Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Open Government

Open Government

Key Endorsements: Fernando Ferrer


The following is a list of endorsements for Fernando Ferrer for the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City from newspapers, civic groups, unions and other labor organizations and politicians. It was culled largely from his Web site, but also from newspaper accounts and Internet searches. This is not intended to be comprehensive. It is also a work in progress. If you know of any additional endorsements, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

NEWPAPERS

Carib News

The New York Times
After ruling out Weiner and Fields, the Times editorial said: "Gifford Miller, the City Council speaker, and Fernando Ferrer, the former Bronx borough president, are the strongest contenders, but their qualifications are very different. Mr. Miller has been more forceful in the current campaign, but then, inanimate objects have been as dynamic as Mr. Ferrer, who made a few gaffes early on and then retreated into a cocoon of sound bites. Both men have a wide understanding of the city's problems, but you would never know it from listening to Mr. Ferrer mechanically repeat the same meaningless catchphrases.

"Mr. Ferrer, however, has demonstrated a willingness to treat the financial challenges facing the city as something more than an invitation to dodge the issue. We disagree with his proposal for a temporary tax on stock trades to finance education, but we appreciate the fact that he is, at least, willing to take the heat for a hard choice....

"When it comes to experience, Mr. Miller has a generally good, if spotty, record in his current job. Mr. Ferrer presided in the Bronx during the borough's greatest resurgence. Although other officials deserve much of the credit for the Bronx's comeback, Mr. Ferrer can count his work there as a considerable achievement. Mr. Ferrer has made his way in politics in a borough that has always been troubled by bossism, and issues of corruption and the waves of dubious political activity have sometimes washed close. The Times recently reported that a friend of Mr. Ferrer's, someone who was jailed for soliciting payoffs on behalf of a powerful state senator, had been overheard in wiretaps promising that contributions to Mr. Ferrer would be rewarded with government contracts. (A spokesman for the candidate said Mr. Ferrer had no knowledge of the calls, which occurred when he was borough president.)

"If Mr. Ferrer is going to be a decent candidate in the fall, he's going to have to start talking like the intelligent public servant he used to be. Mr. Miller, on the other hand, would have to learn how to resist the temptation to take ethical shortcuts just because money is tight. If we're going to make a leap of faith, we prefer to do it with Mr. Ferrer. He gets our endorsement in the Democratic primary."

El Diario
Fernando Ferrer has the ability to energize and inspire us, and to remind us that the prosperity that is being enjoyed by some New Yorkers must be available to all New Yorkers. Ferrer has the experience and the track record to get things done. As a Puerto Rican in a city that is 27 percent Hispanic and growing, he represents the city's present and its future. For all these reasons we endorse Fernando Ferrer for the Democratic nomination for Mayor.

CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS

ACORN
(The New York branch of the national community action group) "We believe in Freddy Ferrer because he believes in our people. He has stood with us on housing, on education and for living wage jobs. He understands us. We are fighters - and so is Freddy Ferrer," said Bertha Lewis, executive director of New York ACORN. "We look forward to working shoulder to shoulder with Freddy, door-to-door in neighborhoods across our city.

UNIONS AND OTHER LABOR GROUPS

100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care

Comunication Workers of America
Represents workers in a variety of fields including telecommunications, health care, printing, manufacturing, higher education and government

Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), Local 1000 of AFSCME
State's largest state employees union, representing correction, social service, health care and other workers

Organization of Staff Analysts
Represents some professional workers in more than 50 city agencies

Transit Workers Union

Principals
(Council of School Supervisors and Administrators)

NYPD Guardians
An African-American organization within the police department that works to recruit, hire and promote more black in the department and to combat police brutality.

POLITICIANS

City Comptroller William Thompson
"[Ferrer] understands the challenges many New Yorkers face because he has lived them. That is why he is fighting to build a city where every New Yorker has access to hope and opportunity - that includes the opportunity to get a good job and earn a living wage, the opportunity to live in housing that an average family can afford, and the opportunity for all of our children to gain equal access to the benefits of an excellent education."

Former presidential candidate Al Sharpton, who waited to make this endorsement until two days before the primary. "I wanted to support someone that I felt was strong enough to face a 9/11 attack but also compassionate enough to make sure poor people wouldn't suffer if we had a natural disaster like Katrina," he said. "I'm still very, very disappointed with Freddy's remarks on [Amadou] Diallo."

