With the City Council's budget practices coming under fire as the slush fund scandal continues to simmer, Speaker Christine Quinn introduced new, tougher rules to reign in discretionary funds.

Any community groups or organizations who want more than $25,000 in Council funds must get "pre-clearance" to make sure it's a legitimate group--versus one fronted by Council staffers--and making sure all the details (which member sponsors the group, the tac ID, etc). Even though these are being hailed as the rigorous measures, the scandal has dimmed the public's perception of Quinn: A Quinnipiac poll found 52% believe Quinn knew about phantom groups getting city money.

And right now, there's an investigation into Councilman HIram Monserrate's spending--the NY Times reports there are "allegations that more than two dozen workers for the nonprofit agency, Libre, collected signatures to help Mr. Monserrate get on the ballot in 2006 for his unsuccessful bid for the 13th Senatorial District seat in Queens." The hits just keep coming!