I had a friend was a big baseball player back in MLB, he could hit that speedball by you, saw him the other night in the State Capitol, I was walking in, he was walking out, all he kept talking about was … DMAA, will the Senate pass that ban, DMAA, in the blink of Jeff Klein’s tan, DMAA. Now I think I’m going down to the well tonight, to hear a press conference about restoring budget cuts, and I… [More]

Four of New York City’s Republican candidates for mayor and one Independence Party candidate touched on a wide range of issues Wednesday morning at a breakfast forum hosted by Crain’s New York Business, the first panel this election cycle to not include a single Democratic candidate. The candidates began the debate by assigning Mayor Michael Bloomberg a numeric grade, on a scale of 1 to 10, and despite Bloomberg’s moderate politics, most gave the mayor high marks, with Independence Party… [More]

When you are a relatively unknown candidate running for mayor of New York City on the Republican ticket, you might as well go “all-in” early. In the next two weeks, George McDonald’s challenge to New York City’s campaign finance laws will be decided by the New York Supreme Court. The result will either upend New York City’s vaunted campaign finance system in the middle of a mayoral campaign and garner McDonald substantial publicity, or deal a serious blow to a… [More]

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has never been a big fan of casino expansion in New York City. When the proposal for a casino at Willets Point recently surfaced, his administration quickly shot it down, saying it had been dismissed months earlier. When Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the first phase of any casino expansion would be exclusively in upstate New York, the mayor wasn’t disappointed, saying a casino might not even be “appropriate” in New York City. But if Las Vegas-style… [More]

  Mr. Independent, Mr. Self-sufficient, Mr. Keep-your-distance. Mayoral candidate Adolfo Carrión snagged the Independence Party’s endorsement this week, keeping his heart protected so that he’d never feel rejected by the Republican or Democratic parties. But what is that feeling taking over? It’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo opening the door to, surprise! A state-imposed teacher evaluation bill that’s real for New York City. But Cuomo miscalculated on a Medicaid rate change delivering a $500 million hit to the state budget, leaving us… [More]

  What does Mayor Michael Bloomberg do on his birthday, which also happens to be Valentine’s Day and the day he addressed the city in his 12th and final State of the City talk? Does he put on a tuxedo and throw himself a classy yet staid black tie party at the Waldorf Astoria like Jack Donaghy did once? Does he pop a copy of Annie Hall into his 90-inch television and curl up on his animal print sofa with… [More]

Bruce Gyory says the 2013 New York City mayoral race will be a bumpy ride.… [More]

Politically, the year ahead will offer the usual crop of indicted pols, unpopular policies and heart-stopping surprises. … [More]

  Happiness is a warm gun? Not in New York. The governor played Russian roulette with the Legislature over his package of gun control bills and the Republicans blinked, passing the toughest firearms restrictions in the country. Further downstate, the mayor celebrated the passage of the New York Safe Act while blasting the teachers union over evaluations and threw bus drivers under the bus as they went on strike. And even further to the south, Congress finally signed off on… [More]

With the abundance of candidates seeking to become mayor of New York City, speculation continues to grow in regard to the various scenarios that could play out in both the primary and general elections. Those seeking a pathway to victory for former MTA Chairman Joe Lhota, a presumed Republican candidate for the job, are floating the theory that there could be four nominees on the ballot in November. Lhota’s supporters, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not authorized… [More]