Word of Advice to Mayoral Candidates: Do Not Hire Staffers Like "Hyman Doodlesack"

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If the FDNY social media guidelines enforced a few weeks ago taught us anything, it's that conducting yourself on the Internet as a government official or affiliate is not really that hard. Just keep the nudity and racism at bay. That's pretty much it.

Well, one of Bill de Blasio's staffers on his mayoral campaign never read those guidelines. Anthony "Tony" Baker, under the Twitter pseudonym "Hyman Doodlesack," resigned this week after being exposed by the New York Post for tweeting some pretty ridiculous sentiments.

Here's one for the record books: "In BKB Park today taking in the Sun (GOD) + signing copies of my new book, Was Columbus a Homo or Was He Just a Jew? NOW in KINDLE #pride." And here's another: "@BilldeBlasio Boy I love that f--king Dude, Bill de Blasio, and I can't wait for him to kick Speaker Quinn's bony ass in '13. #winning."

Obviously, the candidate was a little pissed to find this out.

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Sal Albanese Duels Bill de Blasio Over Quinn's Member Items Mishap

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How do you create more mayoral drama? Start fighting over who's better at dealing with previous mayoral drama.

Yesterday, we reported on the Halloran/Smith scandal's foray into the electoral spectrum. News swirled around the fact that Councilman Dan Holleran had planned to use Council/taxpayers' funds to get in on state Sen. Malcolm Smith's brigging scheme. And who oversees those funds? None other than City Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn.

So her rivals took the floor to take shots at her. Bill Thompson called the scandal an outgrowth of shitty oversight, and Bill de Blasio said this would've never happened had Quinn passed reform measures. The backlash arose from a New York Times profile of Quinn this week, in which she was reportedly caught handling member items like chess pieces in one big political game.

For clarity, member items are the cash flow amounts given to councilmembers so they can lavish their districts' organizations with funds. And this control-by-speaker is a quasi-parliamentary power given to the speaker, and in Britain it's commonplace strategy.

Out of that story, rivals Sal Albanese and Bill de Blasio have taken it upon themselves to direct the mud-slinging at each other in an attempt to distinguish to voters who's the best person to deal with council corruption.

If the past week is any indication, it seems like this mayoral race will give us a new drama to talk about on a daily basis.

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Melissa Mark-Viverito, Bill de Blasio Call on City To Retire Carriage Horses

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Around fifty people gathered on the steps of City Hall this afternoon to demand the City Council test out a prototype electric car that they hope can replace horse-drawn carriages. That proposal, Intro. 86A, is sponsored in the City Council by Member Melissa Mark-Viverito.

New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets(NYCLASS) -- joined by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Mark-Viverito, and animal welfare advocates -- lead the rally, calling on Council Speaker Christine Quinn to support the pilot program.

The vintage-replica vehicle initiative would not cost the city any money, the group says, as it would be funded entirely by NYCLASS donations.

NYCLASS also delivered a petition to the Council -- signed by 85,000 New Yorkers -- supporting the replacement of horse-drawn carriages with these cars.

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In Stop-and-Frisk Debate, Mayor Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio Bad-Mouth Each Other

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Sam Levin
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio at an immigration event earlier this year.
The debate over the NYPD's controversial stop-and-frisk policy is in full swing this week with a proposal from the public advocate prompting a badmouthing match between the mayor and the elected official who hopes to replace him in 2013.

Yesterday, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, an expected mayoral candidate, launched a campaign to reform stop-and-frisk, urging Mayor Bloomberg to dramatically reduce the number of unwarranted stops. That led Bloomberg, via a statement from his deputy mayor, to criticize de Blasio and dismiss his ideas as out of touch with the realities of crime in the city. De Blasio kept the momentum going this morning with a conference call with reporters to, well, respond to the mayor's response to him.


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Bill de Blasio Creates Another Website To Tackle a Not Very Local Issue

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Sam Levin
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, at a press conference on Iran, in March.
Public Advocate and mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio has gotten some headlines recently about his campaign against car companies that do business with Iran.

In March, he created the website IranWatchList.com, designed to target companies that work with Iran and in some cases allegedly sell directly to Iran's military. We noted at the time that his involvement in the foreign policy matter was a likely appeal to Jewish voters as he preps for the 2013 mayoral race.

Well today, de Blasio is out with another website that it about another fairly not-local issue: Wal-Mart and its covert political spending.

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Bill de Blasio: Release Your Staff Evaluations, Mr. Mayor

Sam Levin
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio in March.
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is upping the ante on the debate over teacher evaluations by calling on the mayor to release evaluations of staffers from his office.

De Blasio -- who is expected to run for mayor in 2013 and who frequently gets headlines for criticizing Bloomberg -- is rallying around the city's controversial release of teacher evaluations, likely as a way to, well, appeal to teachers and its powerful union.

In a letter sent out yesterday, de Blasio says that if Bloomberg is willing to release data on teacher evaluations to the public, then he should be releasing evaluations of his senior City Hall staff who play a vital role in government.

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John Liu Continues to Battle Tough Headlines; Bill de Blasio is Focused on Israel, Iran

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Sam Levin
City Comptroller John Liu, front, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, right, at event earlier this month.
In the race to replace Mike Bloomberg as mayor, two expected candidates -- who are trailing behind two frontrunners, according to a recent NY1 poll -- have made headlines this week that are of interest.

City Comptroller John Liu has tried to stay on-task and on-message since he was dealt a major blow with the arrest of his campaign treasurer in February. This fundraising controversy has raised questions about whether Liu will actually have a fighting chance next year, and Liu -- who is trudging along with different initiatives and audits in his current job, frequently dodges questions about his campaign. Maybe with some help from his new communications director -- who appears to be focused on controlling Liu's public appearances and keeping them on-topic -- the fundraising drama has somewhat stayed out of the news in recent weeks.

That changed, though, yesterday when the New York Times reported that a federal grand jury has officially indicted the former campaign treasurer for Liu on the charges that she helped funnel illegal campaign dollars to his 2013 campaign.

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