Fashionable Donors in Race for Manhattan Beep

Although the race to fill the seat of outgoing Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields isn't quite as hot as the race for mayor, an article in this week's Observer reports that at least one candidate has begun to rake in some contributions--and from fashionable donors, no less.

Brian Ellner, an openly gay attorney who is one of a handful of candidates running for the Beep job, evidently has attracted A-list supporters to his campaign, including Diane von Furstenberg and culture czarina Ingrid Sischy. According to the article, he still has a way to go in his fundraising, having raised only $170,000 (which, with New York Citys public matching-funds program, could translate into almost $500,000). By law, candidates for Borough President can only spend $1.289 million.

Other challengers in the race (all Democrats) include fiesty downtown councilwoman Margarita Lopez (who can give a passionate speech about just about any issue), State Senator Scott Stringer (who counts Dr. Dre among his supporters), and Upper East Side councilwoman Eva Moskowitz.