Chamlin Out

Susan Chamlin, an aide to State Senator Liz Krueger, has announced that she will not run for Manhattan's 65th Assembly District seat, a position made vacant by the selection of Assemblyman Pete Grannis as DEC Commissioner by Governor Eliot Spitzer (providing he gets State Senate approval).

The move clears the way for Micah Kellner, an aide to Comptroller Bill Thompson, to take the seat, though in her letter Chamlin makes it clear she finds the backroom special election process that made Kellner the front-runner in the first place extremely flawed.

"However, until Governor Spitzer calls a special election, there is no race. Yet it appears the race has already been decided. The urgency to move this election forward, in the absence of a vacant seat, has severely limited the electoral process," writes Chamlin.

She closes with a sop to party pride, urging Democrats to unite behind Kellner and insure the Republicans do not pick up the seat, though the idea that any Republican could win a local election in Manhattan at this point is fantasy at best.