Quinn's asskissing presser features Queens councilmen

From the Politicker:

It was mostly smiles for Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn under the burning sun outside of City Hall this afternoon.

She accepted new endorsements from two council members from Brooklyn, Stephen Levin and Michael Nelson, as well as two from Queens, Mark Weprin and James Gennaro--all of whom spoke to her established record, which they contended distinguishes her from the other candidates running for office.

"Let me get right to it," Mr. Gennaro said. “Whatever you care about in New York City, whatever issue you care about in New York City, Chris Quinn has a record of accomplishment--a record of solid accomplishment in whatever issue you care about. Not a phrase, not a slogan, not a word picture. An actual record of leadership."

"Madam Speaker, I look forward in seven months to calling you Madam Mayor," Mr. Levin said to a beaming Speaker Quinn who graciously kissed him on the cheek afterwards. And so on for Mr. Weprin and Mr. Nelson.

The endorsements today were largely unsurprising. Mr. Gennaro, for instance, has been functioning as an informal attack dog for the Quinn campaign on a variety of issues. And Ms. Quinn was previously endorsed by the Queens County Democratic organization, and loyal members like Mr. Weprin were likely to follow suit. Nevertheless, it's a component of Ms. Quinn's larger strategy: steadily and slowly growing the list of colleagues backing her bid for Gracie Mansion.

Ms. Quinn, however, didn't strike exclusively positive notes this afternoon. Asked about former Gov. Eliot Spitzer nearly tearing up during an appearance on Morning Joe this morning (she appeared shortly after), Ms. Quinn said she hadn't seen a clip, but launched into a critique of both Mr. Spitzer and another scandal scarred pol, former Congressman Anthony Weiner, one of her main rivals in the mayor's race.

"I, as much as anybody else, believe in second chances. None of us are perfect. In every way, but particularly in elected life, you need to earn a second chance. So the question is what have Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer done to earn a second chance?" she said, echoing comments she made yesterday. "What have they done with their time since their fall from grace that would earn them this second choice--chance. I would say not very much."

Does anyone remember Miss Quinn calling for Weiner and Spitzer's resignations? I don't. Now they're dirt because one of them is running against her?

Most Queens council members MIA during storm

From Sheepshead Bites:

With just about all of the roads finally clear, outrage at the city’s bungled response to the December 26 blizzard is now spreading beyond the Mayor’s office and the Sanitation Department. Flatbush Scoop, a blog owned by Yeshiva World News, is laying into our local City Council representatives for being MIA as residents struggled to cope.

They give high marks to Councilman David Greenfield, who was caught on video blasting the city’s response and the decision to clear bike lanes before residential streets. But other councilmembers received scathing reviews:

We at FlatbushScoop.com were shocked when we reached out to all the local Council Members representing the Jewish areas that were hard-hit by the Bloomberg Blizzard. We expected them to at the very least have staff answer our phone calls. Sadly, many were on vacation or simply did not answer the phone. Please don’t forgot that these politicians were NOT THERE FOR YOU next time these politicians ask for your vote.

Flatbush Scoop also put together a shame list of four local representatives – three of whom represent parts our coverage area – that were on vacation or otherwise unavailable during the storm.

FLATBUSHSCOOP.COM’S SHAME ON YOU LIST:

1. Brad Lander – Councilman Lander’s Boro Park portion of his district was hard-hit. On Monday his office wasn’t event taking phone calls. On Tuesday, when we asked for the Councilman we were told he was on vacation!

2. Mike Nelson – There were rumors of Councilman Nelson sighting this week but we called his office every single day this week and couldn’t get through even once!

3. Domenic Recchia – Councilman Recchia had some of the worst snow-piled streets in his Gravesend district. While some people told us they saw Recchia in the beginning of the week, his office was closed!

4. Lew Fidler – Councilman Fidler was on vacation this week. Enough said.

Ah, well where the hell were the representatives of Queens? Other than Council Members Peter Vallone and Dan Halloran, who seemed to be on every newscast you turned on complaining about the city's response, Queens council members were completely MIA. Their offices were either not answering the phone, not responsive or on vacation. Share your experiences here.

(Oh, and a lot of the third termers don't even bother to show up to work anymore.)

City fines elderly couple for contractor's work

From CBS 2:

An elderly Brooklyn couple ticketed by the city for having a driveway that is too wide says the city is responsible for the alteration.

City Councilman Michael Nelson is joining the effort to have the summons dropped against Tim Sit's Chinese immigrant parents.

The family and neighbors said city-hired contractors did underground pipe work and repaved their Sheepshead Bay driveway curb. Now, the couple could be fined or forced to pay for the construction to bring the curb to code.

CBS 2 HD showed Councilman Nelson video -- recorded by Tim Sit -- of the contractors working on his parents' driveway.

"This is really just a terrible act perpetrated by a city contractor on this poor couple," Nelson said.

Nelson said that he will do "everything" in his power to ensure the couple doesn't have to "pay one plug nickel" for the alleged violation.