‘HAG’GLING POLS
Claws are out in Mad-hattan feud
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is “the hag” to frenemy Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal.
The Democratic Upper West Side pol has been routinely using the snide nickname to gossip and complain about Brewer behind her back for years, according to former Rosenthal staffers and e-mails obtained by The Post.
“I think that her jealousy of Gale Brewer still burns with a passion of a thousand suns,” one former Rosenthal staffer said.
In one e-mail from Rosenthal’s private Gmail account, the assemblywoman complains that The New York Times “Mentions the hag in the article but not me!!!” A few months later, she asked whether Brewer was going to a press conference: “Ugh. When, where, with the hag?”
In another e-mail, she mocked Brewer’s “shameless pandering” to a state senator and wondered if “the hag” would attend an event where Rosenthal was being honored the next day.
Brewer, a fellow Democrat, represented the Upper West Side in the City Council for 12 years before becoming Manhattan borough president in 2014. Rosenthal has been the Upper West Side’s rep in the state Assembly since 2006.
Rosenthal made no secret that she despised Brewer, four of her former staffers said. She’d roll her eyes when Brewer’s name was mentioned and grouse whenever her rival got credit for issues.
The animosity was “petty,” said one former staffer who compared the one-sided nature of the rivalry to Boston fans’ hatred of the New York Yankees before the Red Sox finally broke the Curse of the Bambino in the 2004 World Series.
The bitterness only grew when Brewer was elected Manhattan borough president, another staffer said.
“It comes from being overshadowed by her on the Upper West Side,” said a former staffer.
“Women in politics should not be tearing each other down,” another former staffer added.
The borough president’s office had no comment. Rosenthal’s office had no comment.