REV. AL SOAKS UP BOYCOTT BUCKS

BIZ GIANTS PAY OR FACE RACE RALLIES

By ISABEL VINCENT and SUSAN EDELMAN

Click image to enlarge.

June 15, 2008 -- Anheuser-Busch gave him six figures, Colgate-Palmolive shelled out $50,000 and Macy's and Pfizer have contributed thousands to the Rev. Al Sharpton's charity.

Almost 50 companies - including PepsiCo, General Motors, Wal-Mart, FedEx, Continental Airlines, Johnson & Johnson and Chase - and some labor unions sponsored Sharpton's National Action Network annual conference in April.

Terrified of negative publicity, fearful of a consumer boycott or eager to make nice with the civil-rights activist, CEOs write checks, critics say, to NAN and Sharpton - who brandishes the buying power of African-American consumers. In some cases, they hire him as a consultant.

The cash flows even as the US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn has been conducting a grand-jury investigation of NAN's finances.

A General Motors spokesman told The Post that NAN had repeatedly - and unsuccessfully - asked for contributions for six years, beginning in August 2000.

Then, in December 2006, Sharpton threatened to call a boycott of the carmaker over the closing of an African-American-owned GM dealership in The Bronx, and he picketed outside GM headquarters on Fifth Avenue.

Last year, General Motors gave NAN a $5,000 donation. It gave $5,000 more this year, a spokesman said, calling NAN a "worthy" organization.

In November 2003, Sharpton picketed DaimlerChrysler's Chicago car show and threatened a boycott over alleged racial bias in car loans.

"This is institutional racism," he bellowed.

In May 2004, Chrysler began supporting NAN's conferences, which include panels on corporate responsibility and civil rights and a black-tie awards dinner to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Last year, Sharpton gave Chrysler an award for corporate excellence.

In 2003, Sharpton targeted American Honda for not hiring enough African-Americans in management.

"We support those that support us," wrote Sharpton and the Rev. Horace Sheffield III, president of NAN's Michigan chapter, in a letter to American Honda. "We cannot be silent while African-Americans spend hard-earned dollars with a company that does not hire, promote or do business with us in a statistically significant manner."

Two months after American Honda execs met with Sharpton, the carmaker began to sponsor NAN's events - and continues to pay "a modest amount" each year, a spokesman said.

"I think this is quite clearly a shakedown operation," said Peter Flaherty, president of the National Legal and Policy Center in Virginia, a conservative corporate watchdog. "He's good at harassing people and making noise. CEOs give him his way because it is a lot easier than confronting him."

Sharpton denies his organization pressures corporations for cash.

"That's the old shakedown theory that the anti-civil-rights forces have used against us forever," he told The Post yesterday. "Why can't they come up with one company that says that? No one has criticized me."

A businessman who hired Sharpton as a consultant says the flamboyant leader skillfully persuades CEOs by wielding the statistic that African-Americans spend $738 billion a year.

"His way of doing things was, 'If we're going to support you and you're not going to support us, then we have to focus on telling the African-American community not to spend their money,' " said La-Van Hawkins, a partner in Hawkins Food Group, which owns and operates fast-food franchises nationwide.

Hawkins spoke from the Yankton Federal Prison in South Dakota, where he's serving time for attempted bribery.

After Hawkins lost an attempt to sue Burger King in 2000 for denying him franchises, he sent Sharpton, attorney Johnnie Cochran and a Miami lawyer to meet with the company's top execs.

"They ended up settling with me for $31 million," Hawkins said.

Sharpton did not get a cut, but Hawkins Food Group paid him an annual $25,000 fee, Hawkins said. He said he has donated "over $1 million" to NAN.

Sharpton has snagged other gigs as a consultant. Less than a year after he threatened to call for a consumer boycott of Pepsi in June 1998 because the company's ads did not portray African-Americans, the company hired him as a $25,000-a-year adviser until 2007.

Sharpton made the same complaint against Macy's in 1998. The company appointed Sharpton an unpaid adviser on diversity, but also funds NAN's annual conference. Last week, Macy's Senior Vice President Ed Goldberg praised Sharpton as "the kind of guy you can sit down and talk to."

In a dramatic flip-flop, Sharpton in 2000 blasted New York developer Bruce Ratner for paying low wages to workers at his Atlantic Mall in Brooklyn.

"We will not allow you to enslave our communities, Mr. Ratner," Sharpton told a rally. "You must meet with us - you must come to terms with the poverty you are creating using public dollars."

By 2004, the developer's company, Forest City Ratner, had begun to fork over thousands of dollars to NAN. Sharpton now strongly supports Ratner's proposed Atlantic Yards project, which includes a new arena for the New Jersey Nets.

"Just because Pepsi and other companies had me on their board advising them didn't mean that I wasn't blasting them all the time," said Sharpton.

"Look at Forest City Ratner. I blasted them and they came up with one of the best community agreements for blacks and Latinos."

NAN, which began humbly in Harlem in 1991 with Saturday-morning rallies at PS 175, now boasts 45 chapters across the country. The group lobbies for African-American rights and raises awareness of issues such as police brutality and racial profiling.

"Sharpton went national just like a franchise," said Flaherty. "Each of these local chapters can now hit up businesses for support in their communities."

In 2002, NAN launched a Las Vegas chapter that solicits corporate and individual donations of up to $5,000 on its Web site. NAN spokesman Charlie King said all donations go through the New York office.

It's unclear how much the chapter has raised, because Nevada does not require charities to report their revenues. King would not give numbers.

Sharpton vowed to call a national boycott against MGM Mirage in 2001 and 2002 if it refused to meet with him to discuss alleged racism in hiring and employment at the company's Detroit casino.

