Have You Driven Out a Ford Lately?

From The New York Times:

Under assault from allies of Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, former Congressman Harold E. Ford Jr. fired back on Friday afternoon, saying he would be not be “bullied or intimidated” by “party bosses” as he considers challenging her in this fall’s Democratic primary.

Mr. Ford’s interest in the race is triggering a growing sense of alarm within the Gillibrand camp, which has quickly sought to portray him as out of step with New York Democratic voters and, through supporters like Senator Charles E. Schumer, tried to dissuade him from entering the race.

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Should Rudy oppose gay marriage when he’s running out of women to marry?

From Politico:

Rudy Giuliani, the thrice-married former New York City mayor, has come out strongly against Democratic Gov. David Paterson’s proposed gay marriage bill.

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The State of the City

From ABC News:

With tax revenues continuing to drop, New York City faces a $4 billion deficit for fiscal year 2010 and could resort to layoffs and attrition from the city’s 310,000-member workforce to close the gap, city officials said late Thursday.

The cuts and layoffs could result in the elimination of more than 23,000 jobs, or just more than 6.5 percent of the current workforce, a number that has been projected by ABC News for the past several months.

On Friday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg will lay out his plan to close the budget gap, including new initiatives and about $1 billion in cuts for city agencies.

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End of the Caro-line

From U.S.News & World Report

By the time Caroline Kennedy finally announced she wanted to be New York’s junior senator, her bid to replace Hillary Clinton was already in serious trouble.

From the start, it appeared like the Kennedy camp was pushing her to go for a job she was not sure she wanted.

Instead of a grand rollout befitting the daughter of John F. Kennedy, word of her possible interest in the post leaked out in dribs and drabs.

When Gov. Paterson, the person with the sole power to make the appointment, first spoke to Kennedy on Dec. 3 about the Senate job, he came away from the telephone conversation unsure if she even wanted it.

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From the House to the Big House

From The Hill:

If Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) is unable to reach a deal with prosecutors on his DUI arrest, he will likely have to serve five days in jail before the end of the year, making him only the fourth sitting member of Congress to be locked up following a criminal conviction and dragging his troubles back into the spotlight just as Republicans were counting on them having vanished.

Not since Rep. John Dowdy (D-Texas) was sent to prison for his 1972 conviction for bribery, obstruction of justice and perjury has a sitting member of the House been sentenced to jail or prison following a criminal conviction, according to the House historian.

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Family Values

From the Washington Post:

Lucky for Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.), he has New York nightclub impresario John Englebert on his side.

…snip…

In a press release titled “Viva Vito!” — actually, it had eight exclamation points after Viva Vito — and written in perfect Staten Island lexicon, Englebert said: “Bill Clinton and Governor Patterson [SIC] are perfect examples of how ones [SIC] governmental duties should not be judged by there [SIC] personal mistakes.” He called Vito a “great congressman and driving force” and said “tons of Staten Islanders feel the same way.”

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