3/31
All four major Democratic candidates for mayor
denounced Giuliani's new decency commission.
(Associated
Press)
Alan Hevesi appears likely to get the Liberal
Party nomination for mayor - but only if his
poll numbers improve (NY
Post)
3/30/01
The first ever "Big Apple Straw Poll"
of the three city-wide races was held last
night at the headquarters of the New York
District Council of Carpenters in downtown
Manhattan. Sponsored by more than 40 reputable
political organizations (such as the Democratic
Leadership for the 21st Century, the New York
Young Republican Club, and the League of Conservation
Voters), the event seemed like a combination
political convention, quiz show and lottery.
Each candidate spoke for seven minutes. Then
hundreds of registered voters (many of them
supporters who had been bused in) dropped
little plastic apples into the clear plastic
bins labeled with the candidates of their
choice. The results were not only unscientific
but may actually approach the world's most
perfect illustration of "completely meaningless":
William Thompson got the most blue apples
for comptroller, Scott Stringer the most silver
apples for public advocate, and Fernando Ferrer
the most red apples for mayor. (Gotham Gazette)
At a forum earlier in the evening in front
of members of the Service Employees International
Union (which includes health care workers),
the four major Democratic candidates for mayor
"made a full-throttled appeal for the backing
of New York labor, calling for more money
for home health care workers, denouncing the
policies of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and
promising, if elected, to walk picket lines
in support for unions trying to organize during
the next four years." (NY
Times)
Of the major candidates for mayor, only Peter
Vallone says he has never smoked marijuana.
Ferrer, Hevesi and Badillo all give a variation
of: they smoked it once and didn't like it.
Green will not say, but 30 years ago he did
call the "joint-to-junkie myth" a "scare tactic."
(Newsday)
3/29/01
Peter Vallone is making his commitment to
city schools a centerpiece of his mayoral
campaign. His alternative budget, released
yesterday, calls for $548 million more for
education than Giuliani has. But it is dependent
on the New York State Legislature dedicating
real estate taxes for education and abolishing
the Board of Education, and even Vallone's
allies say Albany is unlikely to do that.
(NY
Times)
Queens Democratic Party Leader Thomas Manton
dominates the most disciplined party organization
in the city, which considers primary contests
strife, and avoids them. But this year, five
people are vying for the open seat of borough
president, all 14 City Council seats in Queens
have no incumbent because of term limits -
some have as many as eight candidates - and
two Queens pols, Hevesi and Vallone, are running
for mayor. Manton has a lot of deciding (endorsing)
to do, but has not done it yet. (NY
Times)
3/28/01
Twenty-six years ago, as a young member of
the New York State Assembly, Alan Hevesi tried
to make marijuana legal for New Yorkers over
the age of 18. (NY
Observer)
Michael Bloomberg took steps to counter the
news that he and his firm were sued for sexual
harassment. In a statement, he announced that
he took a polygraph test, which demonstrated
he was truthful in his denials of such allegations.
He called three old lawsuits "out-and-out
extortion."(NY
Times)
The Rev. Al Sharpton said yesterday that
while he enjoyed being courted by Democrats
seeking his endorsement, he still had not
ruled out a run for mayor. "I will not make
a decision until April." (Newsday)
The New York Young Republican Club endorsed
Herman Badillo for mayor. (Daily
News)
Contrary to the way the Times has covered
him, Wayne Barrett of the Village Voice says,
Alan Hevesi is separating himself from Giuliani,
, and attaching himself to the United Federation
of Teachers. (Village
Voice)
In the race to succeed City Councilmember
Victor Robles in District 34, political heavyweights
are lining up behind the different candidates-Assemblymember
Vito Lopez behind Dominican-born Diana Reyna,
Congressman Edolphus Towns seems to be leaning
towards local school board head Juan Martinez,
and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez is likely
to support her aide Evelyn Cruz if Cruz enters
the race. Other candidates: Latino Police
Association head Anthony Miranda and the Rev.
