Azi Paybarah

Congressman Rangel responds to the news he's facing ethics charges:

I was notified today, two years after I requested an investigation, that the Ethics Committee will refer the allegations reviewed by an Investigations subcommittee to a subcommittee that will review the facts.

 I am pleased that, at long last, sunshine will pierce the cloud of serious allegations that have been raised against me in the media.

 I will be glad to respond to the allegations at such time as the Ethics Committee makes them public. 

Eric Lipton has a thorough rundown of the story, and John Brensnahan has good reactions.

“Substantial reason to believe that Rep. Charlie Rangel may have violated House rules or other laws.”

WaPo: “The committee has concluded that Rangel violated House ethics rules and will release a public statement of violation next week.”

“Bombshell announcement”

Rangel “charged” with “multiple ethics violations.”

The official letter.

Benjamin runs the headline: “Rangel will be Charged”

Kevin Wardally Tweets to me, “this letter does not charge Rangel with anything. Y can’t reporters read?”

Haberman says the organizational meeting to review the charges against Rangel “out to be a circus.”

NYT: “The case could end with a simple admonishment of Mr. Rangel, which is the most common action by the Standards Committee, or a more serious action, including even his expulsion from the House.”

New York Post plays the story big.

Bloomberg says Paladino won’t get elected.

What happened to the retirement incentive for state workers?

Scozzafava endorsed Cuomo.

And pictured above is Rangel.

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) was charged Thursday by the bipartisan House ethics committee with violating congressional ethics rules.

David Quintana sends this over this mailer from a local Assembly race in Queens which violates the first rule of attack pieces: don't misspell the name you're calling your opponent.

Former Mayor Ed Koch doesn't hold back with NBC's Melissa Russo.

"What should voters do about Sheldon Silver," she asked. "Throw the bum out," Koch replied. He and Silver are both Democrats from Manhattan, but they were never particularly close.

Koch goes on to say that Republicans can "rightfully" claim to be the party of reform, since more of them signed Koch's reform pledge.

Republican Attorney General Candidate Dan Donovan says he has taken himself out of the running for the Independence Party (I.P.) endorsement, citing numerous allegations of financial wrongdoing by the party.

One (belated) note about the new communication consultant the New York State Democratic Party hired to handle rapid responses during this campaign cycle.

He’s also a lobbyist.

Hank Sheinkopf has a storied career as a communication consultant, helping President Clinton get re-elected and narrowly winning three citywide elections here in 2001.

But along with Sheinkopf’s press work, he’s also a lobbyist. His clients have included Food Craft Inc., the American Federation of State and County Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Verizon, DC37 retirees, Bear Stearns and others.

Lobbyists are increasingly playing a bigger role in the 2010 governor’s race, and not just as punching bags for reform-minded candidates.

Liz Benjamin noted that the State Democratic Party’s executive director, Charlie King, has financial ties to lobbyists.

And the New York Times reported months ago on Jennifer Cunningham, “Advisor to Cuomo is a Top Lobbyist.”

And one of Cuomo’s likely GOP opponents, Rick Lazio, is having his campaign run by a guy who is still registered as a lobbyist.

When asked for a comment about his work as a lobbyist and NYS Democratic Party spokesman, Sheinkopf emailed “America is a great country.”

Veteran reporter David Diaz gets into the ethnic politics and demographics of the NY15 race, where Rep. Charlie Rangel is facing a crowded field of Democratic challengers.

In an interview with one of those opponents, Adam Clayton Powell, host Diaz says, “Latinos, for example, outnumber blacks in that district by about 2:1.”

“How do you see it? Is it still a black seat,” Diaz asks.

“No,” says Powell, who is Puerto Rican and African-American. "Certainly it’s not a Harlem seat” and “the rest of the neighborhoods [in the district] appear to be step children. And that’s wrong.”

Here’s Democratic congressional candidate Reshma Saujani greeting her latest interviewer, Sarina Jain around the 2 minute mark: “Did you use to teach at the New York Sports Club?”

Jain is a notable fitness teacher who teaches the Masala Bhangra Workout. The target audience here is clear: younger voters and Southeast Asians.

