2/28/01
The City Council Voted 40 to 4 yesterday
to uphold the current Campaign Finance Law
formula, which provides four dollars in city
money for every dollar that a candidate raises,
up to $250. The vote assures that the Council
could override a mayoral veto. (NY
Post)
Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer was
as ecstatic about his recent endorsement by
state comptroller Carl McCall as he was irritated
by the virtually simultaneous, undercutting
comments of two of his presumed allies, Reverend
Al Sharpton and union leader Dennis Rivera.
(Village
Voice)
2/27/01
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said yesterday that
the cost of the city's generous campaign finance
program was approaching the "pig factor,"
and that it was feeding a rapacious industry
of political consultants, advertising executives
and pollsters. Although the mayor has repeatedly
faulted the program, yesterday was the first
time that his criticisms extended to a porcine
metaphor. (NY
Times)
Norman Siegel officially joins the race for
Public Advocate. He said he has raised about
$240,000. Scott Stringer and Betsy Gotbaum
have each raised more than $650,000, and Stephen
DiBrienza and Kathryn Freed more than $350,000
(NY
Times) (Daily
News)
2/26/01
The race to fill Public Advocate Mark Green's
shoes is shaping up to be a surprisingly competitive,
anyone-can-win contest - for a $150,000-a-year
job (first in line of succession to the mayor)
that critics say has no real power and should
be abolished. (NY
Post)
The children of at least a half dozen current
City Council members are running for their
parents' office. One, Joel Rivera, 22-year-old
son of Jose Rivera, has already won in a special
election. The others are: in District 40 (Brooklyn):
Yvette Clarke, daughter of Una Clarke; in
District 16 (Bronx): Helen Diane Foster, daughter
of Wendell Foster; in District 37 (Brooklyn):
Erik Malave-Dilan, son of Martin Malave-Dilan;
in District 22 (Queens): Peter Vallone Jr.,
son of Peter Vallone Sr.; in District 42 (Brooklyn):
Donald Wooten, son of Priscilla Wooten. Some
fear that the parents are using the children
to hold their office for them until they are
eligible to run again. (Daily
News)
The race for Bronx borough president is
heating up, and is seen as a theatrical battle
between two rival political organizations.
On one side, State Senator Pedro Espada Jr,
has already announced his candidacy. On the
other, Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez and the
Bronx Democratic organization is looking for
a strong candidate. Among those interested
are Assemblyman Jose Rivera, City Councilman
Adolfo Carrión Jr. and Jose L. Ithier, former
chief of staff to current borough president
Fernando Ferrer. But adding to the political
theater is some music: Willie Colon, the salsa
musician who ran for Congress in 1994, said
over the weekend that he, too, was a candidate.
(NY
Times)
2/25/01
The battle over term limits in New York is
making news out-of-town, where the two sides
are sometimes depicted as extreme: "That referendum
was bought and paid for," said City Councilmember
Kathryn Freed, opposing term limits. "No one,
given the choice, would have chosen these
Draconian measures. It's a recipe for disaster
and chaos." "Is there no shame in that chamber?"
said term limits supporter Michael Meyers,
executive director of the New York Civil Rights
Coalition, who called Council members "a collection
of total embarrassments who've been in office
forever." (Washington
Post)
Vallone and Ferrer: Eliminate tolls on bridges
and tunnels (NY
Post)
Green presents plan to make Queens Boulevard
safer. (NY-1)
Does New York's election system need fixing?
Critics fault old voting machines and old-style
patronage; the Board of Elections is only
city agency that runs openly on a system of
old-style patronage, doling out jobs along
party lines. (Newsday)
2/24/01
Clyde Haberman column on term limits: "Poor
New Yorkers. How many unwanted civics lessons
must they endure?.Odds are that terms limits
will not be repealed." (NY
Times)
2/23/01
Though all of them say they are not fans of
school privatization, the four mayoral candidates
refused to take a stand yesterday on the plan
to put five of the city's worst schools under
the private management of Edison Schools.
