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Anthony Weiner says he's going to run his mayoral campaign like he did during his first run for the office back in 2005: "light on endorsements and big bucks, but heavy on new plans for the city."

He does have nearly $5 million for his campaign and a booklet of 64 policy ideas, which draws from a similar document he distributed in 2009 outlining a bid for mayor that never happened.

A quick look back in the Gotham Gazette archives reveals that he did get a handful of endorsements the last time he ran — including from unions, elected officials and newspapers.

It's unclear whether he can win them over again.

His late entry in the race — and his tarnished reputation — may spoil his chances.

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Disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner got into the race for mayor yesterday, upending what has been widely described as an uninspired contest for City Hall.

He says he can win, too. But how? Weiner is more or less going it alone, without the many endorsements, strategists and other allies that help to support a campaign for mayor. Results from a Quinnipiac survey released yesterday show 49 percent of voters don't want him in the race. Of those polled, 52 percent of women say they don't want him to run. But polls also show him second in the race for the Democratic nomination, behind City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Weiner has other positive attributes: political chops, name recognition and about $5 million in his campaign account. Strategists tell Politico's Maggier Haberman that Weiner needs to convince New Yorkers that he has the judgment necessary to run a big city, following his sexting scandal.

In an editorial in the Daily News today, Weiner writes that he will make "new ideas" the focus of his mayoral campaign. "I hope that even New Yorkers who would never vote for me will join me in making sure that the campaign for the future mayor of this great city is a full-throated debate about real solutions," he wrote.

Rivals for the Democratic nomination welcomed him to the race — but not without taking digs at him. “He loves the cameras,” Sal Albanese, a Brooklyn candidate, told the Times. Former comptroller William Thompson's campaign sent out a fundraising email to supporters with the subject line "Anthony."

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Once-powerful Brooklyn Democratic boss Vito Lopez has said he will resign from the Assembly this morning before his colleagues have the opportunity to expel him from the state Legislature. 

Lopez had said on Friday that he woud finish out his term in June in spite of mounting calls for his immediate resignation following the release last week of a detailed report of sexual harassment allegations against him. A special prosecutor found no basis for bringing criminal charges against the 71-year-old political veteran last week. 

Before the weekend, the Albany leadership began making plans for Lopez to depart sooner, with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver backing a resolution that could lead to Lopez's expulsion. But Lopez said Saturday he would leave today instead. 

Political science Professor Doug Muzzio of Baruch College told The Associated Press that Lopez's resignation amounted to "partial deodorizing" of Albany. He added, "Albany needs more extensive and permanent disinfectant." 

Lopez said in a statement Friday that he was innocent of the allegations against him, and was leaving office largely to focus on winning a seat in the City Council. The New York Post reported that Lopez has more than $1 million left in his state campaign account and could redirect some of those funds to his Council campaign.

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The city hopes to get more people engaged in this year's pivotal election with a new web app that aims to benefit both campaigns and voters.

The web app, named NYC Votes, will streamline campaign donations and also serve as a resource on candidates and the election.

NYC Votes Candidate Contribution ScreenAn early version of the software was demoed at a public hearing last night where developers showed a simple interface that included a step-by-step process for making donations.

The software draws from the city's campaign finance data and is expected to be released in two weeks. It will be available on most browser-enabled devices, including phones and tablets.

"We started from the premise of creating a much more seamless, end-to-end experience for participants in the voting process," said Art Chang, the chairman of the Voter Assistance Advisory Committee of the city's Campaign Finance Board, which held the hearing and is in charge of developing the software.

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Political observers are beginning to ask whether race or ethnicity are playing a role in the state's most recent corruption cases. All five lawmakers charged in the growing corruption probe are black or Latino. So, too, are the eight people recorded for the FBI by state Sen. Shirley Huntley.

At a forum on Friday night titled "Attack on Black Leaders: Corruption or Conspiracy?" state Sen. James Sanders of Queens raised questions about whether black leaders were being targeted. “Why aren’t we hearing about other people wired and looking at different communities? Why is it seemingly a focus on this community?” 

But experts and lawmakers tell The Associated Press that the current batch of cases may involved people of color, but that has not been the case in the past.

