The Color Of
The Hidden Losers

It wasn’t just the GOP’s chances to capture a
New York Senate seat that suffered a big blow when Rudy pulled out of the race last week.
There were other, less obvious, losers as well.

Many are saying that Public Advocate
Mark Green suffered the most from the Mayor’s announcement. The Mayoral heir apparent if Rudy had moved to D.C., Green has been stepping up his public appearances in recent months in anticipation of his presumed coronation next January.

Sorry, Mark!

Now, Green must wait more than a year for
what is shaping up as a brawl for the Democratic nomination in September 2001. Political pundits and insiders say that Green may very well be a distant second to Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who leads in fundraising, political base and in preliminary polls.

Green’s best hope, some say, is if Council Speaker Peter Vallone also goes for the Mayoral nomination and gets into a Battle of Queens with Hevesi that leaves the two of them too bloodied to beat Green for the nomination.

Other hidden losers as a result of Giuliani’s dropping out of the race are some of the City’s leading scribes who are preparing books on
Giuliani that hoped to capitalize on the
heightened attention of a Senate slugfest.

Wayne Barrett of The Village Voice, the alternative weekly’s dogged nemesis of all Mayors, has been feverishly working on a Rudy biography that should suffer as the Mayor fades from the limelight in the coming months and as New Yorkers suffer Rudy burnout after the circus atmosphere of the past few weeks dies out.

With revelations of current and former girlfriends now out in the open, an ex-wife who was actually his cousin, a cancer scare and a more emotionally honest Rudy pouring his heart out to the press, what more drama could a book uncover?

And if it does, will anyone care anymore?

Andrew Kirtzman, NY1’s political analyst, was also preparing a dueling Rudy biography and Michael Tomasky, New York magazine’s erudite political columnist, had begun work on a book pitched to the Rudy-Hillary battle.

All three of these writers must be feeling a little blue this week. But, it seems, it’s better to be blue in NY politics these days, than Green.

Here Comes The Chancellor

Who are the most nervous people in town these days? Probably school principals and janitors now that take-no-prisoners Chancellor Harold Levy was unanimously voted in for a two-year term.

The Upper West Side former Citigroup lawyer is looking to make sweeping changes on all levels and does not brook any glitches, no matter how trivial they may seem.

In a visit to his former junior high last week, Levy was upset by a broken drinking fountain and at another school was incensed by a misspelled sign on the wall that welcomed our "New Chancelor." Look out principals; the new Ed head could be coming to your school next!

The Hit List

Now that Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver seems to have survived the attempted coup, comes the messy part of exacting revenge against those Dems who lined up to support upstate Assemblyman Michael J. Bragman.

Silver, a religious Jewish legislator from the lower East Side who is said to be a fierce competitor on the basketball court and on the golf course, is known to be an unforgiving brass-knuckle political boss. Look for most of the Queens delegation that supported Dem leader Thomas Manton’s open assault on Silver to get stripped of committee chairs and extra pay.

Doesn’t anyone ever learn the old rule of war and politics: if you want to kill the king, don’t announce an attack on the castle!

Politics Online

Even before his announcement Saturday, Rick Lazio was ready to run. The GOP US Senator wannabe held a well-orchestrated press conference Saturday afternoon less than 24 hours after a kindler and gentler Rudy Giuliani became a non-candidate. The conference came complete with t-shirts, posters and the polish that indicates hours of work by professional consultants.

If anyone thinks Lazio was taken by surprise by Rudy’s announcement, think again.

Sure you can orchestrate a press conference, write a speech, have your people in place, and print t-shirts and posters in less than 24 hours.

But can you build an extensive website on a secure server accepting political contributions with credit cards online? Think again.

And Lazio’s Senate website was up and running before the Long Island Congressman even declared for the Senate.

His opponent has a website too:

The race promises to be a political junkie's virtual dream, even without Rudy.

Bronx Cheer

While all eyes were on City Hall and the failed coup in Albany last week, there were some political rumblings from the Bronx, the City’s second most overlooked borough.

While most talk of late has been about the impending battle between Ollie Koppell’s wife, Lorraine, and State Senator Guy Vellela, Mayoral and Gubernatorial politics emerged this week.

Bronx County Dem Chair Roberto Ramirez emerged as Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver’s lifeline, which means some backroom deal was struck.

Does that mean that Ramirez’s patron, Freddy Ferrer, who will make some citywide office bid next year, can count on Shelly’s support for Mayor?

Cooked!

The Janet Cooke story is headed to the big screen. Cooke won the Pulitzer in 1981 with the saga of Jimmy, an 8-year-old heroin addict. Then, the former Washington Post reporter had to return it when it turned out she had made the whole thing up. The flick will be based on the only interview she has ever done about the incident, a 1996 session with GQ reporter Mike Sager. He got $1.6 million for the rights to his story.

Meanwhile, she has disappeared. But if you’re reading this, Janet, Sager says call him (he now works for Esquire) and he’ll help you get your cut.

E-MAIL your items to: NYConf@NewsCommunications.com

NYConfidential by Michael Schenkler with: Tom Allon, Steve Azzara, Peter Catapano, Ira Cohen, Richard Fasanella, Tamara Hartman, Joshua Kaufman, Barbara Jarvie, Evan Kapitansky, Timothy McDarrah, Mike Nussbaum, Mary Reinholz, Dee Richard.