Azi Paybarah

Lazio heckled.

Lazio heckled, nationally.

Daniel Pearl’s father says move Park51.

Blakeman mum on drugs.

Cuomo talks pensions.

Huntley blames gay marriage.

NJ’s $400 million error.

And pictured above is amNew York's front page.

Rick Lazio paints Andrew Cuomo as something more than an incumbent (which, technically, he's not): "Andrew Cuomo is Albany."

It's 30 seconds and doesn't say how Lazio will "change" Albany, or, for that matter, what about it he wants to change.

The ad features images of David Paterson, Pedro Espada, Alan Hevesi and Eliot Spitzer under the headline "Special Interest Rule Albany."

Not shown is Joe Bruno, a Republican who led the State Senate and was actually convicted of using his office to put money in his pocket.

Oh, and the color of Lazio's tie is purple - that bi-partisan hue, which some have used in order to signal something beyond the red-state blue-state dichotomy.

The ad though is, at least, about Albany, which the New York Post editorial today urged Lazio to focus on, instead of that other thing he's been talking about.

amNew York offers a roll call of elected officials on either side of the Park51 debate.

Goldenberg:Bloomberg rejected a compromise on Park51's location, but softened criticism of its opponents.

Barbaro: Bloomberg "firmly embraced his role as a national defender of the plan for the center."

Saul: "Daisy Khan, wife of the imam and one of the lead organizers, said, 'I was almost in tears.' "

Blog readers like Bloomberg's defense of Park51.

Bloomberg's speech.

He doesn't plan on giving Park51 money.

Sheldon Silver: "They should find a suitable place that won't cause the same controversy,"

Silver's call for the project to move is a reverse from his earlier position.

Blakeman:"I think Kirsten Gillibrand is an attractive woman."

Russell SImmons continues his defense of the project.

The Times cautions against approving a rival Empire State Building skyscraper.

Bloomberg supports it.

Espada owes more than $10,000 to state election officials.

The Post calls on Lazio to "focus on issues of relevance to the office he seeks."

The city got $700 million in federal education money, but Bloomberg did not get to implement merit pay for teachers going into hard-to-staff subjects.

And The Post tweaks Bloomberg for standing for rubbing shoulders with opponents to education reform.

Kirsten Gillibrand’s three Republican opponents agree: Ed Cox has not been a good chairman for their party.

The answer came in the first televised debate between the little-known, under-funded Republican candidates, Joe DioGuardi, a former congressman from Westchester, Bruce Blakeman, a former local legislator in Nassau County, and David Malpass, who served in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Arguably, none of them would be on stage to even answer the question about Cox’s leadership if, as chairman, Cox had been able to lure a serious Republican challenger into the race.

As it stands now, DioGuardi, Blakeman and Malpass all trail Gillibrand in public opinion polls and fundraising, and have so far failed to demonstrate they’ll have a bona fide field operation come November.

Each tried tying Gillibrand to President Barack Obama and the Washington establishment. DioGuardi, a certified public accountant, said Gillibrand is throwing around money we don’t have to solve the state’s job creation problem.

“New York loses more jobs every month than any other state in the union but one. And what is Senator Kristen Gillibrand's response to that? To spend money we don't have,” said DioGuardi.

Malpass echoed the sentiment, saying Gillibrand “has been completely uncontrollable in her spending and in her ideas.”

Blakeman’s most pointed criticism of Gillibrand came when discussing gun control. As an upstate congresswoman representing Albany, Gillibrand had earned high marks from the National Rifle Association. But since being appointed senator, she’s come out in favor of tougher gun control laws (enough to earn the endorsement of Long Island congresswoman and gun control advocate Carolyn McCarthy).

Blakeman said Gillibrand’s gun control focus is misplaced.

“Gang members aren't licensed gun holders, they have illegal arms, illegal weapons. Stop punishing the people who play by the rules," said Blakeman, who acknowledged to owning two guns (a Smith & Wesson and a shotgun).

