Yahoo News, April 6, 2012: “Meet the newest tech start-up: the Obama campaign”

techPresident, Feb. 12, 2012: “Teddy Goff and Joe Rospars On How Obama’s Campaign Is Trying to Get Back to the ‘We’”

techPresident, Feb. 3, 2012: “With Pinterest and Twitter, Activists are Out to Punish Komen”

techPresident, Jan. 27, 2012: “Why Nobody’s Mad at Twitter’s International Censorship Move”

techPresident, Sept. 15, 2011: “Gig.U Asks Universities and Telcos to Work Together for the Internet of the Future“

My work has appeared on Yahoo News, in the pages of the Newark Star-Ledger, City Limits, and elsewhere. Prior to joining techPresident, I covered local politics in New Jersey and New York City.

Outside of writing and editing, I have managed campaign and media relationships on a nationwide citizen engagement project around the 2010 midterm elections, worked for a nonpartisan public policy think tank, played rugby, studied kung fu, worked in tech support and, yes, decided to move to New York from sunny Sonoma County, California. It was an easier decision than you’d think. On the side, I improve my programming skills and work to master the art of the grill.

I graduated magna cum laude from New York University with a B.A. in journalism and metropolitan studies, and now reside in the beautiful Gowanus section of Brooklyn.

“Ari Hoffnung can use the same software that Barack Obama can,” Mr. Hoffnung said, marveling. “How cool is that?”

Hoffnung went on to do tours of duty on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s third re-election campaign and on the staff of City Councilman Simcha Felder. As of this writing, he is an assistant comptroller for City Comptroller John Liu. One of his rivals in that race, Tony Cassino — who also took a shine to campaign technology — continues in his role as assistant director of public service for the law firm Milbank Tweed, and serves on a number of mayorally appointed boards. One of those is the Voter Assistance Advisory Commission, formed under the newly revised City Charter, which is tasked with reinventing voter education for a 21st-century New York City.

Go on, read the whole thing. You know you want to.

I hope you go read the whole thing; it was one of my favorite stories to write. I went on that year to win awards for my local government and political coverage. Here’s the beginning of the story:

Like many tales of revenge, this one begins at a wedding.

The groom was a top political consultant for Guy Velella, a powerful Republican state senator. Riverdale political power couple Oliver Koppell and Lorraine Coyle Koppell, friends of the groom, Norman Adler, were there. So was Eric Schneiderman, a precocious freshman lawmaker in his second year in Albany, determined to engineer an overthrow of the state’s Republican hierarchy.

Many Bronx politicians crack a wistful grin when they talk about that day in 2000, when Mr. Schneiderman, who also represents parts of Riverdale, walked up to the Koppells at the reception. With Mr. Velella in the room, he suggested that Ms. Koppell challenge the Republican in an upcoming election.

The entire city stretched out below the newlyweds as they were feted at Windows on the World, atop the World Trade Center. Maybe it was the rarefied air that spoke of infinite possibilities, maybe it was that the Democrats perceived political opportunities – but whatever the cause, Ms. Koppell agreed to take on Mr. Velella.

Mr. Velella and the Bronx Democratic old guard allegedly had a sort of non-aggression pact. By actively recruiting a candidate like Ms. Koppell, Mr. Schneiderman had violated the unspoken compact.

Although Ms. Koppell’s bid failed, the attempt prompted a campaign of revenge that dramatically tipped the scales of power – not only in the borough, but throughout the state. The violent corrective swings back and forth would stretch over nearly a decade; only now has the beam come to a precarious equilibrium.

Nearly 10 years later, Mr. Velella has served time in jail on bribery-related charges, Mr. Schneiderman has gone from a footnote in the state Senate minutes to the chairman of a powerful committee, and Riverdale has gone from having two Senators to three, all of whom hold considerable clout. This March, as the corridors of power in Albany swarm with lawmakers and lobbyists rushing to pass a budget, those three will have a weighty say in the final product.

Brief footnotes: Schneiderman is now New York’s attorney general. Velella, who suffered from lung cancer, passed away earlier this year.

I was the staff politics writer for The Riverdale Press, a scrappy weekly newspaper in the Bronx known as the only New York City weekly to hold a Pulitzer Prize. When my photo editor called in the tip, I threw my stuff in the back of the aging Peugeot 405 my publisher lent out to cover assignments and struggled to work its stick shift with one hand and my cellphone with the other in a mad dash back to Riverdale from the North Bronx.