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion

Former Manhattan Borough President - and former Democratic mayoral candidate Ruth Messinger

Representative Joe Crowley

Representative Gregory Meeks

Representative Major Owens

Representative Jose Serrano

Representative Edolphus Towns

Representative Nydia Velazquez
"Freddy Ferrer's track record is extraordinary from 66,000 units of affordable housing in the Bronx, to helping create the Civilian Complaint Review Board, to championing a law banning racial profiling, he has delivered real results to New Yorkers throughout his career."

Former Representative - and Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro

State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer

Former State Comptroller Carl McCall

State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver

State Senate Minority Leader David Paterson

State Senator Efrain Gonzalez

State Senator Jeffrey Klein

State Senator Carl Kruger

State Senator Velmanette Montgomery

State Senator Kevin Parker

State Senator Jose Serrano

State Senator John Sabini

State Assemblymember Carmen Arroyo

StateAssemblymember Michael Benedetto

State Assemblymember James Brennan

State Assemblymember Luis Diaz

State Assembylmembet Ruben Diaz Jr.

StateAssemblymemberAdriano Espaillat

StateAssemblymember Deborah Glick
"Freddy's dedication to progressive principals is not just a matter of lip-service. His record reflects a consistent commitment of putting his words into action. I remember being quite impressed when, in the mid-1980s as a young, thirty-something Latino Councilmember from the Bronx, Freddy showed great courage and dedication to civil rights for everyone when he cast a crucial vote that moved the Gay Rights Bill out of committee and on to eventual adoption by the full City Council. More recently, I was impressed by Freddy's repeated efforts, along with NARAL, to reach out to the Latino community on the issue of choice."

State Assemblymember Roger Green

StateAssemblymember Carl Heastie

StateAssemblymember Ivan Lafayette

State Assemblymember John Lavelle

State Assemblymember Jimmy Meng

State Assemblymember Cathy Nolan

State Assemblymember Felix Oritz

StateAssemblymember Jose Peralta

State Assemblymember Nick Perry

State Assemblymember Jose Rivera

StateAssemblymember Naomi Rivera

StateAssemblymember Peter Rivera

State Assemblymember Steven Sanders

State Assemblymember Darryl Towns

City Councilmember Hiram Monserrate

City Councilmember Carmen Arroyo

City Councilmember Maria Baez

City Councilmember Bill de Blasio

City Councilmember Lew Fidler

City Councilmember Letitia James

City Councilmember Miguel Martinez

City Councilmember Annabel Palma

City Councilmember Joel Rivera

 

9/11 Plus Four


Jim Dwyer, co-author of 102 Minutes: The Untold Story to Survive Inside the Twin Towers, joined Gotham Gazette's Reading NYC Book Club on August 31, 2005 for an online discussion about 9/11 four years after the attack on the Twin Towers.

Gotham Gazette: Four years after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, there is still much left to be resolved.

  • The country continues to debate the best national response to the threat of terrorism.
  • New Yorkers in particular are still figuring out how to build safe skyscrapers -- the Freedom Tower had to be redesigned earlier this year to respond to safety concerns -- and grappling with how to handle the possibility of a future attack.
  • There is a continuing debate over what cultural expressions are appropriate on the site -- the future of the cultural centers planned for Ground Zero is uncertain.
  • And the redevelopment of Ground Zero has slowed so much that many fear it will never happen.
  •  

    Even our picture of what went on in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 continues to shift over time. With us is Jim Dwyer, one of the authors of 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers, a book about that morning.

    Thank you for being with us, Mr. Dwyer.

    Jim Dwyer: Thanks for having me.

    FOUR YEARS LATER

    Gotham Gazette: On the fourth anniversary, why do you think so little connected to 9/11 has yet to be resolved?

    Jim Dwyer: Some of it hasn't been fully resolved because the public and the government were reluctant to ask probing questions in the months afterwards -- about national security, about emergency response, and for us here in NYC, about the safety of tall buildings.

    But then there is the question of the big hole where the trade center used to be and where 2,749 people died. And while people have complained about the leadership, it is not clear to me yet that the right solution has emerged, that we know what ought to be there. At least not yet.

    Gotham Gazette: Are we still too close to the event to be able to assess what would be best for the site?

    Jim Dwyer: That's how it looks to me.

