By Mike McLaughlin
The Brooklyn Paper / Jeff Bachner
Bay Ridge: Embattled Rep. Vito Fossella (R–Bay Ridge) will reportedly not seek re-election — a stunning bombshell that capped a topsy-turvy week that began early last Thursday with the congressman’s arrest for drunk-driving in the Virginia suburbs and subsequent reports of a possible extra-marital affair.
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Editorial: The Brooklyn Paper calls for Rep. Vito Fossella to resign now rather than drag his constituents through the ongoing scandal over his drunk-driving arrest and extra-marital affair.
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By Cristian Fleming
Cartoon: Our artist’s take on the Fossella drunk-driving arrest.
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Politics: Vito Fossella is certainly not the first politician to get in trouble with the law. Here’s a handy chart.
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By Ben Muessig
Vox Pop: What do Bay Ridge residents think of Rep. Vito Fossella since his May 1 drunk driving arrest? We hit the streets to find out.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Bay Ridge: Rep. Vito Fossella (R–Bay Ridge) was arrested early Thursday morning in Alexandria, Virginia for driving while intoxicated.
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By Mike McLaughlin and Gersh Kuntzman
Politics: Disgraced Rep. Vito Fossella had more than two times the legal limit of alcohol in his bloodstream when he was arrested for drunk-driving on early Thursday morning in Virginia — and the six-term congressman is facing a mandatory sentence of five days in the slammer.
With video … Comments (2).
By Gersh Kuntzman
Politics: Embattled Rep. Vito Fossella admitted today to fathering a daughter with the woman who bailed him out of an Alexandria, Virginia jail after his arrest last Thursday for drunk driving.
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By Ricky Barlin
Bay Ridge: Rep. Vito Fossella called the press to a hotel in Staten Island to address his Thursday morning drunk-driving arrest in Virginia. Here is the six-term congressman’s opening statement, as captured by BrooklynPaper.com cameraman Ricky Barlin.
With video … Comment.
By Ben Muessig
Fort Greene: It’s the MTV kid versus the golden oldie for Congress.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Brooklyn Angle: Tucker Reed, who spent the last two years fixing potholes, handing out energy-efficient lightbulbs and keeping the peace between DUMBO’s warring factions, is heading to Iraq to do, basically, the same thing.
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By Ben Muessig
Bay Ridge: Dick Cheney popped into New York this week to raise money for Rep. Vito Fossella’s re-election campaign — and the much-hated vice president brought in enough cash to offset any damage he did to Fossella in the eyes of Brooklyn voters, experts said.
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Editorial: Rep. Vito Fossella — the city’s lone Republican congressman — called in a much-hated vice president to help him raise money. He’s banking on two things: Cheney’s pull with billionaires and voters’ short memories come November.
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By Cristian Fleming
Cartoon: Our artist’s take on the issues of the day!
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By Mike McLaughlin
Politics: The Rev. Jesse Jackson came to a Fort Greene church to talk about the mortgage crisis, but the old politician in him couldn’t resist talking about everything else.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Politics: Former Black Panther Angela Davis gave her much-anticipated lecture at Pratt Institute and said that racism is still as ingrained as ever in the U.S.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Politics: Former fugitive, Communist Party presidential candidate and Black Panther Angela Davis is coming to Pratt with a message that racism is “no less overt” than it was 50 years ago. But is it?
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By Mike McLaughlin
Politics: The death of the mayor’s congestion pricing plan has also lead to the killing of the city’s residential parking permit proposal.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Brooklyn Heights: Is the end near for state Sen. Marty Connor? The Brooklyn Heights Democrat’s hopes for a 16th term are looking shakier than ever, thanks to a few good weeks for challenger Daniel Squadron. On Sunday, Sen. Charles Schumer came to Brooklyn Heights to endorse Squadron, calling his former staffer “one of the smartest, most able people I know.”
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By Ben Muessig
Bay Ridge: Likely GOP nominee John McCain stopped by Bay Ridge on Thursday to talk politics and have a slice of pizza without sauce!
With video … Comments (1).
By Gersh Kuntzman
Politics: The City Council approved the mayor’s plan to charge car drivers $8 and truck drivers $21 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street by a 30–20 vote on Monday. But here in Brooklyn, the vote went the opposite way.