In 2003, MGM named NAN one of its diversity "partners" in Detroit.

Sharpton sticks up for his corporate patrons.

Since 2005, Wal-Mart has given yearly support to NAN, including sponsorship of last April's conference, without disclosing the amounts.

In 2006, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a Sharpton rival, accused the retailer of buying silence from critics of its employment practices by trying to "throw money at us."

At the time, Sharpton rushed to the company's defense. "Wal-Mart has in no way tried to persuade me with money," he declared.

NAN, a tax-exempt nonprofit, closely guards its corporate largesse. Most companies also keep the sums secret, and some would not divulge them. The corporations interviewed by The Post viewed their relationships with NAN as friendly and beneficial.

Anheuser-Busch states on its Web site that it gave the group "between $100,000 and $499,000" last year.

Last year, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found NAN had failed to file years' worth of financial reports. The group has filed more records, but the AG's office said it won't release them pending the US attorney's probe.

In its 2006 IRS filing, the latest available, NAN reported about $1 million in contributions and $1.1 million in expenses and programs. It owes the IRS $1.9 million in payroll taxes, The Post has learned.

A NAN spokesman said the group is cooperating with authorities "to pay whatever obligations it owes and continues to do so."

susan.edelman@nypost.com

As Talks Stall to Save the OTB, Horseplayers Worry About Getting Shut Out

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

At an OTB parlor on the Upper West Side, customers are advised to cash winning tickets before the close of business on Sunday.

By RAY RIVERA

Published: June 15, 2008

There were the usual utterances of triumph and defeat, elation and heartbreak, and there was also this: worry. With time slipping away before Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s threatened closing of the city’s Off-Track Betting Corporation, and no agreement between the city and state in sight, the thrill of uncertainty that usually accompanies horse wagering was buffeted by the sobering question of whether Sunday will be the last day of simulcast racing at the parlors.

“People are on pins and needles,” said Steve Simmons, 45, a security specialist for an OTB parlor on the Upper West Side. “We know we’re good till Sunday, but we don’t know what’s going to happen Monday. They said, there’s a possibility we may be locked out.”

Talks between the Bloomberg administration, the office of Gov. David A. Paterson and the State Legislature continued on Saturday, but progress was stalled over a key economic issue. The city wants to retain about $19 million it receives annually from surcharges on winning bets, while the state, which has proposed taking over the parlors, says it should get that money.

“It’s like taking over a store that someone doesn’t want to run anymore,” Governor Paterson said in an interview on Saturday, “and then they turn around and ask you for the profit.”

At stake are some 1,500 jobs ranging from tellers and secretaries to branch managers, accountants and executives. The governor said the state had a “moral obligation” to keep the parlors open and aimed to pass legislation on Sunday to do so.

The city’s OTB parlors generate about $1 billion of the $2.7 billion that is bet on horse racing in the state each year. The profits are split among the city, the state and the racing industry through a distribution formula that city officials say has increasingly left the city unable to cover the cost of running the parlors.

At the urging of Mayor Bloomberg, the city’s OTB Corporation, which runs the parlors, voted in February to close the parlors at the end of business Sunday if a new arrangement was not reached.

The negotiations took an odd twist on Friday when Mr. Paterson held a news conference announcing an agreement to have the state take over the parlors. But the announcement appeared to catch Mayor Bloomberg and his staff by surprise. A short time later, the mayor issued a statement saying that he still intended to close the parlors unless “substantial legal and economic issues” were resolved.

Governor Paterson acknowledged on Saturday that he should have said the financial issues had yet to be worked out. But he expressed surprise at the mayor’s objections, saying he thought the state was doing the city a favor.

“If I misunderstood, I apologize,” he said. “Since he said he’d shut it down, we thought we were helping.”

Jim Anderson, a spokesman for the mayor, said that Mr. Bloomberg has “been clear from the beginning that there needs to be a long-term solution that benefits the public — not just the racing industry — and that if OTB is operating in New York City, it should actually benefit the public here in New York City.”

Governor Paterson’s proposal on Friday did not do that, Mr. Anderson said.

At least one lawmaker, Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, a Westchester Democrat and chairman of the Assembly’s Committee on Racing and Wagering, signaled a strong reluctance on Friday to let the city keep the surcharge revenue in a state takeover. Mr. Pretlow said the state would “just take” the parlors if the city refused to give them up.

But Governor Paterson struck a more moderate tone on Saturday, saying the state would do whatever it would take to keep the parlors open and that the finances could be worked out later.

“Finances and money, that’s fungible, we can work that out,” he said, adding that he did not “see this as a difficult situation.”

On Saturday, the usual assortment of elderly men in Panama hats and baseball caps and younger men in shorts and T-shirts gathered at an OTB on the Upper West Side that is squeezed between a cupcake shop and a Latin-Chinese restaurant. Most were well aware that their days of betting there could be near an end.

“I think it’s a stupid mistake,” said Vincent Bochicchio, 72, a retired Army veteran who said he visits the parlor about three times a week. “You know what happens if the city closes this, they’ll go to the illegal bookies.”

Keeping bets out of the hands of illegal bookmakers and organized crime was exactly why the OTB was established in 1970.

Mr. Bochicchio said that in “this whole stupid mess,” the people whom he felt most sorry for “are the people who work here.”

Indeed, the topsy-turvy negotiations and the threat of losing their jobs has led to anxiety for many of the people who run the operation.

“I have a daughter starting college in the fall,” said Judy Jackson, 53, a branch manager of the Upper West Side parlor who started with the OTB as a cashier 24 years ago.

“Yesterday we were all cheering when we saw the governor on television saying we were going to stay open,” she said. Only after many of them got home, she said, did they learn there was no deal after all.

Nate Schweber contributed reporting.