    Gotham Gazette: Why not? It's been four years -- more time than it took World War II to be fought (as Fred Siegel said during our last book conversation)

    Jim Dwyer: We've actually fought two wars since the trade center fell.

    It took the better part of a year to get the site cleared. The bodies were still being identified. And people have been fighting about real estate in lower Manhattan for four centuries.

    Who knows how we're going to want to see that area four years from now, or 14? And I think it has taken people a while to build with an eye on our future selves, rather than the grieving, angry, distraught, lost, and numb selves in the time right after the loss.

    I guess I'm too ambivalent about what should be there myself to find fault with others for not knowing what to do. But I agree that it's high time something got started.

    A CHANGING HISTORY

    Gotham Gazette: Your book gives a pretty wrenching account of what people went through in the Twin Towers, which it is hard to imagine most people being able to handle a few years ago. How far have people come in terms of being prepared to deal with this story than they were previously?

    Jim Dwyer: I think they didn't handle it because no one told them what happened. When the survivors of the Titanic were brought to Chelsea Piers on the Carpathia, the chairman of a Senate committee was waiting for them with subpoenas. The morning after they landed, he began hearings at the Waldorf Astoria that lasted 18 days.

    All the famous lore and fact about the Titanic were established in those hearings -- the wrenching separations of families, the people floating away in the icy sea, the unanswered calls for help from the California.

    We encased the 9/11 events in a glaze of mythology. The mayor went to funerals and said the firefighters saved 25,000 people. Sometimes he said it was 50,000. He said that the firefighters knew what danger they were in and continued to rescue people. People like Fred Siegel wrote books declaring it a triumph of emergency management.

    None of that -- not a syllable -- is true.

    Meanwhile, in real life, here's what happened: the people who could get out rescued themselves. They walked down the stairs. They carried each other. They broke down doors. The firefighters came to help, but they were carrying 100 pounds of gear, and if the people in the building had to wait for them, they'd all have died.

    Gotham Gazette: You mention this in the book, actually, writing in the epilogue that "in the first telling of the story of the trade center rescue, civilians played little role, except as helpless victims who were saved by the police and firefighters"; your book portrays those in the towers as being much more active in their own escapes. Why had this story gone untold?

    Jim Dwyer: Because we needed heroes and "firefighters" was much catchier than "office workers." Because the firefighters made such sacrifices. Because what went on inside the towers was invisible, and fragmented. It took place across 110 floors, and two buildings -- that's 220 acres, and you couldn't see from one acre to the next, so you didn't know, for instance, that two ordinary guys in the north tower, Frank DeMartini and Pablo Ortiz, freed people on the 88th, 89th, 90th, 86th, 83rd and 78th floors. All of them would have been trapped had it not been for these two little-known men. It took us months to piece together their story - neither man escaped.

    Angai: Although the the firefighters might not have physically carried those that were trapped, didn't they still assist by directing those to the exit and clearing obstacles in the way?

    Jim Dwyer: The firefighters cleared exits in the final minutes, absolutely, and they also helped get the remaining people out when the first tower collapsed. Also very important in this same role were the trade center security guards, most of whom stood their ground to the end.

    STORIES OF SURVIVORS AND VICTIMS

    Gotham Gazette: Over the course of your reporting, you've obviously come in contact with many people who have been deeply affected by both the 1993 and 2001 attacks on a personal level. Is the story of these two men the single one that sticks out? Are there any others that particularly affected you?

    Jim Dwyer: Many, many others. About 18 people escaped from above the crash zone in the south tower; each of them has a powerful story to tell.

    Gotham Gazette: Is there one in particular that comes to mind right now?

    Jim Dwyer: Tom Kelly, who worked on the towers as a young steamfitter, ran the one working elevator in that tower, and brought Chief Palmer up to the 40th floor.

    The efforts of Orio Palmer, a fire chief, and Tom Kelly, a firefighter, in the south tower, are especially striking. Chief Palmer got to the impact zone in the south tower in the final minutes.

    Robert Gabriel Martinez, a young security guard, was on the 78th floor of the south tower when Chief Palmer arrived there. That was a place of devastation -- a sky lobby where people had been waiting for express elevators when the second plane hit.

    We also sued the city and got a tape of Chief Palmer narrating his own ascent through the building. He actually picked up speed as he climbed -- you could time his transmissions and figure out how fast he was going.

