Fort Greene: Kevin Powell’s resume is not one that typically leads to a job in Congress: he’s a hip-hop journalist, a former cast member on MTV’s “Real World” reality show, and a man with a self-professed history of violence that he has overcome, he says, after years of therapy. With video … Comments (3).

Politics: Can you say “Smackdown”? With video … Comment.

Convention: Our man in Denver finds out how to lower his carbon footprint — before he even takes a step inside the Democratic National Convention Comment.

Fort Greene: Rep. Ed Towns is dodging Kevin Powell, refusing to share a stage with his upstart congressional opponent — and even turning down The Brooklyn Paper’s offer to host a debate on neutral territory, our DUMBO offices! Comments (6).

Vox Pop: State Sen. Marty Connor is pushing a bill that would to raise lawmakers’ salaries in exchange for them putting in regular full-time work weeks all year long. He believes the public will understand and support the bill, but his Democratic rival, Daniel Squadron, said Connor “would be hard pressed to find a single New Yorker who agrees [that] he should get a $52,000 bonus just for doing the job he was elected to do.” To find out who’s right, we hit the streets. Comment.

Bay Ridge: Steve Harrison, the spurned man in the race to succeed Rep. Vito Fossella, says Sen. Charles Schumer’s endorsement of Councilman Mike McMahon this week just goes to show that the Staten Island councilman is not a true progressive Democrat. Comments (2).

Bay Ridge: The death of would-be Republican congressman Frank Powers has split the Staten Island and Brooklyn wings of the so-called Grand Old Party. Comment.

Politicrasher: Our political insider takes the measure of Council candidate Gary Reilly, eternal optimist. Comments (2).

Bay Ridge: The death of Frank Powers, who was briefly the Republican standard bearer to succeed disgraced Rep. Vito Fossella, has thrown the race for the Staten Island–Bay Ridge congressional seat into its natural state: turmoil. Comment.

Bay Ridge: Councilman Domenic Recchia said a case of internal corruption at a non-profit that he funded has nothing to do with him. Comments (2).

Politicrasher: Our political insider makes the scene. This week: Council candidate Jo Anne Simon’s mojito party! Comment.

Bay Ridge: A staffer in embattled Rep. Vito Fossella’s Bay Ridge office says his boss’s tarnished reputation won’t hurt him in his just-announced run for the Assembly. Comments (1).

Politics: A group of ornery Brooklyn Democrats has effectively said it would rather have no one representing it in Congress than Rep. Yvette Clarke. Comments (2).

Politics: A former reality show cast-member and hip-hop journalist kick-started his congressional campaign this week, saying 13-term incumbent Rep. Ed Towns “has completely ignored” his constituents. Comment.

Bay Ridge: It’s not over ’til the thin Italian sings — and he’s not saying a word. Embattled Rep. Vito Fossella (R–Bay Ridge) is not only fighting his May 1 drunk-driving charge in court, but apparently fighting for re-election. Comments (3).

Editorial: We’d prefer a campaign on the issues — rather than one focusing on how a “law and order,” “family values,” “fiscal conservative” candidate got himself into such a mess. Comment.

Politics: Brooklyn’s two superdelegates whose districts voted overwhelmingly for Sen. Barack Obama in February’s New York primary say they’re still backing Sen. Hillary Clinton — though one of the ubervoters admitted that he was “bothered” by the trailing candidate’s use of the race card last week. Comments (1).

Politics: Councilwoman Letitia James has been fined by the city for overpaying a campaign worker with taxpayer money during her 2005 re-election campaign — and for trying to hide details of a payoff to a political consultant linked to disgraced party boss Clarence Norman. Comments (2).

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. Comment.

Cartoon: Our artist’s take on the Fossella drunk-driving arrest. Comment.

Politics: Vito Fossella is certainly not the first politician to get in trouble with the law. Here’s a handy chart. Comments (2).

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. Comments (5).

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.

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. Comment.

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. Comments (2).

Cartoon: Our artist’s take on the issues of the day! Comment.

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. Comment.

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. Comment.

Politics: The death of the mayor’s congestion pricing plan has also lead to the killing of the city’s residential parking permit proposal. Comment.

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.” Comment.

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). Comments (5).

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. Comments (1).

Editorial: The Parks Department has moved to evict a few dozen judges from parking in Columbus Park — and The Paper cheers. Comments (1).

Politics: Brooklynites marked the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq with a damp protest rally on Wednesday. Comment.

PS … I Love You: Tip O’Neill used to say that all politics is local. Who knew it extended to food? Comment.

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. Comments (1).

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.

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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. Comments (2).

Smartmom: Eliot Spitzer’s alleged prostitution habit has Smartmom wondering what it would take before she left Hepcat. Comments (1).

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. Comments (1).

Cartoon: Our artist’s take on the issues of the day! Comment.

Fort Greene: Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries wants to help renters from being displaced. Comment.

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. Comments (3).

Brooklyn Angle: Our columnist’s cast auction goes well — with two councilmen in a bidding war! Comments (1).

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. Comment.

Politics: State lawmakers are about to hand themselves a big pay raise. Here’s what they say about it. Comment.

Politics: Voters across the political spectrum tell why they support their man (or woman). Comment.

Politics: Brooklyn Republicans — yes, they exist! — are determined to not go down with Rudy Giuliani’s sinking ship. Comment.

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. Comment.

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. Comment.

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. Comments (2).

Politics: Councilman Bill DeBlasio is running away with the race to succeed Borough President Markowitz — the money race, that is. Comment.

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. Comments (1).

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. Comment.

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. Comments (11).

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. Comments (2).

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. Comments (1).