A MUST SEE MOVIE

The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival which runs through June 26 will present the U.S. premiere of The Dictator Hunter, by Dutch director Klaartje Quirijns on June 15-17. The film explores the efforts of Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch, and Souleymane Guengueng, a Chadian refugee now exiled in New York, to bring former president Hissène Habré of Chad to trial for killing thousands of his own countrymen in the 1980s.

'If you kill one person, you go to jail. If you kill 40 people, they put you in an insane asylum. But if you kill 40,000 people, you get a comfortable exile with a bank account in another country, and that?s what we want to change here.'

- Reed Brody, Counsel, Human Rights Watch
'Wonderfully suspenseful' The camera loves Reed Brody, a frumpy, eloquent, razor-sharp American human rights lawyer'- The Toronto Globe and Mail
Klaartje Quirijns, Reed Brody and Souleymane Guengueng will be present!
Please join us Monday for the 6:30 show - Arrive early (around 6) to be sure to get in or buy tickets online. Admission is $11.
Walter Reade Cinema
165 W 65th St Uppr LEVEL
New York, NY 10023
212-875-5600
http://www.filmlinc.om/

(See the full schedule of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at http://www.filmlinc.com/ The festival runs from Jun 12-26. You can buy tickets online!)

LEADERS OF THE MEDIA WERE THEY DUPED, OR COMPLICIT?

By Jim Sutherland

For the Journal-Constitution

Published on: 06/01/08

In the weeks before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, CNN's management held mandatory meetings for staff. They scheduled a half-dozen of them so that all shifts could attend.

In the front of the large room at Atlanta's World Congress Center, chief news executive Eason Jordan and President Jim Walton held court. Walton led off talking about the two of them: "He likes Springsteen. I am more of an Allman Brothers guy."

Then they proceeded to give us a pep talk about the upcoming coverage. CNN, they said, had to "own the war." That phrase later took some media heat, but I did not have a problem with it. That just meant that we wanted to be the source for coverage.

Then they started talking about how Fox News had recently pulled ahead of CNN in the ratings. (Fox had just bought the billboard across the street from CNN to tout their lead and rub CNN's face in it.) CNN execs were challenged to do something about it.

Some of us said that Fox was commentary, not news. Remember that Fox News Channel had eagles turning into fighter jets in their graphics at the time. We observed that the Anna Nicole Smith reality show at the time had better ratings than either Fox or CNN, and we didn't feel the need to compete with her. For that matter, professional wrestling had higher ratings than both news networks combined. CNN didn't see the need to emulate them!

But this was seen as an opportunity for these two executives. "No one wants war," Walton added, "but if there is going to be one, it is an opportunity to win back lost ratings."

That was their motive, and their modus operandi was to go along with the pro-war sentiment that was sweeping the country (and boosting ratings at Fox). Questioning the war was not part of the mission. There were some in the newsroom, for instance, during Colin Powell's speech to the U.N., asking who CNN was putting on the air immediately afterward to question what he said. The answer was no one.

This was, as I said, in the weeks before the onset of "shock and awe" —- a phrase that CNN is still using in its promotion of anniversary coverage of the war.

So now Scott McClellan says he was duped. Perhaps he was too blind or too intellectually challenged to see it at the time. But what about leaders of the news media? Were they duped, or were they simply complicit?

> Jim Sutherland, who twice worked at CNN, most recently as an international editor for 2 1/2 years, left the network in June 2004 after a dispute over pay and benefits. He now runs Arc Lightning, a media and communications consultancy in Atlanta.

NYPD URGED TO ZAP TASER GUN

Police Department Is Urged To Reconsider on Stun Guns
By SARAH GARLAND, Staff Reporter of the SunJune 12, 2008
A new proposal to increase the number of stun guns in police hands is hitting a series of public relations hurdles, with a Brooklyn man dying this week after being shocked by a Taser and Amnesty International warning the police department to reconsider.

Since 2001, more than 300 people — including the Brooklyn man who was shocked by Suffolk County police officers Monday — have died after the guns were used on them, a statement Amnesty International sent yesterday to New York reporters said.

"Given their questionable safety record, TASERs should be used with extreme caution and not become a weapon of first resort for the NYPD," the group's director, Larry Cox, said.
According to Amnesty's records, the number of fatal Taser shocks has gradually increased as more police departments seeking less lethal alternatives to firearms have bought up the stun guns. Nationwide, 69 people died last year, compared with 13 in 2002, according to the group.
Amnesty said 90% of the 300 victims were unarmed.

Police sergeants on patrol are carrying stun guns in their holsters starting yesterday. Officers in specialty units already carry Tasers with them.
Commissioner Raymond Kelly this week expressed enthusiasm about expanding the use of Tasers to police officers on patrol, but he said he would only do so through a pilot program.
The program was one of the main proposals that came out of a study by the Rand Corp. commissioned by Mr. Kelly, and would limit the Tasers to an experiment encompassing only a few precincts.

The study found that three of 45 fatal police shootings within a three-year period might have been avoided if police had been armed with Tasers.
"We would be interested in any relevant information before deciding whether to go forward with the pilot project recommended by Rand," a spokesman for the department, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, said.

The Suffolk County police department said the coroner is investigating what caused the death of Tony Curtis Bradway. While in police custody, officers shocked him twice with a Taser as he attempted to swallow a plastic bag containing cocaine. He died nine hours later.

US BANKS GO TO AFRICA

U.S. BANKS GO TO AFRICA, BEGGING

Jun 10 (GIN) – Having exhausted most private equity and soverign wealth funds, troubled U.S. banks are now planning to turn to Algeria, Angola, Libya and Zimbabwe for 11th hour bailouts, the Wall St. Journal reports.