(NY
Post)
2/22/01
Legal experts say the City Council has the
power to overturn the term limits law, which
was passed by referendum, but if they did
so, they would surely be taken to court. (NY
Times) Meanwhile, the Council is not taking
the bait from Mayor Giuliani, who has hinted
that he would sign a bill repealing term limits,
if in turn the Council supported his effort
to scrap the latest version of the Campaign
Finance Law. (NY
Times) Instead, the Committee on Governmental
Operations yesterday unanimously approved
an effort to reinforce the 1998 law, which
provides four dollars in city money for each
dollar raised by candidates if they agree
to certain restrictions. (NY
Times) (Daily
News)
22-year-old Joel Rivera savors his win as
the youngest person ever elected to City Council.
"I am nothing but a child within the village
of the 15th Council District," he told supporters
at Bronx County Democratic headquarters. "This
campaign was 22 years in the making." Meanwhile,
state Sen. Pedro Espada, who backed his rival,
announced plans to run for Bronx borough president,
in a continuing showdown between the Espada
and the Ramirez political factions in the
Bronx. (Daily
News)
Haydee Zambrana, a bilingual education counselor
in Corona, becomes first Hispanic, ninth candidate,
in the race for Queens Borough President.
(Newsday)
2/21/01
In the special election in the 15th City Council
district in the Bronx, a 22-year-old junior
at Fordham College has been elected to his
father's old seat. Joel Rivera received 2,937
votes, or 57 percent, while Edwin Ortiz received
2,246 votes, or 43 percent, according to unofficial
tabulations by the City Board of Elections.
It is a win as well for the Bronx Democratic
Organization and its leader Roberto Ramirez.
(NY
Times) (Daily
News)
Dennis Rivera, the president of the hospital
workers' union, 1199, may stay neutral in
the mayoral race, as may teachers union president
Randi Weingarten and Lee Saunders, executive
director of District Council 37, the largest
municipal union. (NY
Times) (NY
Post)
Michael Bloomberg has hired David Garth,
who has helped elect mayors since times, John
Lindsay twice, Ed Koch three times, Rudy Giuliani
in 1993. (Daily
News)
Surprising her supporters, Margarita Lopez,
vehement activist turned City Council member,
is one of those trying to repeal termlimits.
(Village
Voice)
Without a real crisis facing the city, the
four Democratic mayoral candidates are in
search of issues. If they are having trouble
"capturing the mood of the city, it might
be because there isn't a mood." (New
York Magazine)
2/20/01
The four candidates for mayor of New York
City and virtually everyone else who is even
considering being a Democratic candidate in
the next two years paraded through the hotel
corridors in Albany at the annual President's
Day weekend gathering of the Black and Puerto
Rican Legislative Caucus. (NY
Times)
Mayor Giuliani will reappoint Police Commissioner
Bernard Kerik to a five-year term this week,
though it is up to the next mayor whether
to keep him in office. The four leading Democratic
candidates and Republican Michael Bloomberg
said it was too early to say. (Daily
News) Deputy borough presidents in Staten
Island and Brooklyn, both running for their
bosses' jobs, are looking for a way around
the recent ruling by the Conflicts of Interest
Board that they could not keep their current
jobs if they wanted to raise campaign funds.
(Daily
News)
2/19/01
City Council Speaker Peter Vallone "used several
recent committee appointments" as a reward
to opponents of the bill to repeal term limits.
Stephen Fiala from Staten Island, who has
reportedly promised to vote against the repeal,
was named to the Government Operations Committee,
which will hold hearings on the repeal bill.
