One step closer

TONY CASSINO

Community Board 8 Chairman Tony Cassino has upped the ante in his rumored candidacy for the City Council seat that term-limited Oliver Koppell will vacate in 2009. According to the Board of Elections' Web site, Mr. Cassino has raised $55,000 for his anticipated run. Under current Campaign Finance Board rules, the haul entitles him to an additional $60,000 in matching funds from the city, bringing Mr. Cassino's war chest to $110,000, half of the legal limit of $220,000. He said he raised the money privately over the last three months.

Yet, Mr. Cassino has yet to formally announce his intentions. That decision, he said, will be made this summer. He said he intends to return all the money to his contributors should he decide not to run.

"I'm very fortunate. I have a lot of good friends who contributed. It's gratifying to know people think enough of me to write a check. It's very humbling," he said.

Mr. Cassino is an attorney with the law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in New York City, where he coordinates the public service activities of more than 450 of the firm's attorneys throughout the country.

Prior to joining Milbank, he was director of the Department of Pro Bono Affairs for the New York State Bar Association for nearly five years. From 1994 to 1996, he served as counsel to Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz.

Mr. Cassino is chairman of the board of the Riverdale Nursery School and Family Center on Waldo Avenue and a member of the board of LSNY Bronx Legal Services.

He is the former president and founder of the Northwest Bronx Democratic Alliance, and a member of the Puerto Rican Bar Association. Mr. Cassino is a graduate of Fordham University and New York University School of Law.

In recent months, as a member of the Croton Filtration Monitoring Committee, he voted in favor of a resolution calling for an independent investigation into cost overruns at the plant. He is also spearheading efforts to reduce alternate side of the street parking rules neighborhood-wide.

So far, only Helen Morik and Jamin Sewell have formally announced their candidacy for the council seat. Former candidate Ari Hoffnung said he is "definitely considering" a run.