“Selling stakes to funds of authoritarian or unstable regimes doesn’t quite mesh with Wall Street’s lofty image of itself,” the paper wrote. “But (the banks) created this mess, and beggars can’t be choosers.”

Buyers of shares in U.S. banks have seen their value plummet and traditional overseas investors are reluctant to spend more on a losing proposition. While Africans, many with great reserves of oil wealth, may seem like a ripe market, few countries have shown an interest in building U.S. portfolios during this unfolding credit crunch.

FORMER GOV CASHES IN ON MISERY

Spitzer Plans to Turn Profit From Others' Misery

Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer seems to have turned the corner after resigning from his Albany office in the middle of a prostitution scandal. And instead of whiling away his summer at the beach, the Steamroller is planning on establishing an investment fund that will focus on turning people's failed dreams into cold hard cash for himself.

A vulture fund, as such vehicles are called, focuses on buying distressed properties and then flipping them for a profit. Always a man of the people, Spitzer called organized labor leaders to a meeting in his father's Manhattan offices to offer them a piece of the action if they'd put their funds up for the enterprise. In the middle of the real estate mortgage meltdown, there's lots of easy pickings out there for an ambitious entrepreneur such as Spitzer.

According to The New York Sun, the Governor seems to have gotten over the embarrassment of being drummed out of Albany for frequenting hookers, saying that Europeans in general were sympathetic for him losing his job for cheating on his wife with women the approximate age of his daughters.

USE THE LOVE GLOVE

Study: One-Fourth Of NYC Residents Have Herpes

Rates Of Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, And Infectious Syphilis Are Also Higher Than The National AverageNEW YORK (CBS) ― Now might be the time for New Yorkers to take advantage of the free condom campaign the city promotes. A new study by the city's Health Department found more than a quarter of adult residents are infected with the herpes virus.According to the study, 26 percent of city residents have the virus that causes genital herpes, an incurable sexually-transmitted infection that can cause painful genital sores and can double a person's risk for HIV.

Nationally, 19 percent of the population has the infection, according to the department.More specifically, the study showed that the rate is higher among women than men – 36 percent compared to 19 percent – and was higher among blacks than whites – 49 percent versus 14 percent, respectfully.It also found the rate was higher among gay men than heterosexual men – 32 percent compared to 18 percent."Genital herpes alone will not cause serious problems for most people," said Dr. Julia Schillinger, Director of Surveillance for the Health Department's Bureau of STD Prevention and Control and lead author of the study. "But some people will have painful genital sores and the infection fosters the spread of HIV.

We advise New Yorkers to protect themselves and others. Using condoms consistently will help you avoid getting or spreading genital herpes."The data come from the city's Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which used door-to-door interviews and in-person medical exams to assess the health of New Yorkers on a variety of measures, from diabetes to depression, according to the department.The study was the city's first measurement of those infected with the virus. Herpes is not the only STD above the national rate in New York City. Rates of Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and infectious syphilis were also higher than the national rate.Free NYC condoms are available at locations throughout the city. Call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/condoms for more information.

HEALTH CARE LACKING FOR MINORITIES

While progress has been made in reducing health disparities in New York City, substantial inequalities remain among New Yorkers of different economic and racial/ethnic groups. Poor New Yorkers, as well as African American and Latino New Yorkers, bear a disproportionate burden of illness and premature death. The poorest New Yorkers are four times more likely to report poor overall health than the wealthiest.

The rate of new HIV diagnoses is about six times as high among Blacks as among Whites. Latino New Yorkers are more than twice as likely to have diabetes as White New Yorkers. Disparities in diabetes are widening: From 1999–2001, Black New Yorkers were about three times as likely to die from diabetes as Whites. It is also clear that poor health is concentrated in certain New York City neighborhoods. In 2001, the life expectancy in New York City’s poorest neighborhoods was 8 years shorter than in its wealthiest neighborhoods.

Factors associated with poor health, such as poor access to medical care, unhealthy behaviors, and poor living conditions, are more common among certain economic and racial/ethnic groups. In every racial/ethnic group, poor New Yorkers are the most likely to not have received needed medical care in the past year (i.e. wealthy New Yorkers are about twice as likely to exercise as poor New Yorkers.

State Senator Efrain Gonzalez champions the cause of better health care for Blacks and Latinos.

Here They Run Again: Term Limits Don’t Seem to Faze Council Members

By DIANE CARDWELL

Published: June 9, 2008

For New Yorkers who voted to impose term limits on the City Council, the promise was to sweep clean a moldering institution and fill it with “citizen legislators” who would bring energy and fresh ideas from the private sector, where they would return after their eight-year allotments.

But as the first class of councilors elected under the term limits law in 2001 prepares to leave office next year, the very opposite is becoming reality: With lawmakers seeking new elective offices and career politicians looking to join, or rejoin, the body, the Council may well become a political revolving door.

Already, 20 of the 35 Council members who are being forced from office have filed with the city’s Campaign Finance Board to run for another position. And at least a dozen of those planning to compete for open Council seats have budding or established political careers, including state officials, relatives of Council members and even a few former councilors who collectively have decades of service under their belts.

For instance, Karen Koslowitz, the Queens deputy borough president who once worked for Andrew J. Stein, a former council president, is contemplating a run for the seat she held for 10 years in Forest Hills, Queens. And Herman D. Farrell Jr., who has represented Upper Manhattan in the State Assembly since 1975, is planning to run for a City Council seat representing the same area.

Paul Vallone, whose father, Peter F. Vallone, represented a district in Astoria, Queens, for 27 years until his brother Peter F. Vallone Jr. took it over in 2002, is running to represent the Bayside area. Paul Washington, a former chief of staff for Councilman Charles Barron, is running for the councilor’s East New York, Brooklyn, slot, while Evan Thies, a former spokesman for Councilman David Yassky, is competing to represent Mr. Yassky’s Brooklyn district, which stretches from Park Slope to Williamsburg.

