When Bronx Brorough President Aldofo Carrion told a group of Yale students he had received a congratulatory phone call from U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton about his selection for a cabinet-level position within the new Obama Administration, he oddly thought it wouldn’t leave the room.
Although it has been rumored for weeks that he may receive some appointment, the slip added fuel to a fiery debate about his qualifications for such a job.
Most recently, Tom Robbins of the Village Voice penned a satirical piece listing reasons he’d make a good secretary for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Among the listing was his success in gathering campaign contributions from real estate interests and his purging of community board members that did not support the Yankees Stadium deal.
Members of that community board are intent not to let those actions be relegated to the dustbin of history. One ousted member has organized a letter writing campaign to keep him out of the cabinet.
And Andrew Wolf, publisher of two Bronx newspapers, has started adolfocarrion.com to thwart any appointment. “Carrion has shown no real initiative to rebuild the Bronxs economic standing, and at best has stayed out of the way while other offices worked,” Wolf writes. “The Bronxs unemployment rate is still the highest in the state, and its poverty rate is still one of the highest in the nation. That was true when Carrion came into power, and that remains true today.”
An anonymous online petition against his appointment to an Obama Administration has been started as well, but includes only 33 signatures so far.
The former urban planner does have his supporters, however.
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By Mike Muller on December 11, 2008, 3:49 pm
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