    Then there's the story of Jan Demczur, the window-washer, who was trapped in an elevator in the north tower with five other men. He was in an express elevator, and when they pried open the doors, they were facing a sheetrock wall, because the elevator didn't stop at that floor. The men had one tool -- Jan's squeegee. And they used it to cut through the sheetrock, eventually hitting tiles in a bathroom, and kicked them out to get onto the 50th floor. They made it out of the building wtih minutes to spare.

    SENSITIVITY ABOUT DEPICTIONS OF 9/11

    Gotham Gazette: The stories you tell are very dramatic. Maybe that's one reason why 102 Minutes is being made into a movie. There are other 9/11 movies in the hopper as well. Has there been any reaction to these projects that it's turning something sacred into entertainment?

    Jim Dwyer: I don't know if 102 Minutes is going to be made into a movie. That's not up to me. But if it does get made, I'm hoping that it will have the fidelity to facts of Apollo 13.

    Jocelyn_Rudell: Do you think that the contempt many feel for the financial sector and its employees (or at least lack of admiration for it) compound the lack of attention to stories from people other than firefighters and police? (even though it's a key part of NYC's identity and wellbeing)

    Jim Dwyer:I don't think people's feelings about the financial sector really caused the blackout of information about what happened in the towers. Having done the research to figure out what did happen, I can tell you it is an extremely arduous, complicated puzzle, and I think that, more than any feelings about the financial sector, probably made it easy to default to the firefighters and police as the only heroes of the day.

    Gotham Gazette: There's a lot of sensitivity about depictions of 9/11. Artists, news organizations and politicians have all at times been accused of being insensitive to the attacks or outright exploiting what some see as sacred. During the Republican National Convention, the president was shamed out of even visiting the site; today, some families of the attack's victims are trying to limit what the cultural institutions on the site can display. Have you run into this and what do you think explains it?

    Jim Dwyer: People don't want to see this event manipulated for political or commercial gain. I haven't really run into it with regard to 102 Minutes.

    WHAT WENT WRONG?

    Gotham Gazette: You've been covering this story, in a sense, for more than a decade. You were also a co-author of Two Seconds Under The World, about the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. You now write about it for the NY Times, which recently got a judge to release more oral histories on the day of 9/11. So, the big question -- could 9/11 have been avoided, or, if not avoided, minimized? In other words -- what went wrong?

    Jim Dwyer: Islamic fundamentalists killed Meir Kahane in November 1990. The same group tried to knock over the trade center in February 1993.

    The mastermind of the 93 plot then wanted to blow up jets all over the world.

    In 1998, bin Laden blew up two American embassies in Africa and announced that no American was safe.

    In 2000, members of his outfit attacked the USS Cole.

    In 2001, bin Laden's crowd killed 2,749 people in NYC, more in Washington and in Shanksbille, Pa.

    We did not pay enough attention to this threat, not to make a "duh" remark.

    We should not ignore what was exposed about building safety at the trade center. It could be relevant to next catastrophe, whether it is the doing of Mother Nature or some malignant hands. More than 1,000 people survived the plane crashes at the trade center, but could not get out of the buildings because there were so few exits. The towers were the first major skyscrapers built under a code that permitted building owners to cut their exits in half, creating more rentable space.

    Gotham Gazette: Much of what you have written in the Times since the publication of your book has been about the debate over building code reform which, you write "hardly makes for gripping drama." Has 9/11 managed to create a constituency for building code reform that didn’t exist previously? Has anything changed?

    Jim Dwyer: Not to pay attention to that is like ignoring the lifeboat count on the Titanic: the boats only had space for half the passengers. As for change -- some elements of the building code have been changed, but the industry apparently has persuaded the city that it does not need to expand the amount of exit space. One of the most interesting points is that when you don't have elevators in a building, it takes hours for rescuers to reach people on high floors. A federal agency recently issued a 10,000 page report on the trade center, and made calls for changes in national building codes. But building codes don't see any difference in risk between a person on the eighth floor or the 108th. There are no more exits for the twin towers than any ten story building -- no more fire resistance, no more impact resistance, no required refuges.

    Gotham Gazette: Have we missed the chance to learn from the mistakes of 9/11?

    Jim Dwyer: There's always another chance.