“People are going to think what they think, but it’s important to understand that what is going on in Albany transcends race, gender or party,” Senate Democratic leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told The AP. “While this current wave has involved mostly people of color, prior to this it captured people across the aisle who were not people of color.

Federal corruption cases between 2009 and 2011 involved were all white, and half were Republicans. The most recent cases involve Democrats.

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A once powerful state senator is expected to be arrested as early as today in a corruption case that is sure to sharpen calls for political reform in Albany. An attorney for the politician, Brooklyn Democrat John L. Sampson, has not commented. 

The Daily News reported over the weekend that the case involving Sampson is related to conversations that were secretly recorded by disgraced state Senator Shirley Huntley, who is being sentenced this week for stealing taxpayer money through a fake charity. Court papers disclosed on Friday in Huntley's case say she recorded conversations with seven elected officials and two other people. 

The recordings, according to the court papers, "did yield evidence useful to law enforcement." The officials were not named in the papers. 

In early April, two separate corruption investigations against sitting elected officials jolted the political establishment. In one of those cases, an assemblyman was wearing a wire to record his colleagues for over three years.

The arrests last month led to calls for reform to stem what appears to be a pervasive culture of corruption. Those calls have been met by proposals from good government groups, the political parties and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 

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Six months after Superstorm Sandy struck New York City, the recovery is far from over and coastal communities are still trying to rebuild. 

Hundreds of people displaced by the hurricane and living in hotels are expected to be evicted on Tuesday after a city-funded program comes to an end. Some homeowners, meanwhile, are facing imminent default on their mortgages, advocates say. 

Businesses are still reeling from the disaster, with many still shuttered at the South Street Seaport and other areas hard-hit by the hurricane. 

The federal government said it had approved a state plan to spend $1.7 billion in funds on rebuilding. Some of that money will go toward helping homeowners to rebuild. The New York Times reports that there are few takers of the state's offer to buy out their homes. 

At a panel discussion on Friday hosted by Philanthropy New York, state Director of Operations Howard Glaser acknowledged that homeowners were frustrated with the progress of recovery efforts. 

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The Department of Investigation says it is establishing a six-person unit to focus on "fraud, waste and corruption" at the city's Board of Elections.

The DOI, the city's 140-year-old agency dedicated to rooting out corruption, announced today that it got $824,000 to start up the investigative unit and has begun filling positions.

Because the Board of Elections is staffed by city employees, the DOI has jurisdiction over the agency.

DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said in the announcement that the decision to create the unit followed the agency's review of the November 2011 election. That investigation was labor-intensive and pointed out the need for more consistent oversight of the BOE.

"The newly created unit will provide the capacity to investigate possible waste, fraud and corruption in an expanded way that was not possible before," she said in a statement. 

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The Partnership for New York City, a coalition of top business leaders, weighed in with a plan on Friday to help the next mayor "maintain New York's status as the pre-eminent city of opportunity over the next decade." Recommendations include building a "tech campus" in every borough and launching a "job challenge." 

Presumed Democratic mayoral frontrunner Christine Quinn was called a "liar"  at a forum on public housing hosted by the Community Service Society on Saturday night. The Times reported that the heckling started after the City Council speaker began to talk about her record as a tenant rights activist. Crain's New York reports that two businesswomen with a passion for animal and workers' rights, and the environment "will do whatever it takes to sink" Quinn and have poured $200,000 into the $1 million "NYC Not 4 Sale" campaign behind this season's first TV attack ad.

The Daily News reports that former political opponents of ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner, another possible mayoral candidate, warn that he can be fiesty on the campaign trail. Politico reports that any attempt by Weiner to return to politics after a sexting scandal ruined his career could make things awkward for the Clintons and former mentor Chuck Schumer. 

Mayoral candidates come together again tonight for a forum about sustainability hosted by the New York League of Conservation Voters.

For more on election 2013 beyond the mayor's race, check out Who's Running For What, which was recently featured on NY1's Race for City Hall. 

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A new report says the successes of market-oriented approaches to education reform in New York City, Chicago and Washington D.C., have been overinflated by their supporters. The report by the Broader Bolder Approach to Education campaign reviewed data to examine the assertions by reformers in those cities that expanding the number of charter schools and closing failing schools will increase student achievement and decrease gaps to education attainment based on race and income. The conclusion: "The reforms deliver few benefits and in some cases harm the students they purport to help." The 15-page executive summary has been released and can be read below. The full report is due on April 18. 

