The New York Post

By FRANKIE EDOZIEN

Maybe City Council members should practice what they preach. At a hearing yesterday on a resolution to discourage the use of the n-word, the racially offensive term was heard more times than on a Kanye West album.

The spewing of the slur nearly 50 times in less than two hours angered the anti-n-word measure’s sponsor, Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-Queens).

“If I had been the chair, I would have asked them not to use the word,” Comrie told The Post afterward. “I was not pleased.”

Marcia Harris, founder of the Harlem-based Ban the N-Word Movement, got the ball rolling with a passionate lecture on the word’s origins - that dropped the n-bomb a staggering 19 times.

“All of the other things will be for naught if, at the core, you see yourself and others who look like you as a n- - - - -, a word used to dehumanize a living, thinking human being,” she said during the hearing held by the council’s Civil Rights Committee.

The campaign to stop the use of the slur is aimed largely at young whites and blacks who aren’t aware of the term’s historical significance or don’t care. The measure, approved by the committee, will be taken up by the full council tomorrow.

Tim Gaylord, a New Jersey resident who told lawmakers he was instrumental in getting a similar measure passed in Irvington, N.J., used the word 10 times in his testimony.

He said using the word makes people think about blacks in a negative way.

“Fifty-thousand black people murdered and ain’t nobody saying anything about it. Why?” he asked. “It’s because it’s just n- - - - -s.”

Even some council members didn’t bother with euphemisms to make their points while sporting pins with a slash over the letter “N.”

Mike Nelson (D-Brooklyn), who was the only white person to use the word at the hearing, described a “sickening, scary, depressing” date he had in the 1960s while serving in the Air Force in Arkansas.

When he grimaced after his date used the n-word twice, he said, she told him, “Well, obviously you don’t like what I’m saying. Well, they may be Negroes to y’all, but they’re n- - - - -s to me.”

The chair of the council committee, Larry Seabrook (D-Bronx), cited two books he’d read: “N- - - - -,” by Dick Gregory and “Die N- - - - - Die,” by Rap Brown, and complained about people who’ve used the word in print over the years and made money.

“I grew up in a segregated society, and I thought that was my first name by some people, so I think historically we have to look at this,” Seabrook said.

He said he was reminded of a news story about a cop who, in arresting an Orthodox Jew in Brooklyn, said, ” ‘We’re going to treat you like a n- - - - -.’ Then I realized that it was more than a color, it was treatment.”

Some people at the hearing carefully avoided saying the word, including Atlanta-based lawyer Roy Miller, who got the word stricken from Funk & Wagnall’s dictionary, and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall

“It’s like throwing rocks into a crowd, and some of those rocks hit little children who can never be an n-word,” Miller said, using the euphemism.

The New York Post

By FRANKIE EDOZIEN

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is refusing to take campaign contributions from big-time lobbyists, returning checks and even asking some not to come to her fund-raisers, The Post has learned.

“Speaker Quinn has made a personal decision not to take money from third-party lobbyists,” said one of her political strategists, Josh Isay.

Her aides confirmed that at least three checks have been sent back, each for less than $2,000.

Quinn (D-Manhattan) has spent her first year as speaker focused mainly on her new job. But since January, she has been doing modest fund-raising.

One former donor got a solicitation in the mail for a fund-raising event in Battery Park City last month, but was rebuffed after turning in the RSVP.

“I got a call saying, ‘We’d rather you not come. Chris isn’t taking money from lobbyists right now,’ ” the donor said. He said that his previous donations to Quinn weren’t part of a quid pro quo, and that he and the speaker had been on opposing sides of issues before without it affecting contributions. “I gave because I liked her,” the perplexed donor said.

The speaker’s aides said that she would take money from lobbyists who have a single client, but not from those with multiple clients. George Arzt, a veteran political consultant and lobbyist, said so-called “third-party lobbyists” include almost everybody who lobbies.

“It will make it a little more difficult [to raise money], but other people will give her money based on her integrity stance,” Arzt said. “It’s a good thing.”

One lobbyist said Quinn was being “incredibly shortsighted” if she plans to raise money to run for citywide office.

Recently, the speaker’s actions have fueled buzz that she plans to run for mayor in 2009.

Last month, she took one of the first concrete steps toward entering the 2009 mayoral race by hiring a hotshot fund-raiser who previously had worked for Gov. Spitzer.

Quinn has trailed her potential mayoral opponents in fund-raising, but if the past is any guide, she won’t have much trouble piling up new contributions if she pursues the mayoralty.

As speaker, Quinn holds considerable sway over the city’s $55 billion budget, as well as all legislation that comes before the council. Her predecessor, Gifford Miller, raised and spent an astounding $7 million on the 2005 Democratic primary for mayor.

Since taking office, Quinn has made government reform a priority. Last year, she led the City Council’s push to ban gifts for lawmakers and city officials.

She plans to follow that up this year with a restriction on contributions from those who have contracts with the city and by closing a loophole that allows limited-liability companies to donate to political campaigns.

One lobbyist wondered if Quinn was just blocking potential rivals from raising money because she couldn’t match their fund-raising prowess.

Good-government groups were thrilled with Quinn’s message.

“Quinn’s powerful words today mark the beginning of the end for influence-peddling at City Hall,” declared Dick Dadey of the Citizens Union.

Others on the council quietly grumbled that Quinn was going to end up making it difficult for those who remain after she leaves office under term-limit laws.