(Crain's NY)
2/18/01
Term limits may weaken the next Council Speaker's
check on the mayor (NY
Times)
At least three current Council members are
vying to be the new Speaker: Bill Perkins,
Gifford Miller, and Angel Rodriguez. A fourth,
Adolfo Carrion, says he'll be in the running
for Speaker if he does not run for Bronx Borough
President. (NY
Post)
The candidates for City Council "who have
listed the most money, the best consultants,
and are given the best chance to win are the
candidates with the best political connections"
- top aides, current public officials, and
members of "powerful political families."
(Daily
News)
2/17/01
Clyde Haberman column on mayoral forum at
the City University of New York Graduate Center:
Hevesi and Vallone, the more right-leaning
Democrats, criticized Mr. Giuliani but in
language not remotely inflammatory. Ferrer
and Green, tilting left, did not flinch from
testing verbal bombs for possibly permanent
slots in their arsenals. "I'm not Rudy Lite,"
Mr. Ferrer said. "I'm not a kinder, gentler
Rudy, or Rudy with a smile." As for Mr. Green,
no one had to scratch his head over whom he
had in mind when he denounced "government
by tantrum, government by vendetta, government
by enemies list."(NY
Times)
2/16/01
Mark Green talks tough on crime: "In a serious
riot situation, helicopters and tanks arguably
could be appropriate." (The
Guardian of London)
"The four Democrats running for mayor announced
yesterday that they would join the City Council
and 21 other candidates for city offices in
court to try to block Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's
bid to revamp the city's campaign finance
system." (NY
Times)
Special Election in District 15 in the Bronx
next Tuesday pits two political science majors
against one another for a seat on the City
Council. (Daily
News)
Green says MTA should hold hearings on the
proposed changes to subway lines. (Daily
News)
2/15/01
Fernando Ferrer has lined up endorsements
from State Comptroller and gubernatorial candidate
H. Carl McCall, and more than a dozen mostly
African-American legislators, including City
Councilman Philip Reed of Manhattan and Assemblyman
Darryl C. Towns of Brooklyn. (NY
Times) (Daily
News)
"He hasn't formally announced his candidacy,
but billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg
finally appears to be off and running for
mayor," appearing last night at the Lincoln
Day Dinner, one of the Republican Party' s
biggest annual events in the city, on the
occasion of his 59th birthday. Bloomberg has
met with many politicos lately, including
Al Sharpton. (Daily
News)
Republican Assemblyman Bob Straniere (R,C-South
Shore) will announce his candidacy for Staten
Island borough president today at City Hall.
(Daily
News)
Michael Hardy, best-known for his defense
of Al Sharpton in the defamation lawsuit over
the Tawana Brawley matter, is reportedly planning
to run for Manhattan district attorney against
long-time prosecutor Robert Morgenthau. (Newsday)
2/14/01
City Council's push to repeal term limits
is self-serving and poorly timed. (Village
Voice)
The real industry favors Green in its donations
so far, but contributes to all the mayoral
candidates (Village
Voice)
2/13/01
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer calls for major
election reforms: raising the pay for Election
Day workers, replacing New York's outdated
voting machines with ATM-like machines or
Internet voting, allowing same-day voter registration
and moving primary day from September to June.
