In 1999 Profile, Joe Lhota Is Described as 'Calm, Easy Going and Quirky' In City Hall

While Mayor Giuliani was known for his temper, Joe Lhota, who served as his deputy mayor and is now a Republican candidate for mayor of NYC, was described in a NY Times profile in 1999 "as the most easygoing member of the Mayor's tightly knit, tightly wound inner circle. While he can bluster as expertly as any other Giuliani aide, Mr. Lhota is better known for what sets him apart: his willingness to talk openly and his insouciant humor, which make him one of the quirkiest personalities in City Hall."

Unlike his Democratic counterpart, City Council speaker Christine Quinn, who was described in an extensive NY times piece by Mike Grynbaum and David Chen this week as "controlling, temperamental and surprisingly volatile," Joe Lhota's work at City Hall was described as totally the opposite: A calm voice for a combative mayor.

'If I Was A Democrat' Giuliani Likes Quinn and Thompson For Mayor

Rudy Giuliani, known currently as the backbone behind Joe Lhota’s bid for mayor, offered his reference to Michael Howard Saul of the WSJ, were he a Democratic primary voter. During an interview discussing Quinn's push for an inspector general, Giuliani said he would have difficulty choosing between Quinn and Thompson.

“I worked with Billy and I found him to be a very honorable man and a very level-headed man,” Giuliani said. “A lot of the stuff he thinks, I don’t agree with. But if you’re asking me which one would be the better chief executive, it would be between the two of them.”

Asked by the WSJ if he is frustrated about Bloomberg’s apparent support for Quinn instead of Lhota, the former mayor replied: “Well, let’s see how long that lasts, right?”

Joe Lhota's Museum Controversy That Might Haunt Him as A Candidate To Handle A Diverse City

Joe Lhota's handling of 1999 Museum controversy may come to haunt him shall he become the Republican nominee for mayor, raising questions about how he would operate in a diverse city whose current mayor champions unpleasant speech from every quarter.

In 1999, Lhota, as deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration threatened to cut funding and evict the Brooklyn Museum over a controversial piece of art that incorporated elephant feces in a depiction of the Virgin Mary. "The mayor and Mr. Lhota decided this exhibition offended their sensibilities. O.K. Then they said that if the museum did not kill it, they might evict it," Michael Powell recalled in a December article. Mr. Lhota offered his “8-year-old rule”: “I would not want my daughter to see a naked man, a statue or a caricature or a painting.”

Did Queens Senator, Serphin Maltese Sell His Endorsement of Catsimatidis?

Republican mayoral hopeful John Catsimatidis was endorsed Tuesday afternoon by former State Senator Serphin R. Maltese of Queens. Maltese, who also served as Queens County Republican Party Chairman, called Catsimatidis “the only candidate, Republican or Democrat who has the hands on experience needed to run a city like New York.”

Short of Money, Mayoral Hopeful McDonald Drops Oppo Memo Against Lhota

While Catsimatidis is touting on his Democratic background as an electability argument against Joe Lhota in the Republican primary, Goerge McDonald, who is running low in campaign funds, is doing the opposite. In an internal six-page memo leaked to the WSJ (intentionally?), the McDonald campaign has decided the path to victory is by going on offense to explain Republican voters why Joe Lhota is "simply unelectable." 

"The paradoxical challenge of Lhota's campaign strategy is that to win the primary he must closely identify with Mayor Giuliani but in doing so he creates a political environment that is simply insurmountable in the general election," according to the March 25 memo sent to the McDonald campaign's finance-committee members.

Twitter Debates: Was NYT's Temperament Profile of Christie Quinn Sexist?

Unapologetic Quinn Pushes Back on National TV: At Times I Get Emotional and Forceful

What Mitt Romney used to tout his love for America, Christine Quinn is now using the same terminology "No Apology' to express her love for New York City.

 

Mayoral hopeful, Christine Quinn denied on national TV that she had used the power of her office to avenge grievances with elected officials who disagreed with her. "I am not going to apologize for that because that has made us efficient and more focused on the needs of New Yorkers," Ms. Quinn told CNN. 

In Private, Quinn Acts Like A Spoiled Brat- Caning Colleagues With Taxpayers Money

The City's Mayoral front-runner may have a nice story to tell and a personal charm to sell, but indoors she's a spoiled rotten brat, the NY Times reports. Speaking to the NY Times, some of Christine Quinn's friends and colleagues have confessed about the other side of Ms. Quinn: "controlling, temperamental and surprisingly volatile, with a habit of hair-trigger eruptions of unchecked, face-to-face wrath."

Some Mayoral Candidates Will Be Celebrating Passover Over Matzah andMaror

As president Obama has been doing since he came into office in 2009, some of the mayoral candidates, who are running in a city that is the largest gathering of Jews outside Israel, will be celebrating the Jewish holiday of Passover by attending a Seder night over Matzah and Maror.

Thompson's Greater Challenge To Keep His Base Assembled

John Liu and Bill de Blasio are not only a threat to Christine Quinn, holding her off from a decisive victory in the first round and avoiding a 1-one-1 run-off, but also a challenge facing Mr. Thompson as he tries to win the Democratic mayoral primary and the mayoral race in the general.

Thompson's campaign admits they are banking on at least 70% of the African American voters and a substantial chunk of the Latino vote, who together are expected to make up almost 50% of the primary electorate. If he can do that, and win a large percentage of Orthodox Jews, as he expressed at a recent visit in Borough Park, he would be a formidable contender in the race to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg.