Just got back from a Norm Siegel for Public Advocate fundraiser in Brooklyn Heights (will blog it when I have a money report...turnout was good by my standard and lots of people were writing checks, but don't know the final tally)...

And just got off the phone with Jimmy Dahroug, running for NY State Senate, who is having a fundraiser Wednesday, January 9, 2008, 6 pm at 1050 Park Avenue, NYC (at East 87th Street). But I already blogged about that fundraiser (hope you all can make it! Jimmy's a great guy).

Tonight I want to invite you all to my apartment. Really! We will clean up all the toys lying around. Joy and I are hosting a fundraiser for my good friend, Josh Skaller on Thursday right in my own Park Slope, basement apartment.

Josh Skaller is running for New York City Council (39th district in Brooklyn, replacing Bill deBlasio). Josh is a really good friend and is one of the most honest, upstanding people I have ever met...certainly well above the average for Brooklyn politics...and most of our readers know full well how I feel about politics in Brooklyn. Josh's a real progressive and a reform minded Democrat.

Josh Skaller is President of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID), a club Joy is on the board of. He also serves as a board member and Field Director of Democracy for New York City (DFNYC). It was through these two organizations that we first got to know Josh, though we have since become buddies apart from politics.

Unlike most City Council candidates, Josh stands outside a political system that rewards predatory developers who buy their way into the hearts of our elected officials. Josh believes that unchecked development threatens the beauty and integrity of our neighborhoods, overtaxes public services from transportation to schools and health care, and places an incalculable burden on our fragile ecology. Josh believes that we must never again be caught off-guard by developers who work in secret to draft grandiose projects that are dropped without warning on an unprepared public. Working with other progressive legislators, he is drafting a comprehensive plan with strict guidelines for developers. The guidelines will explicitly ban such covert tricks as eminent domain abuse and "blight analysis," and the use of tax-exempt bonds to benefit for-profit companies.

Joy and I will be hosting a fundraiser for Josh Skaller on Thursday, January 10th, 6-9 PM. This will be a chance to meet and talk with Josh in a small group. We would appreciate a $25 contribution (OR MORE!) to Josh's campaign, but the main thing is to give you a chance to meet Josh. The event will be at our apartment, 195 Garfield Place, bell #11, Park Slope, Brooklyn. You can email me at mole333_at_gmail_dot_com for more info and to RSVP.