Market-oriented education reforms’ rhetoric trumps reality

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BRONX COURTS: The New York Times reported that the Bronx courts "are failing." In the first installment of a three-part series, William Glaberson writes that "a plague of delays in the Bronx criminal courts is undermining one of the central ideas of the justice system, the promise of a speedy trial." The story — based on an examination of court records, observations of trials, analyses of statistics and dozens of interviews — presents examples of the dysfunction of the Bronx criminal justice system. The second part was published today

JAIL DEATHS: A state agency found that Correctional Medical Care Inc., a private health care provider for county jails, played a role in the deaths of nine inmates across New York between 2009 and 2011, the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reported Saturday. The state attorney general's office says it is investigating CMC. The company told the upstate newspaper that it hires qualified medical staff. The company says the jails it operates in consistently meet or exceed national standards in their jails. 


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Some Gun Law Provisions To Go Into Effect (Lower Hudson Journal)

Quinn Says Council Will Hold Hearing On School Safety Today (Huffington Post)

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Starting today and continuing each week during campaign season, we'll post an election roundup on Friday afternoons here on The Eye-Opener. Image of former Rep. Anthony Weiner courtesy of Step It Up 2007, used under Creative Commons license. 

The week started with a debate over a scathing attack ad against Democratic mayoral frontrunner Christine Quinn that was paid for by an outside group. By midweek, anyone paying attention to #NYC2013 was talking about whether a certain former Congressman with a career-destroying penchant for social media would jump into the mayor's race. 

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The video begins with a fog-shrouded room and ends with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's disembodied head floating in the air. "All that's clear when the smoke clears is her political ambitions," an announcer intones in a deep voice. The anti-Quinn advertisement was paid for by a coalition of left-leaning labor groups and Democratic activists, The New York Times reported today. 

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The arrests of two state lawmakers on federal corruption charges last week were unwelcome reminders that New York is among the nation’s go-to destinations for political scandal, graft and greed. They also helped to remind New Yorkers about how difficult it is to stop unscrupulous lawmakers from violating the public trust. 

Bill Mahoney of the New York Public Interest Research Group tells the Gotham Gazette that some progress has been made in recent years in preventing corruption in Albany, but that the entire culture of the capital is to blame. To stem the tide of corruption, reformers have called for changes to the state campaign finance system (modeled after the city's much-lauded system) and expanding the power of the state attorney general to investigate public corruption.

One Republican consultant said the city's campaign finance system shouldn't be a model because it is too easy to game (Newsday). Meanwhile, some commentators are blaming Gov. Andrew Cuomo for failing to push hard enough for reforms. "At best, the governor made no impact on public integrity among New York’s native criminal class," wrote columnist Michael Goodwin in The New York Post over the weekend.

The Wall Street Journal reports in a story based on anonymous sources that the Cuomo administration is considering new policy remedies. Fred Dickers writes in the Post that the Cuomo administration is weighing whether to oust Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver over the scandals.

Read more about what some reformers are calling for on the Gotham Gazette. 

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A coalition of environmental organizations, labor unions and community groups advocated grassroots recovery in areas devastated by Superstorm Sandy has released a report recommending that New York develop "community-based green infrastructure and climate adaptation projects," "mitigate industrial waterfront threats" and "improve evacuation and disaster response planning." The report was released by the Sandy Regional Assembly. The authors of the report write: 

It is imperative that low-income and communities of color be an integral part of the Sandy Recovery decision-making process and help hold recovery projects accountable after funds are allocated. This means having a place at the table when recovery plans are made and funds are allocated; working to ensure that recovery efforts are coordinated locally and regionally; and demanding transparency from elected officials and appointed task forces. Low-income communities of color are on the frontline of climate change impacts - but we are also leaders in making our communities, homes, and workplaces safe and resilient now and in the future.

 

 

 

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One owns a wine shop at the South Street Seaport that was flooded during Hurricane Sandy. Another was the founding director of a nonprofit dedicated to HIV/AIDS research and treatment.

These are just two of 76 new members of Manhattan's Community Boardspicked by Borough President Scott Stringer this year. The new appointees also include public housing residents and parent leaders. 

