6/30
In a 70-minute interview, Republican mayor
candidate Michael Bloomberg outlined his position
on a number of city issues. He supports surveillance
cameras in parks. He thinks pedestrian barriers
to control jaywalking have not worked. He
would push for salary increases for teachers,
police officers and other public workers.
And tax cuts will not be a priority. (New
York Times)
Three Bronx politicians imprisoned for trespassing
during a protest of the Navy's bombing exercises
on Vieques were freed after serving 37 days
of their 40-day sentences. Assemblyman Jose
Rivera, Bronx Democratic chairman Roberto
Ramirez and City Councilman Adolfo Carrion
left the Metropolitan Detention to cheers
from supporters.(Daily
News)
6/29
Offering his position as a sane alternative
to Mayor Giuliani's war on the Port Authority,
Mark Green yesterday said that the agency's
lease on the airports should be extended,
but that the Authority should be restructured
to allow it to help for such city projects
as a Second Avenue Subway. (NY
Times)
Three of the Vieques Four leave jail today,
and "step into one of the toughest political
wars the Bronx has seen in a long, long time.
"(Daily
News)
"It's nice being an incumbent. You can spend
money in the name of the taxpayers, and then
take credit for looking out for them." Examples:
a Peter Vallone invitation, a Fernando Ferrer
advertisement in the Amsterdam News, a Mark
Green newsletter, an Alan Hevesi event at
City Hall. (Newsday)
6/28
Three Bronx politicians, arrested for trespassing
to protest the Navy bombing range on Vieques,
say their jailing and their release tomorrow
could mark the beginning of a new political
era. Bronx Democratic Party Chairman Roberto
Ramirez, Assemblyman Jose Rivera and City
Councilmember Adolfo Carrion Jr., a candidate
for Bronx borough president, say they hope
to use the public attention they gained from
their arrest to galvanize black and Latino
voters, among others, into a powerful voting
bloc for this year's city elections. (Newsday)
A number of key labor organizations, including
the United Federation of Teachers, have not
yet endorsed anyone in the mayor's race. This
may partly be due to internal divisions in
the municipal employee unions over whom to
favor as well as fear of alienating the members'
next boss. But some experts see groups as
delaying their endorsements until they might
do the most good. The teachers, for example,
are expected to back Comptroller Alan Hevesi
but could be waiting to do so until that announcement
would give Hevesi the biggest boost, probably
in August. (Newsday)
In the public advocate race, though, one
union has made its choice. District 37, which
with 125,000 workers is the city's largest
municipal union, decided yesterday to back
City Councilmember Stephen DiBrienza. (Daily
News)
Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer formally
announced his candidacy for mayor yesterday,
making the speech on a South Bronx corner
near where he grew up. Ferrer, who is hoping
to attract a coalition of black and Hispanic
voters, criticized Mayor Giuliani, calling
the last eight years "the era of the clenched
fist, the closed door, the locked gates at
City Hall, the harsh rhetoric and mean-spirited
policies that divide people and communities."
And he assailed his Democratic opponents for
saying "in effect, that they'll be Rudy
lite, or Rudy with a smile, or a kinder, gentler
Rudy." (Daily
News)
6/27
Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer officially
announces his run for mayor today in Huntspoint.(Newsday)
The mayoral campaign of Michael Bloomberg
has already hit some early bumps in the road,
according to this Times article. Bloomberg
has distanced himself from his own television
ads. He praised the political skills of Hillary
Rodham Clinton then recanted and began attacking
her. And he gave an interview to gay newspapers
in which he gave support to extending domestic-partnership
benefits to employees of city contractors,
but then appeared to back away from that position
during the gay pride march. (NY
Times)
Republican mayoral hopeful Michael Bloomberg
yesterday pledged to appoint a deputy mayor
and a special multi-agency task force to focus
solely on affordable housing if he is elected.
(NY
Post)
Bill Thompson, former Board of Education
President who is running for city comptroller,
knew about cost overruns that escalated into
a $1.9 billion school-construction crisis,
according to the schools chancellor's office.
