Attorney General Andrew Cuomo made his first public appearance as gubernatorial candidate yesterday by marching in the Salute to Israel Parade down Fifth Avenue. With 15-year-old daughter Cara by his side and an Israeli flag in hand, he basked in cheers of "Go Cuomo!" and "Yeah Andrew!" And he promised he'd listen to the public, unlike some people upstate: "Politicians tend to follow what the people in the district want done, otherwise they are not politicians for long. You go to the people first, and get the people on your side. My mission is to develop an agenda for this state and to develop support among the people." more ›

Yesterday afternoon, after releasing a campaign video stating as much, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo finally announced that he is running for Governor of NY State this November. To strains of Bon Jovi's "Work For The Working Man," Cuomo said to the crowd gathered at the Tweed Courthouse in downtown Manhattan, "New York was not always like this. This is not New York at its best. I'm old enough to remember when it was better than this," reminding people of the dysfunction in Albany and issues on Wall Street. more ›

State Senator Kevin Parker, who shocked pretty much everyone when he called his Republican colleagues "racists" and "white supremacists" last week (and stood by those remarks), decided to apologize yesterday. Sort of. The Brooklyn Democrat started, "To the extent that my words last week brought commotion and emotion to this house in ways that may distract or divert us from the important work of the people of New York State, work that’s so important for all of us. I offer my sincerest apologies for my zealous advocacy." more ›

There's political upside to having a bad temper and calling some of your State Senate colleagues "racists" and "white supremacists"—you get invited to speak on political public affairs programs! State Senator Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn) said during an interview for WCBS 2's Eye on New York (which airs tomorrow morning), "It got me on this show. I've been in the senate for eight years and no one's ever invited me here." Here's some of the exchange:

CBS 2 HD: "What about the specific charge that they are … that the Republicans are white supremacists? Do you back off of that? Do you apologize?" more ›

State Senator Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn) did not back down from his "hyperbolic" outburst on Tuesday, where he accused Republican colleague State Senator John DeFrancisco of racism. On a radio show, he said, "You have these ... long-term white supremacists ... Republican senators, who you know have been in the majority for a long time. They've lost the majority. You now have a number of African-Americans and Latinos and women and gays running the Senate and they have a real problem with that." more ›

So that deal to share power between State Senate minority leader Malcolm Smith and the "Gang of Three" Senators is dead. Smith said this morning, "When we first started out, the discussion was about reform and changing the government," but now negotiations were suspended "effective immediately." City Room reports that someone asked Smith, "You really thought this was about reform?" Ha! more ›