Comptroller Bill Thompson, Deputy Comptroller Eddie Castell and Assembly Member Jonathan Bing share a light moment with former City Council President Andrew Stein on election day.


In a Rare Sighting, Stein Casts His Vote
Even with a bad cold, Andrew Stein, the last man to hold the office of City Council president, was dedicated to casting his vote at the Robert F. Kennedy School on East 88th Street. Before entering the school, he mingled with City Comptroller Bill Thompson (D) and Assembly Member Jonathan Bing (D-Manhattan), who were stumping on the corner.
Though Stein correctly predicted a victory by Sen. Barack Obama, he was guarded about his choice.
“It’s something I never tell,” Stein said. “It’s like one of the American privileges.”
But though Stein, a once rising star who all but disappeared after pulling out of the 1993 elections, was eager to talk about the presidential election, he shrugged off talk of local races for Assembly, State Senate and Congress.
“I don’t follow local politics like I used to,” he said.

On Election Day, Como Denied More Time on Council and Lunch
Maybe it was a bad omen.
Just hours before his defeat at the hands of Liz Crowley, Council Member Anthony Como joined State Sen. Serphin Maltese, State Sen. Martin Golden and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani at the Fame Diner in Maspeth, Queens, for a brief break from the campaign.
After a hearty round of glad-handing with Giuliani throughout the dining room, Maltese, Como and Golden took their seats for what they expected, at least, would be a quick meal.
As Golden rattled off a list of Senate races he was keeping his eye on—most of which would turn out badly for the Republicans—a waitress came to take their orders.
Giuliani passed, saying he had already eaten. Maltese ordered an omelet, Golden a sandwich.
And Como? He did not get the chance.
Before he could get in his order—trying to cut through the frenzy of admirers and reporters crowding the table—the waitress left the table to ring up the orders of his fellow campaigners. Even when Como tried to get her attention a second time, she remained strikingly unresponsive.
Giuliani jokingly suggested she was ignoring him on purpose.
“I think she’s trying to send me a message,” Como quipped.
The message from the voters came in about nine hours later, when Crowley, whom Como had edged ahead of in the June special election for what was once Dennis Gallagher’s seat, won the rematch by a nearly 20-point margin.

New ‘Dos for Senate Dems
In perhaps a symbol of these changing political times for New York, two State Senate Democrats who were very much in the news have been sporting new haircuts of late. Outgoing State Sen. Martin Connor (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan), who lost his primary to Daniel Squadron in September, was spotted at the State Democratic Party’s election night bash at the Sheraton with his comb-over clipped and his baldness proudly presented. State Sen. Jeff Klein, meanwhile, may have shelved his plans to go for majority leader for now, but he had the barber take out the scissors and give him a closer cut than the somewhat puffy hairstyle that had for so long topped his head. Asked about it at the election night party after the results had come in which put his party over the top, Klein laughed.
“New Albany, new haircut,” he said.

Green Reflects on Battling Bloomberg Again
Former Public Advocate Mark Green has stayed mostly out of politics since the end of his 2006 attorney general run, and has even used his new post as president of Air America to mend fences with Michael Bloomberg, who beat him in the 2001 mayor’s race, and who joined Green on the air last year for a much-publicized mutually-admiring interview.
But the debate over the term limits extension put him front and center again, with Green criticizing Bloomberg and testifying in front of the Governmental Operations Committee against the change.
But Green dismissed the idea that his involvement in this issue will bring him back into city politics in any active way.
“I am a disinterested party, yet an experienced party,” Green said shortly after his testimony. “This is a no-expense hobby.”

Bloomberg Wins Media Battle With Smith
Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.) may not have the warmest relationship with Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens)—the two notably disagreed over congestion pricing and who should be in control of the State Senate—but when it comes to competition for the media’s attention, Bloomberg always seems to have the upper hand.
At an Oct. 27 press conference in City Hall Park to promote the addition of 43 new recycling bins in the city, Bloomberg allowed reporters to ask at least a dozen off-topic questions. Meanwhile, Smith and a host of Democratic leaders from across the state waited patiently a few yards away on the steps of City Hall for the press to eventually migrate over to their rally.
“Unbelievable,” fumed Austin Shafaran, a spokesperson for the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, standing behind a bank of television cameras that were trained on the mayor. “Has he even said anything about sanitation?”
Bloomberg eventually wrapped things up (and received a few cheers from a man sporting a John McCain button on his jean jacket), leaving reporters and cameramen to make their way over to Smith’s press conference.
Asked if he thought the timing of Bloomberg’s press conference was at all suspicious, Smith laughed and said, “He’s stealing our time!”

Gianaris and Gioia to Push for Same-Day Voting
This was a year of record voter turnout, but Assembly Member Michael Gianaris and Council Member Eric Gioia believe even more people would have turned out in New York if state law allowed same-day voter registration. Gianaris is sponsoring a bill in the Assembly to change the rules, which Gioia will try to boost by passing a supportive Council resolution.
The weekend before the election, the two gathered at City Hall for a press conference lamenting New York’s status as 43rd of the 50 states in voter turnout and dismissed claims that changing the laws to allow same day voter registration would lead to fraud.
Gianaris also voiced his support for early voting.
“Not only in New York can we not vote early, but we can’t register late,” he said.

Two Rising Stars Unite
Daniel Squadron was apparently looking to his right in the photograph he took in front of City Hall as part of his inclusion on the 2008 City Hall 40 Under 40 list. The incoming state senator has hired fellow Rising Star John Raskin, who stood next to him in the photo, as his chief of staff. Raskin leaves his post as a community organizer with Housing Conservation Coordinators.

By Edward-Isaac Dovere, Sal Gentile, Andrew J. Hawkins and Dan Rivoli.