• • Sound Bites • • |
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VERMIN ALERT: Rats have always been a pesky City problem, but things are now worse
than ever and our local pols are fighting back. The City Council held its first-ever
hearings on man’s least favorite furry friend last week and heard horror stories of
rats jumping out from behind kitchen sinks and cases of rats eating away at parked
car’s engines.
Manhattan Councilmember Bill Perkins, who heads the
Select Committee on Pest Control, wore a button that read, "Starve a Rat Today."
Health Department officials now estimate that the City’s rat population is at an
all-time high, with the rodents outnumbering humans 6-1. Head for the hills! |
| • DARK CLOUDS:
The job of being a TV weatherman always seemed like a low-pressure career, with sunny
talking heads populating the airwaves. But another local weatherman hit some storm clouds
last week, when WCBS-TV’s Mark Danon was suspended by the station because of
an arrest for buying two one-gram bags of cocaine in midtown. Danon joins a notorious list
of City weatherman who’ve had foggy careers, dating back to WABC’s Tex
Antoine, who was axed after he made an off-color rape joke on the air in 1976. It must
be something in the air. |
Green Not Blue
Who knows, maybe things are looking
up for Public Advocate Mark Green.
Many local pundits — including this
page — said he was the big loser in the Mayor’s decision to quit the Senate
race. Now on an even footing with Comptroller Alan Hevesi and Council Speaker Peter
Vallone — not to mention other Dem hopefuls like Freddy Ferrer from the
Bronx and Sal Albanese from Brooklyn — Green will have to prove on his own
that he’s the right man for Gracie, rather than leapfrog into office through arcane
succession rules.
But last week, Green got some encouraging
news. First, the kinder and gentler Rudy Giuliani proved just what
a changed man he is since the marital blow-up and his cancer scare, when he invited his
long-time nemesis Green to a bill signing last week — the first time the Mayor has
invited Green to one of these feel-good events since 1995.
The bill the Mayor signed requires
almost every city agency to distribute voter registration forms (is this how the Mayor is
trying to reach out to those left behind?). After the event, witnesses report that
Giuliani went over to Green, patted him on the back and the two men left the room together
for a brief private meeting.
Does this mean that the Mayor may show some
support for Green, now that Hevesi and Vallone have been even bigger thorns in his side in
recent months? After the unpredictable events
of the past month, political insiders aren’t ruling anything out.
On the polling front, there’s more
good news for Green. The most recent poll of likely Democratic candidates in 2001,
conducted by Manhattanville College in January, shows that Green is ahead of the pack with
25%. Al Sharpton pulled 13%, Hevesi 12%, Ferrer 11% and Vallone 11%.
As a Green insider told us late last week, mark his words,
Green’s not blue.
McCall's Silver
Bullet
According to some insiders, the biggest
winner in the Sheldon Silver-Michael Bragman Assembly showdown recently was State
Comptroller H. Carl McCall. Although Bragman has been actively supporting the
popular Comptroller, Silver has been said to be leaning towards supporting Andrew Cuomo
for the Guv nomination in 2002.
Not anymore it seems.
Some well-placed sources say that when
Bronx Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez went into the room to negotiate with Silver to
save the Speaker’s political hide, Ramirez demanded that the Lower East Side pol
switch his allegiance from Cuomo to McCall.
In his desperate attempt to keep his precious political
clout in Albany, Silver is said to have assured Ramirez that he would support McCall in
2002.
Fore!
Colorado resident John Baker is
planning to see a slice of America — or a drive, or a putt.
On September 1, Baker will place his foot
in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego and take the first swing in his quest to hit a golf
ball across America.
Baker figures the trip, which should take
10,000 strokes just to get through California, will take about a year. He hopes to follow
Interstate 10, and cover 10 miles a day while camping out at night. He plans to take his
last shot into the Atlantic Ocean at Jacksonville, Florida.
Baker’s selling CD's of his songs to finance the trip,
and he says that he’ll consider a book deal or an offer for a "movie of the
week." Until these come through, you can follow his progress on his website, www.patentcritic.com.
Stern's Vote
It worked for George Pataki and Christine
Todd Whitman.
So it’s no surprise that Jay
Rosnick was elected for student council president of Neshaminy High School in suburban
Philadelphia. After all, he was endorsed by radio shock jock Howard Stern.
Three days before his fellow students went
to the polls, 17-year-old Rosnick decided that his lackluster campaign needed a boost. So
he called Stern’s show, to which he is an avid listener, and managed to get through
to the self-proclaimed "King of All Media."
Stern agreed to allow Rosnick to call back
just before the candidates would be able to make their final pitches on the school’s
public address system, as long as the principal agreed.
Principal Mark Collins was reluctant
until he spoke to Stern’s producers, who promised that the usually raunchy radio host
would be on his best behavior. He also admired Rosnick’s initiative.
So, when Rosnick took the microphone and
held up the phone, Stern told the students of Neshaminy High — and his listeners
nationwide — the virtues of Rosnick’s candidacy.
Three days later, Rosnick came from behind
to win over three other candidates.
But while Rosnick rode Stern’s endorsement to victory,
he decided against using the host’s proposed campaign slogan: "Hey, I’m not
a serial killer."
| Confidentially
New York . . . |
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E-MAIL your items to: conf@queenspress.com |