(NY-1)
Mayor Giuliani hints at a deal to support
the repeal of term limits for members of the
City Council in exchange for the Council's
support for changing the campaign finance
law. (NY
Times)
G. Oliver Koppell, former New York State
Attorney General, formally declares for a
City Council seat in District 11 in the Bronx
(Daily
News)
Former police commissioner Bill Bratton,
who considered running for mayor, formally
endorsed Public Advocate Mark Green for the
job, saying Green had the best ideas to continue
to reduce crime while improving community
relations. (NY
Post)
Race for special election to the City Council
in District 15 in the Bronx exposes rift in
Democratic Party. (Daily
News)
Republican Assemblyman John Ravitz announced
Monday that he has decided to withdraw from
the race for mayor. (NY-1)
2/12/01
They are calling it the bore war: "After eight
years of being outshouted by Rudy, the Democratic
reliables angling for this fall's primary
-- Mark Green, Alan Hevesi, Peter Vallone,
and Fernando Ferrer -- have been upstaged
again, by a governor's race that's a full
two years away. They're the four horsemen
of the anticlimax." (New
York Magazine)
Councilmember Gifford Miller, who is hoping
to become the next City Council Speaker, has
formed a political organization called Council
2001, and raised $80,000 out of a hoped-for
$200,000 for it. Council 2001 will "raise
money and give advice to prospective council
candidates in this year's campaign," in hopes
of currying favor with them. Other current
members of City Council who would like to
be the next Speaker: Bill Perkins and Philip
Reed of Manhattan, Adolfo Carrion Jr. of the
Bronx and Tracy Boyland of Brooklyn. (Crain's
NY)
2/11/01
About 1.8 million New Yorkers do not have
health insurance, though many of these are
eligible for government coverage. The number
of uninsured New Yorkers is twice the average
national rate, and some say that they "are
part of a looming city health crisis that
will emerge as a major theme in this year's
mayoral campaign." (Newsday)
If the City Council is successful in repealing
term limits, many members say they would not
run again anyway, others "waffle," but several
say they definitely would: Bedford-Stuyvesant's
Annette Robinson Cypress Hills' Martin Malave-Dilan
and Ozone Park's Alfonso Stabile (Daily
News)
Manhattan 10021: "Residents of that posh
20-block stretch of apartment buildings on
the Upper East Side gave more money to the
four mayoral candidates than all the residents
of Brooklyn and Staten Island combined," $1.46
million so far. Just blocks away in East Harlem
(zip code 10039) the total so far is just
$2,175. Hevesi is the leading fundraiser in
all boroughs except the Bronx, where Ferrer
leads. (NY
Post)
The recent ruling by the Conflicts of Interest
Board that bars appointed officials, but not
elected ones, from campaign fundraising unless
they resign, will affect several races: Brooklyn
Borough President (where deputy borough president
Jeannette Gadson is a candidate and has been
actively promoted by her boss Howard Golden);
Staten Island Borough President (where deputy
borough president James Molinaro is a candidate
and has been actively promoted by his boss
Guy Molinari); Comptroller (where Board of
Education President William Thompson, who
sought the ruling from the Conflict of Interest
Board, will now step down three months before
his term ends); and at least four races for
City Council: district 24 in Queens (Barry
Grodenchik), district 29 in Queens (Melinda
Katz), district 45 in Brooklyn (Chris Hylton),
district 49 in Staten Island (Michael McMahon
and Jon Del Giorno) (Daily
News)
2/10/01
"Randy Mastro, former deputy mayor for Mayor
Giuliani, is throwing his support behind former
Dinkins Parks Commissioner Betsy Gotbaum for
public advocate." (Crain's
NY)
2/09/01
City Council hearing on voting: "The city,
which relies on 40-year-old voting machines
that regularly break down and where other
polling glitches are routine, is not about
to see election reform or new voting technology
any time soon." (NY
Times)
The Council's introduction of a bill to
repeal term limits is the occasion for columnist
John Tierney's attack on the Council, quoting
Cooper Union Professor Fred Siegel: "The role
of any city council is inherently limited
because it's a legislative body in what is
essentially an administrative government.
City councils are always prone to provincialism,
and they're rarely composed of people capable
of doing other jobs." But term limits will
make it even worse, because of the greater
chance of electing "loco local activists .