And then there is Thomas V. Ognibene, who represented Middle Village, Queens, for 10 years before leaving office in 2001 because of term limits. He recently lost a bid to replace Dennis P. Gallagher, his former chief of staff, who resigned from the Council this year after admitting to a sexual assault.

“The person who runs for the office is a relative, a chief of staff, a protégé of the person that was in there in the first place,” Mr. Ognibene said. “Insurgency is virtually impossible. You cannot generate the money or the support,” he said, adding, “So you don’t get the people in there that had been contemplated, the people with the fresh start, the new view.”

Ronald S. Lauder, a wealthy cosmetics heir who spent millions pushing for the change that limits officeholders to two terms, said in a 1993 statement that it would “take the power away from the politicians and return it to the people.” Officials would serve “long enough to make a contribution,” his statement said, “but not long enough to make a career.”

After Mr. Lauder’s costly campaign, New Yorkers approved the limits in 1993, despite the howls of protest from City Council members who predicted the coming of a bureaucratic apocalypse. The law withstood an effort in 1996 to add a third term, with voters reaffirming their wish to restrict service for council members, the mayor, the public advocate and the comptroller to eight years, and survived Council plans to overturn it.

But officials and analysts say that it was naïve to expect term limits to take the politics out of politics, especially since the Council lacks sufficient glamour — and power — to woo many people from their day jobs.

“A lot of people who are successful in the private sector aren’t going to be attracted to be in the City Council,” said Mr. Yassky, who has made unsuccessful bids for Brooklyn district attorney and Congress and is now running for city comptroller. “The reality is that voters will elect people in government.”

For those who are interested in a public sector career, the Council, which pays members $112,500 to $141,000, depending on the leadership positions, and gives them two parking placards and at least $277,366 in operating expenses, can be a steppingstone to higher office or a landing strip after years of trekking to the State Capitol. And what had been a steady flow between the Council and the State Legislature is threatening to become a torrent as officials in Albany who are frustrated by their relative lack of power look to win an office that keeps them closer to home.

Mr. Farrell at one point considered trying to become the next Council speaker but dropped that ambition while still eyeing a Council seat. And Assemblyman Michael N. Gianaris, with his sights on the speaker’s post, is considering a bid for the Astoria, Queens, district seat that Mr. Vallone Jr., a likely candidate for Queens borough president, will vacate.

With the Queens Democratic Party backing City Councilman Hiram Monserrate in his bid to snatch the seat of State Senator John D. Sabini, consultants are suggesting that Mr. Sabini reclaim the Council seat he gave up in 2001, which would be open again.

Moving in the other direction are several council members who are seeking state positions, including Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, who announced last week that he would not compete in the crowded field for city comptroller but would try to unseat State Senator Kevin S. Parker.

Evan Stavisky, a political consultant who is active in state and local elections, said term limits provide “expedited promotions for chiefs of staff and other people active in local politics” while increasing “ancillary competition, so there are more state legislators who have races.”

At the same time, officials and policy analysts say, term limits have strengthened the Council’s focus on politics at the expense of governance. As a result, consultants and lobbyists say, there is now a professional class of candidates whose members focus on making names for themselves and eyeing the next offices rather than returning to the private sector, as advocates of limiting public service have promoted.

“It’s not reasonable to expect somebody to interrupt their life for eight years and then go back to the farm — you’ve set on a career path,” said Lewis A. Fidler, a Brooklyn councilman who has not determined his next move. Speaking of his fellow council members, he said, “Their attention is being diverted as to what they’re going to do to feed their family and continue on their career path.”

Eric Lane, a law professor at Hofstra University, found in an analysis of the Council in 2004 that nearly all of those elected had political backgrounds and planned to stay in politics.

“If your interest is a future in the Council, then you worry about compromising and getting legislation passed,” he said. “But if your interest is the next office right away, then you’re interested in outshining someone else and you’re going to play to the crowds much more and you’re going to play to lobbyists much more.”

Supporters of term limits see it differently. “Term limits have always been about creating opportunities, not dictating outcomes, and undeniably term limits have opened doors for new people,” said Nelson Warfield, a spokesman for New Yorkers for Term Limits, an advocacy group that campaigned for the restriction.

“Term limits has clearly increased the diversity of government,” he said, pointing to the rise in black and Hispanic representation, as well as to the election of John C. Liu, the Council’s first Asian-American member.

For many council members, gaining office can instill a sense of self-importance and self-worth, making it difficult to see a future outside of government.

“You are the one who is in charge of what happens in your district,” said Ms. Koslowitz, the deputy borough president in Queens. “It was one of the best experiences of my life because I helped a lot of people. I still walk through the streets and people are thanking me and remembering what I did for them and for the community.”

With the election more than a year away, it is too early to say who will end up back in the Council and where the class of 35 forced departures will land. But with a finite number of offices to be won, many are bound for disappointment.

Judging from the fates of their predecessors, some will snare work in government while others will seek to become lobbyists or pursue jobs related to law.

Still, they can also rely on inevitability: Their old seats will eventually open up, perhaps even earlier than the typical eight-year cycle. Take the case of Thomas White, who had to leave office in 2001 after representing a district in South Jamaica, Queens, for a decade, and has already returned. His opportunity, like Mr. Ognibene’s, came in the form of a sex scandal.

After the City Council censured Allan W. Jennings Jr. for the sexual harassment of two female employees in 2005, Mr. White won back the seat that fall, becoming the first of his generation to return. Time will tell if he showed up early for the reunion.