Deputy Chancellor Tony Shorris said Thompson
was notified in December that building costs
for new schools at the time were "hundreds
of millions of dollars" over budget. Thompson
admitted the chancellor's staff informed him
about cost overruns, but said it was not a
problem of "this magnitude." (NY
Post)
City Council district 37 in Brooklyn has
a five-way race for the Democratic primary.
But much of the focus of the campaign is on
candidates Erik Malave-Dilan and Ricky Perez,
and a feud between the two men who back them.
(Daily
News)
6/26
City Comptroller Alan Hevesi said yesterday
that on the major issues, there's virtually
no difference between the four Democratic
candidates for mayor - a remark that drew
the wrath of his rivals. Hevesi unveiled a
housing policy Council Speaker Peter Vallone
accused of stealing from him.(NY
Post)
Taking their cue from the role that black
churches have played in past elections for
African-American candidates, a group of Hispanic
evangelical leaders who say they represent
350,000 voters announced yesterday that they
were endorsing the Bronx borough president,
Fernando Ferrer, for mayor of New York City.
"It is a reality that we oppose gay marriages
and abortion and that all the candidates support
those issues," said the Rev. Adolfo Carrión,
a respected figure among Hispanic evangelists
in New York and the father of the City Council
member with the same name. "But there are
other things that are important in life, like
the education of our children, and we have
to be pragmatic." (NY
Times)
A second Queens Assembly member, Ivan Lafayette
from Jackson Heights, has bucked the borough's
Democratic machine and endorsed Bronx Borough
President Fernando Ferrer for mayor. (Daily
News)
6/25
The six men vying to take over City Hall each
reached to embrace the rainbow flag yesterday,
as the Democratic and Republican mayoral candidates
joined in the annual celebration of gay pride
that once again turned a large swath of Midtown
and Lower Manhattan into a pulsating, gyrating
party. The main mayoral candidates, particularly
the Democrats, agree on most of the gay issues
facing the city today. (NY
Times)
6/24
Michael R. Bloomberg, a Republican candidate
for mayor, criticized one of his Democratic
opponents Fernando Ferrer yesterday for suggesting
blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants, saying
that local politicians should stick to local
issues (NY
Times)
6/23
The Department of Youth and Community Development
apparently has no problem getting by without
three of its top eight officials. Mario Bruno,
the $70,000-a-year assistant commissioner
for intergovernmental relations, quit on May
25 to work on Jim Molinaro's campaign for
Staten Island borough president. Joseph Kovac,
the $56,000-a-year special assistant to Commissioner
Jerry Cammarata, is currently "on vacation,"
also working for Molinaro. So is Cammarata
holding the place together? When a reporter
tried to reach him Wednesday, he was told
to call the Board of Education, where Cammarata
serves on the board and has a second office.
(NY
Post)
6/22
Mayoral candidates Alan Hevesi and Mark Green
are returning about $77,000 in campaign contributions
delivered in batches by a prominent New Jersey
developer and a Manhattan hotel executive
after ethical questions surfaced about the
gifts. (NY
Times)
Mayor hopeful Fernando Ferrer yesterday called
for blanket amnesty for undocumented aliens
- including an estimated half million in New
York City - and blasted the nation's immigration
policies as a "joke." (NY
Post)
6/21
Bundlers, people who amass campaign contributions
for a particular candidate, are playing a
major role in this year's mayoral campaign.
These collections, which are legal but under
scrutiny because of the city's tough campaign
finance law, have so far accounted for 43
percent of the money given to Comptroller
Alan Hevesi's campaign and for 37 percent
of contributions to Council Speaker Peter
Vallone. Many of the bundlers have a link
to city government. The biggest was Steve
Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board,
who lined up $176,775 for Vallone. (New
York Times)
Democratic mayoral hopeful Alan Hevesi will
return more than $25,000 in contributions
raised by Vijay Dandapani, a hotel executive
who in 1993 pleaded guilty and served a year
in prison for his involvement in an international
bank fraud scheme. (Daily
News)
Investigators for Manhattan District Attorney
Robert Morgenthau are talking to two business
executives about their fund-raising efforts
for Comptroller Alan Hevesi's mayoral campaign.
