The Post reports that Adolfo Carrion, former Bronx borough prez who served as Barack Obama's urban czar, is weighing whether to run for mayor "and will make a decision by the fall."

Carrion, 51, would likely bill himself as a middle-of-the-road alternative to the other Democrat contenders, who he reportedly thinks '"are all trying to out-left each other.'"

He's so popular with moderates and conservatives, in fact, that Republican leaders have asked him to run on a G.O.P. ticket, according to the paper.

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Sen. Chuck Schumer

Senator Chuck Schumer this morning called on the House to pass a bill called the "Violence Against Women Act," which he says literally saves women's lives.

A measure to reauthorize the act was approved by the Senate on Thursday with broad bipartisan support, despite some objections from Republicans about a few key provisions. The legislation includes grants to help train cops and legal officers in stopping domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. In addition, it also toughens federal anti-stalking laws so that digital stalking and "new forms of harassment" tied to the internet and social media are more harshly punished.

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Dollar dollar bills, y'all.

There's bad news for Congressman Bob Turner, Manhattan attorney Wendy Long, and Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's campaign coffers are filling up quickly -- and her poll numbers are the best they've ever been.

Turner, Long, and Maragos are squaring off to see which of the three will be Gillibrand's Republican challenger in this year's Senate race. Regardless of who wins the hearts of New York's GOP, they'll have some work to do to catch up with Gillibrand.

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Congressional candidate Matt Doheny says he wasn't making out with a campaign consultant in Washington D.C. last month. Unfortunately for him, there are photos.

​As we told you last week, Congressional candidate Matt Doheny's found himself smack-dab in the middle of what appears to be yet another New York political sex scandal.

Stop us if you've heard this one before, but Doheny says he didn't do it.

The alleged incident happened last month during the National Republican Congressional Committee's Washington "candidate school" at a Bobby Van's, a popular D.C. steakhouse.

It's alleged -- with photo evidence -- that Doheny (who's currently engaged) was sucking face with GOP campaign consultant Monica Notzon.

As we noted last week -- based on photos of the alleged makeout sesh, first obtained by Gawker -- if Doheny and Notzon weren't making out, he must have been searching for leftover bits of steak...in her mouth...with his tongue.

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Congressinal candidate Matt Doheny -- seen here not connected at the face to a campaign consultant

​By now, you've probably seen the photos of Congressional wannabe Matt Doheny in what appears to be a steamy makeout sesh with a GOP campaign consultant -- who isn't his fiancee.

We spent the better part of the afternoon yesterday trying to extend the benefit of the doubt to Mr. Doheny with the hopes of being able to prove that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't making out with the consultant, Monica Notzon.

We examined the photo -- looked at it from different angles thinking "maybe they're just talking...really, really (really) closely. We corresponded with Doheny's campaign, which offered us nothing (on the record, anyway) but the same far-fetched response it's given other media outlets. Hell, we even sent Maureen O'Connor over at Gawker -- where the photos were first published -- a somewhat nasty email hoping she'd offer up some evidence that perhaps people were looking too far into what really is just an innocent photo of two friends enjoying a night out.

Then we saw the video, and have come to one conclusion: it's impossible to give this guy the benefit of the doubt on this one -- if Doheny and Notzon weren't sucking face, we don't know what they were doing.

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Bronx Assemblyman Peter Rivera comes with a bit of baggage.

​Governor Andrew Cuomo used the annual dinner for a non-profit group aimed at increasing the role of Hispanics in the public policy making process to announce that Democratic Bronx Assemblyman Peter Rivera is his pick to replace Colleen Gardner (a David Patterson holdover) as the commissioner of the state Department of Labor.

Rivera happens to be Puerto Rican, so the governor couldn't have picked a more politically savvy venue to make his announcement (courting the Hispanic vote could go a long way -- like all the way to a 2016 presidential run, if you catch our drift).

The dinner the governor attended was the annual gala for Somos El Futuro, which found itself smack-dab in the middle of a public pissing match between the governor and two teachers unions last week. More on that here.

Rivera has served in the Assembly for nearly 20 years. During his time in the Assembly, he served as the chairman of the Assembly Standing Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. He also currently sits on the New York State Assembly Committee on Rules and the Judiciary Committee, as well as the committees on Agriculture, and Consumer Affairs and Protection.

Rivera, however, also comes with a little baggage -- as former Voice scribe Tom Robbins noted in January 2011, one of Rivera's buddies got popped for federal corruption charges for allegedly lying to a grand jury during a probe into an agency he led, and to which Rivera, as a powerful assemblyman, steered millions in taxpayer coin.

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U.S. Senator from New York Kirsten Gillibrand appeared in her office in Manhattan today alongside several veterans who recently served to call for the expedited drawdown of troops in Afghanistan. "While our troops have admirably fulfilled the missions asked of them, we must step back and review our Afghanistan policy in the context of our overall national security," Gillibrand said, according to a press release. In addition to her appearance, Gillibrand -- a member of the Armed Services Committee -- wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explaining her stance that U.S. negotiations should include groups with stakes in the country beyond simply the Taliban.

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Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

​Following yesterday's passage in the U.S. Senate of the Federal Stock Act, the New York State Republican Party came out swinging. Per usual, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand -- who voted in favor of the bill -- is the target of the GOP's blows.

First and foremost, the Federal Stock Act would make it so insider trading by members of Congress is expressly illegal. In other words, it would be a crime for members of Congress to make stock transactions based on information they're only privy to because they're in Congress. It's been hailed by the Washington Post as the "most substantial debate on congressional ethics in nearly five years."

Gillibrand voted in favor of the bill -- which apparently wasn't enough to satisfy state GOP Chairman Ed Cox, who used the passage of the bill as an excuse to take shots at the junior senator (who happens to be up for re-election this year).

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www.ballloon-juice.com

​We know what you were probably thinking when you woke up this morning: "what ever happened to Bobby Jindal after that ghastly response he gave to President Barack Obama's 2009 State of the Union Address?"

Well, maybe you weren't...but we've got an update anyway.

Jindal, a former U.S. congressman/current governor of Louisiana -- and a once-rising GOP star considered as a possible vice-presidential candidate in the 2008 election -- will be in New York next month to give the keynote address at the New York Republican Party's Annual Dinner. 

"Governor Jindal has led the way on a wide array of issues, including charter schools, education reform, energy policy, ethics reform, and fiscal responsibility," New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox says. "In a time when millions of Americans are struggling to find employment and make ends meet, Governor Jindal has proven that conservative ideas and solutions are the most effective and efficient form of government."

Jindal, as we mentioned, was on track to do big things. Then this happened:
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The campaign treasurer for City Comptroller John Liu was arrested and charged today with fraud for her role in a scheme that used fake donors to pump money into his relection campaign, federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced today. Jia Hou, also known as Jenny, is also charged with trying to derail the government's investigation.

In a statement issued this afternoon, Liu said, "I am stunned by this news about Jenny Hou. These accusations against her are uncharacteristic and unexpected. Jenny is a smart, hardworking person who I hope will be treated fairly."

Federal prosecutors described Hou as a "central figure" in the scheme, making her arrest another embarrassing black eye for Liu, the former city councilman from Flushing who is not only in charge of overseeing the city's finances, but crusaded against cost overruns in Bloomberg administration technology contracts and had mayoral aspirations.

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