City Hall - August 1, 2008 by City Hall News

Carol RoblesRomĂĄn, right, translates Bloombergâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mandates (Page 14), city candidates face a gloomy economy

(Page 19),

Vol. 3, No. 3

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August 2008

At the top of his game, where can Chuck Schumer go from here?

Page

18 CAMP

Schumer 10 former

staffers talk about life after CHUCK Page 24

and Tom Duane, left, sits down for his Power Lunch (Page 37).

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AUGUST 2008

Krueger Challenger Boosted By Giuliani Circle, Connections And Contributions Closest and most controversial supporters form core of Brown campaign BY SAL GENTILE 2002, LIZ KRUEGER ARRIVED in Albany a Republican titan slayer. In the special election to replace longtime State Sen. Roy Goodman (RManhattan), she defeated a well-funded, well-connected associate of Rudy Giuliani and wrested the 26th State Senate district, which stretches from Gramercy Park to the Upper East Side, from Republican hands for the first time in 30 years. Her arrival in the Capitol sparked a lot of reactions, both positive and negative. But perhaps the greatest compliment came from then-Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. “I spent a million dollars against you,” she remembers him telling her, “but you still got in.” Six years and four elections later, Krueger is facing another aggressive, well-connected opponent, who has excited hopes among Republicans of recapturing what was once a reliably Republican district. He is also another candidate looking to benefit in the race from his Giuliani connections. Tim Brown is a former firefighter who walked out of the North Tower of the World Trade Center just five minutes before it collapsed. He is running as a “new-breed Republican” in what has become a strongly Democratic district, and hopes his eclectic biography—he has also tried his hand as an actor, in a recurring role on the HBO prison drama Oz — will reinvigorate a Republican brand that has grown stale in Manhattan. He has fashioned himself a hawkish, socially moderate Republican in the Giuliani mold. Whatever strength Brown demonstrates in November may have less to do with being in Giuliani mold than being flush with Giuliani advisers, supporters and campaign cash.

operation around a battery of key Giuliani associates, including senior policy advisor Bill Simon, and chief strategist Tony Carbonetti. Carbonetti, Giuliani’s former chief of staff and one of his closest advisers, has provided Brown with strategic advice as well as access to the former mayor’s closely held network of donors and campaign advisers, according to sources close to the campaign. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because fundraising and strategy meetings were private, and they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the Brown campaign. Carbonetti has arranged meetings between Brown and major donors to Republican and conservative causes, such as insurance mogul Hank Greenberg and venture capitalist Kenneth Langone. Greenberg and Langone were both major fundraisers for Giuliani’s presidential campaign and have indicated plans to raise money for Brown as well. The former mayor has apparently not been directly involved himself, nor had he given any money to Brown as of the July campaign finance disclosure. But according to that disclosure, Brown’s biggest donor is wealthy investor Paul Former firefighter Singer, founding partner Tim Brown, who is of Elliot Associates, one running against State of the oldest and most Sen. Liz Krueger, is benefitting successful hedge funds from connections to supporters, advisers and big in New York. Singer has donors to his friend, Rudy Giuliani. been a major backer of Republican and conservative causes over recent years for running what critics call the years, providing hundreds of thou- a “vulture fund,” buying up discounted sands of dollars to Republican senators debt from Third World countries and and presidential candidates, including pressing for full repayment. Many have accused Giuliani of using foreign aid President Bush. marked for debt relief, routed to him through Singer, to fund his presidential campaign. Brown has also received money from several partners at the former mayor’s consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, who worked for Giuliani when he was mayor or backed his presidential bid. One of those Most recently, Singer was a major donors is the controversial priest and lifefundraiser for Giuliani’s presidential cam- long Giuliani friend Alan Placa, who gave paign, contributing tens of thousands of just under $100 to Brown’s campaign. In 2003, Placa was accused by a Suffolk dollars of his own fortune and bringing in County Grand Jury of repeatedly molestmajor dollars from other donors as well. But Singer has come under fire in ing young boys at his parish and systemat-

Brown worked on Giuliani’s presidential campaign, and has built his own operation around a battery of key Giuliani associates, including senior policy adviser Bill Simon, and chief strategist Tony Carbonetti. Brown’s campaign is being run almost entirely by former high-level aides to Giuliani, with whom he has had a close personal friendship since his days as a firefighter. Brown worked on Giuliani’s presidential campaign, and has built his own

CITY HALL ically concealing allegations against colleagues. The statute of limitations had expired by the time of the report’s release, and Placa was never charged with a crime. He has been vigorously defended in the media by Giuliani. Brown’s connections to prominent members of the Giuliani inner circle extend beyond New York, and include former California gubernatorial candidate and senior Giuliani policy adviser Bill Simon. Simon, who helped try to coordinate the fractious ideological threads running through Giuliani’s campaign, contributed $1,000 to Brown’s candidacy and has also been providing occasional strategic advice. Simon has cultivated a close working relationship with Giuliani since Sept. 11, when a breakfast with the then-mayor was interrupted by the attacks on the World Trade Center. The core of Brown’s campaign operation was a small nucleus of paid campaign staffers—all three of whom have worked for Giuliani’s presidential campaign or mayoral administration—assisted by leaders of the State Senate Republican Campaign Committee (SRCC), three of whom were former Giuliani aides and have worked on Brown’s campaign. This may explain why Brown, a political novice running in a district Republicans have been unable to make competitive since Krueger won her first race, received $50,000 from the SRCC, one of the highest amounts given to any Republican running for Senate. Matt Mahoney, who was leading the SRCC, brought with him a philosophy that differed from the state party’s conventional strategy, according to party officials. He and two of his former SRCC colleagues, political director Matt Coleman and director of operations Phil Frattaroli, all came from the Giuliani presidential campaign. At the SRCC, they operated on the principle of supporting fledgling candidates, such as Brown, rather than cede districts to Democrats. That may change now that Coleman and Frattaroli have quit amid a shake-up that has reduced Mahoney’s role to fundraising. Officials in the New York City Republican Party have been told by representatives of the SRCC that past commitments made to State Senate candidates in the city, such as Brown, are currently under review and may change depending on decisions by the committee’s new leadership. Whatever decision comes from the SRCC leadership about Brown, however, he already has the foundation to continue calling on some of the most influential fundraisers and advisers in the often opaque Giuliani circle. sgentile@cityhallnews.com

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AUGUST 2008

CITY HALL

UNIONS and the UNIVERSITY

ISSUE FORUM: UNIONS AND LABOR

By Gregory Mantsios

Creating Jobs by Harnessing the Resources of New York

Unions, like public officials, often get a bum rap. Shortcomings and scandals get ink and air time – and rightly so, but achievements are rarely featured. How many New Yorkers know, for example, that unions provide millions of dollars in tuition for workers to attend college?

BY ASSEMBLY MEMBER MARC ALESSI YORK STATE IS AT ONE OF the most critical points in its history. Our problems began with the Pataki administration’s dangerous practice of borrowing money to fund the state’s operating expenses, and continued with both the Bush and Pataki administrations’ “trickle down economic theory.” Because of these practices, the cost of providing essential services, like education and health care, has been pushed down to local levels of government. These previous policies of Bush and Pataki, coupled with the fact that New York’s future workforce, 18- to 34-yearolds, is leaving at an exponential rate, could mean we will not soon see an end to this economic disaster. This turn of events is forcing New York’s working class to bear the brunt of the tax burden through a reliance on the local property tax. This tax is the most regressive form of taxation because, unlike the income tax, it is not based on ability to pay. So when Washington or Albany cuts the income tax for only the wealthiest 1 percent, the only thing that trickles down is higher tax bills and bigger deficits. While this all may seem discouraging, we can reverse our course. In a recession, with revenues decreasing, it is important to take a look at operating expenses and mitigate cost where possible without compromising priorities. Once expenses are cut, the budget hole still needs to be fixed. We can accomplish this by having a fair taxing policy in New York. Recent figures indicate that the average middle class worker pays 40 percent of their income to taxes, while the wealthiest 1 percent pays 8 percent. If we change this policy, we can put money back into the pockets of the working class. History has proven that by reversing this policy, money will quickly find its way back into our economy. New York needs to stop borrowing for operating expenses and instead only borrow for capital improvements, like our aging infrastructure. These necessary improvements will create jobs, grow our economy, attract businesses to New York and in turn, allow working class New Yorkers to spend their earnings on consumer goods and services that drive our economy. Furthermore, we can create even more jobs in New York State in two ways: by harnessing the alternative energy sector and by utilizing New York State’s Supercomputer. Theoretically, this Supercomputer is

A number of worker education programs – especially designed to meet the higher education needs of working adult students – have sprouted up within The City University of New York over the past 25 years. Three years ago, CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein and the CUNY Board of Trustees established the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies. The Institute, formerly at Queens College and now renamed after a former CUNY Chancellor who was a champion of education for working people, offers a CUNY-wide, five-borough approach to worker education. What is particularly unique about this initiative is that it represents a partnership that includes organized labor, academe, and government. The eighteen unions that participate in the program provide tuition support for their members, mostly through collectively-bargained benefit agreements, but sometimes right out of their union treasuries. Since the establishment of the Institute, these unions have expanded their contributions, while others have created new educational benefit funds for their members where previously none existed. The State Legislature and City Council provide significant supplemental funding. These funds are used to provide pre-admission services, counseling, test preparation, tutoring, career counseling, and an array of other support services to insure academic success. CUNY– through the Murphy Institute and the School of Professional Studies – offers undergraduate and graduate courses at the Institute’s facilities in mid-Manhattan and at satellite locations throughout the City. The Murphy Institute also creates new programs in collaboration with CUNY colleges, to serve either cohorts or individual union members. The result is that thousands of union members earn a college degree and prepare for the changing nature of work in the 21st century. There are special programs at the Institute for city and state employees, garment workers, school paraprofessionals, operating engineers, librarians, hospital workers, and a host of others. As one participant so aptly put it: “I’d be a fool not to take advantage of this opportunity to go back to school; I worked all my life to send my kids to college, now its my turn”. And it’s not just union members who benefit. The Institute is open to anyone who is interested in pursuing a college degree and its work often impacts on other CUNY units as they adjust their policies and practices to accommodate the needs of working adults. Colleges working in tandem with the Murphy Institute, for example, are offering more evening and weekend courses, which helps all workers – union and non-union-- who can not attend classes during the daytime hours. There is nothing like this anywhere else in the country: this unique unionuniversity-government partnership should be a model for every municipality in the nation. For more information, contact the Murphy Institute at 212-827-0200 or visit www.WorkerEd.org Gregory Mantsios is Director, Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies Advertisement

the fastest computing power in the world outside of the Department of Defense. It was purchased last year for RPI and SUNY Stony Brook to offer any company anywhere in New York access to this computing power. This Supercomputer has the capability to bring a product to market in two years rather than five years; a notion worth billions! If this is properly marketed, New York should be considered the only place to do business. Finally, we can create jobs by creating energy right here in New York! The benefits of wind and solar are obvious, but we should also look to bio-diesel. This energy can be produced from restaurant waste oil, and through farm production on the over 2 million acres of fallow farm land in New York. We can produce close to 5,000 gallons of diesel per acre without affecting our food supply! Bio-diesel can go into anything that runs on diesel with little to no retrofitting. Tens of thousands of jobs can be created with this new and emerging alternative energy economy. As chairman of the Subcommittee on the Emerging Workforce, I am committed to being resilient when our economy is unstable by holding hearings throughout the state to ensure this new emerging economy is utilized and becomes one in which New York’s working class has a bright future. We have a long road ahead of us as New Yorkers to rebuild our economy, but I am confident that with these changes, we can get back on track.

Marc Alessi, a Democrat representing Suffolk County, is the chair of the Assembly Emerging Workforce Subcommittee.