Edward Norman, brother of Brooklyn Democratic
County Leader Clarence. (Daily
News)
3/27/01
There is rising concern among the four Democratic
candidates for mayor of New York about how
serious a threat the candidacy of billionaire
communications mogul Michael R. Bloomberg
might be in a general election campaign. (NY
Times)
The Greens and the Sharptons attend opening
night of "Judgment at Nuremburg" together
(Daily
News)
3/26/01
Teenagers have trouble finding jobs in New
York City, Alan Hevesi said, and he wants
to do something about it. Only 20 percent
of people age 16 to 19 were employed in 1998
(the last year statistics are available) compared
to 45 percent nationwide. Hevesi proposed
tax incentives for businesses to create jobs
and fill them with young people. (NY
Post)
Both Peter Vallone and Mark Green reacted
to a report in the Daily News yesterday that
subway ridership reached 1.38 billion last
year, and the subways are more crowded than
ever. Vallone called for hearings into subway
crowding. Green called for a Subway Riders
Bill of Rights, which would include a refund
of the fare for anybody who had to wait for
a train more than half an hour.(Daily
News)
3/25/01
Herman Badillo criticized Michael Bloomberg,
his likely rival for the Republican nomination
for mayor. "He has never issued a position
on anything, and he has no background in city,
state or federal government.The only reason
for him running is that he can afford it."(Daily
News)
Peter Vallone and Alan Hevesi disagree over
how to pay for improvements to the city's
schools. Hevesi proposes the possibility of
a tax increase for those earning more than
$1 million a year. Vallone said new taxes
would not be necessary. (NY
Times)
But he did say he would dedicate the city's
real-estate taxes to education. The two were
among five candidates for mayor (the four
leading Democrats and Herman Badillo) at a
forum on education. (NY
Post)
St. Albans Councilman Archie Spigner is poised
to deliver his potent Guy R. Brewer Democratic
Club to aid Helen Marshall's bid for Queens
Borough President. (Daily
News)
3/24/01
Though Alan Hevesi and Mark Green are similar
in many ways --Jewish, with advanced academic
degrees, supporters of abortion and gay rights,
and opponents of the death penalty -- the
recent attack and counter-attack over campaign
financing comes as no surprise to those who
know of their history.(Newsday)
Peter Vallone next week will propose boosting
tax rebates for co-op and condominium owners.
(NY
Post)
3/23/01
Twenty-five weeks before the Democratic primary,
Alan Hevesi is launching the first television
commercials of the race for mayor. The initial
ad is biographical, and sprinkled with Hevesi's
quirky campaign slogan, "mebq" - more experienced,
better qualified. (Daily
News)
City Councilman Mike Abel dropped out of
the race for Queens borough president yesterday,
leaving only fellow Councilman Al Stabile
running on the Republican line. (Daily
News)
In the first heated exchange of the mayoral
race, city Controller Alan Hevesi called on
front-runner Mark Green yesterday to disclose
fully how much cash Green's millionaire real
estate brother Steve Green has raised for
the campaign. (Daily
News) Green attacked Hevesi for going
negative. (Newsday)
Where is Queens Democratic boss Tom Manton
on the mayoral race? No one seems to know,
and he is the only Democratic county leader
not to endorse one of the four major candidates
for mayor this year. The topic popped up yesterday
when Assemblyman John Lavelle, Staten Island
Democratic chairman, endorsed Bronx Borough
President Fernando Ferrer for mayor. (Newsday)
Another article about the relatives of incumbents
running for office. (NY
Times)
3/22/01
Hevesi has unveiled his plan to improve
the city's public school system, by calling
for a tax increase if necessary to help pay
for higher teacher salaries, new school construction
and reductions in class size. (NY
Times) The teachers union likes his plan.