    RELATED
    Gotham Gazette's Rebuilding NYC, a subsite that offered the most comprehensive coverage of the rebuilding effort from September 11, 2001 to September 11, 2004.

    Three Years Of Rebuilding (September 6, 2004)

    Future book club events at http://www.gothamgazette.com/books

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Endorsements Explained


    Campaign 2005 Mayoral Endorsements

    In the fall of 2001, the New York Times endorsed Democrat Mark Green for mayor, saying he has "demonstrated a deep understanding of the issues, a sensible approach to public policy, and the soul of a fighter." Unions representing teachers, health care workers and civil servants eventually lined up behind Green's candidacy, as did 50 members of the State Assembly, Newsday and Crain's. And to cap it off just a few days before the election, former President Bill Clinton stumped across Harlem with Green at his side.

    But on Election Day, none of that mattered. Neither did Green's lengthy political experience or the overwhelming political advantage Democrats have in the city. Republican Michael Bloomberg won anyway - due largely, most experts agree, to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's endorsement. Following the September 11, 2001, attacks, Giuliani had turned "from a moderately popular mayor into a demigod," Mark Mellman, a polling consultant for Green, said after the election. "That demigod status enabled him to be effective in a wonderful endorsement commercial," which Bloomberg had the money to air over and over and over again.

    Four years later, candidates seeking endorsements can learn a number of lessons from the 2001 campaign. Some endorsements matter more than others; a campaign's use of an endorsement can be as important as the endorsement itself; the endorsements you do not get may matter as much as the ones you do.

    But, despite that, candidates this year are once again courting newspaper editorial boards, issue groups, union leaders and politicians, all in the hopes of gaining a nod they can trumpet on flyers, in ads and on the steps of City Hall. Winning the endorsement can take time and energy - and force candidates into deals that go against their own best judgment, or against the best interests of the city, and that voters might not know about.

    There is ample evidence that most endorsements do not matter at all.

    Candidates pursue them anyway, just in case. Some bring press coverage, which candidates always welcome. And this year, with turnout likely to be small, they reason, who knows what will sway the few votes that could make a difference?

    Among the mayoral candidates this year, Bloomberg and Democrats Fernando Ferrer and Gifford Miller lead in endorsements. On their Web sites, both the Democrats have long lists of endorsements, mostly from politicians largely unknown outside their immediate communities. Most are specifically for the Democratic primary on September 13th. If none of the Democratic candidates win 40 percent of the vote, and a runoff is secheduled for September 27th, the endorsers may change sides, as they may do once again for the General Election in November.

    NEWSPAPERS

    Newspapers offer endorsements -- not just the major English-language metropolitan dailies, but a wide range of the hundreds of community and ethnic newspapers in the city, and not just for mayor but other citywide and borough offices, City Council and judgeship races as well.

    Ferrer snatched the gold ring of a New York Times endorsement in the Democratic primary over Labor Day weekend, though it was hardly a ringing one, emphasizing less what was positive about him than what was negative about his Democratic rivals: "If we're going to make a leap of faith, we prefer to do it with Mr. Ferrer."

    Nationally, many experts dismiss the value of editorial endorsements. "Editorial endorsements are dinosaurs. The vast majority of the public don't read editorials," Larry Sabato, head of the university of Virginia's Center for Politics, told a reporter during the 2004 presidential race (in which, by the way, John Kerry got more endorsements than George W. Bush).

    On a local level, said John Mollenkopf, professor of political science at the CUNY Graduate Center, "newspaper editorials mostly help when they confirm what someone is thinking of doing anyway."

    An exception may be the New York Times, in races "in affluent, Times-reading neighborhoods," as the New York Observer put it recently in an article on the power of the Times's endorsements, which singled out a Times editorial board member, Carolyn Curiel, who leads the board’s subcommittee on local politics, and whose "blessing can mean the difference between winning and losing local elections, especially in Manhattan." When the Times endorsed Scott Stringer for Manhattan borough president, Ben Smith of the Observer wrote: "The dozen or so candidates will all be gunning for Stringer now, but they've got a tough job. This race is the classic case of New York Times power: it's too small a job for ordinary people to pay much attention, but too big an electorate for a candidate to win based on energy, shaken hands, and a personal network alone." The Times endorsement of Leslie Crocker Snyder, some say, will change the dynamic in her challenge of longtime Manhattan incumbent district attorney Robert Morgenthau.