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CITY HALL

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AUGUST 2008

ISSUE FORUM:

UNIONS AND LABOR

We Need Parity Pay for All Retired City Officers BY STATE SEN. ANDREW LANZA YORK CITY IS HOME TO THE greatest police department in the world. As the proud son of a retired New York City police officer, I appreciate the commitment and sacrifice that these men and women make to our community on a daily basis. This commitment prompts me to share the story of another family with a history rooted in the NYPD: Joseph L. Balzano was born into a family where police service was a tradition. He is the son of a New York City police officer who died in the line of duty, and his son, Joseph Jr., is a retired New York City police officer. As a family, they combine 66 years of law enforcement within the City of New York. Mr. Balzano was one of the most highly decorated police officers with the city Housing Police Department, yet he does not receive the $12,000 Variable Supplement Fund Benefit that his son receives. Mr. Balzano falls into a special class of retired Transit and Housing police officers that is not afforded the same Variable Supplement Fund Benefit as their peers in the city police department. I have pushed legislation in the Senate, which would eliminate this

injustice; however, the New York City Council has refused to vote a home rule message. During the 1960s the city adopted a policy that established “parity” amongst the three law enforcement departments in the City of New York at the time: the NYPD, the housing officers, and the transit officers. Over the years and throughout different administrations, compromises were made on behalf of each police union to maintain parity and keep all members on equal footing. For exam-

ple, one master police list was established where police officers were assigned to one of the three departments based on the needs of the time. During times of fiscal crisis, police officers were laid off within all three police departments. Regardless of the situation, the policy decision to maintain parity across the departments remained in place. I share this story with you because these men and women who worked as officers between 1968 and 1987 labored within a system that was based on parity and equity between all three unions. Then in 1987, the Variable Supplement Fund (VSF) was established by the state legislature and signed into law for the housing and transit officers. In 1995, Mayor Giuliani merged the three departments into one NYPD, and through a Memorandum of Understanding, the Housing and Transit departments were guaranteed their VSF going forward. Mayor Giuliani definitely held the right intent to retroactively apply the VSF to those members whose careers dated between 1968 and 1987, but because the MOU does not carry the same weight as legislation, the intent was never realized, and there is a pocket group of retired officers who have been

denied their VSF. All police officers and firefighters in New York City today receive this benefit if they meet the requisite requirements. The inequity that has occurred to the approximate 900 members left in this group is one that must not be overlooked. One of the great and rewarding responsibilities of the Legislature is to right wrongs where they exist. As chairman of the Senate Civil Service and Pensions Committee, I am addressing this inequity because I believe we must honor those that have served before us and deserve the fair and equitable benefits that we are afforded today. We must not let an unfilled loophole continue to exploit the inequity that exists within this shrinking class of officers. I would like to urge Governor Paterson, Speaker Silver, Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Quinn to work with me to correct the injustice these retired officers face. Let’s put them on equal footing. Equity, Fairness, and Parity demand it.

Andrew Lanza, a Republican representing Staten Island, is chair of the State Senate Civil Service and Pensions Committee.

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AUGUST 2008

CITY HALL

ISSUE FORUM: UNIONS AND LABOR

Organized Labor Is the Path to the Middle Class, Historically and Today BY COUNCIL SPEAKER CHRISTINE QUINN AMERICANS THINK OF Labor Day as the unofficial end of summer. But before the days start to get shorter and the nights get colder, I would like to take a moment to recognize all that organized labor has won for the hardworking men and women of this city. On this most unique national holiday,

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we must remember that many of the things we take for granted, like safe working conditions and job protections—even the very notion of Labor Day Weekend—were won by organized labor. Labor has helped generations of New Yorkers raise families, including my own family. Before he retired, my father was an electrical engineer. He was a shop steward for the International Union of Electrical

Workers, Local Chapter 444. I’ll never forget the two times during my childhood when his union went on strike for nearly seven weeks at a time. My father’s experiences on the picket line—taking a stand against a company that wanted to change workers’ job titles just so they could pay them less—made a big impression on me. It was that same union that helped me to go to college, so that I could one day pursue my dream of moving to New York

Council of School Supervisors & Administrators

City and entering public service. That union is the reason that I have peace of mind today when it comes to my father, who will turn 82 this year, because I know that he will receive the medical attention he needs if, God forbid, something should happen. Organized labor has a legacy of pulling people out of poverty and essentially creating the middle class as we know it. As speaker of the City Council, I have a responsibility to listen to the concerns of the labor movement. Over the course of any given day, I hear from unions, yes, but I also hear from the business community, the development community, neighborhood associations and average New Yorkers who stop me on the street. I will not always agree with every union, nor will I ever agree 100 percent of the time with any other constituency. But I will always

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listen, so that going forward I can forge a consensus and work to find solutions. For too many people in this city, opportunities like the ones that I had are fast becoming a thing of the past. There are too many obstacles between hardworking New Yorkers and the middle-class life they are working toward. Too often, labor unions have been unfairly vilified as an enemy of progress. But if we’re going to keep this city rooted in the middle-class values that have shaped it for generations, organized labor, developers, and business leaders must all come to the table and figure out how to make that happen. Rankand-file workers are certainly not positioned to hire lobbyists—all the more reason to have union voices around the table. As we soak in the last weeks of summer and head to barbeques with family and friends, I hope we take a moment to remember the importance of working in the spirit of collaboration. In past difficult economic times, it was labor working together with businesses that got us through an economic downturn. It will be business leaders and the working people of New York together that get us through today’s economic uncertainty.

Christine Quinn, a Democrat representing parts of Manhattan, is the speaker of the City Council.

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AUGUST 2008

CITY HALL

ISSUE FORUM: UNIONS AND LABOR

The Truth About Public Employee Pensions BY ASSEMBLY MEMBER PETER ABBATE VER THE PAST YEAR, THERE

has been a lot of negative rhetoric regarding the public pension system as well as the civil service rights of public employees. Most of the criticism is generated out of half-truths and misinformation about pensions and the rights of our dedicated public workforce. It is easy to point fingers and play the blame game about the fiscal problems the government faces these days, but it is neither fair nor is it accurate to say that public employees are the problem. While there are some business interests that would have us believe we need to end the current system and favor a retirement model that the private sector uses, this is not the right way to go. The first and most important thing to remember is: Just because private sector employers treat their employees one way, it does not mean the government should follow suit. For starters, given the current economy, the many corporate scandals involving pension fraud and outright pension abuse, it is hard to say that private employers are running the best show in town. While there are many good employers and good private retirement plans, it is not

fair to say we should follow the business model, given these problems. Furthermore, when you look across the country and the benefits that some employers provide their employees, the reason why public employees have become the target is because some of them are granted fair and just benefits. It is not to say that fair and equitable benefits are not offered to private sector employees; but, more often than not, private businesses keep a strong eye on the bottom line—and not necessarily on what is fair and equitable. Working families who need to retire and whose sole source of retirement income is a defined contribution plan will find it hard-pressed to make ends meet. The value of their investments is based on 401(k), IRA accounts or other defined contribution plans—which continue to dwindle in value—and many of these people are worried about how they will live in their golden years. The public pension system is a defined benefit plan that guarantees a monthly benefit for retired public employees. As good as that sounds, the average pension for public employees is just under $20,000 per year. While we seem to hear a lot these days about abuses and some outrageous pensions, the fact is that the vast majority of public pensioners

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are ordinary people simply trying to make ends meet. It is not right that we try to further cut the benefits that they worked all their lives to earn. Furthermore, you hear localities across the state and business stating that they are “running in the red” due to public employees’ pensions and fringe benefits. The truth is, unlike private sector pension plans, the public pension systems are at or near full funding. They are run efficiently and will continue to provide fairness and dignity to thousands of employees across the state. In fact, in the final FY-2008 budget, the appropriation for pension benefits was $936 million, reflecting a normal contribution rate of 8.8 percent of salary, and the appropriation for “fringe benefits”—such as health insurance— was $1.1 billion. If you combine these two costs together, the total cost for pension and fringe benefits for public employees make up less than 2 percent of the state’s $121.6 billion budget. As you can see, it is a complete fabrication for localities and businesses to state that their fiscal woes are due to the benefits public employees receive. People say that Albany “gives away the store.” That is obviously not so true with the staggering facts stated above. Albany does not give away the store;

it’s just that private employers offer less to their employees. Providing public employees, on whom our communities rely most, with simple benefits that are just and fair is the only way for this state to continue to provide its constituencies with the vital services they require and deserve.

Peter Abbate, a Democrat representing parts of Brooklyn, is chair of the Assembly Committee on Governmental Employees.

CITY HALL

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AUG UST 2008

Goldmark Standards

According to Carey’s budget director, there are more clouds on the horizon 1975, WHEN GOV. HUGH Carey (D) tapped Peter Goldmark to become the state’s budget director, New York City was nearing bankruptcy and the financial outlook for the whole state looked just as grim. Goldmark, investment banker Felix Rohatyn and a few others set out to cut corporate taxes, reduce Medicaid spending, and reshape the city’s debt structure. They are widely credited with having saved the city from fiscal insolvency. In the years since, Goldmark has had a wide array of jobs, from president of the Rockefeller Foundation to chairman and CEO of International Herald Tribune to program director for the Environmental Defense Fund. Gov. David Paterson (D) has recently tapped him to serve on the commission charged with creating a similar fiscal rescue plan for the struggling MTA and headed by another former Carey appointee, Richard Ravitch. “The city and surrounding state areas are linked together by an umbilical cord,” Goldmark said. “That umbilical cord is the MTA and it’s got some real problems right now.”

ACK IN

City Hall: How does the current situation compare to the economic crisis you helped solve in the 1970s? Peter Goldmark: As in 1974-1975, the country as a whole was going into a serious deep recession and that just made everything for the state and the city. The second point of similarity as in 19741975, the state had really let things slide a little in terms of the operating budget. By that I mean there were earlier signs of overload on the budget, and it was sort of just rolled forward without addressing it. That means when you get the trigger of national economic downturn, then it’s just that much harder if you’ve let the fiscal soundness in the financial plans slide. It’s just that much harder to turn around.

“It’s too early in the Paterson administration to tell how tough and how skillful his efforts are going to be,” said Peter Goldmark.

city’s in pretty good shape now partly because of the disciplines we put into effect then. The sick patient got well and the healthy patient’s gotten sicker.

every time that has been proposed, strangely, people have found a way not to focus on whether the Legislature should be required to adopt one.

self-centered in New York. We think we’re the center of all woe. Not always so. We like to beat our chest and gnash our teeth like they do on the soap operas a little bit.

CH: What are some things that you and Gov. Carey put in place then that are helping to keep the state out of the same type of financial crisis now? PG: There were bans on some of the short-term irresponsible borrowing that was done. [Mayor Michael] Bloomberg did something that was very smart by taking some of the surpluses from the very good years and creating a durable fund. And don’t forget that for many years, I’d say for 20-30 years, the city had to show that the budget was structurally balanced on a

CH: Do you really find that strange, by Albany standards? PG: I don’t know, strange by normal common sense standards. You draw the conclusion.

CH: Do you feel that Governor Paterson is prepared to deal with these problems? PG: I think it’s too early in the Paterson administration to tell how tough and how skillful his efforts are going to be. The storm has just been on the horizon and he’s just sighted it and put up the warning. So it’s act one, scene one—a little early to make any judgments. I sure wish him luck.

CH: What about allusions to the Great Depression? Carey, Mario Cuomo, George Pataki, and now David Paterson have all made allusions to the Great Depression. Is this overblown? Or do you think it’s necessary to raise awareness? PG: Here, I think, is a sound way to look at it. It is absolutely correct to say the storm on the horizon looks large, serious, and long-lasting. Whatever historical analogy, as a matter of making a political impression, is of secondary importance to me.

“We get a little self-centered in New York. We think we’re the center of all woe. Not always so. We like to beat our chest and gnash our teeth like they do on the soap operas a little bit.”

CH: Back in the 70s, it was the city that was the drag on the state’s economy. Now it seems like Upstate is the drag. Is that accurate? PG: The city going into the tank was just an 800-pound gorilla in the whole situation in 1975-1976. And you’d have to say, compared to other parts of the state, the

recurring basis. And don’t forget there’s one simple fact of life which is not new— the city is required to adopt a balanced budget. With all of those additional disciplines I mentioned, there is no provision in the State Constitution that the Legislature must adopt a balanced budget. The governor must submit one. It doesn’t say the Legislature has to adopt one. And

CH: Why does New York continue to have same budget problems over and over? PG: I just don’t think that statement’s accurate. Look what California’s been back to three or four times in the last decade. Huge deficits that they’re trying to figure out how to deal with it. And they’re a faster growing, more economically diverse vibrant state than New York is, and there are other cases. We get a little

CH: What advice would you give him? PG: My advice would be: Bring in the mayors and county executives from all over the state and give them a sobering assessment because the state and local governments are in this together. And that is both the intellectual basis for understanding how to handle it and it’s the political basis for getting out of it together. The state government’s finances are not detachable from the health and the finances of the cities and towns and counties the state gives money to. Two-thirds of the state budget goes to those cities and towns. You’ve got to think of it as the New York family of governments. And in the end, properly approached, those other people who have helped convince the legislature that it’s time to act, or worse things happen. That would be my advice. —Andrew J. Hawkins ahawkins@cityhallnews.com

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AUG UST 2008

Raising the Bar at City Hall

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

After improving government access in other areas, Carol Robles-Román looks toward domestic violence

The task of clearing the way for New Yorkers to access different government agencies was appealing enough to pull her away from her work in economic development. But she intends to go back. BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS HEN MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG

(Ind.) handed Carol Robles-Román her portfolio in 2002, she said he stressed just one word: “access.” Robles-Román said the mayor’s directive was clear for his deputy mayor for legal affairs, a new position he created at the outset of his administration. “It wasn’t the job of defending the city when it gets sued,” she said in a recent interview in a conference room on the first floor of City Hall. “It was one where you take these various agencies that had various legal mandates that in the past had been operating autonomously and kind of below the radar, and put them all on the radar.” She was surprised when Bloomberg offered her the job. “I wasn’t looking for this,” she said. “I didn’t put my resumé in 1-800-MichaelBloomberg.” But in the end, Robles-Román said the

task of clearing the way for New Yorkers to access different government agencies—each with its own array of legal or judicial services—was appealing enough to pull her away from her work in economic development. As one of seven deputy mayors, Robles-Román is the leader of what she calls the “legal affairs team,” a group of commissioners and agency heads who oversee the Administrative Justice Coordinator, the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence, Commission on Human Rights, Office of Immigrant Affairs, and Office for People with Disabilities. She serves as the liaison to the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, Civilian Complaint Review Board, Commission to Combat Police Corruption, Conflicts of Interest Board, Equal Employment Practices Commission, and the Voter Assistance Commission.

