Gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan, of the RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH party, was on The Wendy Williams Show today. Besides noting his resemblance to another wise figure, Williams chatted with him about his rent, asking him, "I understand you’re a 64-year old retired postal worker who lives in Brooklyn and paying $800 a month in rent?" To which McMillan said, "I pay a little bit more than that, but I want to focus on the people - that’s why I tell them that story, it’s not about me it’s about the people." more ›

Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey (who also spent last year working on Bloomberg's possible presidential run) isn't that happy with The New Yorker's revelation that young mayors like Newark's Cory Booker and DC's Adrian Fenty apparently call Mayor Bloomberg "Papa Smurf." He Tweeted, "Mayors, can we go w/ @mikebloomberg as Obi Wan?" (and linked to a Washington City Paper post about what Smurf persona fit Fenty best). Clearly Star Wars is big in the Bloomberg administration—Deputy Mayor Ed Sklyer is a huge fan, too! However, @mikebloomberg himself has not commented on the Papa Smurf nickname. [Via PolitickerNY] more ›

In this week's issue of the New Yorker, reporter Ben McGrath looks at Mayor Bloomberg—headline, "THE UNTOUCHABLE," subhead, "Can a good mayor amass too much power?" While the article offers an image of Bloomberg with a crown hovering over his head, the caption says this, "Ambitious younger mayors around the country call him Papa Smurf." Indeed, further into the piece, McGrath writes, "[Newark mayor Cory] Booker and other ambitious younger mayors around the country, like Adrian Fenty, in Washington, D.C., call him Papa Smurf." more ›