What happens when a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent and a Liberal enter a room together? It's a Republican mayoral debate. At least that was the impression of the first GOP mayoral debate hosted by Crains New York business in Manhattan Wednesday morning.
Three of the five candidates participating at the candidate forum are former Democrats who are seeking the Republican nomination; the other describes himself as a 'Clinton Democrat' or rather a 'Republicat' in short. Joe Lhota was the only pure Republican in the room; thus that was heart of the discussion - whether a pure Republican can win a mayoral contest in NYC.
What happens to many politician once they rise to power and are given the keys to the palace. City Council Speaker might soon learn on her own flesh what you get for neglecting your district and the consequences following for making it difficult for community groups and residents to access her.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn might lose the endorsement of the political club that launched her to power, DNAinfo.com New York has learned.
The Chelsea Reform Democratic Club, a bastion of progressive politicians since 1958, helped transform Quinn from a young housing advocate to the City Council Speaker. But now, many Chelsea residents, dissatisfied both with her performance representing their neighborhood and her job as speaker, have joined the club in a bid to ensure anyone but Quinn wins its mayoral endorsement.
Last night at a mayoral forum about poverty, City comptroller and mayoral candidate John Liu suggested a dramatic 60% increase of the minimum wage. "In New York City, we need a minimum wage of 11.50 an hour," Liu said. Of course, the crowd gathered roared with approval, Dana Rubenstein reports.
"Let me tell you something," said Liu. "Nine dollars buys you a lot more in Buffalo than it does in Brooklyn or the Bronx."
Before I even managed to utter a word, Democratic mayoral candidate Sal Albanese smiled and asked me: "So, you are going to ask me about the Quinnipiac poll?" which, honestly, was my intention to ask in the first place. Despite the media exposure he has received over the years in public office, Albanese, who is running for mayor for the third time, was excluded from the Quinnipiac's polling question in a poll released today on the Democratic mayoral primary. In the latest Marist poll released two weeks ago, Albanese pulled in a mere 2 percent of support, falling short from the 21% he got in the 1997 primary. "I am only 7 points behind John Liu," he laughed.
While the mayoral candidates, other than Bill de Blasio who's a proud progressive, on the Democratic and Republican side are touting their liberal social views but fiscal conservative policies,There's one guy out there, unnoticed, that is the opposite of all. Erick Salgado, a Hispanic Pastor backed by Reuben Diaz Sr., presents himself as a social conservative and a fiscal liberal. Oh, and he's running in the Democratic primaries for mayor of NYC.
Christine Quinn has not yet officially announced her candidacy for Mayor on NYC, but her lead over her opponents is only growing and almost reaching the threshold of 40% to avoid run-off, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll published Wednesday morning.
In the Democratic primary for mayor, Quinn leads with 37 percent, more than the three other serious candidates combined, according to the poll.
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has 14 percent, with 11 percent for 2009 Democratic mayoral candidate William Thompson and 9 percent for Comptroller John Liu. Another 27 percent are undecided.
One of the known Talmudic teachings talks about the characteristics of different types of people with regard to wealth: ('Ethics of the Fathers' - Chapter 5, Mishnah 10)- "There are four characteristics among people: One who says, "Mine is mine and yours is yours," that is the mark of the average person; some say that is the mark [of the people] of Sodom. [One who says,] "Mine is yours and yours is mine," [that is the mark of] an ignorant person. [He who says,] "Mine is yours and yours is yours," [that is the mark of] a godly [person]. [One who says,] "Yours is mine and mine is mine," [that is the mark of] an evil person."
Don't tell me you're convinced that the mayoral frontrunner is at this point will indeed emerge as the favorite once campaign kicks in full steam. Looking back at 2009, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was coasting to a convincing victory, as a Quinnipiac University poll showed the mayor with a commanding 12-point lead over Bill Thompson, the Democratic challenger. A Marist College poll, released four days before the election, gave Bloomberg a 15-point advantage. But as the returns started streaming in on election night, the mayor’s lead evaporated, squeaking out at the end of the night a mere win of 4.6%.
At a press conference at the foot of the Verrazano Bridge in Brooklyn this afternoon, with Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis at his side, mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis was asked by Ross Barkan from Politickerabout Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s controversial plan to ban high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces.
“I wouldn’t want my kids to drink 32 ounce sodas,” said Mr. Catsimatidis, explaining that he would also want more health education programs put in public schools. “When I went to the movies a couple of weeks ago and I looked at the 32 oz soda and it said 1,100 calories, wow, never in a million years would I buy that one!”
Mr. Catsimatidis also promised a mysterious press conference in Brooklyn next week. “Stay tuned to next week. We saved jobs in Brooklyn nobody knows about,” he told Politicker.
Republican mayoral candidate has not yet hired a pollster, although its in the makings according to his campaign manager, but he was fast enough to dismiss the latest poll showing him with a mere 5% of support among NYC Republican voters.
“I love when they underestimate me,” he told The Daily News. “People have been underestimating me from a little Greek island to 135th St to top of American industry.”
Three of the potential Republican mayoral candidates met a welcoming crowd at the first Brooklyn Young Conservative Club' Presidents Day dinner Thursday night. Joe Lhota, George McDonald and Adolfo Carrion, who came with an Independence party slot in pocket addressed the crowd in acknowledging the significance of the Conservative party's growing base in Southern Brooklyn.
Former MTA chief and the favorite candidate in the Republican party, Joe Lhota introduced his candidacy by quipping: "I am Joe Lhota, and I am running for Mayor of NYC."
