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On last night’s program, Kelli Conlin, the head of a leading abortion-rights group, compared Caroline Kennedy to the woman she is trying to replace in the Senate. Watch the video above.

Tonight’s guests include: Former Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson; Our NY1 Wiseguys.

Rashbaum & Bagli write: “The Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, announced manslaughter charges on Monday against three construction supervisors and a subcontractor, saying their gross negligence in dismantling the former Deutsche Bank building played a critical role in the deaths of two firefighters who responded to a smoky blaze there in 2007.”

Willie Neuman notes: “Proposals being considered by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could raise the base subway and bus fare as high as $3, the 30-day MetroCard to $105, and bridge and tunnel tolls to $7 next year.”

David Halbfinger reports on how Caroline Kennedy won’t release information on her personal finances.

New York Post

David Seifman writes: “It keeps getting worse. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned yesterday that the city faces budget gaps of $3.5 billion and $8 billion in the next two fiscal years - far higher than previous forecasts.”

The AP reports: “Hillary Rodham Clinton has written off $13.1 million in personal funds that she lent her failed presidential campaign, according to new disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Clinton lent herself the money in several installments last spring while fighting Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nod.”

Fred Dicker writes in his column: “Gov. Paterson had better hang on to the flak jacket he wore in Baghdad - because he's going to be in the crosshairs when he returns to New York later this week.”

The New York Times published a fake letter from the mayor of Paris that criticized Caroline Kennedy.

The edit-heads write: “One year, four months and four days after two New York City firefighters suffocated high up in the hulk of the former Deutsche Bank building, Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau yesterday announced the findings of his glacial probe into the tragedy. What a surprise: Everybody's to blame, but not everybody will pay.”

In a guest op-ed column, Ken Adams of the State Business Council writes: “Let's admit it: New York is grappling with a fiscal crisis largely of its own making. The national recession and Wall Street meltdown magnify the problem, but New York has a $15 billion budget deficit not because we don't collect enough taxes, but because we spend too much.”

New York Daily News

Benjamin & Gendar write: “Hiram Monserrate’s girlfriend wants prosecutors to drop assault charges against the embattled Queens pol, despite telling cops last week that he slashed her in a jealous rage, law enforcement sources said yesterday. Karla Giraldo told cops Monserrate cut her face with a broken drinking glass after he discovered she had another man's police union card in her purse, sources said."

Strong & Zambito report: “Former City Commissioner Edwin Mendez-Santiago bragged about his passionate ‘gypsy’ blood and his lust for Dominican women, according to a sexual harassment lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court. Mendez-Santiago's former secretary Auritela Santos claims her boss' sexually suggestive language and repeated come-ons forced her off the job at the Department of Aging.”

The edit-heads write: “The manslaughter indictments filed in connection with the Deutsche Bank building fire bring some measure of satisfaction that justice is being done in the deaths of Firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino. So, too, a package of smart reforms and compensation secured by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau as he concluded an investigation that verged on hauling the City of New York and a major contractor into court as criminal defendants. But the charges leveled against three demolition supervisors and the actions promised by Mayor Bloomberg and the Bovis Lend Lease company fall short of full accountability for the sweeping malfeasance that enabled the two deaths.”

And op-ed columnist Bill Hammond writes: “Gov. Paterson listen carefully. Forget Caroline Kennedy. Forget Andrew Cuomo. Nevermind teachers union honcho Randi Weingarten or Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi. Ditto for the whole salivating New York congressional delegation. Cross off all of the names bandied about so far - by themselves or others - as replacements for departing Sen. Hillary Clinton. Anyone who looks on the Senate as a long-term career or a steppingstone to higher office should be immediately disqualified. Ambitious politicians need not apply. Instead, let everyone know you intend to appoint a placeholder. Someone who would solemnly promise, preferably in writing, to serve for two and only two years and not run for reelection in 2010.”

I will be off for the rest of the week. Happy Holidays and excelsior!

Bob Hardt

To drop us a line, write to political_itch@ny1.com.