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Thompson’s Ex-Wife Mulls Challenge To Parker
May 3rd - 8:36 am
Former city Comptroller’ Bill Thompson’s ex-wife, Sylvia Kinard, confirmed yesterday that she is mulling a primary challenge to controversial Brooklyn Sen. Kevin Parker. (This is an extended version of the second item in my DN column).
Kinard, a lawyer and minister who split from Thompson in 2005, told me in an e-mail she’s considering the race. She did not, however, respond to an inquiry about her residency. Voter registration records show Kinard last voted in the 2006 general election and does not live in Parker’s district. (She lives in the 18th).
Parker is under fire for yelling at Sen. John DeFrancisco during a Senate Finance Committee hearing last week, accusing the Syracuse Republican of racism. Parker then upped the ante by going on the radio and calling his GOP colleagues “white supremacists.”
During a telephone interview yesterday, Parker accused Mayor Bloomberg of pushing Kinard, noting the mayor backed his 2008 primary challenger, former City Councilman Simcha Felder.
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Parsing The Search For Skyler’s Replacement
Apr 14th - 1:03 pm
A thoughtful reader wrote in to note the individuals to whom Mayor Bloomberg reached out recently to discuss potential replacements for outgoing Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler have strong Albany ties and wondered if this is a sign that the mayor is re-thinking his traditionally combative relationship with the Legislature.
The Post’s David Seifman reported Monday that Bloomberg sent out “feelers” to Marc Shaw and Bruce Bender, seeking their input on a potential Skyler successor.
Shaw, who was first deputy mayor in the initial incarnation of the Bloomberg administration, has had a long career working at a variety of government posts – including a stint with the Senate Finance Committee. He also served as the executive director of the MTA, and some speculated he might again he headed in that direction when he joined the Paterson administration as a senior adviser in November 2008.
Shaw quietly left his post with Paterson – there was nary a public word about his departure – and resurfaced as interim chief financial officer at CUNY.
Bender served as chief of staff to former Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr. and is now executive vice president of Forest City Ratner, developer of the controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.
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