Clinton bombs at D.I.D., too: In yet another Downtown Democratic club snubbing Hillary Clinton for her pro-war position, last week Downtown Independent Democrats decided to ride the peace train (er, bike), endorsing her primary election rival, Jonathan Tasisni, over her for the Senate by a vote of 16-13. Three weeks ago, as first reported in The Villager on May 17, despite the Daily News’s “exclusive” claim yesterday, Village Independent Democrats also endorsed Tasini. D.I.D.’s district in part includes Ground Zero, and though Clinton supporters in D.I.D. spoke positively of her efforts there, the majority felt she had “abandoned her base.” “Bush pre-emptively invaded Iraq, but Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or Ground Zero. It is tragic that Clinton conveniently forgets this,” said Sean Sweeney, club president. The discontent with her vote on the war has been compounded by her subsequent refusal to apologize or distance herself from that vote, Sweeney added. By contrast, other federal legislators in D.I.D.’s district either voted against the war (Congressmember Jerry Nadler) or admitted they were misled (Congressmember Carolyn Maloney). Also, Clinton’s support for flag-burning legislation was viewed as ignoring First Amendment protections in order to pander to the right, Sweeney said. Her support of NAFTA also did not go over well with “trade unionists” in the club, nor did her support for the Defense of Marriage Act enamor her with gay club members. “The nail in the coffin was undoubtedly her recent embrace of Rupert Murdoch,” Sweeney said of Clinton’s acceptance of the right-wing media mogul’s throwing a fundraiser for her. “It appears that progressive Democratic clubs are shying away from her as she moves toward the center.” Tasini is calling for a rapid pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq and recently did a 600-mile ride for peace around the state. However, Sweeney noted that Denny Farrell, State Democratic Party head, is refusing to let Tasini speak to the Reform Caucus at the party’s convention in Buffalo this week, citing a never-before-utilized provision that states any speaker before the caucus must have 10 members petition to have him or her speak. “So much for reform, when it comes to having an antiwar candidate challenge the doyenne of the State Democratic Party,” groused Sweeney. For state attorney general, the highest vote-getter was Sean Patrick Maloney, followed by Andrew Cuomo, with Mark Green coming in third. However, because no candidate got a clear majority, the club made no official endorsement. It was decided individual club members are free to gather ballot petition signatures for whichever A.G. candidate they please.
+ For McCain speech: While some New School University students — at least those not hurling catcalls — reported dozing off during John McCain’s commencement speech, former Mayor Ed Koch is hailing it. Koch recently bumped into the Arizona senator while Hizzoner was in D.C. where he had been invited by Hillary Clinton to hear Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert address Congress. The following day Koch wrote McCain to tell him that his New School speech was “brilliant.” “Your entire speech is one of the best I have ever read, and I am going to share it with friends,” Koch wrote.
Calls out Glick: O.K., O.K., already, so Arthur Schwartz decided not to run against Brad Hoylman for first vice chairperson of Community Board 2 after Assemblymember Deborah Glick, a Hoylman ally, branded Schwartz “divisive” and Hoylman called him a “lightning rod,” in a bruising one-two punch. Schwartz has already disagreed with being characterized as a lightning rod. Now he’s calling Glick’s bluff: He wants to know, just how exactly has he been divisive, huh? Glick didn’t return a call for comment.
Glamorous life: Saying that the “glamour has returned to Christopher St.,” a reader who has had enough of “C. B. 2 gossip” in Scoopy, tells us that the street was recently a mob scene outside the Lucille Lortel Theater where Academy Award-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, Fran Drescher of “The Nanny” and Eric McCormack, formerly of “Will & Grace,” were wowing the crowds.
Pitched out: Monday was a busy day for Judith Stiles. First she covered Kenneth Podziba, the city’s Sports commissioner, throwing out the first pitch of the inaugural Mayor’s Borough Cup championship game at Pier 40 on W. Houston St. in a game won by the Greenwich Village Little League team. Then, later on, she was off to Shea Stadium to watch her movie actress daughter Julia toss the first pitch at the Mets game, which the Amazin’s won in extra innings.
Sake to me: Just to clarify this, Bill Crowley of the State Liquor Authority said Sake Bar Satsko’s offering two sake bombs for $10 in a contest to see who can drink them fastest “does not seem to be illegal” under the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, “though we certainly don’t think it’s a good idea,” he added. But now the S.L.A.’s getting curious itself about this new craze called competitive sake bombing. “We would have an investigator look into how many times can someone compete in the sake bombing in one hour,” Crowley said. “We would look into it to see how the contest is run.” For its part, Satsko on E. Seventh St. certainly earned some serious community points recently by pitching in a raffle prize at the La Plaza Cultural Springfest to help repair the E. Ninth St. and Avenue C garden’s rear retaining wall.
Strickler memorial: A memorial service for Arthur Strickler, late district manager of C. B. 2, will be held June 7 at 6 p.m. at the Village Temple B’nai Israel, 33 E. 12th St.
