I usually enjoy Mary Patel's "Political Notebook" in the City Paper, but today's issue just gets some basic facts dead wrong about the race for Fumo's seat.

Patel writes:

Another female grassroots activist could soon enter the picture, as Sheila Ballen is said to be planning a run. Ballen, the state Department of Education's spokeswoman, ran unsuccessfully in 2004 against then-state Rep. Marie Lederer. Ballen and Dicker may wash each other out, and possibly draw from the same money pool of supporters.

The problem with this claim is that it's totally false, and has been so since ray Murphy posted about it LAST WEEK.

Dear friends,