Lots of Republicans running for mayor

From the Village Voice:

Day by day, the wide open upcoming race to replace Mayor Michael Bloomberg is getting more entertaining, and morphing into a new year's gift for reporters, political junkies, and maybe the public.

Last week, Mayor Giuliani's former deputy mayor, Joseph Lhota, a man not known for conversational subtlety, confirmed he was running as a Republican. This week, we learned that supermarket mogul John Catsimatides, an old-fashioned boot strap guy turned billionaire, put up $1 million of his own money to start building a campaign operation. Local newspaper publisher Tom Allon has raised $234,000. Doe Fund founder George McDonald has declared, but has yet to report any fundraising numbers.

Ad ties Quinn to demise of hospital

From The Politicker:

Manhattan Media CEO Tom Allon has taken out a provocative new advertisement in a local newspaper in Christine Quinn’s home district that accuses the City Council speaker of letting St. Vincent’s Hospital close in order to reap real estate donations.

The ad leads in bold type with the words, DID CHRISTINE QUINN BET YOUR LIFE TO BECOME MAYOR and shows her kissing real estate developer Bill Rudin at an unidentified event.

Rudin Management has made a bid to redevelop the former hospital as a housing and retail space with a medical facility. Some community members have pushed for the hospital to be re-opened and fully operational, but the economics of that plan do not appear to be feasible either to Mr. Rudin or to city officials.