Via Wiki Commons.

2013 Mayoral Race

Bill de Blasio outraised his potential rivals for mayor.

Anthony Weiner referred to speculation about a comeback as a “clown question.”

Public Advocate

Daniel Squadron is leading the fundraising race.

Queens

The Queens DA may look into an Assembly candidate’s running of prostitution ads in his newspaper.

The Queens BP race is heating up.

US Senate

Wendy Long’s campaign remains in deep debt.

Brooklyn

Abraham Tischler says he would vote for Ruben Diaz, Sr. for majority leader.

State Senate

The Senate GOP has a major cash advantage over the Senate Dems.

Neil Breslin slammed his primary challenger for taking IDC money.

The IDC PAC has more than 300K on hand.

Elsewhere

Lots of money has been raised in the race to replace Jack McEneny.

Erie Democratic chairman Len Lenihan retired.

In his latest musing, Diaz tries to guess at who the “rat” is within the Democratic conference that fed that piece of speculation to Daily News reporter Ken Lovett, dropping the names of several of his Democratic colleagues as possibilities. And he even singles out Gov. Andrew Cuomo as a likely candidate for the leak.

You should know that as soon as I read the article, I went around asking people, “Who do you think is this high ranking source plotting to knock Sampson out?”  It is interesting to see all of the names that people mention, starting with Jeff Klein, Liz Krueger, Mike Ginaris and – now hold on to your hats folks – Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Out of all of them, Andrew Cuomo is the most frequent name mentioned.  Even during our Democratic closed-door Conference, his name was mentioned by most of the Senators.  To many, this plot is an act of desperation by those who already visualize a victory in November by the Democrats when the Republicans (will probably) lose their Majority and control of the Senate.

Strangely, Diaz himself called earlier this year for Sampson’s ouster at Senate minority leader, so his moral outrage about the leak seems a little bit odd. But at least, his public outcries against his colleagues are always on the record. And in his column today, Diaz seems to have had a change of heart about Sampson, now saying that with Democrats back in the majority, Sampson would be a “bionic reconstructed man” who is “better, faster, and stronger.”

Here’s the full release from Diaz:

To read the full article at City & State click here.

“I might just add that I do give a damn,” Espaillat said, “and I would look forward to working with Obama, and I certainly hope he will endorse me.”

At his own recent press conference to receive the backing of current Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., Rangel said he didn’t “give a damn” if he got Obama’s backing in the congressional race, though Rangel’s campaign later walked the statement back.

Espaillat was on hand at City Hall today to receive the endorsement of former Bronx borough president/White House director of the Office of Urban Affairs Adolfo Carrion, which was first reported this morning by City & State.

Carrion, for his part, said he does not believe Obama will get involved in a Democratic primary, simply because it’s a race between two Democrats. He also praised Rangel’s record in Congress, and did not take the bait when asked about Rangel’s ethics violations.

Meanwhile, Espaillat was put in an awkward situation during the press conference, when he was asked about a scandal several years ago involving Carrion getting free work on his Bronx house. In response, Espaillat said that he was entirely unaware of the well-publicized incident, which resulted in a $10,000 city fine.

“No, I’m not concerned about that, and I don’t think there is such things going on,” Espaillat said. “If you have information you can share with me, perhaps, you can give that to me after the press conference. Any other questions?”

Carrion declined to speak about his own political plans, which have included rumored interest in a run for comptroller, and even as a Republican candidate for mayor in 2013.

To read more from City & State click here.

Pedro Espada

The Four Amigos – the band of New York State Senate Democrats who were instrumental in handing control of the Senate to Republicans in a wild power grab in 2009 – are now just one.

After a string of criminal prosecutions felled former Senators Carl Kruger, Hiram Monserrate and, Pedro Espada, Jr., who was convicted on four counts of fraud in Brooklyn federal court yesterday, the only member of the amigos still free from felony conviction, not to mention still in office, is Rubén Díaz, Sr., the Bronx preacher in the cowboy hat known for his outspokenness on same-sex marriage and really, anything else that springs to his mind.

Diaz says he’s not worried he will fall victim to the same fate as the others, and he faces no indictment or charges of wrongdoing. But Clement Gardner, the head of nonprofit agency Christian Community Benevolent Association, which Diaz founded, was indicted in March on a $75,000 embezzlement charge.

“There’s been persecution of all of us since the coup,” said Diaz in a phone interview, when I told him about the jury verdict in Espada’s trial.

“I never worry. I never worry. I am a pastor, I am a preacher, and my life is in the hands of my savior Jesus Christ,” he said.

But Diaz distrusts the Cuomo administration.

“Listen, listen, listen!” he said. “You know what they say is you could indict a ham and cheese sandwich if you want. People say that, yeah, they say you could indict a ham and cheese sandwich if you want!”

Diaz didn’t know if Espada was guilty or not — “I don’t know, I wasn’t there” — but he did think the case against him was a personal vendetta of the Cuomo administration.

“Why when he was the attorney general, why did he make a press conference and accuse Pedro Espada of stealing $14 million? And now, he’s indicted for only half a million, and the jury took two weeks to find him guilty, so that means that either Governor Cuomo lied when he said that Pedro Espada stole $14 million, or he overreacted or he did not know the laws,” Diaz said.

Ruben Diaz, Sr.

