First, the "full disclosure": I am the campaign coordinator for Leavitt for our Communities.

Last fall, when the City Council passed Mayor Bloomberg's term limit extension, one of the major arguments Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn used was that they were offering us "choice." Of course, our choices have become much more limited now, because the only "choice" Bloomberg, Quinn, et. al. want us to have is themselves.

In Queens, the Borough President was going to be term-limited out, and at least three people were set to vie for the position; all three have dropped out, leaving us with no "choice."

Until now.

Marc Leavitt, a Queens lawyer and long-time activist, is running for Queens Borough President. He has already demonstrated, in just one month, an ability to raise the kind of money needed to run a viable campaign, and the money is still flowing in.

We have a website up, at http://marccrawfordleavitt.com. It is very basic right now, but we're still gearing up.

This Monday, June 8, we are having a grand opening at our campaign headquarters at 50-11 Queens Blvd. in Woodside (take the #7 local train to 52nd St.), starting at 6:00. Feel free to stop in and meet the candidate.

Tuesday, of course, is when petitioning begins. We'd love to have anyone who is a registered Democrat in New York come out and get signatures. You can reach me about this at my e-mail address, at dan - at - danjacoby.com.

Remember, this campaign is not only about Marc's experience and ideas for making Queens a better place to be, it's also about choice -- having a real choice, that is.