Blakeman, who flirted with running for New York City mayor briefly last year, appeared the most telegenic and articulate of the three candidates. DioGuardi, by comparison was more measured in his remarks, and substance. And Malpass offered the least amount of fireworks or notable YouTube moments.

When the three candidates were allowed to ask a question of any of their challengers, both DioGuardi and Malpass chose to focus on Blakeman (arguably making him the perceived front-runner).

DioGuardi accused Blakeman of raising taxes 9 percent while a Nassau County legislator, as the county saw it’s bonds go to “near junk bond status.”

Blakeman seized the moment and turned his notable blemish into a teachable moment.

“As an elected official, I’ve made mistakes in my life, but you have to know the full context,” Blakeman explained. “We hadn’t had a tax increase years and I was faced with a choice” of “whether or not to raise taxes on the average home owner $130 or whether I had to lay off police officers, correction officers,  probation officers, and not update our sewage treatment plant. I chose to go with safety first.”

“Whether it was a mistake or not, I can’t tell you. But I made that choice. I’m a leader, and so, leaders make choices.”

Malpass asked Blakeman if he’d seek to reform the state pension system.

Blakeman said he’d work to end the practice of “loading up” on overtime in an employees final three years in order to pad their pension payout.

Blakeman fired shots at his rivals, accusing DioGuardi of being a paid lobbyist and saying Malpass took bailout money at Bear Stearns while writing opinion columns urging officials to deny relief aid to flood victims in rural parts of the state.

DioGuardi said he was not paid, but rather, worked as a “volunteer” lobbyist for humanitarian efforts in Europe. DioGuardi called it a “mitzvah” and said he helped create the state of Kosovo.

When questioned by Blakeman, DioGuardi admitted to going on “one or two” fact-finding trips when he was a member of Congress, but said, “I wasn’t one to abuse that.”

Malpass said Blakeman was taking his flood victim article “completely out of context” but later said he was unaware of the specific article, and challenged Blakeman to produce a copy of it.

The most memorable part of the night came shortly after this skirmish among the candidates, when a debate host asked each candidate to say something nice about their opponents, including Gillibrand.

Blakeman’s compliment about the woman he’s trying to unseat: “I think Kirsten Gillibrand is an attractive woman. I think she’s bright, and I think she’s probably a good mom herself.”

When asked about the “attractive woman,” Blakeman said, “She’s an attractive, bright woman who I believe is a good mom.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg reasserted himself Tuesday evening as the most vocal and, surprisingly, most passionate defender of the Islamic center slated for two blocks from Ground Zero.

Hours after Gov. David Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said they’d like to the see the project relocated further away from where the World Trade Center once stood, the mayor said moving the project would be a victory for “terrorist recruiters” and would open the door to more worrisome questions, like, “How big should the ‘no-mosque zone’ around the World Trade Center be?”

The mayor also said moving the project would undermine the country's national security efforts.

Bloomberg’s comments came just hours after Paterson restated his willingness to help the project’s developers find a new location. Silver, the state’s powerful Assembly Speaker whose lower Manhattan district includes Ground Zero, said he thinks the current location has engendered too much hostility in critics for the project to achieve it’s its goal of acting as a bridge to other communities.

Bloomberg, in prepared text released by his office, said, “if we do not practice here at home what we preach abroad -- if we do not lead by example -- we undermine our soldiers. We undermine our foreign policy objectives. And we undermine our national security.”

The mayor also defended the imam behind the project, Feisal Abdul Rauf, who, in 2001, said American foreign policy was an “accomplice” to the terrorist attacks on September 11^th and that Osama bin Laden was, in essence, made in America.

Bloomberg said he disagreed with the sentiments expressed, but that those unpopular comments alone should not disqualify the project from being built, nor should it be used to characterize the imam.

“Each of us may strongly agree or strongly disagree with particular statements he has made.  And that’s how it should be -- this is New York,” said Bloomberg.

