Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Considering Barack Obama offered the job of Surgeon General to CNN's Sanjay Gupta, it's only to be expected that some equally surprising political appointments would get bandied about. Here's another one you can add to the list: Rumor has it that Obama is thinking about naming Anna Wintour as his ambassador to England or France, at least according to the "extremely insider rumors" picked up by Fashion Week Daily. Excellent choice! Not only will it go a long way to restoring America's reputation on the European continent, it will functions as the perfect exit strategy for Anna as Vogue continues its downward descent!

Paging Dr. Gupta | Barack Obama has offered the job of Surgeon General to CNN's Sanjay Gupta, and he may accept the position in the next few days, "according to people familiar with the situation at the television network and in the Obama transition." As far as we know, Dr. Drew Pinsky has not yet been tapped to serve as drug czar, but the position is still open, so here's hoping! [NYT]

Kennedy Love Affair Very Much Over | A new poll indicates support for Caroline Kennedy has plummeted the last few weeks. Some 44 percent of voters say their opinion of Kennedy has gotten worse since she started, you now, "campaigning." To make matters worse, Andrew Cuomo has become the more popular choice among Democrats, leading Kennedy 54 to 34 percent. [NBC]

If Michael Bloomberg is so interested in trimming the city's budget, allow us to kindly suggest one way to save the city $250,008.00 in 2009: Fire Kevin Sheekey immediately. The pit bull deputy mayor, who championed Bloomberg's non-bid for the White House and then counseled his boss against running for a third term (advice his boss ignored, of course), is now on the hot seat for his aggressive efforts to get Caroline Kennedy named as Hillary Clinton's successor in the Senate. And yet his attempt to strong-arm the political establishment—like, say, instructing the head of a union to support Kennedy because she, too, is Irish—has only managed to do more damage than good. "Everything was backfiring," a source told the Post of Sheekey's efforts to corral support on Kennedy's behalf. More

The Inevitable Caroline Remix | After all the obsessive coverage of Caroline Kennedy's verbal tics the last few days (and the potential damage her ineloquence will have on her bid to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat), it was only a matter of time before someone uploaded a Kennedy remix to the Web. The video is after the jump, but don't listen to it for more a few seconds. The original was bad enough. Listening to two "you know"-filled minutes is bound to drive any sane person mad. More

A Parting Gift for George | Here's an interesting idea courtesy of author Michael Gross: If you're doing a little year-end cleaning around the house and you have a few pairs of shoes you were planning to give to charity or toss in the trash, why not wrap up a single shoe in a pretty package with a bow and send it to the President Bush? The only thing better than seeing George Bush duck a flying shoe would be the sight of 50,000 of them piled up on the White House lawn. [MGross.com]

Wolfson Signs on with Bloomberg | Great news for anyone concerned that the upcoming race for City Hall would be a dull one. Michael Bloomberg has tapped Howard Wolfson to serve as the public face of his campaign, a move that should "bring a redoubled pugnaciousness to the mayor's re-election team." [City Room]

Bill Clinton: Good News, Bad News | Bill Clinton finally came clean today and posted a list of the more than 200,000 people who have donated to his foundation over the years. Unfortunately, putting the information on his website—after declining to do so for so long now—probably explains why the Clinton Foundation website is now down. Try again later, scandal-seeking Republicans! [NYT]

Moments ago, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey confirmed that he will be recusing himself from the ongoing investigation into Bernie Madoff. The Justice Department didn't specify a specific reason for his decision to step aside—early reports have suggested that Mukasey's son, Marc, may be planning to represent a defendant in the case. But we can report a much more likely—and personal—reason why the Madoff case poses a serious conflict for the AG. Mukasey's own synagogue was ripped off by Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. More

Cindy Adams Thinks Six Steps Ahead | Caroline Kennedy hasn't even been tapped to fill Hillary Clinton's seat in the Senate (yet), but that isn't stopping Cindy Adams from speculating that she's going to become the first female president of the U.S. The logic? "Assume Caroline gets appointed 2009, officially elected to fill out Hillary's term 2010, re-elected to serve her own term 2012. Meanwhile, Barack's elected 2008. Re-elected 2012. Leaves 2016. By then she's a sitting senator, having served longer than Barack. He was in the Senate four years. She'd have been in six years. She'd still only be in her 50s. She can be the first woman president." There you go! Just keep in mind that Adams also predicted McCain would turn the tide at the last minute and end up beating Obama. [NYP]

Say Hello to the iTax | You thought Governor Paterson's proposed tax on non-diet drinks was silly? It gets better. As part of his new $121 billion budget, Paterson is also proposing an "iPod tax," which would assess state and local sales taxes on "digitally delivered entertainment services." [NYDN]

More Cuts, Fewer Seats | For the second time in three months, Mayor Bloomberg has ordered city agencies to cut back on spending. Just how is the already-strapped city bureaucracy going to do that? Here's your answer (or one of them, at least): The MTA is planning to test out seat-less subway cars, so more people can crowd into trains after the agency cuts back on service. [NYT, WCBS]

William Thompson Isn't Giving Up | Have you heard that William Thompson, New York City's comptroller, is running for mayor? Probably not, since the man he's going up against is slightly better known to the public (not to mention slightly better funded). But Thompson is clearly making headway with the city's most prominent celebrities and movers and shakers! His fundraiser last night attracted rapper Kurtis Blow! [NYDN]

Caroline's a Longshot | Sorry, fans of scandal-prone political dynasties: "The odds of Gov. Paterson choosing Caroline Kennedy to replace soon-to-be Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the US Senate are no better than 20-1, a source close to the governor said yesterday." [NYP]

More trouble seems to be brewing for Steve Rattner, the mega-financier who runs Quadrangle Capital and the man responsible for managing Michael Bloomberg's vast fortune. Last week the firm announced plans to shut down a $500 million hedge fund focused on media investments after the value of the fund declined and investors started demanding their money back. Now comes word that Quadrangle's magazine holdings are in trouble. In 2007, Quadrangle paid $250 million for Alpha Media, the company that publishes Maxim and Blender, and lured Jann Wenner's former right-hand, Kent Brownridge, to run the company. Brownridge departed Alpha in August amid rumors the publishing company was in trouble. Today the Journal reports that the company really is in deep trouble, having fallen behind on its debt payments to Steve Feinberg's Cerberus Capital. Rattner may ultimately  be forced to hand over Alpha to the company's creditors. But that's not the only disappointing news that has landed at Rattner's feet in recent weeks. More