BOGUS MICHELLE OBAMA RUMOR

Is Bogus Michelle Obama Rumor Based On A Work Of Fiction?

By Greg Sargent and Eric Kleefeld - June 6, 2008, 6:20PM
Is it possible that the bogus Michelle Obama rumor you've all heard by now is actually based on a work of fiction?
The rumor in question is one that's been circulating in recent weeks to the effect that there's video out there of Michelle Obama saying something derogatory about white people.
Not a single shred of evidence has surfaced to support this claim. Nobody has actually said they've personally seen it. It hasn't been posted to YouTube as you'd expect on something this juicy. Even Republican operatives we've spoken to say they don't believe it exists.

Despite the tenuousness of this rumor, Obama was actually asked about this non-existent video in front of the national press by a reporter the other day. Understandably, he pushed back hard on the notion that he should have to answer such a question.
Now Jim Geraghty of National Review has claimed that the rumor may be based on...fiction. A political thriller called The Power Broker, published in 2006 by Stephen Frey, features the presidential campaign of Dem candidate Jesse Wood, who's aspiring to be the country's first African-American president.

We went out and got the book. And sure enough, in the novel, Wood's opponents discover video of the candidate himself -- not his wife -- discussing with a radical black minister how he will "f--- whitey" when he gets into office, despite all his public rhetoric about racial reconciliation. Here's what he says on the fictional tape:

He said, "You know, I had to put up with so much crap from Whitey when I was playing tennis back in the day, it was ridiculous. Real b****** stuff, too. Tennis racquets busted while I was in the shower, no towels, the worst locker, called n***** all the time, even by the help." He looked over at Osgood. "I'm telling you, Clarence, if I get elected president, I'm gonna act the way I'm supposed to act in front of the camera. Smile and dance like a good black man, do what I'm expected to do like a good boy. But behind the scenes, I'll f*** Whitey, and I'll f*** him good, I really will."

If this was the basis for the rumor, Obama was forced to respond not just to a rumor, but to one that was consciously based on a published work of fiction. Welcome to General Election 2008, everyone!
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OBAMA MEETS WITH ORTHODOX JEWS

Barack Hussein Obama meets with Satmar

Barack Obama had some face time with top ultra-Orthodox Jewish community members during his fund-raising swing through Midtown, which came on the heels of Hillary Rodham Clinton's decision to leave the race.Obama chatted with three members of the Satmar sect, including representatives from rival factions, as they attended a campaign fund-raiser at a private home on Park Avenue."We just went [to the fund-raiser] to meet him and get introduced," said Rabbi Abe Friedman, an NYPD community liaison and adviser to state Sen. Eric Adams, one of Obama's early supporters.Calling it a positive chat, Friedman said the religious leaders told Obama that they "hope he's going to support the interests of the Jewish community."

The meeting came as Obama's campaign backtracked on bombshell remarks he made Wednesday that Jerusalem should remain the "undivided" capital of Israel, according to the Jerusalem Post.An aide later softened Obama's comments - which sparked anger in the Palestinian community - saying the sides will have to negotiate "an agreement that they both can live with."The adviser explained that by an undivided Jerusalem, Obama did not mean that it wouldn't also serve as the Palestinian capital as well.

The Jewish community balked at the news."The Orthodox Union is extremely disappointed in this revision of Senator Obama's important statement about Jerusalem," Nathan Diament, of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, told the paper.Obama is considered vulnerable among Jewish voters, who traditionally lean Democratic but view Israel as a litmus test.http://www.nypost.com/seven/06062008/news/nationalnews/baracks_sect_appeal_114198.htm
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LATINOS JOB DEATH RATE HIGHER

Latinos suffer higher rate of job-related deaths
From the Associated Press
June 6, 2008
ATLANTA -- Latino workers die at higher rates than other laborers, with 1 in 3 of these deaths occurring in the construction industry, a government study reported Thursday.Latinos tend to hold more high-risk jobs than other ethnic groups, but language and literacy barriers and poor training and supervision may also be factors, researchers said.

The leading causes of death in recent years have been falls and highway-related accidents."Many of the Latino workers in construction are undocumented, and many of those who are recently arrived do face a language barrier," said Rakesh Kochhar, associate director for research at the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan think tank."A language barrier hinders understanding of a job, or the risks associated with it, or safety precautions," said Kochhar, who was not part of the study, which counted more than 11,000 Latino work-related deaths nationwide from 1992 to 2006. The researchers calculated an annual death rate of 5 per 100,000 Latino workers in 2006. The rate for non-Latino white workers was 4. For blacks, it was 3.7.

SON VS. DAD FOR FOSSELLA VACANCY

GOP House Candidate Has New Challenger -- His Own Son!
By Eric Kleefeld - June 5, 2008, 5:56PM

The race for the House seat of Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY), whose personal scandals spurred his sudden retirement, just got a whole lot wackier as GOP candidate Francis "Frank" Powers Sr. is getting a new challenger: Libertarian candidate Francis "Fran" Powers Jr., his very own son.

The Staten Island Advance reports that the younger Powers, age 47, announced he is running as a Libertarian in order to stop his father from getting elected and being able to help further Republican policies. "I'm not going to say that my dad treated me bad when I was a kid," Fran Powers said. "I know his policies. I'm running against someone I know."

Powers Sr., needless to say, is taken aback by this development. "I've tried very hard for many years to help my son," he said in a statement. "Unfortunately, he's rejected everyone's help to live a healthy lifestyle."
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HILLARY SINGS THE SWAN SONG SATURDAY

(Washington Post) By Anne E. Kornblut

Hillary Rodham Clinton will suspend her campaign late this week, senior campaign officials confirmed tonight.
Clinton will host an event in Washington on Saturday "to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity," according to Howard Wolfson, who did not explicitly state that Clinton is dropping out of the race. But other campaign officials said the event will coincide with her departure, despite her earlier reservations about stepping aside.