The investigators are trying to determine
whether donations were improperly "bundled,"
or collected from individuals without their
knowledge or consent, a misdemeanor under
state election law. One of the executives
is Vijay Dandapani, chief operating officer
of Apple Core Hotels, who has bundled more
than $25,000 for Hevesi since 1999, according
to campaign-finance records. Campaign Finance
Board staff has asked Morgenthau to look into
fund-raising by Democratic mayoral candidates
Peter Vallone and Fernando Ferrer, but the
investigation of Hevesi is farther along.
One source told the Observer that Hevesi's
fund-raising statements contain more possible
discrepancies than those of his opponents.
(New
York Observer)
A former consultant at the center of an investigation
into corruption in the city Buildings Department
testified yesterday that he had given gifts
to and arranged trips for Thomas Ognibene
so that the Republican City Councilmember
would help an associate get an influential
position in the Buildings Department. Ognibene
denied the allegations. The councilman cannot
run again because of term limits and had been
hoping for a state judgeship. He has not been
charged in the investigation, though eight
other people have. (Newsday)
6/20
Public Advocate Mark Green charged yesterday
that the mayor and police commissioner tainted,
subverted and undermined the NYPD internal
investigation of the four cops who fatally
shot Amadou Diallo. (Daily
News)
The mayoral agenda of candidate Michael Bloomberg
may still be a work in progress, but he apparently
has some distinct ideas about where the political
press should be: far away from him. Bloomberg
joked yesterday that he would like to see
City Hall press room, commonly known as Room
9, moved to Staten Island. He has also suggested
that the role of mayor should be something
more akin to chief executive, which he now
happens to be, than civic shepherd. (NY
Times)
Until last week, Dennis Gallagher was a
good pick to replace his term-limited boss,
City Councilman Thomas Ognibene. But the campaign
for the Middle Village seat has turned after
revelations that the Manhattan district attorney's
office is investigating Ognibene's and Gallagher's
ties to a Buildings Department scandal. (Daily
News) And after a week of media silence,
Councilman Ognibene said yesterday that he
did not accept free trips, money or gifts.
(Daily
News)
With term limits forcing many City Council
members from office, the few who are eligible
for reelection enjoy the fact that incumbents
seldom lose.(Daily
News)
6/19
Though Fernando Ferrer is leading among
Latinos, who make up about a quarter of the
city's voting-age population, the other mayoral
candidates are actively courting Latinos,
who are seen as pivotal in the race. (NY
Times)
Ferrer is gaining strength and Hevesi losing
it, according to the latest poll, by NY-1,
which reported Green at 23 percent; Ferrer,
21; Hevesi, 10; Vallone, 9. The poll found
that each of the four would defeat Michael
Bloomberg. (Daily
News)
6/18
Democratic mayoral hopeful Alan Hevesi is
paying people off the street $10 an hour to
collect signatures to get his name on the
ballot, breaking a longstanding tradition
of using volunteers. (Daily
News)
Sandra Roper, a lawyer in private practice,
is planning to challenge incumbent Brooklyn
District Attorney Charles Hynes in the Democratic
primary. Roper, who originally planned to
run for the City Council, said she decided
to run after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
that police can arrest people accused of an
offense punishable only with a fine. "At
the district attorney level," Roper says,
"there's so much you can do to stop this
kind of thing from getting out of hand."
She also cited Hynes' opposition to repeal
of the Rockefeller drug laws as a reason for
her candidacy. (Courier-Life Newspapers)
6/17
The NYC dailies have become a variation of
Bloomberg News Service: Michael Bloomberg
appeared for the first time in a debate with
his Democratic rivals for mayor. (NY
Post)
Michael Bloomberg said he would probably
not move into Gracie Mansion if he wins the
mayoralty of New York. (NY
Post)
He has been on the campaign trail for merely
a dozen days, but Michael Bloomberg already
has shown that he can be a man of contradictions.