At some point we're going to run out of streets
to rename, and the new Council could start
doing something dangerous." (NY
Times)
2/08/01
Opponents and proponents face off in City
Hall before 22 City Council members introduced
a bill to repeal term limits for City Council
members. (NY
Times)
City Council Speaker Vallone introduced a
bill to keep the current campaign finance
formula, allowing candidates to collect four
dollars for every one dollar they raise. The
mayor has sued to overturn the formula. (Daily
News)
In one of the first major endorsements of
the mayoral race, State Comptroller Carl McCall,
New York's highest-elected black official
and a candidate for governor, plans to endorse
Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer's
mayoral bid next week. Ferrer and Hevesi have
both endorsed McCall over his rival, Andrew
Cuomo. (NY
Post)
A new poll by Marist College reports that
"undecided" still leads in the mayoral race,
with 29 percent of the respondents, followed
by Public Advocate Mark Green, the choice
of 26 percent. The next highest is Vallone
with 18 percent. (Daily
News)
2/07/01
Green launches political offensive to prove
that he too, despite his image, can be tough
on crime. (NY
Observer)
The battle to repeal term limits for members
of City Council begins today, when 22 current
members plan to introduce a bill to repeal
the law first passed by voter referendum in
1993. They have scheduled a press conference
on the steps of City Hall this morning. Ninety
minutes later, their opponents will hold their
own press conference there. (Daily
News)
Twenty-three people have contributed to all
four leading Democratic candidates. The list
includes City University of New York Chancellor
Michael Goldstein, publicist Howard Rubenstein,
Lee Perlman, the chief financial officer of
the Greater New York Hospital Association,
and George Marangoudakis of Manhasset, whose
Marangos Construction Co. of Queens has had
about $40 million in contracts with the city
over the last 10 years. Their contributions
are clearly not about ideology, as one good-government
advocate observed, but about access. (NY
Post)
More repercussions from the ruling by the
Conflicts of Interest Board that bars top
city employees from raising campaign funds.
Conservative James Molinaro, who is running
for Staten Island Borough President, may have
to resign his job as Deputy Borough President.
(Staten
Island Advance)
2/6/01
Green: Give cops higher pay and free tuition,
and repair their precinct houses. (NYTimes)
Candidates for City Council are reacting
angrily to the council members' proposed bill
to overturn term limits. ".this last ditch
attempt to overturn term limits demonstrates
why term limits were necessary in the first
place," said Eric Gioia, a lawyer who is running
for the Council seat in Queens currently held
by Walter L. McCaffrey, one of the bill's
sponsors. Former Mayor Ed Koch said, since
term limits were decided by voter referendum,
they should only be overturned by referendum.
(NY
Times)
Legal experts say that the Department of
Justice would have to review the City Council's
plan to repeal term limits, since three of
the city's five boroughs fall under the supervision
of the Voting Rights Act. (Daily
News)
Board of Education President William Thompson,
running for city comptroller, said yesterday
he would resign his post to comply with a
ruling made last week by the Conflicts of
Interest Board barring top city employees
- but not elected officials - from raising
campaign funds. (Daily
News)
Donors to Giuliani's 1997 re-election campaign
have already given a combined $1.67 million
to the four Democrats running for mayor, with
Hevesi receiving 44 percent, Vallone 26 percent,
Green and Ferrer each 15. So far, Comptroller
Hevesi has raised a total of $6.1 million,
far more than his rivals. (NY
Post)
Who will be the first Asian-American member
of the City Council? While Margaret Chin and
Rocky Chin are both well-known and respected
in District 1 in Lower Manhattan, it is likely
to be John Liu in district 20 in Flushing.
(City
Limits Weekly)
Helen Marshall wants to be the first black
borough president of Queens. (City
Limits)
2/5/01
The special election to fill the vacant
City Council seat in district 15 in the Bronx,
set for February 20, "has developed into a
high-stakes political battle by warring Democratic
factions fighting to determine who has greater
heft in the Bronx." (NY
Times)
2/4/01
Mayor Giuliani says he may not veto the City
Council's bill to overturn term limits if
it comes to his desk. (NY
Post)
Will the budget for the police department
become an issue in the campaign? Yes, crime
has been reduced, but the police department
now costs $3.1 billion a year, which is nearly
twice what it was a decade ago. Can a future
mayor afford to touch a police budget that
is larger than the entire state of Vermont's?
