As the first superintendent of the Department of Financial Services, Ben Lawsky has had to help define its place in the regulatory arena of banking and financial services.… [More]

On Friday evening past the close of the business day, Bronx Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj sent out to his contact list a rather standard email asking his supporters to join him in celebrating the campaign kick-off of Richie Torres, a candidate running for New York City Council. The only problem is that the email originated from Gjonaj’s official Assembly email account, a breach of the rules covering governmental communication. Reached for comment, Will Madonna, a spokesman for Gjonaj, acknowledged the mistake,… [More]

Most New Yorkers want to believe that the elected officials are faithfully representing our interests in government, but the facts don’t back up the “few bad apples” argument.… [More]

’Tis the season for club endorsements and Julie Menin is racking up a flurry of them. Last week the former Community Board 1 chair turned candidate for Manhattan Borough President scored endorsements from five clubs, which collectively span the borough from end to end. They came from Northern Manhattan Democrats for Change (Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill), Village Independent Democrats (Greenwich Village), United Democratic Organization (Chinatown), the Lower East Side Democrats, and the McManus Democratic Association (Hell’s Kitchen, Midtown West). Earlier in… [More]

With Latino and outer borough voters central to the win strategy of practically every candidate for mayor of New York City, the endorsement of Bronx Borough President Ruben Díaz Jr., the highest ranking Hispanic elected official in the Big Apple, has been highly coveted by the entire field. This morning the suspense surrounding who Díaz would get behind will come to an end with his announcement that he will support former City Comptroller Bill Thompson, the 2009 Democratic nominee for… [More]

Filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi has one of the most famous last names in American politics. As the daughter of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the granddaughter of a former mayor of Baltimore, Pelosi has been steeped in politics from birth—the perfect pedigree for a documentarian who often gravitates toward political figures as the subjects of her movies. Starting with her Emmy-nominated debut feature, Journeys With George, which chronicled her time on the campaign trail with George W. Bush… [More]

Filmmakers, like reporters, can’t help but pursue an irresistible story. As both, I am particularly susceptible. More often than not, our endeavors putter out for one reason or another. When I embarked upon making my first documentary a year and a half ago, I certainly had no assurance that it would come to fruition, particularly since it was a project I was financing on my own meager dime and producing on nights and weekends. My film, which I am co-writing… [More]

New Roosevelt, a good-government group led by progressive entrepreneur Bill Samuels, is launching another reform into the mix: a dedicated Legislature.… [More]

As a member of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974, former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman voted for the Articles of Impeachment against President Richard Nixon.   Holtzman recalls that historic experience as one of the commentators in the new documentary All the President’s Men Revisited, executive produced by Robert Redford. In the film, Redford, who played Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in All the President’s Men, “returns to the scandal that broke all the rules of press and politics.”   The documentary, which will eventually premiere on the Discovery… [More]

Assemblyman Eric Stevenson was hauled away by the feds last week for taking bribes to write legislation for his constituents. His bill, which he drew up in February, would establish a moratorium on the construction of new adult day care centers. But Assemblywoman Joan Millman, who is chairwoman of the Assembly Aging Committee, said the bill is “certainly not going anywhere.” “We’re never going to bring it up,” she said. “I took a look at it [on Friday]. He didn’t circulate it. The… [More]