Spin City

Mike Flaherty has to juggle the interests of his conservative mayor boss and a gay activist who the Mayor has unwittingly insulted. At home, Mike has to deal with his reporter girlfriend Ashley, who wants to move in with him permanently. To appease both Carter, by having his voice heard, and the mayor, by correcting his gaffe, Mike hires Carter as his new consultant of minority affairs.

The mayor's vocal wife causes Mike and the staff heartache as Winston and the staffers attend a dinner hosted by Catholic and Jewish leaders in New York City at which the mayor is being honoured. Meanwhile, Paul is uptight over Ashley's latest reporting hot streak involving an internal audit at a Queens high school and Mike faces problems with his love life following his being named the Sexiest Man in New York.

Mike and Ashley's hectic schedules cause problems in their personal lives at home. Meanwhile, the garbage strike continues and as negotiations continue between the Mayor and the workers, Stuart is left in charge of the office while Mike keeps Winston in line.

A camera crew for a magazine films Mike and his staff performing their daily office duties and they each give their own spin on what goes on in City Hall every day. While this is going on, the reporter develops the hots for awkward speech writer James and Carter encourages the mayor to address the pressing issue of AIDS in New York City.

Winston, jealous of the old Mayor Garfield's likability factor which he just can't seem to obtain, wishes death on the man and within a couple of days, he gets his wish! Mike and the staff try to console the Mayor by telling him it's not his fault and that Garfield had a bad heart. Nikki bets that none of the men in the office have what it takes to be a dad.

Dr. Bronsteen, an old professor of James', is appointed the city's new School Commissioner by Winston, but it is later revealed by the press that he was caught on camera smoking pot at a 1971 Grateful Dead concert causing duress for Mike and disbelief for James. Ashley is offered a job reporting for a local TV station.