    And on Staten Island, the Advance's endorsements carry great weight, according to Richard Flanagan, a political science professor at the College of Staten Island.

    CIVIC GROUPS AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

    Groups representing various causes and positions also look at candidates' positions on issues of concern to that group — be it good government, gay rights, abortion rights or the environment. Some of these groups carefully research the candidates, ask them to fill out questionnaires, interview them. Others take a less methodical approach.

    Bloomberg has fared well with these organizations this year, garnering endorsements from groups that back causes generally associated with Democrats, such as abortion rights. Miller has picked up several such endorsements. The community group ACORN endorsed Ferrer. Fields has won support from a few women's groups, but also received the "preference" of Citizens Union, the good government group affiliated with Citizens Union Foundation, which publishes Gotham Gazette.

    Generally, the backing of issue groups tends chiefly to underscore - for better or worse - the candidates' stand on a particular set of issues. In a study (.pdf) of endorsements in gubernatorial elections in six states (not including New York), Rachael Cobb, a political scientist at MIT, found, "Groups often demand commitments from candidates in exchange for an endorsement."

    LABOR UNIONS

    For decades, nationally and locally, unions provided key support for Democratic candidates. But this year, Bloomberg, a billionaire and nominal Republican who in the past has had his house picketed by some city workers, has racked up a number of union endorsements, including that of District Council 37, the largest union representing city employees. According to the National Journal's "Hotline," this was the first time the union, which backed Ferrer four years ago, ever made a general election endorsement before the primary. Bloomberg aides told reporters the union imprimatur could help deflect accusations that Bloomberg is out of touch with working New Yorkers. Perhaps more importantly it will deprive Ferrer - or any other Democrat — of ground troops to get out the vote on Election Day.

    Other unions, including a number of those representing construction workers, have joined District Council 37 in endorsing the mayor. A smattering of unions have gone to each of the Democrats, except for Fields.

    The United Federation of Teachers has sat out the race so far. Some cynics attribute this to the fact that the teachers, who have been working without a contract, hope to win a new agreement with the city before the election. Others say that after a losing streak in the 2001 election -- when the union backed unsuccessful candidates in the primary, runoff and general elections -- it makes sense for it to lie low. The Working Families Party, which has ties to many unions, also has not yet endorsed.

    While the Working Families Party seems to have some clout, almost everyone agrees that traditional union backing matters less than it once did. "Union endorsements have a significant impact on what members do, [but] less on their families and others," said Mollenkopf.

    And union endorsements, like others, can have a price. In 2002, Republican Governor George Pataki won the endorsement of District 1199, the large and powerful union representing health-care workers. At the same time, Pataki gave the health-care workers a raise, an increase that many of his critics said the state could not afford.

    POLITICIANS

    For much of the spring and into the summer, politicians, many fairly obscure, flocked to the steps of City Hall or issued press releases announcing their support for a candidate in the mayor's race - most for Miller or Ferrer.

    Few seemed likely to have much of an impact, although people who follow such things sought to find significance in some. Would, for example, the endorsements of a few Bronx politicians for Anthony Weiner, including U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, indicate a major shift of support to Weiner in Ferrer's home borough of the Bronx?

    And a couple intrigued reporters, if not voters, by running counter to type. For instance, look at former U.S. Representative Geraldine Ferraro's support for Ferrer. Although Joseph Mercurio, then a consultant to the Fields campaign, dismissed Ferraro's importance -- "I had to spend a few minutes remembering who she was," he told the Times -- it did not escape notice that the first woman to run on a major party's presidential ticket had chosen to endorse a man, rather than the person seeking to become New York's first woman mayor.

    An endorsement by an individual often does more for the endorser than the endorsee. This may explain why so many endorsement statements seem to be more about the person making the endorsement than the one receiving it.

    Take, for example, U.S. Representative Joseph Crowley's endorsement of Ferrer. "I've known Freddy Ferrer for 20 years, during which we fought side by side on issues, from health care to housing, issues that matter to New Yorkers," Crowley said. "I work every day in Washington fighting the Republican agenda of Bush, Pataki, and Bloomberg, fighting for New Yorkers' security, access to health care, and to make New York accessible and livable for average New Yorkers, not just the rich. I know that Freddy is the only candidate who really engages with these issues."

