Is the New York Republican dream dead? Police Commissioner Ray Kelly might still be publicly flirting more and more seriously with the idea of running for mayor, but behind closed doors, he appears to be less smitten by the idea. Staten Island Borough President Ray Molinari, one of the biggest proponents of a Kelly run, came out of a lunch with the commissioner less than glowing yesterday. “He is not going to run,” the borough president told the Staten Island Advance. “It is not something he is thinking about. It is not on his drawing board.”
For Molinari to bury his hopes, the commissioner must have sounded convincingly disinterested, which leaves the city’s GOP once again casting its net desperately. One of the next in line is Gristede’s owner John Catsimatidis, but he’s not fully sure Kelly is actually out. “First of all, if he was running, he wouldn’t tell anyone until after the presidential election,” Catsimaditis told Capital New York. “Because he might have to give up the commissionership.” The takeaway: Expect more tea-leaf reading.
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