She also vets the mayor’s judicial nominees to the criminal and family courts, and spearheaded the effort to reform the city’s administrative tribunals. But in the year and a half left in Bloomberg’s term, Robles-Román is focusing on the list of remaining priorities, like the executive order Bloomberg signed in July which requires every city agency, in direct contact with New Yorkers, to provide language assistance in the six most-spoken languages in the city: Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean,

Robles-Román led the effort along with Bloomberg Director of Operations Jeff Kay and Guillermo Linares, commissioner of the Office of Immigrant Affairs. She said the executive order was in the spirit of 311 and other Bloomberg’s access-improving initiatives. “We’re government and we’re going to use the tools that we have to make sure that everybody can access government,” she said, pounding the table for emphasis. “He’s very proud of what he’s done and I’m very proud of him.” But Council Member Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn), chair of the Immigration Committee, said that the driving force behind the executive order was the Council, not Bloomberg or RoblesRomán. Criticizing the administration’s handling of immigrant affairs overall, Stewart said he wished Robles-Román and Linares were more aggressive in pushing immigrant issues. “I don’t think they’re doing as much as I think they need to be doing,” Stewart said. “They do not speak out or even put up policy information on immigration issues.” Next on the agenda, Robles-Román said, is trying to increase government access for victims of domestic violence in the city. Already under Bloomberg’s watch, family-related crimes have decreased 21 percent and intimate partner homicides by 51 percent over six years. Now, with over $1 million in federal grants, the city is working on opening family justice centers in each borough by the end of the term, Robles-Román said. To date, there are centers open in Brooklyn and Queens. The justice centers were born out of a close analysis of the domestic violence statistics, something Robles-Román said is typical of all of the mayor’s initiatives. “We looked at the numbers very strategically, very Bloombergian,” she said, “and said, ‘Where are the majority of the fatalities taking place?’” Robles-Román’s past jobs include several executive posts with the New York State Unified Court System, and serving as a senior vice president and general counsel of the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company, working on economic development operations and marketing initiatives. Most administration officials avoid talking about life after Bloomberg. Robles-Román does not. “Will I stay in public service?” she mused. “No. I’ll go into strategy, which is something I do in everything I take on, and economic development.” ahawkins@cityhallnews.com

“I wasn’t looking for this,” said Carol Robles-Román. “I didn’t put my resumé in 1-800-Michael-Bloomberg.” Italian and French Creole. The plan was four years in the making, full of intense negotiations between immigrant advocates, the City Council and various members of the administration.

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AUGUST 2008

A Three-Way State Senate Race, Divided in Every Way In Parker challenge, Stewart and Felder aim for all possible lines of attack

Simcha Felder (above) has made many pledges in his primary challenge to State Sen. Kevin Parker but he has notably not promised to support Malcolm Smith for majority leader. Kendall Stewart (left) has been struggling with his involvement with the slush fund scandal and a nearly bankrupt campaign.

BY SAL GENTILE

EEP

THE

SOUTH

Brooklyn, Kendall Stewart is scheduled to do some grabbing and grinning along Flatbush Avenue. His campaign had planned a swing through a series of nursing homes in the sprawling Caribbean-American community, where he enjoys considerable support. Flatbush is at the heart of Stewart’s Council district, spanning more of the State Senate district than that of his opponent, Council Member Simcha Felder, and is expected to buoy his candidacy in the contentious primary race against incumbent State Sen. Kevin Parker. That is, if he ever gets there. Nearly an hour after the scheduled start time, the steamy Brooklyn air lingers in the nursing home. No one at Crystal Manor, the first of several slated stops, seems to know he is coming. Some do not even know who he is. In what might be seen as a metaphor for the Senate race, Stewart is nowhere to be found. With his campaign war chest running low and wounds still fresh from the indictments of two former staffers in the Council slush fund scandal, Stewart has been spending much of the thickening primary season fighting not his opponents, but the impression that his campaign is falling apart. Even Stewart’s literature acknowl-

edges the contentious circumstances surrounding the campaign. An invitation to a recent town hall event implored voters to “come hear why some people want him out of the race!” As his opponents point out, Stewart— who defeated Parker in the 2001 Council race—is out of cash. His campaign is in debt, and the scramble to scrounge together what few resources he can, threatens to undercut Stewart’s popularity in the district. Parker harps on this point. “Let’s be clear: Kendall Stewart can’t win this race,” Parker said. “How do you win an election with no money?” But Parker’s strength is in question as well. He is believed to be the most vulnerable state senator facing a primary challenge this year. Stewart said that with his Council district overlapping with much of Parker’s Senate district, he has the built-in advantage in the Sept. 9 election. His depth of support within the large Caribbean and Haitian communities, he believes, will counteract whatever disadvantages his restrictions on spending will cause. “They may have more money than I

do,” he said of his opponents, “but I have the grassroots, and I think that will make the difference.” Meanwhile, Felder—whose neighboring Council district slices off the predominantly Orthodox Jewish area of Boro Park—has vastly outstripped his opponents in fundraising, helped. He has more than a million dollars on hand, compared to about $48,000 for Parker and a $7,000 debt for Stewart. Felder and Parker have been raising and spending money at surprising rates, but Parker has been piling up expenses faster than either of his opponents. He has already spent more than three-fourths of

in 2005. Bloomberg has indicated his preference for Felder and threw a highdollar fundraiser for Felder this year. That support, however, has not come without a cost. It has opened a line of attack for Parker, who has labeled Felder a “Republican plant” who would vote with the Republicans for the majority. One thing Felder has notably not promised to do is support Malcolm Smith (DQueens) for majority leader should the Democrats get control of the Senate—a touchy subject for Democrats, who just last month undertook a nearly unanimous proxy vote to affirm their support for Smith and insulate him from challenges within the party. Parker acknowledged that Smith’s desire to retain support for his leadership bid influenced other members of the conference to endorse him. “I think that that is part of it,” he said, adding that Felder “would not be a vote for the Democratic leader, and thus would thwart our attempts to take back the majority.” When asked in an interview if he thought Felder would be a reliable Democrat in the Senate, Smith said: “Is he a Democrat now?” Also weighing on the race is that per-

Felder and Parker have been raising and spending money at surprising rates, but Parker has been piling up expenses faster than either of his opponents. the $130,000 he raised in the first half of the year, according to his July filings. Some of Felder’s cash comes courtesy of his support by Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.), whom he crossed party lines for to endorse his re-election

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sistent feature of Brooklyn politics: a dose of ethnic tension. The demographic profile of this district, nestled in the heart of the borough, is a knotty one, the product of careful gerrymandering intended to concentrate Brooklyn’s immigrant and minority populations. Each of the candidates has tried to paint the others as exploiting those divisions to win the race. Parker has accused Felder, an Orthodox Jew, of relying on Stewart to draw the votes of Caribbean- and AfricanAmericans away from him, thus opening an avenue for Felder to win in a district where orthodox Jews are the minority. Felder has responded by accusing Parker of using racial rhetoric to marginalize him. “He talks about race, which should not be the issue. The issue should be his record. And that record is abysmal,” he said. “He’s trying to encourage division. He’s trying to divide the community.” He added: “How many different ways can Kevin Parker portray me as the devil?” Stewart, for his part, believes he can solidify his support in neighborhoods like Flatbush and poach just enough of Felder’s Orthodox Jewish base. Anyway, he insisted, Felder does not have enough cross-cultural appeal to win votes beyond his base in Boro Park. “It would take a real monumental effort by him,” Stewart said, “to convince the people in the 75 or 80 percent of the vote that is non-Jewish that he can win.” sgentile@cityhallnews.com

AUGUST 2008

An Endorsement All Three Wanted, And All Three Claimed erhaps the most revealing flashpoint in the muddle of ethnic demographics and intra-party politicking in the primary race between State Sen. Kevin Parker, Council Member Simcha Felder and Council Member Kendall Stewart is the saga of Assembly Member Dov Hikind’s (D-Brooklyn) endorsement. Each of the candidates has, at one point or another, claimed the backing of the leader of the Orthodox Jewish community. In an interview, Hikind—who has on previous occasions called Parker “a farce and a joke”—said he was fully supporting Parker because he had promised to do so long before Felder, once his staffer, joined the race. “It put me into a very difficult predicament, but one that is very clear to me, that I was going to support Kevin, plain and simple,” he said. “I made a commitment.” He added that, had Felder been in the race from the beginning, his decision would have been different. “I would have supported Simcha, he’s a friend, there’s no question about that,” he said. “If Kevin Parker had said to me, ‘Dov, I understand your friendship, you can support Simcha,’ then that would have been cool.” However, both Felder and Stewart said in interviews that Hikind had explicitly committed to support them at various points in time. Stewart said Hikind had helped him build political support in the district in an effort to unseat Parker. And Felder announced that he had Hikind’s support at a rally announcing his candidacy in June.

The seeming reversal, Hikind acknowledge, could be a serious blow to Felder as he campaigns in the Orthodox Jewish community. “This is his base,” Hikind said, “and of course he cannot win the election without doing exceptionally well in this community. It’s quite obvious.” Hikind did not respond to repeated follow-up calls regarding Felder’s and Stewart’s assertions that he promised to support them before endorsing Parker. Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) admitted that he talked to Hikind about the race and expressed his support for Parker, but said he did not broker any deals in order to secure Hikind’s endorsement. “I’ve had conversations like that with leaders and elected officials all around the state,” he said. “That’s important to me, because it’s important to make sure that they know how I feel about other people.” As for Parker, he said he would overcome any support Felder and Stewart might draw from their respective constituencies, referring to his past victories. “I’ve run against an Orthodox opponent three other times, and I’ve creamed him three times,” he said. “I’ve run against other Caribbean candidates other times, and I’ve been victorious in those elections as well.” —SG sgentile@cityhallnews.com

“It put me into a very difficult predicament.”— Assembly Member Dov Hikind

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AUGUST 2008

Race this year draws big political guns, but still not much interest from voters

KARL CRUTCHFIELD

Reddy, Tingling and Anderson Wage Intense Race to Replace Manhattan Surrogate

B EN NOR MAN

John Reddy, Milton Tingling and Nora Anderson have all hit the streets in their race for Manhattan Surrogate this year. They spend almost as much time explaining what the court is as they do, making their cases to voters to be put on the bench.

BY SUSAN CAMPRIELLO NEW YORK, SOMETIMES STANDING out in a crowd can be difficult. On the corner of Broadway and West 96th streets one humid evening, John Reddy, Jr., a candidate for New York County Surrogate’s Court, competed for attention with a pair of people promoting a paint sale and a scattering of MTA employees advising commuters that a station entrance was closed. In his khakis, blue shirt and red striped tie, Reddy might have blended in with the passing New Yorkers. But he was standing still, and two staffers formed a wall of campaign signs behind him. “Hi, Manhattan Democrat?” he chirped, roughly 30 times a minute, while shaking hand with and passing campaign flyers to anyone who stopped. One man stopped for a brief chat, expressing frustration at what he perceives as corruption on the Surrogate’s Court. Reddy is running on a platform of ideas to change the way the court was run. He tried to make his case to the man, but did not appear to succeed. “There’s nothing you can do about it, John,” he said. “I’ll see what I can do,” Reddy called after him.

B EN NOR MAN

Reddy is not the only candidate talking change in the race to succeed Judge Renee Roth, who is aging off the court at 70 this year. The Surrogate’s Court settles matters concerning adoptions, guardians, estates and wills of the deceased, but once again this year, the debate about its future is a lively one.