Bloomberg characterized the city's campaign-finance
program as giving "career politicians tax
dollars to get a new job." Two days ago, he
insisted the ad did not criticize his rivals
or the system but merely stated why he was
funding his own campaign. As the only major
mayoral candidate who has never run for office,
Bloomberg is a political neophyte - a fact
he paints as an advantage. But his inexperience
has left him vulnerable to misstatements and
awkwardly delivered remarks. Yet in a race
devoid of much star quality, Bloomberg is
trying to fill the void. (Daily
News)
6/16
Under attack by his Democratic opponents and
proponents of campaign finance reform, Michael
R. Bloomberg yesterday backed away from his
criticism of the city's campaign finance program,
in which all the major mayoral candidates
except for Bloomberg are participating. (NY
Times)
Republican mayoral hopeful Michael Bloomberg
enjoyed an unusual, publicized sit-down yesterday
with Board of Education president Ninfa Segarra,
who then praised the billionaire media mogul's
education plan. (NY
Post)
6/15
State Sen. Marty Markowitz rounded out the
race for Brooklyn borough president yesterday
with an official announcement of his candidacy.
(Daily
News)
The convictions of the so called Vieques
Four--Rev. Al Sharpton, City Councilman Adolfo
Carrión Jr., Assemblyman José
Rivera and Roberto Ramirez, the Bronx Democratic
Party chairman--were upheld in a federal appeals
court yesterday. (New
York Times)
Surrounded by men who have battled prostate
cancer in recent years, Herman Badillo, Republican
mayoral candidate, announced yesterday that
18 months ago he was told he had the same
disease. (New
York Times)
6/14
Michael Bloomberg faces two big obstacles
as he seeks to become New York's second Republican
mayor in a row. For one, he's not Rudy Giuliani.
For another, he's not running against David
Dinkins. (New
York Observer)
Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer today
launched a series of radio ads for his mayoral
campaign that focus on his differences with
Mayor Giuliani. (Newsday)
Michael Bloomberg's latest television ad
highlights his not-quite rags-to-riches story.
It relates how the Republican mayoral candidate
went from being an accountant's son who parked
cars to help pay his college expenses to billionaire
media mogul. (Daily
News)
The best laid plans in City Council District
30 seem to have gone awry. Incumbent Republican
City Councilman Thomas Ognibene was to have
been named to a judgeship on the state Court
of Claims and leave office early, paving the
way for a nonpartisan special election this
summer. The thinking was that, as the lone
Republican, Ognibene aide Dennis Gallagher
would have an easy time against a field of
Democrats in the race, keeping the seat in
GOP hands. Now, however, both Ognibene and
Gallagher have been implicated, though not
charged, in a criminal investigation alleging
that the councilman received favors from a
building consultant in return for exercising
his political clout at the city Buildings
Department on the consultant's behalf. An
unnamed official says Governor Pataki is aware
of the charges, originally reported in this
week's Village Voice, and has no immediate
plans to name Ognibene to the judgeship. Gallagher
was not available for comment. (Newsday)
6/13
The Conservative Party yesterday announced
its candidates for the three city-wide offices,
and none are exactly household names. (New
York Post)
Likening himself to John Kennedy, Republican
mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg told a
London newspaper that his big bank account
gives him an appeal and glamor his less wealthy
opponents can't match. (Daily
News)
Al Sharpton made it official yesterday that
he's not running for mayor. In a jailhouse
interview, Sharpton, who is serving time for
trespassing on Navy land to protest the Navy
bombing of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques,
said he would, however, endorse a mayoral
candidate. As for himself, Sharpton says he
can have more impact on the national front
and so is exploring a run for the White House
(Newday)
Signatures are the hottest political commodity
as some 349 candidates continue their frenzied
drive for enough names to qualify for September's
ballot. The pen-bearing citizens who accost
you as you go about your daily business see
themselves as the foot soldiers for democracy.
(NY
Times)
6/12
Michael Bloomberg gave his first policy speech
yesterday as a candidate for mayor, about
education. He favors abolishing the Board
of Education and handing over failing schools
to private companies. He would require students
to wear school uniforms, and order teachers
or other school employees to make home visits
to every student. (NY
Times)
Terrance M. Gray, a registered Republican
and a lawyer from Queens, announced yesterday
that he was running for mayor with the support
of the city's Conservative Party. He lost
no time in attacking the candidate whom he
clearly sees as his major rival, billionaire
Michael Bloomberg. "He's a Democrat running
for the Republican nomination," Gray said.