(Daily
News) His rivals have similar proposals,
since education has become Topic A in the
race for mayor. (Newsday)
An advocacy group against the death penalty
calls for Speaker Peter Vallone to allow for
a vote by the City Council to call on the
State Legislature to put a moratorium on the
death penalty in New York. Vallone and Ferrer
support the death penalty; Ferrer has come
out for a moratorium. Green and Hevesi oppose
the death penalty. (Newsday)
The mayor and the members of the City Council
have no actual power to enact or defeat any
measures on capital punishment, which is determined
on a state level.
3/21/01
Declaring that New York City was heading largely
in the right direction under Mayor Rudolph
W. Giuliani, Alan G. Hevesi announced his
candidacy for mayor yesterday. He lamented
the condition of New York's public schools
while praising its police force as he sought
to make his case for winning the Democratic
nomination to succeed a popular Republican
mayor. (NY
Times) (Daily
News)
City Comptroller Alan Hevesi received more
than $40,000 in campaign contributions from
contractors building a water tunnel for the
city while his office was auditing the project
(NY
Post)
Tony Seminerio decides not to run for Queens
Borough President. (Newsday)
3/20/01
Alan Hevesi is planning to announce his candidacy
for mayor formally today in a midtown hotel.
(NY
Times) (NY
Post) (Daily
News)
Critics blasted a mailing by City Council
Speaker Peter Vallone to an estimated one
million homes, at a cost to the taxpayers
of $300,000, as a veiled campaign ad at public
expense for Vallone's bid for the Democratic
mayoral nomination. (Newsday)
3/19/01
The four Democratic mayoral candidates do
about six forums a week together (Crain's
NY Business)
3/18/01
In a profile of undeclared Republican mayoral
candidate Michael Bloomberg (who declined
to be interviewed), David Saltonstall paints
a picture of an incautious, in-your-face maverick
who has no experience with "consensus-building"
in the public sector, but who has assembled
a daunting team, and has four billion dollars
in the bank. He has begun to campaign here
and there, and is holding "get-to-know-you
meetings with a broad range of city powerbrokers."
(Daily
News)
Of the major candidates for mayor, only Peter
Vallone marched in the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
The three other Democratic candidates stayed
away because the parade organizers again banned
gay and lesbian Irish from participating as
a group. Undeclared Republican candidate Michael
Bloomberg also did not attend.(Daily
News)
Alan Hevesi is trying to line up more support
from African-Americans (Daily
News)
Noach Dear says his wife Rickly will not
run after all for his City Council seat when
term limits force him out. (Daily News)
3/17/01
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani yesterday vetoed
legislation intended to protect one of the
nation's most generous campaign finance systems,
just a day after an effort to repeal term
limits failed and galvanized dozens of candidates
vying for open City Council seats. Members
of the City Council, including Speaker Peter
F. Vallone, immediately pledged to override
the veto. (NY
Times)
The fees that the Democratic mayoral candidates
are paying their political consultants vary,
according to filings at the Campaign Finance
Board. David Doak, Peter Vallone's consultant,
had not received any payments as of the most
recent filing deadline, January 16. David
Axelrod said that his monthly retainer for
his client Fernando Ferrer will be $3,000
a month. Hank Morris charges his client Alan
Hevesi an average of $5,000 a month. Hank
Sheinkopf is charging Mark Green $10,000 a
month. Green aides say Sheinkopf's fee is
higher because he was hired as a political
adviser, not a media consultant, and thus
will not get paid the going rate of six to
ten percent of the TV ad campaign. (Crain's
NY Business)
3/16/01
The four major Democratic candidates are beginning
to make veiled attacks against one another
in an effort to differentiate themselves to
voters. (Daily
News)
3/15/01
The recent ruling by the city Conflicts of
Interest Board that is forcing Board of Education
President Bill Thompson to resign could have
wide-ranging implications in future elections.