The mayoral candidates seem to agree that
some jobs currently performed by officers
should be done by civilians, and none are
looking to expand the budget. (Newsday)
Hevesi has given $300,000 in raises and bonuses
to staff at Comptroller's office, including
11 who have contributed to his campaign for
mayor. (NY
Post)
A couple of lefist activists have Republican
Ronald Lauder to thank for term limits. One-time
Black Panther Charles Barron is running in
City Council district 42 in East New York,
and is given good odds to take over from current
Council member Patricia Wooten, who cannot
run this year. Erica Ford, who blocked subways
during Days of Rage 14 years ago, is running
in Council district 27 in St. Alban's to take
the seat currently occupied by Archie Spigner.
(Daily
News)
George Spitz, 78-year-old retired state
auditor who is the only candidate who has
formally announced for the Democratic nomination
for mayor of New York City, has run for office
a half dozen times since 1968, never winning.
"This is going to be my best race," he says.
"I'm the only vegetarian, only road runner,
only veteran of World War II, only senior
citizen, only union person, only Orthodox
Jew and only high school dropout in the race."
(NY
Times)
2/3/01
At least 22 members of the City Council have
announced they are sponsoring a bill to overturn
term limits for the City Council, though city
voters approved term limits by referendum
twice, in 1993 and 1996. The bill will be
introduced at a full Council meeting on Wednesday.
(NY
Times) (Daily
News)
In what is being called continuing machinations
in the Staten Island borough president's race,
there is increasing speculation that Republican
leaders are moving to clear the way for Deputy
Borough President James Molinaro, a Conservative
Party member, to run in the GOP primary. This
would involve easing out the county Republican
chairwoman, Leticia Remauro, who is believed
to oppose Molinaro's participation in the
party primary. Remauro, an assistant to the
president of the Battery Park City Authority,
has been mentioned for a possible job with
the Bush administration in Washington and
more recently for county clerk. Molinaro's
candidacy has the backing of Mayor Giuliani
and the outgoing borough president, Guy Molinari.(Crain's
NY)
2/2/01
McCall, kicking off campaign for governor,
calls Pataki detached and lethargic. (NY
Times)
The ten candidates who have raised the most
money for their various races for open City
Council seats are: John Liu of Queens, $131,370;
former Assemblywoman Melinda Katz of Queens
($113,995); former community board Chairman
Alan Gerson of Manhattan ($106,615); labor
leader Arthur Cheliotes of Queens ($101,635);
civil rights lawyer Rocky Chin of Manhattan
($94,617); Michael McMahon of Staten Island
($89,960); Legal Aid lawyer Steven Banks ($81,160);
district leader Tony Avella of Queens ($78,680);
Peter Vallone Jr. of Queens, son of the council
speaker ($75,495); and Board of Elections
official Jon Del Giorno of Staten Island ($72,479)
(Crain's
NY)
Congressman Eliot Engel discouraged Terry
Bastone from running for City Council district
11 because she used an anti-Semitic slur,
not because she is not Jewish, Engel says.
(Daily
News)
2/1/01
Green: Create youth courts, with teen jurors,
to combat juvenile crime. (Daily
News)
Political consultant Hank Morris, described
as ruthless and messianic, has been helping
mayoral candidate Alan Hevesi's rise in politics
for more than a decade, and is now trying
to make him more acceptable to African-American
voters (NY
Observer)
Latest Quinnipiac University poll shows Public
Advocate Mark Green ahead in the race for
mayor with 27 percent of likely voters saying
they would choose him, a full ten points more
than his nearest rivals, Bronx Borough President
Fernando Ferrer and City Council Speaker Peter
Vallone. Comptroller Alan Hevesi trails with
10 percent. (Daily
News)
State Comptroller Carl McCall, one-time president
of the city Board of Education and a former
state senator, will tonight officially declare
himself a candidate in the 2002 race for governor
of New York. (NY
Post)
January
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