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By Emily Lavin
Bay Ridge: A Bay Ridge rail yard site that has become a haven for the homeless people will now be inspected weekly to clear out the area and increase safety.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Politics: Some polls show that Barack Obama’s campaign may by losing momentum — but Mr. Gallup and Mr. Zogby might want to drop by a Fourth Avenue bar, where the nation’s first Barack Obama ale is selling as fast as bartenders can pour it.
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Politics: Mayor Bloomberg’s ambitious and controversial plan to charge drivers $8 to enter Manhattan’s central business district will come to a vote early next month in the City Council, where it faces a very bumpy road, according to our survey of all 17 Brooklyn councilmembers. If the vote was today, Brooklyn would vote 8–1 against the plan (with six undecideds and two councilmembers too busy to return our calls).
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By Dana Rubinstein
Downtown: A group of Brooklyn judges may sue the city to preserve its parking privileges in a park next to Borough Hall, claiming that the removal of 20 or so spaces will endanger the judges’ safety because the nearest city-owned garage is two blocks away.
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Editorial: The Parks Department has moved to evict a few dozen judges from parking in Columbus Park — and The Paper cheers.
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By Adam Rathe
DUMBO: As the war in Iraq reaches the five-year mark, journalists and presidential candidates have been talking about it endlessly, but according to Lou Reed, Moby and Laurie Anderson, not nearly enough is being said.
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By Dana Rubinstein
Politics: Brooklynites marked the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq with a damp protest rally on Wednesday.
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By Wendy Ponte
PS … I Love You: Tip O’Neill used to say that all politics is local. Who knew it extended to food?
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Interviews and photos by Noelle D’Arrigo
Vox Pop: Reports that Gov. Eliot Spitzer hired prostitutes was the talk of political insiders all week. But the man on the street — in this case, the woman on the street — was talking about the story a little differently. Our inquiring photographer asked Brooklyn woman a simple question, “Would all men cheat on their wives if they knew they could get away with it?”
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By Dana Rubinstein
Bloomy in the ’Hood: Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a residential parking permit plan to bolster his controversial proposal to charge Manhattan-bound drivers a “congestion-pricing” fee — and the permits quickly had the desired effect, swaying two ambivalent Brooklyn lawmakers toward supporting the bill.
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POLL: Should Marty run?
Politics: Borough President Markowitz just fell behind Police Commissioner Ray Kelly in the second (still early) mayoral poll. Now is the time when Brooklyn voters’ voices need to be heard: Should Marty run? Vote here.
By Jeff Bachner
Bloomy in the ’Hood: Mayor Bloomberg joined Fort Hamilton HS Principal Jo Ann Chester last Thursday to celebrate the school’s arts education program — but not everyone found the mayor’s speech scintillating. Kenneth Lai, a Fort Hamilton HS junior, devoted as much attention as he could spare.
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By Louise Crawford
Smartmom: Eliot Spitzer’s alleged prostitution habit has Smartmom wondering what it would take before she left Hepcat.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Brooklyn Angle: Call him a Nader Traitor — but the only Brooklynite to contribute to Ralph Nader’s inept 2004 campaign has bailed on the twice-failed presidential hopeful. He’s not alone.
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By Dana Rubinstein
Politics: Last week’s stunning mayoral poll put Borough President Markowitz ahead of other pretenders to the City Hall throne, but the Beep’s dithering over whether he will run is allowing valuable fundraising opportunities to dissolve into the ether, experts said.
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By Cristian Fleming
Cartoon: Our artist’s take on the issues of the day!
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By Dana Rubinstein
Fort Greene: Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries wants to help renters from being displaced.
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By Ricky Barlin
Politics: Illinois Sen. Barack Obama received thousands of votes more than he had been credited with in the Board of Elections’ unofficial Primary Night vote count.
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By Dana Rubinstein
Bay Ridge: Steve Harrison, who came closer than any Democrat before him in defeating the city’s only Republican congressman two years ago, won the endorsement of the Staten Island Democratic Association by a landslide vote of 42-6 last week.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Politics: Brooklyn election workers undercounted hundreds, perhaps thousands, of votes for Barack Obama in the New York primary earlier this month, spawning calls to investigate the Board of Elections and even conspiracy theories that workers were trying to help home state Sen. Hillary Clinton.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Politics: Two Brooklyn members of Congress say they’ll vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton at the Democratic convention in August, even though the majority of voters in their districts cast ballots for Sen. Barack Obama in the New York primary, The Brooklyn Paper has learned.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Politics: The New York primary is settled, but the money war rages on between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Brooklyn Angle: Our columnist’s cast auction goes well — with two councilmen in a bidding war!