And like the Upper West Side corner, the race is crowded, with Judge Milton Tingling and Nora Anderson also vying for the Democratic nomination in the Sept. 9 primary. Surrogate laws and practices are idiosyncratic. The three candidates agree that the general public is unfamiliar with

the court, and that lawyers who practice in court are not always well informed either. The candidates also hope to speed up litigation time. The primary race has already drawn more attention than normal due to the number of big names in local politics it has drawn. John Reddy has hired The

CITY HALL Parkside Group as his consultant. Chung Seto, and Kevin Wardally of Bill Lynch Associates are overseeing Tingling’s fundraising and campaigning. Former Mayor David Dinkins (D) and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan) are among Tingling’s most public supporters. Nora Anderson has Michael Oliva managing her campaign and Lisa Hernandez Gioia of The Esler Group doing her fundraising. The morning after Reddy argued with the man about corruption on the court, Tingling, who has been a Manhattan Supreme Court justice for seven years, met voters along 135th Street. Council Member Inez Dickens (D-Manhattan) stood next to Tingling, announcing his presence to the people trickling into the subway station. “Good morning, good morning! This is Judge Tingling, he’s running for Surrogate’s Court. Please support him, he’s from my community,” she shouted, nearly drowning out buses and trucks on Lenox Avenue. Behind her, staff from a consulting firm handed flyers to commuters.

www.cityhallnews.com As more lawyers become familiar with the court, the court will become less of a mystery to litigants, he said. Reddy said his 13 years as counsel to the public administrator of New York County has prepared him for the bench. Fewer than three years after being hired, Reddy had closed over 2,000 cases full of vague language or instructions that had been open for at least four years, he said. He is hopeful that he will be able to close Surrogate cases, some of which have been open even longer. Anderson, who was a clerk in the court under former Surrogate Eve Preminger for nearly five years and has litigated in the court, has a different idea for speeding up the court process. If elected, she would rotate pro se clerks around the court so that they would learn to master all areas of the court and better assist litigants who may be unfamiliar with the court’s proceedings. Rotating existing staff would eliminate the need to hire, and pay, more clerks, she said. Moving clerks around

The Surrogate's Court settles matters concerning adoptions, guardians, estates and wills of the deceased, but once again this year, the debate about its future is a lively one. Tingling greeted people more intimately, turning every handshake into an elongated arm grasp. One woman stopped, looking confused. The candidate approached asking slowly, “No habla Inglés?” When she shook her head, Tingling turned his flyer over, revealing his qualifications written in Spanish. Translators, Tingling said, are just part of the two-pronged approach to making the court more accessible to Manhattan’s diverse population. Translators could not only assist those involved with cases in the court, but can help teach people about wills and estates. Such meetings could take place in the satellite court offices Tingling said he hopes to open as part of this plan. Most people know little about the Surrogate’s Court beyond being familiar with celebrity cases, like those of Woody Allen, Brooke Astor and J. Seward Johnson, or when they land in the court themselves. Tingling hopes to enhance the court’s presence in the public consciousness so that the first experience the average New Yorker has with the court is not as a litigant. “There are cases going on there, there are people being affected all the time, but nobody knows,” he said. “It’s basically a secret court.” Reddy hopes to open the court by making it more friendly and welcoming to those unfamiliar with Surrogate’s practices.

departments would force clerks to become familiar with all aspects of the court, making them generally more familiar with practices than they currently are. Plus, she said she would use her position as judge to educate people in an effort to keep them from having to come to court in the first place, since all court proceedings can become expensive, time consuming and stressful for litigants. She has cut back her hours with the Brooklyn law firm Seth Rubenstein, P.C. in order to spend time campaigning at green markets, street fairs and on sidewalks, such as the one along Eighth Avenue between 22nd and 23rd streets where, one recent evening, she hopped, teetered and pirouetted in heels, dodging and followed potential voters. Wearing a tailored black suit over a sleeveless knit zebra-print top, she tried to stop pedestrian traffic. “Hi, I’m running for Surrogate Court, and I need your support,” she said. “Hi, I’m running to be a judge. I’ve got a great website.” She spent a lot of the time telling people how to register as Democrats so they could vote. She spent just as much time giving shouted-out summaries of what the court does and what she would do as judge if they voted for her. “A large part of this campaign,” she said, “has been education.” scampriello@manhttanmedia.com Direct letters to the editor to editor@cityhallnews.com

AUGUST 2008

In a Struggling Economy, City Fundraisers Grapple With Tapped-Out Donors

Tougher times will mean focus on smaller donations, possibly lower totals for January BY SAL GENTILE DEMOCRATIC candidates running in next year’s city elections than ever before. For 2008, though, their race is about money, with the historic number of candidates competing with each other for many of the same dollars. Not that the candidates have been having much trouble. According to a report issued in June by the Campaign Finance Board (CFB), more money has been raised this year than in the comparable period in 2001, and the number of donors has jumped by nearly half since the previous reporting period. But after the long and exhausting presidential primary campaign waged by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D), many prospective New York donors are already drained. Add to that the worries about a struggling economy, with dipping stock prices and rising costs leaving less in the bank, and candidates may find donations scarce just as they begin the push toward the next finance filing in January, when more people will be paying attention and the campaigns will begin in earnest. And in the meantime, the intensifying campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are draining even more money from New York, as are general elections for Congressional races across the country. New York City has a tradition of being the nation’s political ATM. But there may not be much cash left. “My experience has been that people are sort of tapped out from the political scene in general,” said Melanie McEvoy, president of McEvoy & Associates. “We had a presidential primary that basically lasted a year and a half, and people put a lot into that, and very early.” The result, she said, is simple: “I think donors today are more comfortable saying ‘no.’” Jason Weingartner, a fundraiser for Cathy Blaney & Associates and the executive director of the New York County Republican Party, said raising money for GOP candidates has been particularly difficult. “It’s been tighter than it’s been in previous years,” he said. “I think especially from a GOP fundraising perspective, it’s been tighter.” He attributed the slowdown mainly to the troubling economic climate, in which

HERE ARE MORE

major investment banks have been toppled and Wall Street has hemorrhaged thousands of jobs. “Bear Sterns going under, those are a lot of people that—regardless of whether it’s GOP donating or Democratic fundraising—those are people that are the sort that would give,” he said. “And now they’re obviously more preoccupied more importantly with their own situations.” On top of that, most Republican donors in New York gave to failed candidates, such as former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. They seem skittish about pouring money into another campaign. “Clearly some people are hedging their bets,” Weingartner said, “and trying to husband their money a little bit more vigorously than they used to in the past.” Perhaps the most interesting development to emerge from the swirl of fundraisers and competing campaigns is an unintended one: increased access to candidates. The CFB attributes that, in part, to new campaign finance regulations that encourage smaller donations, an approach that seems to have worked: The average donation in the first six months of 2008 fell to $403, down nearly a third from the previous reporting period. Part of that decline can be attributed to the entry of new candidates for Council races, which have lower contribution limits. But another part is the consequence of candidates forcibly adapting

“I think donors today are more comfortable saying ‘no,’” said Democratic fundraiser Melanie McEvoy. to the new reality. “Having more events where lower-dollar donors can afford to go and come and be a part of it is smart, and I think that we’re going to see a lot of that,” McEvoy said. But though the presidential campaign and the economy may be creating additional problems, getting turned down is all part of the fundraising game, said Lisa Hernandez Gioia, president of The Esler Group, which raises for Democrats. “People,” she said, “always have reasons not to give.” sgentile@cityhallnews.com

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AUGUST 2008

At the top of his game, where can Chuck Schumer go from here?

BY EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE

himichanga Chuck, as he has become known to the South American vendors whose Red Hook food stands he helped save from a Health Department shutdown, is running late to the press conference celebrating their re-opening. The day is hot, the sun beating down on the people wrapped around the corner of Bay Street and Clinton in line for pupusas and grilled cactus leaves. When he finally does arrive, the crowd thickens with people eager to shake his hand or say something to him before he gets to the podium. To the mother trying to walk back from the public pool across the street, this is infuriating—until she sees the cause of the commotion. She looks down at her son. He does not seem interested. “He’s a senator, he’s one of a hundred senators,” she says, nudging the boy. The boy looks on, unfazed. She waits for a moment, watching the crowd herself. Then she exhales, takes the boy by the hand, and leads him away. “You’ve now seen Chuck Schumer,” she says. “Now you’ve really lived.” At this point, is there anyone who has not seen Chuck Schumer? New York’s senior senator has made an art form out of making himself known, first in the Assembly, then in the House and Senate. By now, he is a national figure, one of the handful of celebrity senators who have avoided being marooned on C-SPAN. Turn on the Sunday morning talk shows and he is often there, talking about Democratic prospects, the Supreme Court, the banking industry. But turn on the local news and he is always there. Schumer has been instrumental in framing the energy crisis in terms of its effect on home heating oil prices or getting more of the federal budget allocated to transportation funding so that New York has money to improve its rail links, said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan). “Chuck can fit a local agenda into the national policy,” Silver said. “He’s been able to synthesize the two better than anyone else who’s come along.” As a way of understanding the difference between New York’s current senators, Silver cited the contrast between Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D) and Alfonse D’Amato (R). “I don’t want to downplay the role that Hillary Clinton has, but New York has traditionally had a local senator and a national senator,” he said. “What Chuck has done is remarkable in terms of calling attention to issues, most of which are national, but have a local effect.” But Schumer said he has overcome this dichotomy. “When I ran in 1998, here’s what I said: ‘There’s the person who’s the great thinker, Moynihan and there’s the person who fills the potholes, D’Amato. Senators can do both.’ The guy I admired was actually a Republican, Jacob Javits, who was known for doing both,” Schumer said. “That’s my role.” That is one of several roles, actually. As vice chair of the Democratic caucus, he helps craft policy for his party. As chair of the Joint Economic Committee, he heads what is essentially an internal think-tank for the House and Senate on economic policy, an issue that grows more important daily. And as the chair once again of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), he seems set to lead his party’s candidates into big wins for the second cycle in a row. On policy, on economics, on politics, Schumer is setting the national agenda, and using this power to get things done for New York and New Yorkers.

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AUG UST 2008

There is little in Congress that is beyond his ability to affect, few in Washington who do not take his call. And aside from Barack Obama, there is perhaps no one Democrats are counting on and talking about more. For Chuck Schumer, this may be as good as it gets.

very time Schumer talks about a race he wants to win, he knocks on the nearest table, wood or not. Obama winning the White House, knock on the table. His former staffer Dan Squadron becoming a state senator, knock on the table. But when he talks about expanding the Democratic majority in the Senate, his hands stay still. For the head of the DSCC, the question is not whether the Democrats will pick up seats. The question is how many. A few weeks ago, Schumer floated an idea that dropped like a bomb in Washington: The Democrats, he said, might pick up enough seats to increase their majority to 60, a nine-seat pick-up. This would be a radical shift, larger than the 1994 Republican Revolution both in the number of new senators (they had eight, though two more switched parties after the election) and the number of total seats (by the time the dust settled, they had 53). But more importantly, winning 60 seats would also eliminate the possibility of filibustering, the protection in Senate rules which enables the minority party to prevent votes by keeping debate open, and which Republicans have used almost 100 times during the two years since the Democrats took the majority. With 60 senators, Democrats could push through their agenda essentially unimpeded. They would not even have to budge on amendments or procedural questions. Getting 60 seats, he said, is “unlikely, but possible.” But he is optimistic. “Just to give perspective, if you were to ask me two years ago at this time, ‘Could we take back the Senate?’ I would have said: ‘Possible, but unlikely.’ Virginia had not unfolded. Missouri looked a lot harder than it was. It wasn’t clear we were going to win Rhode Island and Ohio,” he said. “So the wind is at our back.” The Republicans seem to agree. A week after Schumer initially made his 60-seat prediction, Nevada Sen. John Ensign, the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, released a letter to donors repeating his intent to match advertising spending by the DSCC, but pleading with his colleagues to help provide him with the money to do so. The Republicans have $24.6 million in the bank, while the Democrats, thanks in large part to Schumer’s relentless fundraising, have $45 million. And counting. Schumer downplayed the importance

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“You take life as it comes. Underneath it all, I have sort of a—fatalistic is the wrong word—but whatever is going to happen is going to happen, and you make the best of it,” Schumer said. “That’s my attitude about things.”

AUGUST 2008

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hough Schumer considered running for governor twice, first in 1998 and then again in 2006, he now says the only part of the job which really appealed to him was the ability to have a larger hand in economic development. Instead, he has attempted to seize that power through his bully pulpit, which he eagerly uses to balance media coverage he thinks is all too often tilted toward opponents of big new projects. “New York cannot become a city that doesn’t grow because every time we propose something grand, a small group says no and they seem to have undue clout,” he explained. He is also trying to set the agenda, watching for stalled initiatives that he can get moving again. “Moynihan taught me one thing: You have to think grand. When it comes to public works and growth and transportation, I do try to encourage that,” he said. “I try to be a force against inertia.” In May, he tried to spur movement on the namesake project of the man who had taught him this lesson, proposing that the Port Authority take over the transformation of the Farley Post Office into Moynihan Station. The timing hardly seemed accidental. David Paterson (D) was less than 100 days into his unexpected term as governor, and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (D) and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) had been statewide officials only slightly longer. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) was still off on the presidential campaign trail. Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.), his defeat on congestion pricing still fresh, had only a year and half left in his term. Schumer seemed to sense a growing power vacuum in New York and elbowed his way right into the void.

n general, Schumer is not a man who spends much time in self-reflection. He is an operator, working down a constantly expanding to-do list over 18-hour days. He does not carry a Blackberry, but almost always has a cell phone pressed to his ear, making fundraising calls, advising candidates, and weighing in on policy decisions. Things have gotten increasingly busy since November 2006. Democrats ecstatic over his success in returning them to the majority asked him to chair the DSCC again, and, eager to give him another prize, created a new position for him. He is now vice chair of the Democratic caucus, the party’s third-ranking job. Just about everyone is expecting him to do well for himself after another good November this year. “I think all things are possible when it comes to Chuck Schumer,” said D’Amato, who lost his Senate seat to Schumer in 1998. “It all depends on where he wants to go and the opportunities that might be there for him.” The opportunities for advancement, however, do not abound. Ever since late 2004, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put him on the powerful Finance Committee as part of the effort to woo him into staying in the Senate and chairing the DSCC, Schumer has had all the committee assignments he wanted. On Finance, he holds sway over tax policy, discretionary spending of public money and trade agreements, among other things. On the Banking Committee, he oversees the nation’s financial institutions, commodity price controls and urban development. On Judiciary, he has become a key member of the team which vets Supreme Court nominees and an active force on civil liberties laws. Already, this is quite a portfolio for a man who has spent only a decade in the Senate, where seniority usually defines all. Schumer said he is satisfied with his committee assignments. As to which chairmanship he might want