The board ruled that high-ranking, appointed
city officials cannot raise money if they
are candidates for a city office. Since most
prospective candidates begin raising money
years before an election, the ruling means
future candidates who are top city employees
will either have to quit years before they
run or hold off raising money until closer
to the election. The ruling affects up to
2,000 city officials. (Crain's NY)
The Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats,
the Democratic club that mayoral candidates
Alan Hevesi and Mark Green tried to pack with
supporters (many of them straight), in hopes
of influencing its endorsement, voted narrowly
last night to back Hevesi, 188 to 160. Ferrer
got three votes and Vallone just one. (Daily
News)
3/14/01
The New York City Campaign Finance Board yesterday
ordered Alan G. Hevesi, the city comptroller
and a Democratic candidate for mayor, to return
$67,600 in campaign contributions that the
board said had exceeded the limit allowed
by law. (NY
Times). In other campaign finance news,
at least 42 employees in Hevesi's office have
contributed money to his mayoral campaign
(Daily
News)
The Democratic mayoral hopefuls were given
permission yesterday to start raising campaign
funds for a likely runoff contest Sept. 25.
A runoff between the two top vote-getters
is required if no one wins more than 40 percent
of the ballots in the September 11 primary.
(Daily
News)
On an almost daily basis, the two Democratic
candidates for New York City comptroller,
City Council member Herb Berman and Board
of Education President William C. Thompson
Jr. wander from one political function to
another, hoping to entice any who will listen
to pay attention to the race for the city's
No. 3 job. The city comptroller regularly
performs audits of the city budget and makes
budget recommendations, as well as approves
all city contracts. The annual salary is $160,000.
No Republican candidate has materialized.
(NY
Times)
Hopefuls to replace Mary Pinkett in City
Council District 35 in Crown Heights and Clinton
Hill include a police officer, Democratic
district leaders, a former aide to Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer, a longtime social critic,
a Pratt Institute professor, an African immigrants,
a storeowner, members of a community board
and a Hasidic man who works for a downtown
developer. (Daily
News)
3/13/01
Governor George Pataki said Michael Bloomberg
would be "an excellent candidate" for mayor.
(Daily
News)
Hevesi too (as well as Green) has packed
the membership of the Gay and Lesbian Independent
Democrats with his supporters, many of them
straight, in the hopes of winning the club's
endorsement. (Daily
News)
3/12/01
Four years ago, when Fernando Ferrer ran for
mayor, he positioned himself as a centrist,
coming out for the death penalty and against
abortion, in orderto win with a coalition
of Hispanic and white voters. Now, "he is
trying to building a coalition of Hispanics
and blacks. He is, as a consequence, less
interested in seeming sensible or centrist
than in seeming passionate and radical." (The
New Yorker Magazine)
City Council Speaker Peter Vallone's political
aides have engaged for more than a year in
a testy tug-of-war with campaign-finance regulators
over a fund Vallone directed as council leader
(Newsday)
There is a new TV ad, financed by businessman
Ronald Lauder, against the City Council's
effort to repeal term limits. (Daily
News)
Ferrer, reversing course again, says he
now supports a moratorium on the death penalty.
(NY
Times)
Siegel announces yet again for public advocate.
(Daily
News)
3/11/01
The possibility of a mayoral campaign by
Michael Bloomberg, the head of a financial-news
company, raises serious questions of conflict
of interest. Bloomberg has already ruled out
selling his company or putting it in a blind
trust. So, if he were to become the mayor:
1. How would city financial incentives for
his business - millions of dollars worth are
now on the table - be negotiated? 2. How would
he prevent special interests from currying
favor with him through his firm, by buying
advertising or other means? 3. How would his
own reporters cover him? (NY
Post)
Poll shows New Yorkers would favor Bill
Clinton for mayor (WCBS)
Yet another article talks about how boring
the mayoral candidates are. (The
Economist)
Add Susan Lasher to the list of family members
seeking City Council seats held by mothers,
fathers and now husbands. Lasher wants to
succeed her term-limited husband, Howard Lasher,
in district 47 in Brooklyn, which covers Brighton
Beach, Coney Island and part of Midwood. Other
candidates for the seat: Alex Brook-Krasny,
the Russian-born operator of Funorama, school
board members Brian Gottlieb (who is an aide
to Congressman Anthony Weiner) and Domenic
Recchia, veteran Brighton civic leader Pat
Singer, and Inna Stavitsky, who works for
a Jewish social service agency. (Daily News)
Former Republican chairman Fran Werner's
planned fund-raiser for Democratic borough
president candidate Carol Gresser is causing
a ruckus among Queens politicos, especially
Republicans. (Daily
News)
So far, only Pedro Espada Jr. has formally
declared his candidacy for Bronx Borough President.