“I would like to read you something that he said that you may not have heard. At an interfaith memorial service for the martyred journalist Daniel Pearl, Imam Rauf said, ‘If to be a Jew means to say with all one's heart, mind, and soul: Shma Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu Adonai Ehad -- Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One -- not only today I am a Jew, I have always been one. If to be a Christian is to love the Lord our God with all of my heart, mind and soul, and to love for my fellow human being what I love for myself, then not only am I a Christian, but I have always been one.”

Bloomberg's speech is aimed at bolstering support for the project, which has come under intense criticism from Republicans nationwide, and conservative news outlets. It's also received tepid support from Democratic elected officials here at home. Among those offering tepid support was the state's senior senator, Chuck Schumer, who told reporters he does not oppose the project, then declined to discuss it further.

Across the street from Ground Zero, the beer drinkers express their view.

Paladino reportedly compared Silver to the "anti-Christ" and "Hitler."

Beltrone and I employ the same headline writer.

Ben Smith agrees with Haberman that two blocks in Lower Manhattan is really really far.

The Park51 debate eats up the news hole.

Kornacki: Park51 is the GOP's new Willie Horton.

Lazio embraces the Tea Party.

UFT for Schneiderman.

Someone sends my boss a very expensive press release.

An Eminem song is used in new video hitting Bloomberg's candidate in PA.

Bloomberg's candidate in Wisconsin goes on the offensive.

Adrian Fenty sought Marion Barry's support, according to Marion Barry.

/> Chuck Schumer tries proving Gary Berntsen's criticism is true, telling reporters who ask about the Park51 project:

Well, um, I really have nothing new to add. As I’ve said over the last several weeks, I’m not opposed to it, and I think that’s the appropriate thing for me to say. So, I have nothing more new to add. OK?”

[h/t SoP]

RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum criticized Senate Democrats for accepting a political contribution from Walmart, the notably non-union retail shop itching to open their first store in New York City.

So, I asked Appelbaum what he thought of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver owning stock in that same company.

Appelbaum said, he's not as bothered by that.

In an email to me, Appelbaum wrote, "I don't tell people not to buy stock in Walmart, but I do tell them not to accept their contributions. Walmart is giving the money expecting something in return."

/> Pedro Espada's new ad notes there's "a dishonest campaign being waged by wealthy outsiders against me."

That would be the Roosevelt Initiative, organized by one-time LT gubernatorial candidate Bill Samuels.

The ad is straight to camera, defiant, and paints the senator as the victim of an organized attack. And for good measure, he quotes the bible. Espada is facing an organized opponent in Gustavo Rivera, and a second challenger, community board member Dan Padernacht. Critics fear Rivera and Paderncacht could split the opposition vote, ensuring Epsada's victory.

After the protests about building an Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero, a friend and I walked through the neighborhood at the center of the debate and found, among other things, a porn shop on Greenwich Street advertising its location with a neon American flag.

Michael Bloomberg is hosting his annual Iftar dinner tonight at Gracie Mansion. Above is a photo from an Iftar dinner he held there in 2004.

It’s the perfect venue for Bloomberg to reassert himself as the pre-eminent defender of the Park51 project, which, with one exception, has drawn a collective mumble from other city officials.

/> David Paterson added some unexpected levity to a live press conference announcing New York won millions of dollars in federal education funding as part of the program formerly known as Race to the Top.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the incredibly powerful Democrat whose district includes Ground Zero -  but not the site two blocks away where the proposed Islamic center is slated to be built -  comes out like President Obama, on this issue:

The sponsor should take into very serious consideration the turmoil that has been created and look to compromise the issues before them [and] find a suitable place that doesn’t create the kind of controversy that it does.

[skip]

I believe they have a right to build a house of worship [but] in the spirit of living with others, they should be cognizant…and try to find a location that doesn’t engender the deep feelings that currently exist about this site.

Silver was fielding questions about the issue during a press conference about New York receiving federal education funding, where he appeared in midtown with Governor Paterson.

The governor was asked if he thinks the Park51 project should move its location, Paterson said, "I don’t think that’s a question that I should answer."