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

of the money. On the contrary, he argued, the most important thing he has done at the DSCC is focus on recruiting. He takes credit for the candidacies of Missouri’s Claire McCaskill, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown and Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey to run in 2006, and helping all three beat incumbents in important swing state pick-ups. This year, he says, he convinced four more potential swing state winners to run: New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen, Virginia’s Mark Warner, New Mexico’s Tom Udall and Colorado’s Mark Udall. All are well ahead in their races. That will pay dividends for years to come, said Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska senator who led the DSCC for consecutive cycles in 1996 and 1998. “Chuck helped a lot of people who have been successful, and he will be helping a lot more people who become successful,” he said. “Because of what he’s done, because of his performance, he will come out of this with a lot more friends who are grateful to him, who will want to help him. And that’s going to be hugely beneficial to him and to New York.” Already, Schumer and his legislative agenda have been reaping the benefits. Most of the attention around the Housing Relief Bill, which passed the Senate in late July with President George W. Bush’s blessing, went to the federal bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Schumer supported government relief for the failing mortgage giants, and with his seats on

the Banking and Finance committees, helped shape the final agreement. But he also used the bill as an opportunity to tend to a specifically New York issue: protecting affordable housing at Starrett City, the massive complex of buildings in East Brooklyn which went on the market in 2006. With the support of his colleagues, he inserted language locking in Section 8 vouchers for the buildings until 2028, effectively securing the long-term financing necessary to keep the apartments rent-subsidized and affordable. Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-Brooklyn), who represents the area including Starrett City and collaborated on the legislation, said this was just the latest instance in what has become a running theme for the state’s congressional delegation over the past two years. “We were able to arrange for [Starrett tenants] to be protected for the next 20 years only because of the fact that he has clout, that he was able to use that clout to do things on behalf of our city and state,” Towns said. Most senators in Washington have never heard of Starrett City, been anywhere near its 46 buildings or knew much about the saga of Clipper Equity’s attempts to close the $1.3 billion deal for the development. But, Schumer said, he had no trouble getting them to defer to him. “They have respect for you and they like you and they know you can be helpful,” Schumer explained, “so they say, ‘Why not?’”

CITY HALL most, he said his opinion hardly matters. “There’s a seniority system,” Schumer said, “and it works pretty rigidly.” Under that system, he is number eight on Finance, number four on Banking and number seven on Judiciary. Though at 58, Schumer is relatively young for a second-term senator, there are several senators in front of him on each committee who are far from retirement age themselves. Nor is there much further to climb in the leadership. The Democratic whip, Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin is a friend (and roommate in a Capitol Hill row house

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Harold Ickes, the New York-native Democratic political consultant who has advised a long list of senators nursing higher ambitions, said he believes this is the most likely eventuality for Schumer, and predicted that Schumer could thrive as majority leader if he gets the job. “Given Senator Schumer’s ability and drive, you could see him at some point leading the Senate, but that is something that is a ways off,” Ickes said. “You look back at other majority leaders, including Lyndon Johnson—Johnson was a hard-driving, very focused leader who understood his members. I think Chuck Schumer certainly has many of those attributes.” Schumer shrugged off questions on the topic, except to say that he hopes Reid will stay and that he will not challenge his leader. But this might be risky: The longer Schumer waits to run for majority leader, the more time other players will have to rack up newer favors. There may be other obstacles, as well. Becoming the Democratic leader has also been discussed as an option for Clinton, now that she has returned to the Senate. If there is a movement to put Clinton in the post, few expect Schumer would try to outmaneuver her. Schumer’s name gets tossed around in discussions about the next Treasury secretary and other cabinet positions which might be available if Obama wins the White House. Schumer dismissed this. And a diplomatic appointment to the Court of Saint James just does not seem to suit him. He could, of course, run for president, though as prodigious a fundraiser and accomplished a legislator as Schumer is, the country may not be ready to put a hardcharging Brooklynite in the Oval Office. Ickes, who took over Clinton’s presidential campaign in its final months and had previously been a key advisor to her husband’s 1992 run, gave a diplomatic assessment, noting that most important to running is desper-

“Because of what he’s done, because of his performance, he will come out of this with a lot more friends who are grateful to him, who will want to help him,” said former Sen. Bob Kerrey. And that’s going to be hugely beneficial to him and to New York.”

EDWARD -ISAAC DOVERE

owned by California Rep. George Miller), and Schumer seems more at home helping set policy in his current position than making counting votes his prime concern. Reid has announced plans to run for another term in 2010, and Schumer has made very clear that he would not run against a man he helped make leader in the first place. “We are compadres,” Schumer said. But speculation has long lingered in Washington that Reid might soon give up being majority leader. If he does, Schumer seems well-positioned to run for the job: In an internal race that would likely take at most 30 votes to win, Schumer could have a base of up to 15 senators who owe their seats in part to his efforts at the DSCC, and a host more grateful to him for putting them in the majority.

What comes next in the political career of Chimichanga Chuck, as he is known to the Red Hook food vendors he helped keep in business, is not quite clear.

ately wanting the job. Schumer has made no indication he does. “There’s a lot of different attributes that go into making a good presidential candidate,” Ickes said. “Chuck Schumer certainly has some of them.” Schumer insisted this is not how he thinks about his political career. He spent 18 years in the House, and would have stayed there, he said, if not for chafing at being in the minority. Part of his political strategy is to always try to appear cheery. But his own personal philosophy is deeply pragmatic. “You take life as it comes. Underneath it all, I have sort of a—fatalistic is the wrong word—but whatever is going to happen is going to happen, and you make the best of it,” he said. “That’s my attitude about things.” What has happened so far has been pretty good. Schumer has never lost an election himself, and only one of his competitive candidates lost in 2006. Democrats made the rare move to reappoint him as the head of the DSCC, a job that seems perfectly suited to his unmatched fundraising skills and his ability to draw the links between political outcomes, policy decisions and the differences these make in voters’ lives (though some Republicans have argued that he does this a little too fluidly, criticizing him for having arguments in committee hearings which almost immediately become grist for fundraising appeals). A master campaigner, he has, apparently, found being a campaign mastermind a perfect fit. At this rate, Democrats may want him to stay as DSCC chair forever. Schumer is non-committal. “Maybe they won’t want me after November 4th,” he said. “So let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. A, I’m up for re-election in 2010. B, I love legislating. And the ability to get things done on a major legislative field, particularly in 2009, when God willing”—knock on the table—“we have a Democratic president is tremendously exciting to me. I’m not going to say anything yet.” Schumer talks excitedly about what could happen after what may be a generational election, one where what he calls “the big tectonic plates” of government move. He is eager to be involved in a major reshaping of education, energy, immigration and health care policy in a world redefined by technology and globalization. For now, every race is a potential win, every idea for a bill a potential law. There has not been time for anything to go wrong or for the political tide to turn—which might happen sooner rather than later if Democrats do achieve one-party control of Washington. And one of these cycles, Schumer will have to turn the DSCC reins over to someone else. He could become an elder statesman, a local kingmaker and eventually, perhaps, a committee chair. Majority leader is a possibility. But with his options limited within the Senate and beyond, Schumer, a man who clearly thrives on attention, may never have a more prominent moment than this. Not that he is expecting to slow down. He laid out a battle plan for this year’s elections in his 2007 book, Positively American. Whatever happens in this year’s elections, he suspects he will have his hands more than full trying to keep Democrats focused on its principles. He believes his platform was key to winning the majority in the first place, and sticking to it will be key to staying in power in the years ahead. “The good news about my book,” he said, pausing to point out that an updated version is now available in paperback, “is that Newt Gingrich said, ‘If the Democrats follow Schumer’s book, they’ll be the majority party for 25 years.’ The bad news is that they’re not following it, but they’re moving that way.” But he does not expect to write a sequel. “I don’t know,” Schumer said, “if I’ll have time.” eidovere@cityhallnews.com

AUGUST 2008

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anging prominently in the New York office of Sen. Charles Schumer (D) is a large board covered in Polaroid pictures of current employees, or as they are better known, the “Schumerland Staff.” Even volunteers make the board. What Schumer himself calls “a family” has proven to be more of an elite training ground for those interested in furthering their political careers. Veterans of Schumer’s office have gone on to run for seats in Congress, the New York City Council, the State Legislature and top staff positions in politics and government in New York, Albany, Washington and further afield. One even works for Prince Charles. “We’re everywhere,” said Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn/Queens), who began his career with six years as an aide to then-Rep. Schumer. “It’s kind of like—what was that show or movie that they came out of pods? Body snatchers. It’s kind of like we’re all Schumer body-snatchers.” Weiner left Schumer’s office to run successfully for City Council. Seven years later, with Schumer running for Senate, he ran for the House seat his old boss had held for 18 years. His opponent was Daniel Feldman, another former Schumer staffer who had taken the Assembly seat which Schumer once held. Weiner won, and was succeeded in the Council by Michael Nelson, yet another man who had cut his teeth as a Schumer aide. Next year’s city elections could do even more for the Schumer legacy. Weiner is running for mayor again, and considered by many to be the frontrunner. Council Member David Yassky (D-Brooklyn), meanwhile, is running for comptroller. If both win, two of the three citywide positions will be held by men who got their start in Schumer’s office. That prospect, like anything to do with the success of his former staffers, clearly excites the state’s senior senator. And the excitement of that continuing connection seems to run both ways, as 10 of his politically prominent former staffers on this nowhere near complete list explain. But though they were happy to talk about working for Schumer, one topic remained off limits: the list of karaoke favorites sung at the annual reunion party. Schumer would not reveal them either. “Top secret,” he said. —AJH

Alan Maisel

Stu Loeser

Age: 63

Age: 34

Position with Rep. Schumer: Brooklyn Administrative Assistant, 1982-1985 Current Job: Assembly Member

Position with Sen. Schumer: Press Secretary and Communications Director, 2003-2005 Current job: Press Secretary for Mayor Michael Bloomberg

What is the most valuable thing you learned from Schumer? “Well, the thing that was significant about Chuck and his success was that he was totally committed to getting people the help they needed. The staff was schooled at that. People got returned phone calls. The office was very successful. That was one of the reasons for his success—people knew that he was listening.”

How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer? “Working for the mayor is a heavier load to carry, but there’s more people to do the work. The per-person workload is higher in Chuck Schumer’s office than any place I’ve seen or been.”

What memory sticks with you? “He would come into the office on Friday and ask how many people came into the office. If there weren’t a lot, he would go out and talk to the people.” Why did you leave? “In 1985, I got married. I was 39 or 40 about the time. Working in the office was a young man’s game. I couldn’t work nights and weekends. I went back to teaching—I was assistant principal at Shellbank Junior High.”

What is the most valuable thing you learned from Schumer? “Brevity counts.”

Alan Mai se 1982-19 l, 85

What do you miss most/least? “It’s not an original thought, but a lot of people compare working for Chuck Schumer like working for the Marines. If you talk to most Marines, they miss the intensity, they miss the camaraderie, they miss the sense of a team working together for so hard and so long for a shared purpose, but it doesn’t mean they want to go back. People have fond memories of Paris Island, but it doesn’t mean they want to move there.”

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Michael Nelson Age: 62 Position with Rep. Schumer: Director of Community Services, 1988-1995 Current job: City Council Member What is the most valuable thing you learned from Schumer? “Don’t think of anything as being impossible. Never second-guess things that constituents say or are concerned about.” What memory sticks with you? “There was a spate of vehicle vandalism in Park Slope. Schumer called a community meeting with officers from the 78th Precinct. It was a very hot night and members of the community packed into a school. A community member asked the station chief what he was going to do about the crime wave, and he responded by saying that the precinct was understaffed and there weren’t enough officers to patrol the area, etc. Chuck stood up and said, ‘Captain, if you’re going to tell all these people here, who came out tonight in the heat, that you can’t do anything about this, then I’m going to get someone who can.’ The captain backtracked, saying that of course he would find the staff to patrol the area. After that meeting, the problem went away, and officers did patrol the area.” What do you miss? “What I miss most is being affiliated with the great name of Chuck Schumer. I do not miss not being my own boss.”

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What do you miss about the job? “I really miss the high energy, the high intensity and the constant workings of his Senate office and working with him. The things I don’t miss the most—I don’t know if there is anything. It was a great four years and it was something to anybody who’s interested in serving should do.”

David Yassky Age: 44 Position with Rep. Schumer: Chief Counsel and Minority Counsel, 1991-1998 Current job: City Council Member How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer? “They’re surprisingly similar. Both are legislative jobs. Here, I set my own agenda and follow my own sense of what’s important to be working on. But I don’t have the smartest person in politics to constantly be asking questions and getting guidance from.”