Channeling Jimmy McMillan's gubernatorial run in 2010 theme, Lhota reminded the crowd of the rent is too damn high slogan, saying "I will be the candidate who will say over and over: "The government is too damn expensive."
"The job is too complicated for on the job training," Lhota said while touting his experience in the private and public sector as the best equipped for the job and challenges "on day one."
"We are going to have an interesting race," Lhota said while pointing out the presence of Adolfo Carrion, presenting him as a third party candidate. "I think it is going to be very interesting to see how one can win this race," he added. Lhota's confidence lays in the belief, as he expressed later on in a private conversation that Carrion's candidacy will do more harm to the potential Democratic nominee.
Adolfo Carrion, who spoke right after him, briefly introduced himself as the one that could bring New Yorkers together. Adding that he's looking forward "to a robust discussion of the future of our city."
George McDonald also addressed the crowd by touting his experience in providing help for the homeless, "not by going to Bain Capital, but to main capital."
McDonald was approached by the Observer's Colin Campbell who asked him whether he is also Jewish, seen that every Republican candidate has somehow found some Jewish connection to their personal life. Shockingly, McDonald revealed that his wife is Jewish.
Public Advocate and mayoral candidate, Bill de Blasio released today a report that shows the that over the past decade - and especially over the past three years under the Bloomberg/Quinn administration - small businesses across the City have been hammered by inspections, violations and fines from the Dept of Consumer Affairs and the Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Adolfo Carrion, who won the nomination of the independence party for mayor, was asked yesterday by Celeste Katz about anti-Semitic remarks made in the past by Independence Party leader Lenora Fulani, who retracted the statements and apologized back in 2007, Azi Paybarah reports.
Carrion strongly objected to the idea that he was associating with anyone or anything anti-Semitic and said his advocacy for Israel practically makes him Jewish.
John Catsimatidis plans to deploy some of his massive personal fortune to improve his standing, setting up his campaign as the ultimate test of how much credibility money can buy, according to Hunter Walker, who wrote up a Politicker profile. “Right now, you know, we’re budgeting a million dollars a month,” said Mr. Catsimatidis. “We’ll see where we go.”
People call Bloomberg - The king, but the lady's acts when she has her hand on the cash, hardly gets noticed. While the City Council's discretionary funding ($50M), dispersed by Council Speaker Quinn, are supposedly distributed based on each area's need, Gothamist's interactive map suggests that some areas are surprisingly needier than others, yet receive far less.
Based on the data made public by the city, Quinn's constituents in Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen received the most funding out of any neighborhood in the city, Gothamist finds. While the majority of zip codes in the city received $10-100 per capita, Quinn's zip codes received $396-696 in the past four years—more than 10 times what most of the city got.
In a WNYC interview thismorning, Joe Lhota addressed the recent controversy where Staten Island powerbroker Guy Molinari very publicly withdrew his support from Mr. Lhota in response to unreturned phone calls. Mr. Lhota said he was “surprised” by the communications mishap, but Mr. Molinari should have called him personally to resolve it, according to the conversation and reported by Colin Campbell.
NY and LA will both pick mayors this year, but while LA is likely to pick a Jewish mayor, NYC who has lost a great Jewish Mayor (Ed Koch) and has had a Jewish mayor over the past 12 years, will likely remain without a Jewish mayor, Josh Nathan-Kaziswrites in the Jewish Forward.
Nearly every mayoral race in recent memory has included a Jewish candidate. Yet in 2013, not a single one of the handful of front-runners vying to replace Bloomberg is Jewish.
“That there is no Jewish candidate in this particular race is more a consequence of personal behavior on the part of the potential Jewish candidate than anything else,” quipped Flora Davidson, a professor of political science and urban studies at Barnard College, referring to Weiner, who resigned by disgrace..
Oh, remembers Nathan-Kazis, "there actually is one Jew in the New York City mayoral race. Tom Allon, a newspaper publisher, is running for mayor as a Republican, though his lack of name recognition makes him a long shot."
Joe Lhota, who is actually the favorite on the Republican side is also Jewish by law, as earlier reported.
What the forward is doing , is basically selecting the viability of the candidates to justify their claim (after all you need something to write a story) that No Jew is running this year for mayor. Its up to the voters, Mr. Josh Nathan-Kazis.
Adolfo Carrion's path to victory as a non-affiliated party candidate (well, independence) seems to lay in the hands of the non-voters. "The Silent Majority," he calls the 71% who did not bother to go out to vote on election day in 2009.
Ed Koch always knew when to jump on the train, when to time his endorsement and how to expand it in favor of his candidate. Not this time. Days before he died, former Mayor, Ed Koch made an announcement in his hospital room: “I want to help Chris Quinn,” The NY Times reports. But Quinn's campaign failed to meet the deadline of setting up a formula of a new statement on her behalf since Mr. Koch died three days later.
Back in 2011, when Koch first endorsed Ms. Quinn, he had no intention of going anywhere soon. “I’m 87,” Mr. Koch said at the time. “I’m not looking to roll up i.o.u.’s.”
Interview with Ceceilia Berkowitz - who is soon going to register as a NYC Resident, very soon as a Democrat and getting closer hiring campaign managers and fundraisers.
In the mean time, she is making gathering some Oppo research on her potential candidates, and planning to reach out to President Obama and mitt Romney for fundraising appeals. She's not yet planning a visit to Israel. In fact, she is the strongest pro-Israel in the race since she was educated on Israel at an early age, and, therefore, firmly believes Israel deserves a country on their own.