Capital New York lets Steve Brodner animate the character controlling New York's state government - Sheldon Silver:

Sheldon Silver is "perhaps a little bit like the godfather of Albany."

[skip]

"Maybe he's like the Golem, from the trilogy - a creature who once was human and can now only think of his precious ring."

"Or, maybe he's like the troll who lives under the bridge and then Cuomo arrives, so we wonder, will he be a serious challenger, or just another goat?"

Jon Stewart ties Fox News to a potential Park51 funder.

Jon Stewart notes that the man dubbed "the terror funder" by skeptics of Park51 "is Rupert Murdoch's News Corp's partner."

Halbfinger and Powell, on Cuomo's HUD record: "He did not heed local officials and others who wanted him to make Fannie and Freddie publicly report details about the loans they bought. And he chose not to impose penalties and other deterrents to ensure that the giant public banks did not promote dangerous lending."

Haberman on Park51's proximity to Ground Zero: "Two blocks is equivalent to several miles in other cities or in the suburbs."

NYT calls Lazio's comments about Park51 "increasingly hysterical attacks."

Rangel on Obama: "Frankly, he has not been around long enough to determine what my dignity is" and "For the next two years, I will be more likely to protect his dignity."

Campanile: "Adam Clayton Powell IV last night said voters should elect him to replace Rep. Charles Rangel -- because Rangel's sins are worse than his own."

Barbaro: "Jonathan Tasini, a candidate and a labor activist, explained matter-of-factly that Mr. Rangel had accepted large sums of money from political action committees. The crowd erupted in boos and jeers."

NYS GOP spokesman says Paladino's prison plan is "not something that, as a party, we would get behind."

Schumer's GOP rivals sound alike.

Rice questions why Schneiderman didn't go after Espada.

Maloney and Saujani argue who is the bigger Park51 supporter.

Koch: "I do not give up hope but that Shelly will sign, so I don't want to say anything that I'll regret."

Bloomberg's cowboy remark draws protest.

RWDSU boss hits Senate Democrats for accepting Wal-Mart contribution.

Diaz parks his campaign cars at a lot owned by his church, jeopardizing their charity status.

The fisticuffs between New York's political establishment on the right -- the Conservative Party -- and the newer insurgency from the (further?) right -- the Tea Party -- were on display tonight in the debate between GOP Senate candidates Jay Townsend and Gary Berntsen.

Townsend noted he has the Conservative Party's endorsement and no GOP candidate has won statewide without it in decades.

Berntsen replied, "Tea party is the new conservative movement in New York. The Conservative Party will be small in comparison."

/> Hydrofracking opponents have a video for Cuomo.

Not really a Rangel debate tonight.

Lazio went after Hillary for taking “Muslim money.”

Donovan departs from Lazio’s corner on Park51.

Donovan not on Lazio’s script.

Gillibrand helps fill Maloney’s pockets.

Fidler goes after Barron’s petitions.

Perkins gets charter school parents.

Cuomo supporters hit Paladino’s prison plan for welfare recipients.

And a note from Cuomo’s Flickr page: “The owner has disabled downloading of their photos.”

Technical note: Sorry for the light blogging day. Technical difficulties.

The opposition to Park51 is drawing support from a wide array of critics, including some who’ve opposed other Islamic-oriented projects in the past.

One such organizer of an anti-Park51 protest yesterday was Beth Gilinsky, who I encountered three years earlier, opposing the Khalil Gibran school - the city's fist Arabic-oriented public school - which, Gilinsky and her entourage referred to as a “madrassa.”

Which, when I asked, she couldn’t explain why.

Here’s Steve Cohn, NYS Tea Party’s somewhat reluctant gubernatorial candidate.

Horowitz talks to a the guy in the middle, literally, between Ground Zero and the Islamic center.

Lazio ignores Paladino.

Reasons to read the NY Post.

Koch responds to Tweets, via video.

Rice echoes Whitman’s tagline.

Park51 loses the Miss America vote.

And BofA denies charges from Cuomo.