But others known to be considering running
include City Council members Adolfo Carrion,
June Eisland and the Rev. Wendell Foster;
Assemblyman José Rivera; Bronx Overall Economic
Development head Joe Ithier; former state
Sen. and City Councilman Israel Ruiz, and
salsa legend Willie Colon. The reason why
the Democratic party organization has not
narrowed the field down, some say, is based
on the strategy that the more candidates running,
the more incentive for their supporters to
go to the polls - and also vote for current
Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer for
mayor. (Daily
News)
3/10/01
Mark Green, the New York City public advocate
who worked for ten years for Ralph Nader,
has moved to distance himself from the man
he describes as his mentor, declaring that
Nader will not come to New York to campaign
on his behalf in the mayoral race. Green said
Nader shared much of the blame for Al Gore's
loss to George W. Bush last year. (NY
Times)
At least a third of Public Advocate Mark
Green's staff joined an influential gay Democratic
organization, the Gay and Lesbian Independent
Democrats, last month to help Green win the
group's endorsement for the mayor's race.
Several of the employees and campaign workers
who joined are married, and few are known
within the gay community as activists. (NY
Post)
City Councilmember Julia Harrison did it
again, insulting Asian-Americans as she had
five years ago, even though the 80-year-old
legislator represents one of the city's largest
Asian communities. At the City Council hearing
on the bill to repeal term limits (which Harrison
supports), she said that Asian candidates
were trying to "buy the council seat" and
said of Asian-Americans: "They're not citizens.
They're not registered. They don't vote when
they are registered." (NY
Post)
3/9/01
Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, a
likely Democratic candidate for mayor, delivered
a State of the Bronx speech yesterday in which
he took credit for the creation of thousands
of jobs and $3.2 billion in new construction
in the borough. (Daily
News) He also blasted the policies of
Mayor Giuliani, and took a swipe at one of
his opponents, Alan Hevesi. (Daily
News)
Ferrer has returned $7,000 in contributions
to one of the three scandal-plagued construction
companies who have donated to his campaign,
poi nted out that none of the companies have
been charged with doing anything illegal,
and said the contributions have not stopped
him from criticizing one of them. (NY
Post)
A report by the Independent Budget Office
concludes that spending for the Board of Elections
has not increased with the need. (Newsday)
Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer,
a likely Democratic candidate for mayor, delivered
a State of the Bronx speech yesterday in which
he took credit for the creation of thousands
of jobs and $3.2 billion in new construction
in the borough. (Daily
News)
He also blasted the policies of Mayor Giuliani,
and took a swipe at one of his opponents,
Alan Hevesi (Daily
News)
Ferrer has returned $7,000 in contributions
to one of the three scandal-plagued construction
companies who have donated to his campaign,
pointed out that none of the companies have
been charged with doing anything illegal,
and said the contributions have not stopped
him from criticizing one of them. (NY
Post)
A report by the Independent Budget Office
concludes that spending for the Board of Elections
has not increased with the need. (Newsday)
3/8/01
The latest poll, conducted by Marist College,
shows Public Advocate Mark Green leading for
mayor at 31 percent, with City Council Speaker
Peter Vallone at 15 percent. Bronx Borough
President Fernando Ferrer and Comptroller
Alan Hevesi trail with 12 percent each. Thirty-percent
of voters surveyed were undecided. (NY
Post) In that same poll, support was shallow
and voters found the candidates boring. (Daily
News)
Fernando Ferrer took $55,150 in donations
raised by executives of three scandal-plagued
