Brooklyn Ron

Mark Winston Griffith Wins Key Last Minute Endorsements, of Rev. Sharpton and NY Daily News

Housing activist Mark Winston Griffith picked up momentum over the past few days with key endorsements.

First, the Rev. Al Sharpton criticized incumbent Al Vann for going with Mayor Mike Bloomberg on the extension of term limits, which allowed the mayor and other council incumbents, including Vann, to serve another term -- assuming, of course, they are re-elected.

And then yesterday Griffith got the backing of the New York Daily News, which called Vann "lethargic."

This will be a race to watch. We don't know of polls that have been done at this hyper-local level, but there does seem to have been a groundswell of enthusiasm for some of the challengers, including Griffith, as well as Saquan Jones, a thirty-something bundle of energy who boasts of his rising from a public housing project in Queens; Tremaine Wright, who owns the Common Grounds cafe in Bed-Stuy; and Robert E. Cornegy, Jr., activist who campaigns often with his six children and is the son of a late, prominent minister.

Nick Perry Says Post Cartoonist and Editor Should Be Fired. Columnist Mike Daly Says Paper Must Apologize

The cartoon controversy continues.

In fact, some are betting The New York Post is secretly regretting the publication of Sean Delonas' cartoon, which depicted police shooting and killing a chimpanzee and then making (what many say was) a snickering comparison of the dead chimp with Barack Obama.

At its worst, critics say, the cartoon seemed to call for or make light of Obama being assassinated.

Of course, there's also the touchy racial association of a chimp with Obama, the first African American president.

Entering the fray with two fists swinging was Brooklyn Assemblyman Nick Perry, who is demanding The Post fire its top editor and Delonas.

"It is shameless behavior . . . especially when it is practiced
while clinging to the shelter of freedom of the press and expression,” Perry said in a statement.

Post editor-in-chief Col Allan has defended the cartoon, saying it is "a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut." Allan added in a statement that the cartoon "broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy."

Some have suggested that the Rev. Al Sharpton's complaints about the cartoon were sour grapes and  (in the words of Allan) opportunism. (Eight years ago, Delonas did a cartoon depicting Sharpton with a huge posterior being kissed by Freddy Ferrer. The drawing broadly offended the city's Blacks and Latinos.)

But Nick Perry had no horses in that race. And his outrage reflects wide and still growing outrage over the insensitivity of the cartoon.

New York Daily News columnist Michael Daly, for one, concluded, "What the Post needs to do is apologize."

Read Daly's column.

The Associated Press reported today that "The Post was deluged with angry calls for a second day Thursday as marchers carried signs that said 'Jail Billionaire N.Y. Post Owner Rupert Murdoch,' a reference to the media mogul who owns the Post, the Fox network and The Wall Street Journal."

And, by the way, has anyone heard from Rupert Murdoch?