Paul Vallone gives up

From City Hall:

Ending conversations and speculation about whether Paul Vallone would run as a Republican in the race to replace Council Member Tony Avella, Vallone will endorse Democratic candidate Kevin Kim this afternoon, according to Kim’s campaign.

The endorsement will take place at 4 p.m. at Kim’s campaign headquarters in Bayside.

Anyone else think the story yesterday was planted by Vallone to make him actually look important instead of a third place loser? Here's something from the Village Voice:

That might be enough for your average mini-scandal, but there's more: Halloran is calling foul on the story - not because he's ashamed of his religious affiliation ("I am not comfortable with injecting my religion into my politics," he told the Trib. Hear Hear!), but because a Kim campaign consultant also happens to be the VP of the Queens Tribune, and because Queens congressman Gary Ackerman, who founded the paper and still holds a chunk of it, used to be Kim's boss and who urged his old employee to make the race, says City Hall.

Asked about his rival, [Kim] offered the politically savvy response of any frontrunner. "I don't want to comment on anyone's religion," he said. "It's up to the Republicans who they nominate."

He did acknowledge that Tribune VP Michael Nussbaum (a veteran Queens Democratic party player who was nailed on a bribery rap in the Donald Manes scandal, oh and who also organized Democrats for Bloomberg in 2005) is a paid consultant to his campaign and that he used to work for Ackerman as a constituent advisor. "You'll have to ask the Tribune about their articles," he said. "It has nothing to do with me."