At the 3:13 mark, Saujani hits her opponent, Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney:

“A campaign like this has just never been run before in New York. We’re the first people to get on the ballot, first person to get on the ballot in about twenty years because she’s kicked everyone off the ballot before that.”

Maloney's record of clearing the ballot of primary challengers is something that came up when she was preparing to run her own primary against Senator Kristen Gillibrand.

Tucked inside Conservative activist David Horowitz's latest missive to reporters about the dangers of the Obama administration:

"Remember, Barack Obama is up for reelection in 2010. That means we cannot afford to focus entirely on November 2010."

Tea Party gubernatorail candidate Carl Paladino, who is challenging Rick Lazio in a GOP primary, is out with a radio ad, and this poster, highlighting his opposition to the mosque slated to be built near Ground Zero.

"As Governor I will use the power of eminent domain to stop this mosque and make the site a war memorial instead of a monument to those who attacked our country," Paladino says in the ad.

Lazio also opposes the plan. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo is in favor of it.

Here's the invite to State Senator Pedro Espada's town hall meeting that opponents say was deliberately not well publicized. The event is tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Bronx. The invitation says, "Limited seating. Call to register today!"

The invite was sent to reporters by a group of tenants vowing to, "storm Pedro's secret town hall." Hopefully, there'll be fun video and photographs fo those of us who can't make it.

The invite [which had some weird scribbling on it when I received it] is after the jump.

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The Times says Glenn Beck was right to criticize the Obama administration's handling of the case of Shirley Sherrod, a former Georgia USDA.

The woman at the center of the abuse case that crippled Governor Paterson’s administration speaks out and says she’ll re-file charges against former aide David Johnson.

The scandal timeline.

Andrew Cuomo crushes Rick Lazio, 58-27, according to pollster Rasmusssen.

State layoffs could begin next month.

“Cuomo runs against his party, sometimes.”

The state Democratic Party hired a Democratic consultant who used to beat up on Cuomo – calling him “Andy” – to beat up on Cuomo’s opponents.

They showed up to his event, but those Republicans are not backing Cuomo.

The 2010 gubernatorial campaign mascot: a duck.

A Republican congressional candidate wants to ditch the Ground Zero mosque, and rebuild a nearby church.

The Independence Party civil war continues.

Jeb Bush backs Chris Cox.

Unemployed New Yorkers may get even fewer benefits, in part because the state’s unemployment rate isn’t high enough.

Paul Newell isn’t surprised Sheldon Silver is trying to keep an opponent off the ballot.

And Andrew Cuomo gets acquainted with a motorcycle.

When New York City lawmakers put together their $64 billion budget, they were hoping to get $600 million over the next three years from Washington in the form of Federal Medical Assistance Percentages, or, FMAP funding.

A reader (thank you!) sends over this lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court recently, where Sheldon Silver, the powerful Assembly Speaker, is trying to keep a Republican opponent, Joan Lipp, off the ballot.

The lawsuit is after the jump.

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Michael Bloomberg today said he's "starting to worry" the federal government won't send about $600 million in federal healthcare aide to New York City, nor an additional $1 billion to the state.

Without the money, Bloomberg said the city will have to find new ways to cut spending and raise revenues.

Speaking to reporters after breaking ground for a new park on Staten Island, the mayor refused to rule out a plan to charge a fee for carting away garbage, a proposal that is floating around City Hall now.

"It's in the mix," Bloomberg said of the proposal. Without more information about what the city's finances will be like next year, you simply "can't rule anything out."

Pollster Peter Feld emails and throws cold water onto today's Q poll showing Obama's approval rating at his lowest ever:

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I'm not sure what kind of impact this will have in New York, but Quinnipiac's poll today puts the pendulum squarely in the Republican's corner:

White House Deputy Communications Director Jen Psaki explains why Wall Street's top executives aren't at the financial regulation bill signing on Wednesday: "If you were part of an effort to spend millions of dollars opposing the legislation, you were not at the top of our list for an invitation."

New York donors aren't as close to Obama as they were to Clinton.

Fund-raiser Robert Zimmerman: "It's important to remember that the donor leadership is part of the grass roots."