Historic First: Schumer Unavailable for Comment

For a guy who would hold a press conference to announce a can opening, it's rather telling that the ubiquitous Chuckie Schumer is mum on whether he plans to slither into the scandal-plagued Charlie Rangel's birthday bash.

Two of New York's top statewide Democratic office holders dodged questions yesterday on whether they would attend the 80th-birthday fund-raiser for Rep. Charles Rangel, who is facing ethics charges.

Both Sen. Charles Schumer and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo declined to say whether they would show up for the bash at The Plaza hotel -- even though they're listed as members of the event's host committee.

Schumer repeatedly refused to answer when asked by The Post to give a "yes" or "no" answer about whether he's going on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Cuomo -- who has made a commitment to the highest ethics a centerpiece of his campaign for governor -- gave The Post an eyebrow-raising statement that insisted no decision has yet been made on whether he'll show.

"The attorney general hasn't figured out his schedule that far in advance," said the spokesman -- even though the event is just six days away.

The spokesman also noted, "The attorney general never said he was going." However, Cuomo is listed as one of the chief sponsors of the fund-raising event.

A Rangel campaign source said neither Schumer nor Cuomo have told the Harlem congressman they were backing out of the fund-raiser.

While Cuomo has made ethics reform a key platform in his campaign, he has angered some black leaders for not having a minority as his running mate or elsewhere on the slate of statewide candidates.

Some analysts said Rangel's alleged misdeeds have put Democrats in a bind.

"Schumer and Cuomo are probably embarrassed and offended by Rangel's offenses," said University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato.

"It's really hard to defend going to the fund-raiser. You're just going to give your opponent a club to hit you over the head with."

That would be all well and good if these two actually had some competiton running against them. Why should they worry when they're both likely to get 70% of the New York numbskull vote against virtually invisible token opposition from the GOP?