The Press would go on to win first place in the Suburban Newspapers of America awards breaking news category for our team coverage of that bombing. I covered the news on our blog and in news alerts to subscribers the night of the attack and after an early morning press conference the next day. I also contributed stories from federal court in Newburgh, N.Y. The four men would go on to be convicted, well after I left The Press in 2009.

Bombing attempt foiled at Riverdale Temple

Four men were arrested in connection with an attempt to plant what they believed to be car bombs in front of Riverdale Temple on Independence Avenue on Wednesday night, according to eyewitnesses and a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

‘Petty criminals’ behind bomb attempt met in prison

Rapid arrest culminates year of patient planning

The arrest was violent and quick and its organizers managed to keep it a secret, even to police at the 50th Precinct. Capt. John D’Adamo, the Precinct commander, told The Press that he was the only one at the Kingsbridge stationhouse who was informed of the operation. It had been developing for many months, but the captain did not learn of it until the day before, according to a law enforcement source.

Community has history as target

When law enforcement officers shattered the window of an SUV on Independence Avenue the night of May 20, the shards left on the ground spread out like a puzzle.

Governor answers prayers for temple security

Accused temple bomb plotters plead not guilty

Onta Williams, in a red T-shirt, was still as Mr. Snyder said he had a video recording in which the alleged bombing conspirator drew a map of Stewart Air Force Base, which they allegedly planned to attack. In the recording, Mr. Snyder said, Onta Williams labeled the base as “ground zero.”

No bail, yet, for bomb plot suspects

NYPD Emergency Services Unit officers waited nearby Wednesday night as the men planted what they thought were explosives outside the temple and the Jewish center, Mr. Kelly said. When the men returned to their sport-utility vehicle and got behind its tinted windows, police approached in an armored vehicle called a BearCat, shattered the windows — because the windows were tinted and the officers could not see what was going on inside — and made their arrests, said Mr. Kelly.

Williams’ family says Feds put him up to it

“Of course they were entrapped. My son, he takes mass transit, he doesn’t have a vehicle, he doesn’t drive, he doesn’t even own a bicycle. How could he obtain the resources to pull this stunt off?” asked David Williams III, Mr. Williams’ father, as he stood outside the federal courthouse in White Plains on June 5. His son had just made a brief court appearance.

Lawyer questions sanity of her client

Mr. Payen, wearing jeans and a black tank top at his arraignment in the White Plains federal courthouse’s largest courtroom, gave the audience in the room an embarrassed smile when his pants fell down. He hadn’t been allowed a belt and had to hold them up with his cuffed hands.

Bomb fear proves unfounded

The commotion on West 239th Street comes nearly two months after four men were arrested just a few blocks away, between Riverdale Temple and Riverdale Jewish Center on Independence Avenue, and accused of attempting to detonate explosives in front of both institutions as well as fire surface-to-air missiles at military planes on a Newburgh, N.Y. Air National Guard base.

In Temple terror case, motions give clues to strategy

Lawyers defending the four men accused in the alleged attempted bombing of two Riverdale synagogues seem to be preparing to argue that the government entrapped their clients.

A kamikaze squirrel fell from the sky and detonated a Bayonne woman’s car Wednesday, police said yesterday.

Lindsey Millar, 23, and her brother, Tony, 22, were both home Wednesday at about 12:45 p.m. when they suddenly noticed Lindsey’s car burning outside their 42nd Street home.

Tony Millar said yesterday that firefighters told them it was the work of a buck-toothed saboteur that had been gnawing on power lines connected to a transformer above the 2006 Toyota Camry.

“The squirrel chewed through the wire, was set on fire, fell down directly to where the car was,” Tony Millar said. “The squirrel, on fire, slid into the engine compartment and blew up the car.

“They’re always coming around here chewing through the garbage,” he added.

Tony Millar says his sister’s car was fully insured.

“It’s something to laugh about once she has a new car,” he said. “It’s not funny yet.”

Police said there were no injuries – except, that is, for the squirrel, which is dead.

The Millars’ home is decorated for Halloween, complete with a tiny plastic tombstone on their front lawn. Tony Millar said the family will consider dedicating the tombstone to the squirrel, who was not named.

Oddly, the item I wrote appeared day-of on the NJ.com blog under my editor’s byline, but I get appropriate credits in this related post.

[Jersey Journal, Oct. 19, 2007]