The campaign first planned the event for Friday, but moved it to Saturday as news of Clinton's plan spread. "This event will be held on Saturday to accommodate more of Senator Clinton's supporters who want to attend," the campaign said in a statement.

Clinton has not made the announcement to her entire staff yet; earlier today, she made a surprise visit to the campaign headquarters in Ballston to thank her aides.
Posted at 8:00 PM ET on Jun 4, 2008 Category: Hillary Rodham Clinton Share This: Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us Digg This
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GALLERY EXHIBIT

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Barack Obama Democratic Nomination Victory Speech

History has been made. For the first time, a Black man has been nominated for President of the United States.

This is a significant moment. It says that a new coalition of workers, young people, and visionaries are ready for change. It says that people have looked beyond race to the class divide that impacts this country. Obama may not be the "change" but he may be the beginning.

HILLARY PITCHES VEEP POSITION

Clinton to New York lawmakers: I'm open to being Veep
RAW STORYPublished: Tuesday June 3, 2008

Hillary Rodham Clinton has told congressional colleagues she would be open to becoming Barack Obama's vice presidential nominee, saying she would consider it if it would help Democrats win the White House, the Associated Press reports.
Clinton, a New York senator, made the comment on a conference call with other New York lawmakers Tuesday, according a participant on the call.

Politico's Ben Smith reports at his blog that "at least four members of congress on the call -- Nydia Velazquez, Jose Serrano, Gregory Meeks, and Carolyn McCarthy -- raised the prospect of Clinton running for Vice President."
The senator's remarks came in response to a question from Democratic Rep. Nydia Velazquez who said she believed the best way for Obama to win over key voting blocs, including Hispanics, would be for him to choose Clinton as his running mate.

"I am open to it," Clinton replied, if it would help the party's prospects in November.
Speculation about a so-called "dream ticket" has swirled for several months, and many observers see an Obama-Clinton pairing as the best way to unify the party. Clinton supporters have grown increasingly bitter in recent weeks as Obama almost certainly neared clinching the Democratic party's nod, and placing the former first lady on a ticket could help heal some of those rifts.

Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, based on an Associated Press tally of convention delegates, becoming the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House.
Clinton reportedly will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials told the Associated Press, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president.

The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City. She will pledge to continue to speak out on issues like health care. But for all intents and purposes, the two senior officials said, the campaign is over.
Clinton's campaign has pushed back swiftly against the AP report. Chairman Terry McAuliffe went on CNN within minutes of its release to call the report "untrue," and her campaign released a formal statement making the same point.

Talking Point Memo's Greg Sargent observes, "One of Hillary's most prominent supporters, Senator Dianne Feinstein, minces no words in saying that the race is over."
"I think after the campaigns are wrapped up today, it is in fact a moment of truth," Feinstein told CNN. "I think a decision has to be made about whether keeping this nomination wide open is in the best interest of winning in November. I do not believe that it is, and I'm a very strong supporter of Hillary being placed on ticket as a vice presidential candidate."
DEVELOPING...
With wire reports

FEAR OF PUERTO RICANS

Who's Afraid of the Puerto Rican Day Parade?

Well, according to a New York Magazine Intelligencer item, it might be Madison Avenue cafe Via Quadronno. The establishment "closes for just four days each year: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and a certain spring day."
A spokesman claims coincidence. “We close that day every year for internal construction,” he says. “The last day of the first week of June.” The Puerto Rican Day Parade is on the second Sunday of June each year. Snap! And a regular confirms to NY that "They tell you the day before—they whisper it—‘Don’t come tomorrow.'"

Back in 2005, Mayor Bloomberg told swanky Fifth Avenue apartment buildings not to board up their doors and windows during the parade because it was insulting. And last year, there were over 200 arrests at the parade, though there were questions over whether the arrests were warranted (some accused the police of sweeping up people, the police said many were involved with gangs).

This year's parade is on Sunday, June 8. It starts at 11 a.m., with the festivities traveling north on Fifth Avenue from 44th St. to 86th St. This year's Grand Marshal is labor leader Dennis Rivera.

Clinton Wins Puerto Rico, but Her Fate Is Still Uncertain

By ADAM NAGOURNEY

Published: June 2, 2008

WASHINGTON — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Puerto Rico primary on Sunday, another victory for her over Senator Barack Obama in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination. Still, after an explosive weekend in Democratic presidential politics, the big drama now facing the party remains how, when — and even if — she departs from the race.

Doug Mills/The New York Times

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton signed a poster during a visit to a bakery in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sunday.

Democrats Approve Deal on Michigan and Florida (June 1, 2008)

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, called the island’s primary “another convincing win for Hillary” on CNN, and Mr. Obama conceded the race to her in a speech in Mitchell, S.D. “She is going to be a big asset going into November” in efforts to defeat the Republicans, Mr. Obama said.

Mrs. Clinton led in early returns by two to one.

The contest is now coming to a close with the votes on Tuesday in Montana and South Dakota, ending a process that began precisely five months ago in Iowa. Even if those results do not put Senator Mr. Obama over the top , aides to both Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton said they expected enough superdelegates to rally behind Mr. Obama in the 48 hours after the final primaries to allow him to proclaim himself the nominee.

In many ways, Mr. Obama is wheezing across the finish line after making a strong start: He has won only 6 of the 13 Democratic contests held since March 4, drawing 6.1 million votes, compared with 6.6 million for Mrs. Clinton.

