CITYWIDE

Pirro Campaigns Until the End

Nearly 15 minutes after embattled attorney general candidate Jeanine Pirro had been scheduled to speak at a campaign rally in City Hall Park, a lone Pirro staffer held a placard and handed out Pirro fliers, as more than a dozen unused placards sat upside down with her telegenic mug facing the ground. Noticing the unused signs, another staffer decided to decorate City Hall Park with them. Thus are the last throes of a campaign destined for defeat — the polls indicate Mrs. Pirro will lose to her Democratic opponent, Andrew Cuomo — a man with far less prosecutorial experience and far less embarrassing coverage about his marriage. It was deemed a rally, but fewer than a dozen supporters showed up. But Mrs. Pirro said she feels “great” and that the only poll that counts occurs in the voting booth. “I have a lot of support out there,” she said at the “rally.” A union official for state parole officers said she supports Mrs Pirro. “I am just so sorry for everything they’re doing to you,” Manuelita Clemente told a gushing Mrs. Pirro. Mrs. Pirro next stop was with Rep. Vito Fossella at the Staten Island Ferry, greeting commuters who were departing Manhattan late yesterday.

— Special to the Sun

Council Member Stewart Questions Bloomberg On Term Limits

A City Council member from Brooklyn took his case for extending term limits directly to Mayor Bloomberg yesterday, although he paved his way with compliments first. At a question and answer session traditionally reserved for the press, Council Member Kendall Stewart told the mayor he had done well by the residents of Brooklyn and asked him why New Yorkers shouldn’t have the right to elect him to a third term in 2009. Mr. Bloomberg, 64, thanked Mr. Stewart, but said he’d be “old and tired” three years from now. The mayor reiterated his support for term limits, saying that while they “deny the public a right to vote,” they help replace politicians who become “stale.” “The trouble is that incumbents have such a built-in advantage, we don’t get fresh new ideas coming in all the time,” Mr. Bloomberg said. Mr. Stewart said he wants the current two-term limit for most city officials extended another term. The City Council is currently deciding whether to mount a push for such a move, which would put it on a collision course with the mayor. Yesterday’s exchange occurred at Kings County Hospital, where officials were cutting the ribbon on a new ambulatory care pavilion.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

Newborn Found Dead At Queens Recycling Plant

A newborn baby girl was found dead yesterday at a Queens recycling plant, police said. According to police, her body was found in the first-floor garage amid papers awaiting recycling at A & R Lobosco, Inc., on Farrington Street in Flushing. The umbilical cord was still attached, police said. Police said a plant worker discovered the body around 11:20 a.m., and called 911. Yesterday, authorities said they did not know if the baby had been born alive, or how her small body arrived at the recycling center. A spokeswoman for the Medical Examiner’s office said an autopsy scheduled for today would determine the cause of death.

— Special to the Sun