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Employing show-biz metaphors, the Rev. Al Sharpton told Hillary Clinton that it’s time for her to quit the presidential race.[hiband/loband].
James Barron writes: “Representative Vito J. Fossella, the Staten Island Republican who was arrested on drunken-driving charges in Virginia last week, acknowledged on Thursday that he had fathered a daughter, now 3, in an extramarital affair. But he declined to address questions about his political future.”
Jonathan Hicks notes: “Representative Vito J. Fossella has left open the door to fighting for a sixth term in Congress, but there is a sense among politicians — both Democratic and Republican — as well as analysts that the embattled congressman’s political prospects are dim at best.”
Charlie Bagli reports: “Six weeks after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority selected Tishman Speyer Properties to build a vast complex of office towers, apartment buildings and parks over the railyards on the West Side of Manhattan, the deal has fallen apart.”
Nick Confessore notes: “Hundreds of lawyers across the state have been illegally granted state pension benefits by school districts, towns and other governmental entities, according to Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who has opened an investigation into the abuses.”
Following Mayor Bloomberg in Northern Ireland, Michael Barbaro files a reporter’s notebook.
New York Post
Chuck Bennett writes: “Vito Fossella said yesterday that politics are the last thing on his mind, but the rest of Staten Island is abuzz over the fate of his prized congressional seat.”
Page Six notes that the good-government Citizens Union group could try harder to practice what it preaches.
The edit-heads rip Rep. John Conyers for planning on holding a forum on the Sean Bell shooting in New York on Monday.
And the editorial board also thinks that Rep. Fossella needs to resign.
New York Daily News
A News quartet reports: “Maybe they didn't have a clue on Staten Island, but Vito Fossella's double life wasn't a state secret in the manicured Virginia suburb where his mistress and love child live - or in the halls of Congress.”
And a News trio observes: “From teflon to toast. Vito Fossella quickly climbed to political success, but no matter what he does now, he can most likely kiss any political future goodbye.”
A different News trio writes: “The Queens judge who cleared three city cops of killing Sean Bell has ordered all evidence from the controversial case turned over to the feds, sources said Thursday. Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman released the evidence so the Justice Department could begin weighing whether there are grounds to try the detectives on civil rights charges, the sources said.”
Keith Herbert writes: “Gov. David A. Paterson met yesterday with Sean Bell's family at his office in Manhattan, where he endorsed a proposal to test officers involved in shootings for alcohol or drugs. The reform is being sought by activists after Bell's 50-shot slaying in 2006.”
New York Sun
Jacob Gershman reports: “To the surprise of the Albany press corps, Mr. Bloomberg has expressed interest in participating in the reporters’ annual satire show taking place later this month.”
Joseph Goldstein notes: “Lawyers for Mayor Bloomberg are asking a judge to ban any reference to the Second Amendment during the upcoming trial of a gun shop owner who was sued by the city. While trials are often tightly choreographed, with lawyers routinely instructed to not tell certain facts to a jury, a gag order on a section of the Constitution would be an oddity.”
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