Didn’t You Pay Any Attention To What Just Happened In Chicago?

Councilmember Tony Avella, the City Council’s true master of grandstanding (beating out both John Liu and Eric Gioia), has staked out many positions in his run up to a mayoral campaign, from the principled (refusing a pay raise, vowing to investigate the quid pro quo-like lobbying during the congestion pricing debate) to the useful (a do not call list for advertising circulars) to the loopy (section 809 of New York’s Education Law), but this just takes the cake:

The fight over foie gras is coming to City Hall, with a City Council member who is running for mayor, Tony Avella, set to urge his colleagues to support a proposed ban on the force-feeding of ducks and geese.

Mr. Avella, who also has introduced a bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in the city, said he thinks it is inhumane to force-feed birds to fatten their livers for foie gras.

Tomorrow Mr. Avella is scheduled to introduce a council resolution in support of a state bill proposed by Senator Frank Padavan that would ban the force-feeding of birds by hand or machine to enlarge their livers.

“If they can produce foie gras by feeding the animals in a normal process, well, that’s up to them,” Mr. Avella, who represents parts of Queens, said. The resolution will not call for a ban on the sale of foie gras.

And, dude, New York City is just not that kind of town.