What memory sticks with you? “I’ll just free associate. The time John Dingell, who represented De1988-1995 troit, came up to Chuck to congratulate him on outfoxing him on a bill. I remember Dingell complimenting Chuck in graphic terms on being the most persistent person he’d Age: 39 ever dealt with.” Position with Sen. Schumer: Director of Constituent Services, February 1999-2002 Why did you leave? Current Job: Assembly Member “To come back to New York. I could not be away from New York for another month.” How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer? “Having worked for Chuck for the years that I did has definitely prepared me for the rigors of an elected official. It’s something I’m able to know—nothing is too big to tackle when you’ve worked with Chuck and witAge: 59 nessed his hard work.” Position with Assembly Member Schumer: Investigative Counsel for Subcommittee on City ManageWhat memory sticks with you? ment, 1977-1980 “We all have war stories of different events. The one Current position: Special Counsel for Law and thing that we have in common? We all think we have a Policy for State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli great Chuck Schumer impression.”

Michael C usick, 1999-2002

How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer? “It was a much more combative position. The way Chuck described the job when he offered it to me, which was accurate, we’re offering you a hunting license to go after waste, corruption and mismanagement in city government. We utilized the leverage of embarrassment. The idea was if we found bad things going on, if we could establish a credible threat of continued bad publicity for whoever was doing these things, that’s a pretty good way to get people to stop doing them.” Most valuable thing you learned from him? “I learned many things from working with Schumer. First of all, I didn’t know what NMA stood for. No measurable audience. When you’re trying to use news coverage as a tool, you’d better understand what that means. You’d better get the coverage that has an audience.” What do you miss most/least? “He was a lot of fun. He can be very funny. His PR genius was astonishing. And he was a great mimic.”

Michael N elson,

Michael Cusick

Daniel Feldman

ss-k19y9,8 a Y d i v a D 1991

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Daniel Squadron Age: 28 Position with Sen. Schumer: Special Assistant and Co-Author, Positively American (2003-2005) Current job: Candidate for State Senate How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer? “They’re similar, because in both cases they’re about working hard, getting out there and trying to pack as much into a day as humanly possible.” What memory sticks with you? “There’s so many. The first time I met him—I was interviewing for the job. He came in, it was a Sunday morning. And he had just gone on as much of the Five Boro Bike Ride as he was able to. He went without any staff just because he loved it. And he came in and said, ‘What a great morning.’ And then he had a press conference and then I sat down with him and was just blown away by his intensity and intelligence.”

What is the most valuable thing you learned from Schumer? “Always focus on the middle class. People want to talk about their issues, and most people, whether they are or are not middle class, think of themselves as middle class.” Why did you leave? “To follow my dream of being a filmmaker in Los Angeles.”

Risa Heller

Benjamin L awsky, 1999-2001

Age: 28 What do you miss about the job? “Just the incredibly high level on which he and his staff operate all the time. There’s never any question out of focus, which is ‘What can we do for New York State?’ High level, intense and focused at all times. The least? I would say sleep deprivation, but I’m suffering through it right now.”

Micah Kellner

Position with Sen. Schumer: Communications Director 2005-2007 Current job: Communications Director for Governor David Paterson How does your current job compare to working for Schumer? “The fact that Albany and Washington are both capital cities is where the similarities end.”

Age: 29 Position with Sen. Schumer: Intern, Deputy Campaign Finance Director, 2000-2001 Current job: Assembly Member

What is the most valuable thing you learned from Schumer? “You don’t get what you don’t ask for.”

How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer? “Chuck really instilled the thought of ‘full steam ahead.’ He put in 110 percent into everything, and I use Schumer’s ethics as a model for my own.”

What memory sticks with you? “Having to pitch a press conference at my family’s Passover seder. They all looked on in horror as I made calls from the table.”

Benjamin Lawsky Age: 38 Position with Sen. Schumer: Chief Counsel on Senate Judiciary Committee, 1999-2001 Current position: Special Assistant to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) How does your current job compare to working for Chuck Schumer? “With Andrew, I help oversee a somewhat larger agency with more than 600 lawyers. What’s similar is it’s still a job at the intersection of law and politics, which is both interesting and fun. As bosses, Chuck and Andrew are similar. Both extremely hardworking. On a scale from one to 10, both get 10s for how hard they work.” Most valuable lesson/piece of advice that he gave you? “There’s no substitute for hard work, combined with an unwillingness to take no for an answer.”

adron, Daniel Squ2003 -2005

What memory sticks with you? “At some point in 2001, I had a family member who was very sick and I headed back to my hometown. This was soon after President Bush had taken office and just after Sen. Jeffords had switched and given the Democrats control of the Senate. Chuck was swamped, right in the middle of crisis after crisis, and a new takeover of the Senate. But despite all of that, Chuck took the time to call me every day to see how my family was doing. And that has always stuck with me. Chuck’s response has always reminded me that there are more important things than work—like family—no matter how important the work might be.”

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Espaillat And Martinez Battle For First Place In Dominican Pecking Order BY DAN RIVOLI NELSON CASTRO poised to become the first Dominican elected official in the Bronx, the Dominican political community is about to grow past its traditional northern Manhattan stronghold. Meanwhile, the two leaders of that stronghold, Adriano Espaillat and Miguel Martinez, are at each other’s throats as Espaillat defends his Assembly seat against his onetime protégé.

ITH

“It’s a tragic situation,” said Adriano Espaillat. “We should be presenting ourselves as an emerging community with one strong voice.” This is not Espaillat’s first battle for supremacy in the Dominican community. He tangled with the first Dominican elected official in the country, Council Member Guillermo Linares. Martinez later won Linares’ term-limited seat in 2001, with instrumental help from Espaillat. Times have changed, with a long simmering feud between Espaillat and Martinez finally coming to a boil. Access to Espaillat is a talking point for Martinez, who has accused the Assembly member of cooperating with organizations that support him. As evidence of what he says is his greater inter-

Even With a Win, Primary Results Could Be Referendum On Espaillat’s Future ominican political consultant Miosotis Munoz suggested that lingering resentment from the 1990s power struggle between Adriano Espaillat and Guillermo Linares hurt Espaillat’s 2005 Manhattan borough president bid. Though a third of the city’s 555,000 Dominicans live in Manhattan, Espaillat came in sixth in a nine-way primary. However, Munoz noted that a decisive Espaillat victory against Martinez in this year’s Assembly race could improve his standing if he enters the 2009 borough president’s race, which would become open if, as some suspect, current Borough President Scott Stringer (D) runs for public advocate.

SCOTT WILLIAMS

Arguments about future of community and neighborhood define battle

est and prowess at outreach, Martinez says he registered 500 new voters during petitioning. He hopes to add that to his base of community groups he funded while in the Council—groups he says were ignored by Espaillat. “His position was that only his groups or organizations that work for him get funding,” said Martinez, who left Espaillat’s club in 2005 to form Democrats in the Heights. “In the old Democratic club, everything was centralized.” They have also tangled over the economic health of the district, which covers Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill. Martinez charged that the neighborhood is suffering from little financial investment and development. “There has not been one single penny of investment by the Empire State Development Corporation in Washington Heights,” Martinez said. “Many of our small-business owners are now closing their doors.” He blamed Espaillat for not leading the charge to establish an anchor development program in the area. Espaillat disagreed, arguing that Washington Heights is moving to the second chapter, where gentrification and high rents are the major concerns rather than crime and rampant drug abuse. “Our problem now is that our neighborhood is Miguel Martinez is so attractive, people want challenging his old to move in,” Espaillat mentor, Adriano Espaillat. said. “Now we have a serious problem with rent and displacement. That’s the next big fight.” Still, Espaillat is disheartened at the primary challenge. The primary is the culmination of power grabbing maneuvers, like Martinez creating a new Democratic club, each backing different candidates for the district leader position. “It’s a tragic situation,” Espaillat said. “We should be presenting our“The Dominican selves as an emerging community community can invest in his with one strong voice.” future, financially,” Munoz said. “If you support someone But according to district leader going to higher office, it gives you access.” Mayra Linares (D), daughter of the Martinez has also expressed interest in running for borformer Council member, this race ough president if Stringer does not seek re-election. could be a boon to the community: In Espaillat has also been discussed as the next chair of the the heat of a contested election withcounty’s Democratic Party. in the same base of voters, the two Espaillat is confident he will be able to rally his base to will have to work extensively on win re-election to the Assembly. This will help him position voter outreach. That will spur more himself for runs for other offices in the future, he said, though involvement in the years to come, he remained coy about what else he is interested in running making the Dominican community for, and when. an ever-more powerful political “I’ve been around and I think I’m a known product,” force. Espaillat said. “I think I have the support and capacity to seek “They need to focus on the larger office somewhere else.” picture: our voting power,” she said. —DR “Really raise our poll numbers.” drivoli@cityhallnews.com drivoli@cityhallnews.com

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Where GOP Senate Candidates Run Strong, Assembly Candidates Still Get Run Over Republicans need more focus on building in prime territory, Tobacco warns BY DAN RIVOLI HE CITY’S

REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLY delegation is a gang of one: Lou Tobacco, who represents Staten Island’s staunchly conservative south shore. Things were not always this way. From the Silk Stocking district of the Upper East Side to Southwest Brooklyn, there used to be neighborhoods which elected Republicans. But as the state, and especially the city, have swung increasingly Democratic, the ranks of Assembly Republicans have slowly but seemingly irreversibly thinned, even in districts which overlap significantly with Republican Senate districts. Richard Speranza, who is running against six-term Assembly Member AnnMargaret Carrozza (D-Queens), is hoping to change that. And he is hoping his relationship with local State Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Queens), whom he knows through his service on Queens Community Board 13, will help. He has so far met with Padavan once since launching his campaign. “I’m very proud to be on the same ticket,” Speranza said. As a retired police officer with experience in public safety and crime-related

community organizations, Speranza said he has name recognition, despite a nearempty campaign account. Not far away, in the Howard BeachRockaway Assembly district, which has been represented by Audrey Pheffer (DQueens) for two decades, Gerald Sullivan is taking a stab at public office. Sullivan, a committee member of the Queens Republican Party, is banking on the independent streak of the Howard Beach community, which includes a chunk of State Sen. Serphin Maltese’s (R-Queens) district. “It’s almost 3-to-1 Democrat to Republican,” Sullivan said. “But a lot of people vote across party lines—people with more conservative values.” That habit has helped keep Maltese in office. Though the senator enjoys high name recognition and popularity, a plus for Sullivan in the overlapping portion of the Assembly district, Maltese is facing a strong challenge himself from Council Member Joseph Addabbo. That has left Maltese with little time or money to give to Sullivan in his campaign.

“Frankly, my complete preoccupation, other than my constituents, is to make sure I win re-election,” Maltese said. Maltese did give a somewhat rosy outlook for Sullivan’s prospects, given his competitive election, with McCain heading the ticket, will turn out a base of Republicans.

Without a Democratic opponent himself, Golden said he would campaign with Capano, president of the Brooklyn Young Republicans club, former head of Rep. Vito Fossella’s Brooklyn operation. The gerrymandered nature of the district—Republican Bay Ridge is spliced in half and connected to Democratic Coney Island by a sliver of waterfront land—puts Capano at a disadvantage, Golden said. “It’s a tough seat, but it’s a seat that we can get back,” Golden said. Though Capano is known throughout Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights through Fossella and community liaison to Borough President Marty Markowitz (DBrooklyn), he plans to campaign hard in Coney Island, hoping his Democratic bona fides resonate with voters. In the years ahead, Tobacco said he believes the GOP needs to do more to make serious efforts toward winning Assembly seats so he can have some company in Albany. “There definitely needs to be a farm team so when these gentlemen retire,” Tobacco said, “there won’t be a void.” drivoli@cityhallnews.com

“Frankly, my complete preoccupation, other than my constituents, is to make sure I win re-election,” said State Sen. Serphin Maltese. “The State Senate is right above the Assembly,” Maltese said. “They can do well by running on the same line as myself.” As the two Queens Republicans must take on the long-time Assembly members alone in some respects, Bob Capano, a Brooklynite, is running in a district half of which is represented by unopposed State Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn).

BAKERY-FRESH TREATS

FACES OF FRESHDIRECT Meet the folks who make it happen. Name Galen Webb Department Kitchen Position Roundsman in Training Favorite NY Place All the City Parks What I do at FreshDirect: I’ve worked here since October of 2006 — always in the kitchen. I started as a dish washer, moved into recipe scaling and then the fryer, the grill and now I’m moving on up to roundsman. I learned to cook in my grandmother’s Brooklyn kitchen. She was a wonderful cook, God bless her.

What I love about my job:

Galen’s Pick: FreshDirect Pastries From farm-fresh fruits and vegetables to tempting pastries, cakes and cookies... from easy 4-Minute Meals to top-quality meat that’s cut to order just for you. We deliver delicious food at a good price — and more importantly — we deliver a few more free moments in your day.

Every day I go into the kitchen, I see what everyone’s doing, and I go to wherever I’m needed. I get to be a help and a mentor to fellow employees. This place picks you up and gives you a chance to grow, and I’m still growing.