Mrs. Clinton has kept her counsel about what she might do to draw her campaign to a close. Her campaign — and her supporters — were thrown into a furor Saturday after a chaotic meeting of the Rules and Bylaws Committee divided up the delegates from the disputed delegations of Michigan and Florida between her and Mr. Obama, over her objections.

Harold Ickes, a committee member who is a Clinton adviser, said Mrs. Clinton was reserving the right to contest the decision into the summer. And her aides opened up a new argument on Sunday, claiming that by the voting is ending, she will have achieved a victory in the total popular vote and that should have more bearing on the decisions of the remaining undecided superdelegates than the fact that Mr. Obama is likely to emerge from the contest with a majority of the delegates chosen in primaries and caucuses.

The actual winner of the popular vote is difficult to compute, and Mr. Obama’s advisers have challenged that claim by the Clintons.

Still, despite the paroxysms, Mrs. Clinton’s associates said she seemed to have come to terms over the last week with the near certainty that she would not win the nomination, even as she continued to assert, with what one associate described as subdued resignation, that the Democrats are making a mistake in sending Mr. Obama up against Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Her associates said the most likely outcome was that she would end her bid with a speech, probably back home in New York, in which she would endorse Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton herself suggested on Friday that the contest would end sometime next week.

But that is not a certainty; Mr. Obama’s announcement on Saturday that he would leave his church was just another reminder of how events continue to unfold in the race. She has signaled her ambivalence about the outcome, continuing to urge superdelegates to keep an open mind and consider, for example, the number of popular votes she has won. Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, a superdelegate who has been at the forefront of calling for uncommitted Democrats to make a choice soon after the last vote, said in an interview that Mrs. Clinton called him last week and urged him to “keep an open mind until the convention.”

Assuming Mr. Obama reaches the number of delegates and superdelegates he needs to secure the nomination in the coming week, Mrs. Clinton will be faced with three options, associates said: to suspend her campaign and endorse Mr. Obama; to suspend her campaign without making an endorsement; or to press the fight through the convention. Several of Mrs. Clinton’s associates said it was unlikely she would fight through the convention, given the potential damage it would do to her standing in the party, which is increasingly eager to unify and turn to the battle against Mr. McCain.

Mrs. Clinton would almost surely face the defection of some of her highest-profile supporters, as well as some members of her staff. She would no doubt also face anger from Democratic leaders.

“In order for us to be successful in November, the runner-up is going to have to go all out in support of the nominee,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “The runner-up is going to have to be there from Day One. The support is going to have to be more than just lip service.”

Mr. Obama’s associates calculate he will need the votes of probably just 30 more superdelegates — elected Democrats and party leaders — to claim a majority of delegates after the last primary vote is counted, assuming expected outcomes in Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana.

With approval Saturday by the Democratic Party’s rules committee to seat Florida’s and Michigan’s delegates, though with a half vote each, Mr. Obama had secured 2,047.5 delegates, according to a count by The New York Times, leaving him 70.5 delegates short of what he needs to win the nomination. Eighty-six delegates are going to be allocated in Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota, and Mr. Obama is likely to get at least half of them.

As of Saturday, about 150 superdelegates remained officially uncommitted. Mr. Obama’s supporters have been hammering away at them, urging them to move quickly to his camp.

“A number of people have reported that various members intend to endorse AFTER the last primary,” said one e-mail message to wavering delegates from Mr. Obama’s supporters, its warning barely couched. “Those members need to understand that they won’t get any visibility from that.”

Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who endorsed Mr. Obama nearly two months ago, recently called Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado, who has yet to endorse a candidate. “Hey, Ritter!” Mr. Richardson said. “After June 3, it means nothing. Those who take a little bit of a risk, he’ll remember you.”

On the other end of the line, Mr. Ritter demurred, saying he had pledged to remain neutral until the primary season ends.

Mr. Obama has already turned his campaign away from Mrs. Clinton toward Mr. McCain. Mrs. Clinton is barely mentioned by Mr. Obama anymore, and his schedule is now focused as much on general election battlegrounds as it is on the remaining primaries. Mr. Obama is planning to mark the final election night of this primary season in St. Paul.

“That’s where the Republican convention is going to be,” said David Axelrod, the campaign’s chief strategist. “It seems like a good place to start the discussion about which direction we’re going to go as a country.”

Similarly, Mrs. Clinton and her aides have all but stopped their attacks on Mr. Obama, and the once vigorous Clinton war room has gone into a slumber.

Indeed, the talk in Mrs. Clinton’s headquarters has turned from the primary to more mundane matters: the next job, whom Mr. Obama might hire from the Clinton campaign, and even where to go on vacation.

The question in the weeks ahead is the extent to which the bitterness between these two candidates, both historic figures, can be erased. Two associates who spoke to Mrs. Clinton said they had no doubt that she would campaign for Mr. Obama without ambivalence, whether or not they end up as a ticket, one of the big questions lingering.

One of Mrs. Clinton’s chief strategists, Howard Wolfson, hinted that she was not inclined to carry the battle to the convention.

“Our focus is on securing the nomination for ourselves in the near term,” he said. “I don’t think anybody is looking toward the convention to end this process.”

While there are sore feelings on both sides, Mr. Obama has directed his aides to begin reaching out to their counterparts in the Clinton camp.

Mr. Obama’s advisers said he would make no formal statement of victory, with the assumption that the moment would be elaborately marked by the media.

At least a dozen uncommitted delegates are viewed by both camps as almost certain to side with Mr. Obama once the primary season ends. But there are dozens of uncommitted superdelegates who resisted endorsements for reasons that are personal, political and pragmatic — ranging from a fear of alienating contributors to reluctance among lawmakers from relatively conservative districts to be identified with either Mr. Obama or Mrs. Clinton.

Jeff Zeleny, Carl Hulse and John Sullivan contributed reporting.