Brooklyn Legal

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes. (Getty Images)

The Prosecutor Plays Defense: Can D.A. Hynes Have It Both Ways on Hasidic Molesters?

On a steamy night on the corner of a Bedford-Stuyvesant block in late August, District Attorney Charles Hynes stood waiting for the Reverend Al Sharpton.

Though he has fought crime in the borough for decades, Mr. Hynes, who is in his sixth term as the Brooklyn district attorney, looked slightly out of place loitering on a dark patch of sidewalk in front of a dicey-looking housing project near midnight.

Well into his 70s, Mr. Hynes is grandfatherly in appearance, white-haired and slightly hunched. He wore a bright blue checkered shirt, cleanly pressed, with an open collar. He waited patiently, a sizable police detail nearby, until Rev. Sharpton arrived, 20 minutes late, in a chauffeured black Navigator. Read More

Road Rage

The Bike Wars Come to City Council

Janette Sadik-Khan is probably the only transportation commissioner, or city commissioner of any sort, really, with honest-to-god fans. Not just supporters or boosters, but groupies who adore her. A few were spotted today, poking their cellphones past reporters who were buttonholing Sadik-Khan outside a City Council hearing room this afternoon.

A tall blonde woman, clutching Read More

Fidler Rising

Lew Fidler, who’s in his third term as a councilman in Brooklyn, had a pretty impressive fund-raiser last Thursday, stirring some speculation about what he’s is planning to do next.

The event was packed. Money poured in. Oh, and it happened on the same night as a fund-raiser held by Democratic County Leader Vito Lopez, Read More

Choosing the Finance Chair

Two City Council members told me that Michael Bloomberg is getting directly involved committee-chairmanship assignments, and making personal appeals pushing Domenic Recchia as finance chair. It could mean that the mayor is concerned that the Council he’ll be negotiating with for the next four years won’t be as friendly as the previous one.

Read More

Angling for Finance Chair: Fidler, Recchia and Felder

Last week, Crain’s put out the names of two people from Brooklyn vying for the Finance Committee Chairmanship: Lew Fidler and Domenic Recchia.

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 Read More