22d AD Dem Primary Campaign Heats Up

Campaign workers for Ellen Young, the regular Democratic organization's choice in the 22nd Assembly District

Flushing) primary, are taking no chances in building her support for the September 12 primary election.

Young, the former chief of staff to City Councilmember John Liu, just added Congressmember Gregory Meeks

D-Eastern Queens) to her long list of endorsers.

At the same time, Grace Meng, one of Young's primary opponents, got the endorsement of the Working Families Party (WFP), ensuring the attorney, who is the daughter of incumbent Assemblymember Jimmy Meng, of a line on the ballot in the general election in November.

Jimmy Meng's retirement from the Assembly for medical reasons set up the primary to replace him. Others seeking the post are veteran pol Julia Harrison and Terrence Park.

Young's endorsers include many incumbents, including Liu, of course, Congressmembers Joseph Crowley and Gary Ackerman, Assemblymembers Jose Peralta, Nettie Mayersohn, Vivian Cook and Michael Gianaris, state Senators Toby Stavisky, Ada Smith and Malcolm Smith and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.

Her other endorsers include Borough President Helen Marshall and Councilmembers Leroy Comrie, Peter Vallone Jr., Diana Reyna, Thomas White, James Gennaro, David Weprin and Joseph Addabbo Jr.

Young also was endorsed by I AM PAC, an Italian American political organization which cited Young's "long history in government and community involvement and commitment to remove all forms of discrimination and negative stereotyping."

CAMPAIGN CASH: Recent campaign filings for statewide candidates show the rich getting richer and the poor going into debt.

Eliot Spitzer supported by a huge number of Hollywood celebrities and other notables, raised $11 million in the last six months, had $16.3 million in the bank, but spent $13.3 million on campaign ads and wound up with $14 million in cash.

His opponent for the Dem nomination, Thomas R. Suozzi, raised $4 million in the past six months and after expenses, had $2.8 million on hand, $11 million less than Spitzer.

Republican candidate John Faso reported he had $1.4 million in the bank.

In the race for the United States Senate seat, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has about $22 million in her war chest. Republicans who hope to oppose her in November, KT McFarland and John Spencer, are both deep in debt.

Andrew Cuomo, the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic nomination for New York attorney general also leads three challengers in the money race by a wide margin.

Cuomo raised $2.1 million in the past six months to bring his total war chest to $6 million. His closest rival in the polls, Mark Green, took in $700,000 in the past half year to bring his total bank account to $2 million.

Sean Patrick Mahoney raised $750,000 in the six-month reporting period and doesn't have much more than that as a total. Charlie King, the fourth attorney general candidate has not filed for the six month period.

On the Republican side, candidate Jeanine Pirro raised $2.7 million, which added to the $2.1 million she had on hand, gave her $4.8 million, less what she spent before that. She's clearly in a better cash position than Cuomo's three Dem rivals, but trails Cuomo in the finances department as well as in the polls.

TERM LIMITS TOPIC SURFACES AGAIN: A poll was commissioned by Council Speaker Christine Quinn seeking to determine the public's like or dislike for term limits, but results of it have not been released by her consultants.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg again voiced strong opposition to removing the term limits that went into effect with the 2001 election. They limit the mayor and two other citywide officials, the 51 councilmembers, and the five borough presidents to two consecutive four-year terms in office. The current group of incumbents will complete their second terms at the end of 2008 and will not be able to run for re-election unless the law is changed before that.

Quinn has gone on record already as favoring changes in the law to allow present incumbents to serve a third four-year term. The mayor has countered with strong opposition to her position.

Quinn is joined by most of the present councilmembers in supporting changes in the law, so the situation looks like it could develop into a fiercely contested issue on both sides. Quinn's announcement that she had the poll done appears to be the opening shot in placing the issue on the table for debate.

RUDY VS. HILLARY: Amid all of the speculation over whether Senator Clinton and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani expect to be seeking the U.S. presidency in 2008, the two super-powerful pols are certainly acting like they'll be out there thrashing each other, judging by the way they are giving financial support to current candidates in several states.

The contributions are considered a good way to build up support for the future.

According to reports, Clinton gave $24,000 to Democratic candidates or the Democratic party in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. All three are early primary states in presidential election years.

Giuliani, meanwhile, has given out a total of $84,000 this month to fellow Republicans, many of them in battleground states such as New Hampshire, Illinois, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The funds came from Solutions America, Giuliani's federal political action committee or PAC, which recently raised about $1.4 million in a single Manhattan fundraiser at the posh Four Seasons restaurant. The PAC still has $1.4 million on hand.

Clinton was said to have given out $98,000 last month to candidates in several states through her Hill PAC.

Recent polls show Giuliani running ahead of Clinton among New York voters in a possible 2008 matchup. That's surprisingly bad for Clinton, the state's incumbent junior senator.