"As this makes evident, Tom Suozzi is not afraid to wade into tough issues like the Bigger Better Bottle Bill!" Hendrick joked."

More than 500 people showed up for the event at Chelsea Piers, including Councilman Eric Gioia (running a "green," carbon-neutral campaign for public advocate in '09), Councilman David Yassky (an '09 comptroller contender and champion of "green" taxis), former Gov. George Pataki (who later stopped by the state Conservative Party's dinner, but took at pass on the state GOP's event) and his former chief of staff, ex-DEC Commissioner John Cahill.

Suozzi was introduced by Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who (according to Hendrick) recalled that the county executive won the heart of her mother by helping to shut down and demolish the Long Beach incinerator. Quinn said her mother hate the incinerator so much that she would find alternate driving routes to avoid looking at it.

The incinerator, the oldest of its kind on Long Island, was shut down by the state in 1997 and torn down last year. ..