In my community: I’ve been a basketball coach for the last 3 years with Red Hook Rise. There are 6 teams of kids aged from 9 to 12 and we do it every summer, June through August. It’s books and basketball. If they don’t read, they don’t play.

AUGUST 2008

CITY HALL

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Young And Meng Collide In Assembly Rematch

SCOTT WILLIAMS

Meng touts diverse slate of candidates, argues race is sign of community coming of age

BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS

HILE RIDING HER BICYCLE IN

Flushing on July 15, Assembly Member Ellen Young (D-Queens) was seriously injured after being hit by a taxi. She was briefly knocked unconscious and sustained severe cuts and bruises all over her body, though nothing too serious. The hospital released her after six hours. While she recovers, Young must prepare for another potentially bruising affair: a Democratic primary re-match against Grace Meng, who is looking to make the race between the two ChineseAmerican women a referendum on the future of the community. Meng, an attorney, is the daughter of Young’s predecessor, former Assembly Member Jimmy Meng (D-Queens), the first Asian-American in the State Legislature. She is hoping to unseat Young as the representative of Flushing, the city’s largest Asian-American community. But if Young is daunted by the race, with its mix of generational and ethnic politics, she is not showing it—though she declined an interview on the race.

Meng has since rented an apartment in the district, while still maintaining a house elsewhere in Queens. But she says her ties to the community are much more solid than they were two years ago, evidenced by the community center she manages on 39th Avenue and Main Street in Flushing. “We’re open four days a week,” she said. “It’s mainly helping senior citizens fill out forms and working class families fill out forms and helping a lot of people who don’t speak English.” Meng has so far outpaced Young in campaign contributions, raising more than $81,000 during the last fundraising cycle compared to Young’s $34,000. But Young still has more money on hand, with $234,000 to Meng’s $147,000. Beyond that, Meng believes her ace-in-the-hole against Young is the diverse slate of candidates on which she is running. Young’s slate on the other Grace Meng and Ellen hand, she charges, features all AsianYoung are preparing for American candidates, except one. a Flushing showdown “We have people from all different ethnicities from different parts tinged with racial and of Flushing on our slate,” Meng said. generational politics. She is running alongside Terence “She hasn’t been focusing on cam- Park, a Korean-American candidate for paigning,” said Joe Reubens, a political district leader (who also ran for director at the Parkside Group and a Jimmy Meng’s seat in 2006); Edwin spokesperson for Young. “She’s been up Salas, a Latino candidate for state in Albany fighting for the people she rep- committee, Fay Myers, an AfricanAmerican candidate for district resents.” This will be round two in the leader; and Julia Harrison (a former Young/Meng face-off. They first ran member of the City Council and against each in 2006 to fill the seat left another 2006 contender for Meng’s vacant by Jimmy Meng, who retired after seat), a white candidate for district serving just one term. Meng cited health leader. They call themselves the Proven concerns as his reason for not running for re-election, although some speculate Leadership and Strength in Unity an investigation into voting irregularities Team. “We think that it’s time to have surrounding his narrow win in 2004 might have been the cause. No charges an assemblywoman who’s independent and hears the needs of the were ever filed against Meng. Legal troubles were the cause of his different communities” Meng said, “not daughter’s withdrawal from the race to just the Chinese community.” Young, however, has her own ace-insucceed him, after Young successfully the-hole: Council Member John Liu (Dchallenged her residency in the district. Reubens said the memory of Meng’s Queens), the first Asian-American legislalast defeat will still ring in the minds of tor elected in New York’s history, a candidate for citywide office in 2009 (most likemany voters. “She doesn’t have long-term ties to the ly comptroller) and a powerhouse community,” Reubens said. “She couldn’t fundraiser. Young was a staffer for Liu and fulfill the residency requirement. It’s carried his powerful endorsement in her 2006 run. never left her.”

Park, who organized the political unity team, downplayed Liu’s role in the race, saying the Council member’s own political aspirations are keeping him from paying much attention to the Assembly race. “He cannot really concentrate on a local election right now, he cannot afford to do it,” Park said. Another dimension in this already highly complex race is Meng’s construction of an opposition between herself— an “A.B.C.,” or American-born Chinese— and Young, who was born in Taiwan. Meng says this will give her an advantage in September. “I’m someone who was born and raised here. I’m comfortable with the culture. I’m comfortable with the language,” she said. Park went even further, criticizing Young for being “not very articulate.” “The mainstream doesn’t like Ellen Young,” he said. “She’s not popular in the Chinese community.” Other points of division in the Chinese community may weigh on the race as well. Young and Liu both have withstood criticism for not being more responsive to members of the Falun Gong community, a spiritual practice that often finds itself at odds with the communist government in China. Whoever wins, Meng said the race between her and Young is a positive step

“We think that it’s time to have an assemblywoman who’s independent and hears the needs of the different communities,” said Grace Meng, “not just the Chinese community.” forward for Asian-Americans in New York, who have generally been less active politically than other immigrant groups. “We too can be like other communities who have done wonderfully in the political process, like the Jewish Americans and Latino Americans,” she said. “I definitely see it as a sign of the community becoming more mature and informed about the process.” ahawkins@cityhallnews.com

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AUG UST 2008

Foreclosure Attorney Seeks To Kick Robinson Out Of State House Cenceria Edwards aims to break long-time joint hold on Bed-Stuy politics BY DAN RIVOLI N THE PAST FEW WEEKS, ATTORNEY

Cenceria Edwards has spent more time fighting for her petition signatures in Brooklyn Supreme Court than for her clients facing foreclosures. So far, her campaign to unseat Assembly Member Annette Robinson (D-Brooklyn) has been taking place in the courtroom, not the streets, fighting back several Robinsonbacked challenges to kick her off the ballot. The petition challenges succeeded in nullifying almost half of Edwards’ signatures, down to 628—still enough to carry her over the 500-signature threshold for an Assembly primary. The following line-byline challenge knocked down Edwards’ city Board of Elections-certified signature count to 613. After both parties agreed to that number, the next line-by-line count only increased the petition total to 664. And the challenges keep coming. Robinson’s latest shot was filing a fraud case against Edwards, alleging that a subscribing witness lied to a petition signer and that some signatures do not match that of the supposed signers’ originals. But these may be the least of Edwards’ problems. On two separate occasions, she claimed rocks were thrown through her window, and this was recorded in a police report. Whether this was politically motivated or a random act of violence, Edwards has been cautious, even paranoid that overly eager campaign volunteers are plants.

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

Council Member Al Vann, above, and Assembly Member Annette Robinson hope to stay in power in central Brooklyn. “No one ever told me this about politics,” Edwards said. Edwards, a real estate lawyer who specializes in foreclosures and predatory lending, long held political ambitions, but said she shelved them to focus on her daughter, a chess prodigy. But with her daughter starting high school in the fall, Edwards said she now can devote the time neces-

sary to mount a successful campaign. Edwards is not starting small. Before her election to the Assembly, Robinson was in the Council. When she hit term limits in 2001, her long-time ally in the Assembly, Al Vann ran for the seat. She then ran in and won the special election for his Assembly seat, allowing them both to preserve their power in BedfordStuyvesant. “To build a network, to build respect in government, to get a response in government, it requires having an established reputation,” Vann explained. “My primary objective is to build institutions and strengthen community organizations.” Edwards said the time has come for a change. “There’s no passing of the guard,” Edwards said. “People don’t want to wait 30, 40 years and see the same old thing.” At the same time, Edwards is running for district leader against Robinson. She is not the only one taking on the local establishment, though. Vann almost faced a challenge himself this year, with attorney Uwem Umoh planning to run against him for state committee. However, the effort hit the skids when the Board of Elections found out that Umoh had not registered as a Democrat before the Oct. 2007 deadline. Nevertheless, Umoh is considering a run for Vann’s Council seat, which is term-limited next year. The field for that race is still coming together, with two other candidates already registered with the Campaign

Finance Board. But Robinson and Vann put to rest speculation that they might be looking to trade seats again in 2009— Robinson is hoping to stay in the Assembly, and Vann said next year will mark the end of his 35-year tenure as an elected official. In this slowly gentrifying neighborhood, Edwards feels the benefit of development is not flowing to long-time residents and community groups. She points to predatory bank lending practices and the foreclosure rate in the neighborhood that is the highest in the city. Robinson boasts of her action on the foreclosure crisis, mainly through funding organizations that provide litigation services and advice. Her relationship with Vann, she said, has helped her become an effective legislator, tackling issues on a state and city level. “We’re in leadership, and we’ve brought in resources to the community as a team,” Robinson said. “A Bed-Stuy family health center, libraries, parks. Those are the things that made a difference.” Though Robinson admitted that this year’s political climate seems to favor insurgents over incumbents, her base of churchgoers, community activists and long-time residents will continue to provide support. “Those who are doing good work are being targeted,” she said. “Certainly, I continue to always launch an aggressive campaign.” drivoli@cityhallnews.com

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AUGUST 2008

EDITORIAL A Federal Bailout to Put the MTA Back on Track www.cityhallnews.com President/CEO: Tom Allon tallon@manhattanmedia.com

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he new MTA budget shortfall likely to cause consecutive fare hikes is abhorrent, but unsurprising. The authority’s financing is, after all, supposed to include much heavier subsidies from the state and city. Public financing is always part of the deal on public transportation—no system in the world is selfsustaining, and the subsidies public transit requires are more than justified by the greater public benefit they provide. How New York’s elected leaders came to ignore the need for large subsidies is one of the great public policy mysteries of modern times. At this point, there seems to be no hope of getting the subsidies back to the levels where they once were, especially with Gov. David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg making clear that their own budget shortfalls leave no money to spare. Their thinking on this is not quite right. But their insistence that the MTA must do more to trim its own expenses is. The MTA, however, will clearly not do this on its own. The MTA already announced two improvement cutbacks this year before the latest shortfall was revealed, which

The MTA needs be able to start from scratch.

OP-ED

mstinson@manhattanmedia.com

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leaves little question that accuracy and competence are not among the authority’s strengths. Now Paterson and Bloomberg should make a joint effort to wade through the murky laws governing public authorities to force a new accounting system on the MTA. Sure, the economy is rough and getting rougher, and state and city governments around the country have been off the mark in their revenue projections. Nothing, though, compares to the MTA. But there is only so much that even an entirely revamped financing structure could do. At this point, one-fifth of the authority’s budget goes to pay debt service on bills racked up from bad decisions made a generation ago (and some more recently). The MTA is now the fifth largest debtor in the nation, behind only the federal government, California, New York State and New York City. Even a wizard accountant would eventually be crushed by that kind of burden. The MTA needs be able to start from scratch. Perhaps the Ravitch Commission will come forward with a revolutionary plan that will do this, and solve all the MTA’s problems. But in the meantime, our repre-

sentatives in Washington should begin working on a plan to get the federal government to provide the kind of bailout that has now been extended to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The $29.8 billion debt, with its annual $2 billion debt service, is unmanageable. Wiping it away with a one-time injection of money could just be the kind of radical solution the MTA needs. And if we cannot get all $29.8 billion, perhaps we can get enough to pay down a significant enough portion of the debt to reduce the debt service fees. This is an investment in America’s future: New York City is the engine of so much of the nation’s economy—the metropolitan area is the top contributor to America’s gross domestic product, according to a new analysis by City Comptroller William Thompson—and its public transportation system is the tracks on which that engine is able to run. Only by moving more people at faster speeds to more places can the city economy really grow. If the federal government can pay for a $25 billion bailout to rescue private banks for the sake of propping up the economy today, it can also pay for a $29.8 billion investment into a public entity now for the sake of seeding the economy of the future. Our senators and members of Congress should start making that case.

Increased Food Stamp Funding to Feed Pocketbooks and Fill Stomachs BY REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ o say that America’s economy is struggling would be an understatement. In the face of a crumbling housing market and spiraling energy prices, we are now mired in what can only be described as a crippling recession. As we learned last month, the recent stimulus package provided a needed financial lift, boosting the GDP by 1.9 percent. This is a modest, though encouraging gain. But while the tax rebates have helped to stem some of the devastation, we New Yorkers are not yet out of the woods. According to an Aug. 1 report by the Department of Labor, July saw unemployment rates reach 5.7 percent—their highest point in four years. To make matters worse, growing joblessness is now coupled with skyrocketing food costs. With the price of staples, like milk, up 30 percent, New York’s unemployed are straining to do more than make ends meet: They are struggling to keep food on the table. Fifty-five percent of New Yorkers now say food prices have stretched their budgets to the breaking point. In the past, cashstrapped Americans have been able to fall back on food stamps. But that was in a period of economic growth, during which—for

most of our unemployed—new jobs were just around the corner. Today, it often takes six months or longer for Americans to find new work. And with food stamps limited to 12-week installments, many people will run out of meals before they get their next paycheck. But even as the country weathers the blows of recession, New Yorkers should rest assured: there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Unlike the last stimulus, however, new legislative action should not come in the form of tax rebates. Instead, food stamp extensions would help to stanch the continuing downturn. Stretching food stamps would both feed the unemployed and drive millions of dollars back into the economy. With this in mind, I recently introduced a new food stamp initiative, the Food Security Act. The legislation targets able-bodied adults without dependents, and will extend benefits from three months to 12. In doing so, it promises to rejuvenate the New York marketplace, while at the same time ensuring that job seekers don’t go hungry. I believe food stamps make both moral and economic sense, and a number of leading economists agree. Last month, in testimony before the House Committee on Small Business, (of which I am chair), Mark Zandi, chief economist and co-founder of

Moody’s Economy.com, voiced his support for the initiative. “Extending food stamps are the most effective ways to prime the economy’s pump,” he said. And in fact, every additional dollar in food stamps would spark a $1.73 boost in the GDP. That’s a return of almost two times the original investment. What is more, food stamp dollars are almost immediately absorbed back into the market. So instead of waiting for taxpayers to spend their stimulus checks on plasma TVs or dinners out, we can enjoy the effects almost right away. This is exactly the kind of stimulus New York—and America— needs: a quick jolt to the economy that doesn’t rely on trickle-down spending. In light of the ongoing recession, Congress is now considering a second round of incentives. It is critical that any legislation include provisions for food stamps, which would pump more money into the GDP than any other potential stimulus. Already, food stamps are bringing New York’s economy back on track, and they are feeding more than just our empty pocket books. They are filling empty stomachs, too.

