Chaptzem Blog!      

Former City & State reporter Chris Bragg has landed at Crain’s Insider, at least for the time being, according to an email he sent out to his sources earlier this afternoon. “A quick FYI – Starting on Monday, I’ll be writing the Crain’s Insider for at least the next month, along with Andrew Hawkins,” Mr. Bragg wrote. “Whether this goes on longer depends on a few different factors with Crains’ business model, and my own plans, but should be fun for the moment!”

Azi Paybarah, reporting on Lincoln Restler‘s electoral party last night, “But in Hasidic Williamsburg, ‘Boss Vito Lopez and Stevey Levin delivered him 6,000 votes,” Restler said, as he pounded the wooden podium.”

A source in Hasidic Williamsburg who supported Mr. Restler’s opponent Chris Olechowski broke down the numbers further, providing a spread sheet to boot. The source said the city’s preliminary count of the district’s six mostly Hasidic voting sites yielded 5,226 (63%) for Mr. Olechowski, and 3,110 (37%) for Mr. Restler. They noted, “However these numbers include the Hispanic votes for Restler in the mixed ED’s of the public housing where Restler polled much closer to Olechowski.”

The New York Times looked at Chris Olechowski’s seemingly improbable–and still contested–win. Quote one Olechowski supporter, “I like Vito Lopez — he’s good for the community — he saved the summer camps.”

The NYC Board of Elections’ full unofficial results can be found here. Observers of the June 26th primary drama in New York’s 13th Congressional District would caution you from writing these numbers down in stone.

Candidates aren’t the only ones that get to bask in the glory of their wins last night; their consultants are also taking a victory lap. One particularly pleased firm was The Advance Group, which touted almost running the table. ”We won 7 out of 8 races that we had our hands in; most of those insurgent or open seats,” the firm’s president Scott Levenson told Politicker in a statement. “Combined with the Hakeem Jeffries victory of late June, by any analysis it’s been a banner year for our firm.”

Their flagship win might have been Mark Gjonaj securing a majority of the vote against incumbent Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera. While Ms. Rivera is under investigation for abusing her office, she hadn’t been officially accused of anything, and the Bronx establishment went all out. Brooklyn politicos might note that Jon Yedin ran point for the firm on this campaign, which likely sent out some aggressive mailers against Ms. Rivera.

Another consultant pleased with last night is Parkside Consulting, which also won all but one race. Notably, they helped pull Ron Kim, a former Parkside staffer, across the finish line in a tough primary where most insiders felt him to be the underdog on Election Day. “When he is sworn in next year, Ron will become the first Korean American from New York in elective office,” Parkside noted in a press release. “As we all saw so vividly last night, the entire community has embraced Ron as a leader representing the future of our great city.” Parkside also helped Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs, who won by one of the most surprisingly large margins of any incumbent legislator facing a serious primary challenge.

Andrew Cuomo batted a cool 5-for5 in primary endorsements.

Lost in the hubbub of yesterday’s elections, the city’s campaign finance board issued a number of violations. Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez seemed to have accrued fines for improperly directing a campaign expenditure to Brooklyn’s likely next Democratic leader, Frank Seddio.

http://politicker.com/2012/09/evening-read-i-like-vito-lopez/