The BP says the appointments are a "culmination of nearly eight years of work on Community Board reform and empowerment." He has made reforming Community Boards one of his chief goals. 

An independent panel representing civic organizations and good government groups reviewed appllications and helped select the new board members. 

DNAinfo's Jill Colvin has more on the new appointees here.

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Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a Democratic candidate for mayor, hammered out a deal to move forward legislation that would require many businesses to give paid sick leave to their employees. She made the announcement Friday with supporters and leaders of local chambers of commerce. Quinn had refused to bring the bill to a floor vote for two years. But as the campaign to get the bill passed dovetailed with the mayoral race and a possible revolt from fellow Council members, she met with elected officials, union leaders and supporters of the bill to negotiate a deal. 

The result was a seemingly more business-friendly bill that includes a provision that would delay the implementation of the bill if the economy worsens by the time it goes into effect in April 2014. Though acknowledging the effort to address concerns with the bill, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he would veto it anyway. Quinn has said she has the votes to override him.  

The New York Times' Editorial Board called the deal "good news, although it will take at least a year for most employees to enjoy a basic benefit widely available elsewhere." The New York Post wrote: "The best way to improve life for city workers is not by imposing politically motivated diktats on employers. It’s by giving business the freedom it needs to create a dynamic, expanding economy." 

Last night, Councilwoman Gale Brewer, the prime sponsor of the sick leave bill, sent out an email thanking the speaker. She also disclosed the following "outline" of the bill:

• Businesses with 20 or more workers will have to provide five paid sick days beginning April 1, 2014.

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PAID SICK LEAVE

The City Council held a hearing on Friday on the paid sick leave bill that Speaker Christine Quinn, a candidate for mayor, has refused to bring to a vote. Two of her rivals for the mayor's office, Bill de Blasio and William Thompson, rebuked her for holding up the bill. Quinn said at a news conference that she supported the concept behind the bill, but not the measure in its current form because of its potential negative effects on small businesses (The New York Times). The New York Daily News praised her for "putting sound economics over cheap politics." Quinn only spoke briefly at the hearing, and didn't ask any questions. Her fellow Council members are discussing the possibility of forcing the legislation to the floor, thereby circumventing Quinn (The Wall Street Journal). 

STATE BUDGET

The city is losing out as state lawmakers negotiate an on-time budget. A number of sticking points that got jettisoned to make room for a $135 billion budget agreement would affect residents of New York City, from a speed camera program designed to reduce traffic accidents and deaths to tweaking the laws regarding possession of small amounts of marijuana (Gotham Gazette). SUNY Downstate Medical Center was left to struggle on its own (The Daily News).  While the State Senate was voting on budget bills yesterday, the Assembly is putting its duties off until Thursday (WXXI). 


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NEW YORK — Thousands of pages of critical data on the nation's largest transit system is in "static black and white charts" and needs to be set free so the public can use it. 

That's one major conclusion from a nearly two year-long study on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's efforts to make data about its vast operations widely available. 

A group that works to keep the MTA accountable released a report based on its findings, titled "The MTA in the Age of Big Data," on Tuesday.

Read the full Gotham Gazette story here.

The report, which largely praised the MTA for its efforts to make data more available to the public, recommended that the agency begin to invest in the distribution of its performance statistics, including with visualizations that can help the public understand what is going on with the subways and buses.

"The future of the MTA must be more digitally oriented and technologically savvy for the agency to be efficient and successful," said the report by the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. It said the MTA's technological capabilities are currently "underfunded, under staffed and under supported, leaving the MTA ill-prepared to move into a technology-based future."

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Out of sight, out of mind — that's how Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to reduce smoking rates among youth in the nation's biggest city.

Bloomberg announced today that he's going to push for new anti-tobacco restrictions, including a first-in-the-country law that would mandate retail stores hide away tobacco products except during sales to adults or when they are being restocked.

He said the bill tackles the pervasive in-store marketing of tobacco products to young people. 

"New York City has dramatically lowered our smoke rate," Bloomberg said in a statement. "But even one new smoker is one too many — especially when it's a young person." 

Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said the adult smoking rate had decreased from 21.5 percent in 2002 to 14.8 percent in 2011. But he said "youth smoking rates have remained flat at 8.5 percent since 2007."

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