre."