It’s Good To Be King

The Post reports that Jeanine Pirro’s campaign manager was fired, possibly because he was paying himself $16,000 a month. (You may be asking yourself, “Campaign manager for what?” No matter.):

The 29-year-old manager of Jeanine Pirro’s now-defunct Senate campaign was fired amid revelations he paid himself $16,000 a month, a source close to Pirro told The Post yesterday.

Brian Donohue, a former Republican National Committee operative who was recruited by Pirro campaign consultant Kieran Mahoney, was let go last week as the former Westchester district attorney began a new campaign for attorney general, the source said.

“Jeanine herself made the decision to let him go,” said the source.

“He was clearly [in] over his head, inexperienced and inept — and the whole time, he’s paying himself $16,000 a month, while Jeanine was having trouble raising money.

“People were stunned when they learned the figure.”

In response, Donohue told The Post he wasn’t fired and said Pirro had asked him to stay.

He contended Pirro would soon call The Post to confirm his claim, but she didn’t.

. . .

He confirmed paying himself $16,000-a-month, noting that Pirro might not have been aware of his huge salary.

“I decided [the salary] with other folks in the campaign,” said Donohue, who repeatedly refused to name the “other folks” involved.

Of course, Mr. Donohue could argue that his salary was actually in the ballpark of other campaign salaries — at least if you’re part of Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign . . .

Did We Happen To Mention Just How Much Big Money?

I had no idea political campaigns could prove so lucrative:

Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg doled out $1.55 million in bonuses to 79 campaign staffers yesterday — including a whopping $400,000 to campaign manager Kevin Sheekey.

The other big winners were Patricia Harris, a top campaign adviser and deputy mayor, who got $350,000, and Bill Cunningham, a senior campaign strategist, who received $300,000.

The mayor gave every other staffer on the campaign’s payroll a bonus equivalent to 20% of the staffer’s total salary. The checks were mailed yesterday — and in time to bring some cheer in the new year.

“The mayor feels that these individuals ran an exceptional campaign, and he wanted to show his appreciation,” said Stu Loeser, a Bloomberg campaign spokesman.

. . .

The mayor’s largesse brings his total spending for his self-financed reelection campaign to at least $79.4 million — the most money ever spent on a nonpresidential race.

. . .

The bonuses for the top three aides come on top of already hefty campaign salaries. As of the last public disclosure statement, Sheekey earned $263,622 and Cunningham earned $255,895 for their work on the campaign.

Harris, who joined the campaign in the final weeks, earned $46,476.

See also: Mayoral Inaugural Details (“When the guests take in Mr. Bloomberg’s swearing-in and speech — scheduled to start at 1 p.m. in front of City Hall — and the Broadway (slash-Las Vegas-slash-Atlantic City) bravura of Liza Minnelli, they will also be taking in about 470 gallons of apple cider, 7,000 plain doughnuts, and 4,000 cupcakes smothered in the colors of the New York City flag — orange, white and blue.”).

I Hate To Say It, But That (Alleged) Motherfucker Should Fry

The police officer (allegedly) killed by this idiot loved his (alleged) murderer’s best-known film — and in a strange twist, taped the movie to watch later when it aired on cable just a week before his death:

Days before he was shot dead trying to stop a burglary near his home, Officer Daniel Enchautegui asked a relative to record the movie “A Bronx Tale” — the coming-of-age film starring one of the men now charged in his murder.

The eerie twist emerged yesterday as family and friends packed a Bronx funeral home to pay respects to the heroic cop.

According to Charles Spruill, a cop who worked with Enchautegui at the 40th Precinct, “A Bronx Tale,” starring Lillo Brancato, aired on cable TV about a week before the shooting, but Enchautegui wasn’t home to watch it.

“He wanted his nephew to tape the movie because he really liked [it],” Spruill said. “It’s so ironic.”

Brancato, who played a teen torn between his father’s love and a mobster’s loyalty in the 1993 film, was charged with second-degree murder. He and a gun-toting friend were caught by Enchautegui, 28, Saturday morning as they tried to break into a Bronx home, police said.

Punx So Dead

Just in case it was unclear to you whether closing CBGB was the right thing to do, the Post reports that owner Hilly Kristal is considering reopening the club in Las Vegas:

Famed punk-rock club CBGB may be trading in the Bowery for the blackjack table.

The New York institution — which will be evicted from its current location on the Bowery sometime in 2006 — is in talks to secure a new home near the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Club owner Hilly Kristal confirmed he is looking at Desert Passage, a 475,000-square-foot retail and entertainment strip that surrounds the Aladdin. Two casino sources said he is in negotiations.

“It could be really good,” Kristal said. “I’m considering it.”

Leaving Brooklyn? Fuhgeddaboudit!

In Mark Lotto’s story about the latest Brooklyn boosterism, this nugget about how Peter Braunstein’s dad knows what he knows:

It’s not Whitechapel during Jack the Ripper, but ever since the former Women’s Wear Daily reporter allegedly assaulted a woman in her Chelsea home on Halloween night, Peter Braunstein, or his unlucky doppelgänger, or some mass-hysterical hallucination, has been spotted sipping lattes and annoying dry cleaners all over Cobble Hill. Every day the police dragnet continues, and every day drags nothing up.

But Alberto Braunstein, the suspect’s dad, knows that Peter wasn’t the suspicious coffee drinker or the irate dry-cleaner customer. His son, Mr. Braunstein assured the Daily News, wouldn’t be caught dead outside Manhattan. “I have never known my son to even go to Brooklyn,” said Mr. Braunstein. “So I was stunned.”

Forget the massive manhunt. Is Peter Braunstein the last freelancer in New York who thinks he’s too good for Brooklyn?

Then again, there is that counter-intuitive thinking: I’ll just hide out in Brooklyn — no one would expect it!