"Hillary Clinton's been a New Yorker longer
than he's been a Republican.(NY
Times)
Mayoral candidate Mark Green calls on the
governor for ten million dollars to convert
diesel school buses so that students with
asthma are less at risk. (Daily
News)
Senator John McCain said yesterday he disagreed
with mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg's
criticism of New York's campaign-finance program
but would support his campaign anyway.(Daily
News)
The four Democratic mayoral candidates jostled
for support before the city's largest municipal
union, District Council 37, last night. (Newsday)
Story of Felipe Luciano, running for City
Council in district 8 (Daily
News)
6/11
Senator John McCain said he hopes to campaign
for Michael Bloomberg in Ne York. (It is not
clear whether McCain is aware of Bloomberg's
stand against the public financing of campaigns)
(Time)
The city's six major mayoral candidates courted
Hispanic voters as they marched up Fifth Ave.
yesterday in the annual National Puerto Rican
Day Parade.(Daily
News) (NY
Times)
6/10
With all the mayoral candidates in agreement
that fixing the schools is their No. 1 mission,
they have been dueling for months to see who
can find the most school crises, who noticed
them first and who has the best answers. How
would they fix the schools? Although the four
Democrats largely agree about what needs to
be done, each has a magic bullet that he uses
in virtually every speech: Public Advocate
Mark Green talks about how he'll shift money
from jails to schools in order to lower class
sizes. Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer
calls for a 30 percent raise in teacher salaries.
City Council Speaker Peter Vallone says he
can increase education funding by $500 million
a year using real estate tax revenues. City
Comptroller Alan Hevesi wants to extend school
into the evening, the weekend and even the
summer. For Republican candidate Herman Badillo,
it is to end "social promotions." Michael
Bloomberg's first policy speech, Monday night,
will be on education. (Newsday)
The Hispanic Society, the New York Police
Department's oldest Hispanic officers organization,
yesterday endorsed City Comptroller Alan Hevesi
in his run for mayor, over the two Hispanic
candidates in the race, Fernando Ferrer and
Herman Badillo. (NY
Post)
Thomas Ognibene will not leave the City Council
early for a judgeship, in a strategic move
seen as intending to help keep the seat in
district 30 Republican. (Daily
News)
6/9
A group of the city's largest developers and
landlords have pledged to raise $250,000 for
each of the four major Democratic candidates
for mayor. Contributions from brokers, developers,
lawyers and landlords account for more contributions
than any other single industry. (NY
Times)
Billionaire mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg's
third television commercial attacks the city's
campaign finance program to which all five
of his major rivals for mayor subscribe. "I'm
not a professional politician, and I intend
to finance my own campaign," he says in the
commercial. Good-government groups accused
him of taking the low road in attacking what
is often held up as a model campaign finance
program. (NY
Times)
Billionaire Republican mayoral candidate
Michael Bloomberg yesterday promised to release
his tax returns next month - but his chief
spokesman later backpedaled, promising only
to release "financial disclosure" information
that candidates must file by July.(NY
Post)
Republican mayoral hopeful Herman Badillo
discovered a year ago that he had prostate
cancer. His spokesman showed letters from
his doctors that he is now cancer-free and
medically fit to serve as mayor. (NY
Post)
6/8
Herman Badillo, Puerto Rican orphan turned
first Puerto Rican Congressman, Bronx borough
president, city commissioner, deputy mayor,
formally announced his fourth run for mayor
of New York City. The themes of his campaign
will be crime reduction, educational reform
and urban renewal. He challenged his rival
for the Republican nomination, Michael Bloomberg,
to weekly debates in English and Spanish.