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By Dana Rubinstein
Politics: Everyone’s getting in on the “state of” game these days, from Borough President Markowitz, who gave his sixth, final and raucous “State of the Borough” address on Feb. 7 at the Brooklyn Cruise Ship Terminal, to Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D–Fort Greene), who gave a more muted performance at Pratt Institute on Jan. 30. Of course, both were following in the vaunted tradition of presidents past and present, including President Bush, who gave his final State of the Union on Jan. 28 in Washington. Here’s how the three politicians’ speeches compared.
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By Dana Rubinstein
Politics: Brooklyn Democrats are far more divided than their counterparts across New York State, backing Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama, 50 percent to 48 percent.
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By Gersh Kuntzman and Dana Rubinstein
Politics: State lawmakers are about to hand themselves a big pay raise. Here’s what they say about it.
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Editorial: The Brooklyn Paper endorses Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Brooklyn Paper endorses Sen. John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination.
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Politics: Voters across the political spectrum tell why they support their man (or woman).
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By Dana Rubinstein
Politics: Meet Erica Sattin. She’s smart. She’s young. She’s opinionated. So why can’t she make up her mind about which Democrat to support on Tuesday?
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By Mike McLaughlin
Politics: Brooklyn Republicans — yes, they exist! — are determined to not go down with Rudy Giuliani’s sinking ship.
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By Dana Rubinstein
Politics: The city can now penalize business owners for leaving circulars and menus on the doorsteps of homeowners who’ve explicitly said they don’t want them, thanks to a bill signed by Gov. Spitzer on Tuesday.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Politics: A Brooklyn Heights author tells how a kosher butcher in Brooklyn, playing David to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Goliath, faced off against the federal government and won.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Politics: Whoever takes over for Councilman Bill DeBlasio (D–Cobble Hill) will have some big shoes to fill — literally. The NBA-sized DeBlasio is term-limited out of the district, but already five candidates have stepped up to represent the 39th Council district.
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By Adam F. Hutton
Politics: At the moment, there are only three Democratic candidates vying to replace term-limited Councilman David Yassky and represent a sprawling district that stretches from Greenpoint to Park Slope.
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By Dana Rubinstein
Politics: Councilman Bill DeBlasio is running away with the race to succeed Borough President Markowitz — the money race, that is.
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By Adam F. Hutton
Politics: Another big gun — this time Rep. Vito Fossella — has come out against a city plan to build a garbage-transfer station along Gravesend Bay — and says the plan could literally blow up in the city’s face.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Politics: The City Council is on the verge of requiring electronics manufacturers to pick up their computers, video games and TV sets when consumers are done with them, but the mayor has signaled his opposition on the grounds that the goal, however laudable, is unattainable.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Politics: The Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously upheld New York’s “smoke-filled” system of choosing trial judges, setting aside critics’ concerns that political party bosses control the system.
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By Joe Jordan
Bay Ridge: The Constitution can make you healthy. That’s the word over at Bay Ridge’s Appletree Natural Foods shop, which, in the spirit of the presidential primary season, has set aside an entire window for a gigantic display of our nation’s founding document.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Politics: Constituents of Councilman Bill DeBlasio blasted the up-and-comer for spending most of the past two weeks campaigning for Sen. Hillary Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire.
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By Dana Rubinstein
Politics: A court-appointed attorney who plundered the fortune of former Judge John Phillips has been temporarily stripped of her license to practice law — but District Attorney Charles Hynes won’t commit to opening a criminal investigation into her wrongdoings.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Brooklyn, Iowa: Our columnist takes you inside an actual Iowa caucus room: “What I saw was the most basic form of democracy in action. I was proud to be an American.”
With video … Comment.
By Gersh Kuntzman
Brooklyn, Iowa: BROOKLYN, IOWA — Former Sen. John Edwards emerged a narrow winner in this rural town of 1,300, fighting off a last-minute visit by former President Bill Clinton and a strong surge by younger voters for Barack Obama in a raucous, only-in-Iowa caucus. In a much-more subdued process, Brooklyn Republicans made Baptist preacher, weight-loss guru and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee the winner of their vote.
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