THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: The Democrats have had their chance, and now we are giving you another vote. After getting a look at the Al Gore, Joseph Lieberman camp, who would you vote for now? Changed your mind, or still with the same candidate? We’ll be checking in again as the race continues. In the November Presidential Election, "How Are You Voting Now?" To express your opinion, CALL (212) 980-3434. ENTER question number 343 PRESS 1 Bush-Cheney PRESS 2 Gore-Lieberman

Queens College Quiz

As an acting President takes his place atop the Queens College Admin building and a search begins to find a successor to Allen Sessoms who sadly left the college after a blemished, final year, QConfidential reached into the offices of the Board of Trustees of the City University to catch the buzz on a possible successor.

One highly placed CUNY source, when asked
for the short list, long list, any list of potential
QC Presidents, responded requesting
anonymity: "I’ve heard only one name even mentioned so far.

"Queens Borough President Claire Shulman
has been talked about. I have no idea who first mentioned her, but she’s the only name."

Hmmm! No idea? Indeed!

Bush Leaguer

Rose Robles Birtley Republican candidate for the 7th Congressional District against incumbent Joe Crowley claims "timing is everything."

At the GOP Convention in Philly, Secret Service Agents tapped her to interpret for Presidential candidate George W. Bush at a rally honoring Hispanics. The rally, which highlighted Bush’s message of inclusion, was attended by, among others, a group of local Hispanic-Americans from the 7th Congressional District whose trip Birtley organized.

Welcome To The Neighborhood

Martha Flores-Vazquez, who will vie for the 20th District seat when the 2001 City Council elections roll around, is already on the fast track to increasing her campaign war chest.

The 20th CD seat, which covers much of northeastern Queens, is currently held by Julia Harrison — one of 36 of the Council’s 51 members to be forced out next year due to term limits. All 14 of the Queens Council hoohahs are term-limited.

Flores-Vazquez, in an effort to make a good showing in the fundraising charge among City Council candidates, hosted a fundraiser on Aug. 11 at the posh Verdi’s restaurant in Whitestone, Queens.

However, the release received by QConfidential regarding the fundraiser lists the elegant eatery as being located in "White Stone" — a community she hopes to represent.

Community residents may have a different two words for Flores-Vazquez as she tries to convince them she knows their neighborhood.

Ratstat

How do you devise ways to attack our borough’s rat problem?

Visit a city that has one too. Councilman Stephen Fiala and Councilman Bill Perkins, chairman of the New York City Council Select Committee on Pest Control, recently visited Washington D.C. to pick up a few pointers from a town also trying to solve a rodent riddle.

Fiala told the QConfidential that the trip went extremely well and that he was surprised at how organized D.C.’s pest policies were.

The Committee on Pest Control is currently attempting to pass abatement legislation to control some 50 million rats infesting the City, and is trying to start a "Ratstat" program that would track the prevalence of a rat-borne disease that can affect humans and pets.

The Hud Hunk

When HUD Secretary and rising star in the Democratic ranks Queens lad Andrew Cuomo married a Kennedy and settled in Douglaston Manor, his classmates at Fordham University and Albany Law School had a laugh over the irony of Cuomo’s choice of families to marry into.

A law school classmate told QConfidential that "Andrew was such a rabid womanizer in those days, that he reminded us not of his father (then Guv Mario Cuomo) but straight out of the Kennedy mold."

The heir apparent to the Cuomo legacy is in Los Angeles this week to attend the Democratic National Convention. In 1984, the senior Cuomo delivered a memorable keynote speech at the Dem’s convention in San Francisco that made a huge splash nationwide. He became the man that would be president. The younger Cuomo hopes to make his own splash in California this year by making the rounds and positioning himself for an eventual run for higher office – most likely a 2002 run for NY Guv.

However, a Fordham classmate of Cuomo’s warns that his past treatment of woman might come back to haunt him. "I’m not saying that Andrew has a Monica Lewinski in his life now that he’s married and has a family, but back at Fordham, my friends were turned off by his looks and his crudeness. No wonder he’s a member of Bill Clinton’s cabinet."

Ouch!