(NY
Times)
In
his second day of campaigning, Michael Bloomberg
said that the race for mayor of New York City
should be nonpartisan, that the candidates
should appear without party affiliation on
the ballot. "This is about delivering services,
rather than ideology," he said. (NY
Times)
Conservative
Party chief Michael Long said a "real Republican"
will step forward next week as the Conservative
Party's mayoral candidate. That could siphon
votes from Bloomberg, who would already lose
against any of the Democratic candidates,
according to the latest poll.(Daily
News)
Mayoral
candidate Mark Green still leading in latest
poll. (Newsday)
Adolfo
Carrion, who just finished a week-long hunger
strike, has some trouble running for Bronx
borough president stuck in jail serving 40
days for protesting the Navy bombing exercises
in Vieques, Puerto Rico. But his incarceration
could inspire the Latinos of the Bronx. (NY
Times)
The
Queens district attorney is looking into allegations
that Queens councilmember Al Stabile, candidate
for Queens borough president, mishandled hundreds
of thousands of dollars from a Little League
he ran for 23 years. "There's no money to
take,"Stabile replied. (NY
Post)
Jeannette
Gadson officially announced for Brooklyn borough
president. (Daily
News)
6/7
In his first official day on the campaign
trail, Republican mayoral candidate and billionaire
Michael Bloomberg made an array of stops,
visiting every borough but Brooklyn. The media
mogul received lots of attention but at times
demonstrated how new he is to politics. In
an appearance at a city-funded senior center
in Queens, one of the locales Mayor Giuliani
has declared off-limits for Democratic candidates,
Bloomberg said cryptically that "everybody
is a human being, and I think we have forgotten
that. We all want to watch TV and not talk
to other people." More substantively,
Bloomberg said he wanted to do for schools
what Giuliani has done to crime. Bloomberg's
challenger for the Republican nomination,
Herman Badillo, is expected to formally announce
his candidacy today. (Daily
News)
Adolfo
Carrion Jr., who is running for Bronx borough
president, says he doesn't doesn't want his
Vieques jail term to become an issue in the
campaign. Carrion, along with Rev. Al Sharpton
and two other Bronx politicians, is serving
a prison sentence for trespassing May 1 during
a protest of Navy bombing exercises on the
Puerto Rican island. Although he is the Democratic
Party organization1s candidate for the borough
presidency, Carrion faces a stiff challenge
from State Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., as well
as City Councilmember June Eisland and Ronald
Law, a onetime aide to former Sen Daniel Moynihan.
(Daily
News)
Although
the City's Uniformed Firefighters Association
is not set to endorse Alan Hevesi's mayoral
campaign until today at earliest, the union
has already gathered at least $16,000 in contributions
for the comptroller. Some of the money comes
from investment advisers to firefighter and
other city pension funds, a practice that
could be banned under legislation pending
before the City Council. City campaign finance
records show that union vice president Michael
Carter was an intermediary for donations made
to Hevesi by executives at Alliance Capital
Management and the Cypress Group, which handle
millions of dollars in city pension funds.
Carter and a campaign spokesman said the contributions
are entirely legal. (New
York Times)
6/6
The Republican primary for mayor of New York
City lost all the tidiness that party leaders
had hoped for yesterday as two men, Herman
Badillo and Michael Bloomberg, one a perpetual
candidate and the other a billionaire political
neophyte, announced that they were entering
a now messy, peculiar race. (NY
Times)
Herman
Badillo resigned yesterday as chairman of
the City University of New York board of trustees,
saying he wanted to focus his energy on campaigning
for mayor. (Daily
News)
Bloomberg
has been trying to entice one of Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani's deputies, Rudy Washington, to become
his running mate as public advocate if he
wins the GOP primary, sources say, a move
that would racially integrate the ticket while
promising continuity with Giuliani's administration.
(Newsday)
The
Independence Party has chosen Assemblyman
Robert Straniere (R-S.I.) as its candidate
for Staten Island borough president, guaranteeing
him a place on the ballot in November. (Daily
News)
Tony
Avella, a Democratic candidate for the 19th
City Council District seat, proposed a 10-point
plan to solve neighborhood traffic problems
that includes permitting a task force of citizens,
transportation experts and officials to determine
ways to crack down on aggressive drivers and
speeders in residential areas.(Daily
News)
Democratic
mayoral candidate Alan Hevesi was eased through
a Long Island Expressway traffic jam with
an emergency siren sounding and lights flashing
yesterday-in apparent violation of the law.
