City Hall North
A reader familiar with City Hall's lobbying efforts in Albany notes the flipside of the new hires at the mayor's legislative affairs office in the state capital , which is that a number of seasoned veterans have moved on. This number includes the man who headed the office for eight years, Skip Piscitelli, who is now in the city working for the FDNY commissioner.
The most significant common trait if the new staffers, despite my earlier assertion, isn't that the legislative experience they have, but the experience they have working directly for the mayor.
Also, for the first time, they'll have their own press office, which should help churn out some informative stories about what's happening in Albany when everything changes.
-- Azi Paybarah
WAKE UP!! The Mayor is setting up a POLITICAL OPERATION in Albany with a press mouthpiece for the person of getting more of his message across. For all the criticism of Hevesi using staff to chauffer his sick wife around, Bloomberg has turned City HAll into a big political operation.
Everyone in Albany respects Piscatelli; the removal of such a competent professional by the blatant political publicity hounds at City Hall are a demonstration that the scandal watchers should look to Bloomberg not Hevesi and Pirro.
I'm not a Bloomberg fan but name the last Mayor who DIDN'T turn City Hall into a big political operation. Fiorello?
Mercury Man is correct: Piscatelli was/is respected by everyone in Albany. Obviously Kevin Sheekey wanted a more confrontational operation. This sets the stage for the first year of the Bloomberg-- Spitzer War.
The appointment of Michelle Goldstein makes perfect sense since Skip never had the confidence of either the Giuliani or Bloomberg Administrations. In Goldstein they get an aggressive, smart, articulate woman who has a real command of the issues. This change took much longer than anyone ever expected and city hall should have more confidence now than they've had in at least 4 years.
It's the politics, stupid. Someone should write about the real story here: why there has been 300% staff turnover in Bloomberg's Albany office since Piscitelli left, why nothing was done to keep any of them, why none of them (all Bloomberg hires) were made Deputy (instead there was a Pataki hire???), and why 85% of Goldstein's "new lobbying team" are kids vastly under 30 who have never even been to Albany. Anyone who knows Albany knows it's not about who's in charge, it's about the competency of your staff.
I love is right. Goldstein is an amateur. She's never been a real player and always been second fiddle to others. This is more about Sheeky hiring someone who can't possible outshine him so he can control all the state issues from city hall. Do you really think Goldstein is going to sit and deal with Bruno or Silver. They wouldn't know who she was if they tripped over her.