“I say that was personal to make sure that Pedro Espada lost his seat,” Diaz said. “I do know that after the government used all their power, all their resources, the jury took two weeks to decide. That means that they didn’t have a solid case,” he said.

Cuomo, who began the investigation when he was Attorney General, took the unusual step of issuing a press release when Espada’s conviction was announced yesterday, calling Espada “the prime example of government corruption.”

“Mr. Espada has made many accusations and comments about me since my actions began,” Cuomo wrote in the statement. “Today the jury spoke loud and clear making Mr. Espada a convicted felon.”

Memories of the coup seem to be fading fast. A new Siena poll out yesterday showed 56 percent of New York voters would like to see Democrats re-take control of the Senate, and some Democrats praised the Espada conviction as another step in burying the party’s sordid past.

“You really have a brand new conference with about half a dozen new members,” said one Albany Democratic insider, adding, “People seem to forget that the coup was actually started by Senate Republicans.”

Diaz, who said he is still friends with Espada and prayed with him last week, said he had “nothing to worry about” personally. “I’m a preacher. The Bible says that everything that’s going to happen, God knows. It’s already written. So why worry when something is already written, what is going to happen with your life?”

To read more from City & State click here.

As you can imagine, it was not positive.

“I am very disappointed that the president has decided to support gay marriage,” Dias Sr. said. “But we are America. And in America you have the freedom to chose whatever you want.”

The Rev went on to say that he supports North Carolina’s vote yesterday to support a constitutional ban against gay marriage, noting that every time the question of gay marriage came before the electorate, the vote is always to reject it.

“In every state that people voted for gay marriage, people rejected gay marriage,” he said. “The only way to get gay marriage is through the Legislature, with lots of money.”

Not even Bill Clinton, who traveled to North Carolina before the vote to urge its defeat, could sway the people, Diaz Sr. said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who successfully pushed for the legalization of gay marriage last year, told reporters today that he had not talked about gay marriage with the president during his Albany visit yesterday. And Diaz Sr. said that Obama’s change-of-hear most likely had to do with Vice President Joe Biden’s comments earlier this week than any conversation he may or may not have had with Cuomo.

“They had this planned already,” he said. “Cuomo had nothing to do with it.”

The senator, who frequently and loudly vocalizes his opposition to gay marriage and abortion, recently equating the later to the Holocaust (as well as a ban on Happy Meal toys), said that Obama’s final “evolution” on gay marriage will hurt him electorally.

“That will help Mitt Romney, that will definitely help Mitt Romney,” Diaz Sr. said.

[UPDATE] About 20 minutes after I got off the phone with him, the senator sent out a “What You Should Know” statement. Here it is:

To read the full article at City & State click here.

Simcha Felder

2013 Mayoral Race

New York’s Republican County Chairmen Dan Isaacs, Phil Ragusa, Craig Eaton and Jay Savino discussed their plans to court Republican mayoral candidates with Errol Louis on NY1.

Adolfo Carrion, former Bronx Borough president, is telling friends he’s thinking of running for mayor and will decide by the fall of this year. 

Congressional Races

Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer endorsed State Sen. Adriano Espaillat for Congress yesterday. 

Anti-incumbent Super PAC the Campaign for Primary Accountability is planning to help Adriano Espaillat against Rangel.

Current bronx Borough president Ruben Diaz, Jr., will endorse Charlie Rangel later this week.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it’s too early for him to endorse either Sen. Espaillat or Rep. Rangel.

Bloomberg’s distance from the Rangel race is similar to President Barack Obama’s. The president hasn’t waded into the race yet either.

State Senate

Simcha Felder raised roughly $200,000 last week in his run for the new “Super-Jewish” State Senate district.

To read more from City & State click here.

In one of his “What You Should Know” missives to the press, Diaz Sr. cites Espaillat’s recent speech at a meeting of the Stonewall Democratic Club, in which he promised to fight to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act at a national level if elected to Congress.

“Apparently now that Adriano Espaillat is running for a Congressional seat which covers a great part of the Bronx, he still thinks that the Christian and Catholic pastors and ministers are unimportant,” Diaz Sr. writes. “Once again, Adriano Espaillat is slapping us in the face by enthusiastically supporting gay marriage – now for the whole nation. He is clearly telling all of us, once again, to take a hike because he doesn’t need our vote.”

Interestingly enough, Espaillat made reference to Diaz Sr. in his speech to the Stonewall Democratic Club on Wednesday, noting that he led the push for same-sex marriage within the Latino caucus in the Legislature and was able to convince all the member except Dias Sr. to vote in favor of the bill.

“Not only did I vote for the bill, but I led the way. I made sure that other members of the Latino caucus  of senators that I chair, all but one were successful in coming together as a group and making sure we passed this historic legislation,” Espaillat said.

But Diaz Sr. says Espaillat’s support for same-sex marriage may inhibit his run for Congress.

“I suspect that with this news of Adriano Espaillat’s pandering to the Stonewall Democratic Club about his promise to bring gay marriage to the nation if he gets elected to Congress, will awaken some Catholics and Evangelical Christians who were planning to vote for him,” Diaz Sr. writes. “I am afraid that they will change their minds and even vote for Charlie Rangel or maybe just sit this election out.”

Rangel, of course, is also a supporter of gay marriage and LGBT rights. And Diaz Sr. is not a supporter of Rangel in any respect, blasting the veteran congressman recently for being insensitive to mentally disturbed individuals.

To read the full article at City & State click here.