Hevesi wasn't on city business, he was headed
to a midday interview with Gabe Pressman on
the mayoral race in a chauffeur-driven city
car, his office confirmed.(Newsday)
6/5
The text of Michael Bloomberg's television
commercial announcing his run for mayor, airing
on NY1, WCBS-TV, WNYW-TV, WNBC-TV, WABC-TV
& WB11:
"There's
no place like New York -- I love this city.
But we know, this town's a tough place to
govern. A strong mayor at City Hall has
made a big difference. Today, crime is down;
New York City is doing better. My name is
Mike Bloomberg - and I'm running for mayor
-- to build on what's been accomplished
-- not tear it down.
I've
spent my whole adult life in New York City,
raising a family, creating jobs, helping
others. Managing. Teaching. Leading. My
experience has taught me how to get things
done: bring people together, solve problems;
be honest, shoot straight; hold myself accountable
for results. When you make a promise, you
keep a promise.
Going
back to politics as usual in New York City
is crazy.
Together,
we'll keep making progress on crime. And
if we bring the same energy and same focus
that made our streets safer and use it to
improve public schools and public health
care, this great city will be even better.
Thank you."
Petition
season begins today. As of yesterday, 348
candidates have filed with the Campaign Finance
Board for matching funds. They will now be
going door to door to get enough signatures
to appear on the primary ballot. (Daily News)
As Michael Bloomberg begins his campaign for
mayor, by running 60-second television ads
today, Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he "would
certainly know how to run the City of New
York." (NY
Times)
Mark
Green greeted rival Michael Bloomberg's entry
into the campaign with a "Dear Mike" letter
yesterday, asking the billionaire why he left
the Democrats to join "the party of George
W. Bush and Dick Cheney." (Daily
News)
Bronx
borough president candidate Adolfo Carrion,
one of the Vieques 4 jailed for a protest
against the Navy bombing of the Puerto Rican
island, is ending his hunger strike. (Newsday)
Ellen
Raffaele has dropped out of the race for City
Council in district 25, Jackson Heights. Insiders
say the Queens machine has offered her a district
leadership as well as future consideration
for her husband for a judicial post. (Daily
News)
6/4
Analysis of the race for mayor of New York
City from a conservative perspective: "It
was corruption that the New York City Democrats
stood for even more than liberalism," and
the reason why Giuliani won. So whoever the
new mayor will be, while personally honest
himself, he may usher in a new era of corruption.
(Weekly
Standard)
6/3
The Liberal Party has endorsed Alan Hevesi
for mayor (NY
Times)
The
choice of Hevesi could create a three-way
race in November and splinter the Democratic
vote. The party also endorsed City Councilman
Herbert Berman for comptroller and Assemblyman
Scott Stringer for public advocate.(Daily
News)
Mark
Green marched with striking maintenance workers
in East New York. (NY
Post)
6/2
The municipal elections in New York City this
year have attracted a record number of candidates
to the campaign finance program, with 324
enrolled as of the deadline yesterday, although
that total will most likely jump even more
once applications in the mail are counted.
As of yesterday evening, 16 people had signed
up to run for mayor, 8 for public advocate
and 2 for comptroller.(NY
Times)
Michael
R. Bloomberg, the Republican billionaire,
plans to announce his candidacy for mayor
on Tuesday in a 60-second television commercial
on channels 2,4,5 and 7 in which he introduces
himself to voters.(NY
Times)
State
Assemblyman Scott Stringer formally announced
his candidacy for public advocate yesterday,
the third candidate to do so. (NY
Times)
6/1
Peter Vallone officially announced his candidacy
to be the mayor of New York City yesterday.
(Daily
News)
Billionaire
Michael Bloomberg has been buying air time
for a TV blitz that will begin Tuesday and
last at least three days. (Daily
News)
Willie Colón, the salsa performer and
onetime candidate for Congress, withdrew from
the race for Bronx borough president and endorsed
a former rival, State Senator Pedro Espada
Jr. Colón said he had decided instead to run
for public advocate. (NY
Times)
Comptroller
Alan Hevesi insists his audits netted the
city many millions of dollars in savings over
his two terms, citing "recurring" benefits
such as those from a major review of school-bus
contracts. (Newsday)
May
Campaign Trail