    Of course, endorsements can backfire for endorsers too. Democrats in the city have been trying to use Bloomberg's endorsement of President George W. Bush against the mayor.

    Sometimes endorsements can reflect one politician's honest enthusiasm for a colleague. But often they result from horse-trading: Back me, and I'll back you, give you a job in my administration or push your favorite cause.

    Many political insiders in Brooklyn were intrigued by Councilmember David Yassky's endorsement of State Senator John Sampson for Brooklyn district attorney. While Yassky is often viewed as a reformer, Sampson has the unofficial support of indicted Brooklyn Democratic Party leader Clarence Norman, a nemesis of most reformers. On the other hand Yassky, who is white, is mulling a run for Congress in a largely black district and could profit from an affiliation with a black politician like Sampson.

    "If Yassky endorsed Sampson, whether Sampson wins or loses, one would think Yassky would have some claim on Sampson's endorsement," Baruch College Professor Douglas Muzzio told the Daily News. "Clearly, there's a quid pro quo element to this."

    A 2003 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press (in pdf format) people said endorsements had little effect on their vote. Asked whether they would be swayed by the endorsement of specific individuals, most people said no. In many cases, an endorsement could harm a candidate just as easily as help him. For example, three percent of those responding said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate backed by Tonight Show host Jay Leno, while 10 percent said Leno's endorsement would make them less likely to vote for a candidate. Bill Clinton had the biggest positive effect of any individual - 19 percent - but the exact same percentage said they would be deterred from voting for a candidate by Clinton's backing.

    In New York, Reverend Al Sharpton may have a similar effect. The 2001 election offers a convoluted case study of the complications Sharpton poses. As Ferrer and Green eagerly sought his support Sharpton remained "maddeningly neutral", inviting Green and Ferrer to vie for his support. Shortly before the primary, Sharpton finally endorsed Ferrer, prompting Ferrer partisans to announce a black-Latino coalition that, they said, would bring the Bronx borough president to victory.

    Others said the opposite would be true. "In welcoming a warm endorsement from the Rev. Al Sharpton, the controversial black leader, Mr. Ferrer may have scared away the vast bulk of Jewish voters who were once a core element in any big-city liberal coalition," Rachel Donadio wrote in the Forward.

    After Ferrer lost to Green in a runoff election marked by attempts by some Green supporters to tag Ferrer as a racially divisive politician, Sharpton made his displeasure with Green known and sat out the general election. Some say this contributed to Bloomberg's narrow victory in November.

    For better or worse, Sharpton has not endorsed anyone so far this year, although when the primary was less than two weeks away, the New York Times reported that he and Dennis Rivera, president of the District 1199 union, were weighing a joint endorsement of Ferrer.

    But most endorsements do not involve anybody with such potential influence. They come from members of the state legislature, district leaders or council members, and their value is questionable. "Most people don't care very much about which City Council members are going to back Gifford Miller or whoever," Mollenkopf told the New York Observer.

    Endorsements can "serve as proxies for someone's character," Flanagan said, noting they can make a difference, particularly in races where turnout is small.

    Candidates also seek out celebrity endorsements, although it is unclear whether Madonna's support for Wesley Clarke won the former general any votes in the 2004 presidential race. But celebrities can help with fundraising. John Kerry capitalized on his support from Bruce Springsteen and other singers to have them hold concerts raising money for his campaign. And locally, Manhattan borough president candidate Brian Ellner has had prominent people in the fashion industry, including Diane von Furstenberg, raise funds for his campaign.

    But every once in a while, someone comes around whose endorsement unquestionably makes a difference. Giuliani in 2001 was one. And, according to Flanagan, in 1961 when Manhattan liberals saw incumbent Mayor Robert Wagner as too close to the Tammany Hall Democratic machine, he was saved with the endorsement of former Senator Herbert Lehman.

    "That really made the difference for Wagner," Flanagan said. "Lehman was seen as having this connection with the New Deal" and so the liberals forgave Wagner his transgressions and elected him to a third term.

    But, said Flanagan, nothing similar is likely to happen this time around. "There is, he said, "no bigger-than-life political personality to point a finger and make someone anointed."

     



    Print Friendly and PDF

    Editor's Choice


    Gotham Gazette: New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
    New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
    Gotham Gazette: 
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
    New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
    Gotham Gazette: 
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
    Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
    Gotham Gazette: 
City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years