construction companies (Worth, Diamond Asphalt,
HRH Construction) that have left several major
botched projects in their wake. (NY
Post)
In response to complaint by Staten Island
Borough President Guy Molinari, the Board
of Elections is making the absentee ballots
clearer to read. (Daily
News)
3/7/01
Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire media mogul
who is considering a run for Mayor on the
Republican line, is conducting a series of
focus groups to determine, in part, whether
New Yorkers will buy his main selling point:
that his experience as the founder of a global
financial-news service gives him the management
experience necessary to run the unwieldy enterprise
known as City Hall. (New
York Observer)
Rabbi Milton Balkany, who has been at the
center of an investigation into how families
in four politically connected Brooklyn communities
won the lion's share of subsidized day care
vouchers, shutting out thousands of others
across the city, has raised some $28,000 for
Alan Hevesi. Six of his children and some
of their spouses have all contributed to Hevesi's
mayoral campaign. (Daily
News)
A prominent local Republican, former Queens
Republican head Fran Werner, endorses Democrat
Carol Gresser for Queens borough president.
(Daily
News)
Three residents of Co-op City looking to
succeed Lawrence Warden in District 12: Co-op
City boss Iris Herskowitz Baez, former state
Sen. Larry Seabrook and Shirley Saunders,
an aide to Rep. Eliot Engel. (Daily
News)
3/6/01
Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire communications
entrepreneur who is considering a run for
mayor of New York City, announced yesterday
that he was stepping down as chairman of his
board. Bloomberg, who will remain as chief
executive officer, said yesterday that he
would have made the changes regardless of
whether he were running for mayor this year.
But if he were to become a candidate, he said,
the changes would be necessary. (NY
Times)
Richard Lowry, 32, the editor of the National
Review, is mulling a run for mayor as the
Conservative candidate. (NY
Post)
Hevesi filming TV campaign ad in a Catholic
school. (Newsday)
3/5/01
With Hevesi coming in fourth of four candidates
in the latest Quinnipiac poll, there is talk
that he will launch a TV ad campaign as early
as this week. (Newsday)
3/4/01
None of the mayoral candidates call for postponing
the closing of Fresh Kills, which opened in
1948 and became the bane of Staten Islanders
and environmental advocates long before Gov.
George Pataki signed legislation in 1996 mandating
its shutdown by Dec. 31, 2001. Three of the
five candidates who responded to questions
on sanitation (all but Vallone and Hevesi)
underscored what they saw as serious faults
in the current plan. And all the candidates
said it was important to improve recycling.
(Newsday)
The race for mayor is pitting two "outsized
political consultants - once partners, but
today rank enemies" - against one another:
Hank Morris, who is working for Alan Hevesi,
against David Garth, who hopes to work for
the prospective campaign of Michael Bloomberg.
(NY
Times)
3/3/01
There is already petty squabbling and posturing
in the race for Staten Island Borough President
(Staten
Island Advance)
3/2/01
Palmer Doyle, who announced yesterday that
he would run for City Council in district
30 in Queens, became the first NYC firefighter
in 100 years to be a legal candidate for office.
A 1998 law allows members of the Fire Department
of New York to keep their jobs while serving
in public office. Previously, firefighters
had to resign within 10 days of being designated
a party candidate. (Daily
News)
3/1/01
Three of the four major Democratic mayoral
candidates said last night that they support
allowing same-sex marriages. The fourth, City
Council Speaker Peter Vallone, drew hisses
at a candidates forum sponsored by a gay and
lesbian political club when he stated his
opposition to such a law. (Daily
News)
February
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