Election Briefs

split endorsements from manhattan pols-three manhattan elected officials have made split endorsements in the race for comptroller.

borough president scott stringer and assembly member linda rosenthal threw their support to john liu, a council member from queens.

liu has racked up most of his support from unions and the city's black and latino lawmakers. stringer and rosenthal's endorsement gives him a boost in the upper west and east sides, where democratic primary voters come out to the polls in droves.

stringer cited liu's independence and work on education and transit issues as chair of the council's transportation committee.

"john has been a consistent and progressive voice on issues that matter most to middle-class families," stringer said in a statement.

council member david yassky of brooklyn has added state sen. tom duane, who represents parts of both the east and west sides, to his list of endorsements. duane called yassky a "true progressive" on affordable housing, civil rights and government reform.

"as comptroller, david will continue his progressive fight to root out wasteful spending, demand accountability and results and get our city's economy back on track," duane said in a statement.

the support from duane came on the heels of yassky landing the coveted backing of the new york times, a powerful endorsement in what is expected to be a low-turnout democratic primary.

but breaking with duane's fellow politicians, the state senator endorsed cy vance for district attorney over richard aborn, who enjoys immense popularity among manhattan's elected officials.

duane met with all candidates, which also includes leslie crocker snyder, but cited vance's 25 years of experience on both sides of the justice system, calling him the "people's prosecutor."

vance also won the times' backing.

comptroller-hopeful david weprin, a council member from queens, called on the nypd to stop towing cars if owners cannot retrieve them on the same day. and council member melinda katz, a comptroller candidate from queens and chair of the land use committee, was endorsed by four labor unions that represent the city's painters, elevator constructors, bricklayers and pavers.

d.a. candidates roll out new plans-in the run up to the sept. 15 primary, the three district attorney candidates are unveiling a slew of new plans that cover everything from terrorism to transit.

leslie crocker snyder and cy vance released dueling plans to combat terrorism-an area not completely foreign to the manhattan district attorney's office. in 2006, district attorney robert morgenthau, retiring this year, used financial transactions made in manhattan to investigate money laundering that helped finance terror organizations.

snyder's plan calls for a counterterrorism bureau that would be led by a trained assistant district attorney with specific security clearance to access classified information. the bureau would also coordinate with other units in the office to share information about related investigations.

the plan was endorsed by michael palladino, president of the detectives endowment association.

vance would appoint a counterterrorism coordinator who would report directly to the district attorney. this coordinator would expand the office's relationship with federal agencies and the police department. vance also said he wanted to designate a team of prosecutors and investigators to work with police to link related crimes, such as money laundering and false identification, to larger terrorist operations.

snyder also wants to introduce a housing bureau that would create a database of complaints received about landlords to identify a pattern of criminal behavior. the bureau would coordinate with city and state housing agencies. snyder would also assign an assistant district attorney to each of manhattan's public housing developments to help residents with criminal justice issues.

meanwhile, richard aborn released a workers rights platform that promised criminal prosecutions of wage law violators, and detailed an education and outreach campaign to prevent violations.

aborn, who is endorsed by the labor-backed working families party, said he would designate a member of his leadership team to work with other bureaus to identify wage theft.

"we need to do more than just issue the equivalent of traffic tickets to businesses that steal the wages of their workers," aborn said in a statement.