Nydia Velázquez is a Democrat representing parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens in Congress.

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AUG UST 2008

OP-ED Time For The City To Get Smart With Smart Metering BY COUNCIL MEMBER ERIC GIOIA ou can’t power a 21st century city by using 19th century technology. Yet, Con Ed is doing just that by using outdated infrastructure as the city moves into the second decade of the 21st century. New York is facing steep competition from London and other cities to be the global financial capital, and Con Ed needs to take immediate steps to upgrade its technology. Relief could be on the way. Digital

technology—Smart Meters—has allowed customers in other cities to cut their bills by as much as 10 percent. This is why I have proposed mandating that Con Ed install Smart Meters in new buildings, and by 2011 have all meters in New York City be Smart Meters. Smart Meters take the place of the older meters and work by using digital technology to help streamline service in real time. The U.S Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that consumers in the

Smart Meter system saved 10 percent on their power bills and cut their power use by 15 percent during peak hours during a year-old study. For New York City’s consumers, the ability to know when prices are high because of demand will help consumers save money on their bills by adjusting their consumption. If you want to wash your clothes and avoid peak hour rates, you can simply check the meter and adjust your schedule according to the peak hour charges. The Smart Meter is part of the larger

A Move Toward Better Government We Can All Understand BY CHUNG-WHA HONG AND ANDREW FRIEDMAN ayor Bloomberg has bucked the trend. While localities across the nation are recoiling at the challenges posed by changing demographics, New York City’s mayor has addressed them head-on with a newly announced executive order that will make all agencies in New York City accessible to the 1.8 million New Yorkers who have not yet had the chance to become conversant in English. In his signature practical way, Mayor Bloomberg is acknowledging that the capacity to communicate with all New York City residents, including the 3 million foreign-born neighbors, coworkers and classmates among us, is a pre-requisite for good government. This executive order is about making sure government can do its job effectively for all New Yorkers. The order sets basic standards for all city agencies to follow in serving constituents who are not proficient in English. Under the order, agencies will designate a language access coordinator and over the next several months develop agency-specific plans for implementing the order, which will involve translating important forms, such as applications and notices, into the city’s most common languages, and managing communication assistance resources such as telephonebased interpreting. It’s all very commonsensical—the buildings department, for instance, can’t

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ensure safe housing for all New Yorkers if it can’t communicate with nearly 2 million of us. Similarly, the police can’t effectively conduct investigations if they can’t take statements from the significant number of New Yorkers who speak Spanish, Russian, Chinese, HaitianCreole, Arabic and Bengali. Advocates have worked with the city over the years to put language access policies in place at the Human Resources Administration, Department of Education, and Health and Hospitals Corporation. Mayor Bloomberg’s new executive order capitalizes on the signifi-

same rate at least as immigrants always did, if not more quickly. In the interim, though, new New Yorkers need to know how their children are doing in school, for example, and should be able to report crimes or unsafe housing conditions. Back in January, when the mayor delivered his State of the City address, he said with eloquence, “We are committed to making our City government quicker, leaner, stronger, better, and to giving all New Yorkers a city that matches their ambition and honors their dreams.” And, referring to immigrant families, “Their presence is a two-way street. New York gives them

The language access executive order, which is the culmination of a decade or more of intensive work by community advocates to make government more accessible, is also just the first step. cant improvements these agencies have achieved in serving New Yorkers in languages they can understand. But the order, which is the culmination of a decade or more of intensive work by community advocates to make government more accessible, is also just the first step; the Mayor’s Office of Operations now has to oversee implementation of the executive order, and each agency has to develop its own language access plans. Providing a real forum for community input into that process is essential, and we look forward to working with Operations and individual agencies to ensure that community voices are part of the planning. Given the current tenor of the national debate around all things immigrant, the mayor will likely take flak from those who unfavorably compare today’s immigrants with the mythical immigrant of yore, who, legend has it, learned English fluently in the time it took to pass through the great hall at Ellis Island. But that immigrant never really existed, and studies show that today’s immigrants learn English at the

unlimited opportunities and these families help make New York the nation’s economic engine, its financial hub, its fashion center, its media mecca, and its cultural capital. And that’s one of the messages I’ve been speaking out on, to those who are wailing against immigration, to those politicians who, all of a sudden, have embraced xenophobia, I say: Open your eyes.” Now, he has translated that eloquence into action. By setting his sights on effective government services, the mayor has declared that the government of the most diverse city in the world is up to the distinct communication challenges this diversity poses. We know, in the end, the city will be better off for it. In issuing this executive order, and in continuing to work closely with the communities that will be served by it, Mayor Bloomberg has taken a giant step forward toward our goal of being a city that welcomes and serves all New Yorkers.

Chung-Wha Hong is the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition. Andrew Friedman is the co-executive director of Make the Road New York.

“Smart Grid,” system, which fully digitizes the power grid by expanding the communication between the consumer, the regulator, and the power plants. By having the three principals in constant digital communication, utilities better regulate the power their stations put out based on need. Smart Meters will help prevent blackouts and will help to green the city, as New York’s power grid suffers the strains of an aging infrastructure. The national power grid remains generally unchanged since it was first erected at the end of the 19th century. Large power plants deliver power in an inefficient system, which requires investment in infrastructure that is often not used to its full capacity, and wastes fuel. Smart Meters help customers relieve the stress on the grid, since the power plants run more efficiently, and since consumers can regulate their own power, less energy is used, and there’s less waste. Con Ed is falling behind the rest of the world. Last April, the British government announced plans for every household to acquire a Smart Meter. Italian utility Enel SpA undertook the largest Smart Meter implementation with over 27 million being given to customers between 2000 and 2005, with an average saving of $500 per year, effectively paying back the $2 billion investment in a four-year period. Other nations using Smart Meter technologies include Turkey, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Smart Meter technologies are also currently being deployed in the United States. In Boulder, Colorado, the Minneapolis-based utility Xcel launched a $100 million program to implement the Smart Grid. The project, announced in May 2008, will be completed in 2009, and will include Smart Meters in all homes. In Austin, Texas, 200,000 meters are currently Smart Meters, and by the first quarter of 2009, Austin Energy will have 500,000 Smart Grid devices. Mandating Smart Meters in new buildings, and by pushing for Smart Meters in all buildings by 2011, will help New Yorkers lower their bills, help the environment, and prevent blackouts. Smart Meters are precisely the kind of infrastructure that Con Ed needs to invest in as New York moves into the 21st century in order to ensure New York does not fall further behind the energy technology curve. Installing Smart Meters will ensure that New York remains a global capital and leader in green technologies, along with leaving a cleaner, more sustainable city for our children.

Eric Gioia is a Democrat representing parts of Queens in the City Council.

AUGUST 2008

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Amid Memories of James Davis, Concerns About Security Linger

DANIEL S. BURNSTEIN

Five years after shooting, Council members say they feel safe but could feel safer

Five years after Council Member James Davis was killed in the Council chamber balcony, friends and family gathered at a memorial service. R&B singer Melba Moore performed. BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS

OR A FEW HOURS ON A RECENT

July afternoon, City Hall was transformed into a rose-strewn, footstomping, hand-clapping gospel church. The City Council chamber was packed with old ladies in straw hats and young people decked in their Sunday best. Politicians and church leaders mingled about, there to honor the memory of Council Member James E. Davis (DBrooklyn), who was assassinated by a political rival five years ago in the balcony. “I’m going home,” a five-piece choir sang joyously as the crowd clapped in time. “Since I laid my brother down.” Davis was in the Council for just 17 months when he was gunned down by Othniel Askew on July 23, 2003. Askew had held a grudge against Davis, blaming him for sabotaging his plans to run for Council. Davis, however, made the fatal move to bring Askew to City Hall with the intention of honoring him by introducing him from the balcony. The councilman and Askew both bypassed the metal detectors on their way in, at the time a courtesy offered to elected officials and their guests. Minutes later, Askew shot Davis twice

in the chest before being shot himself by a plainclothes police officer from the chamber floor. Five days later, Davis’ body laid in state at City Hall, as 7,000 people came to mourn the former police officer who had founded an antiviolence group before entering into politics. “He was larger than life,” said Council Member David Weprin (D-Queens), who fondly recalled Council trips to Israel and Puerto Rico with Davis. Laughingly, Weprin remembered Davis’ sense of style. “He was always dressed in a threepiece suit,” he said. “Even when we were on the beach.” Davis, who was considering a run for Congress before his death, was reluctant to let anyone photograph him in a bathing suit should he later decide to run for higher office, Weprin recalled. Five years later, security is unarguably tighter at City Hall. Everyone from the mayor on down must pass through metal detectors on their way into the building. Some Council members said that while they felt safer at City Hall since the shooting, their jobs are still largely unpredictable, much like Davis’ death.

“If someone wants to get by, they can always get by,” Weprin said. “Life was a lot easier before we had to worry about all this.” Letitia James (D-Brooklyn), who was elected to fill Davis’ seat after his death, said she felt conditions at City Hall were much more secure. “I feel much safer,” she said. “I couldn’t escort anyone in unless they are subject to the scanners.” Council Member Charles Barron (DBrooklyn) was slightly more reticent to call the heightened security measures in the wake of Davis’ death a success. “City Council members have a lot of friends and have a lot of enemies,” Barron said. “The bottom line is there’s no security if someone wants to do something to you.” Barron cited as an example the shooting of then-President Ronald Reagan (R) by John Hinckley, Jr. in 1981. Even though Reagan was surrounded by Secret Service agents, Hinckley still managed to get off six shots, including one which hit the president. “Nothing can protect us from someone that really wants to take our lives,” Barron said. “You just got to pray that nothing happens.”

Most Council members have offices at 250 Broadway, a private office building across the street from City Hall. Security there was lax for years after the Davis shooting, though just recently, turnstiles controlled by access cards were installed in the lobby. Visitors to the building are asked to check in at the front desk, but are not subject to any additional screening. Gary Tempro, the building’s property manager, did not return repeated requests for comment. A City Council spokesperson declined to comment on matters of security. Some current and former Council members said metal detectors at 250 Broadway would send a negative message about government accessibility. “I think that’s over the top,” James said. Weprin agreed, saying he believes the new turnstiles will be adequate. “We have a basic amount of security. It could always be more protective,” he said. “But at the same time you don’t want to make it too difficult to come and go.” State Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan), a former member of the Council who was in the chambers when Davis was shot, said he is reminded of the councilman every time he goes through security at City Hall. Perkins said he saw little need for the amount of fencing surrounding City Hall Park or for metal detectors at 250 Broadway. “I get a sense there’s a little bit more security and maybe too much security,” Perkins said. Most of Davis’ friends and family said they hoped that a key piece of his legacy is his strong antiviolence message. The irony, they said, was how Davis spent his whole career trying to work against violence, only to have violence claim his life. Gregory Davis, the late councilman’s brother, now runs Love Yourself/Stop the Violence, the non-profit organization Davis founded. “I hear people say ‘love yourself, stop the violence’ all the time,” Davis said. “It caught on like ‘no justice, no peace.’ Or ‘keep hope alive.’” He stressed the importance of improved security at City Hall, saying it helps protect everyone from Council members to staffers and custodial workers. “It’s important that everyone comes through the metal detectors,” he said. “I don’t want anyone to experience what I experienced.” But in February, several families in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood, Missouri did, when a gunman stormed the building. He killed five, including two city council members, and wounding the mayor. Davis said the first thing he did after hearing of the shooting was to get in his car and drive to Kirkwood. When he arrived, he counseled those involved in the shooting. “I let them know what I experienced here, that you can survive,” he said. “I know it seems like you won’t survive a week, but you can do it.” ahawkins@cityhallnews.com

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AUGUST 2008

129,007 STATEcontrolled bridges labeled “structurally deficient” and “functionally obsolete” by the Federal Highway Administration. Of these, 5,296 are in New York, making the Empire State home to the sixthhighest number of deficient bridges in the country. Texas tops the list with 10,037. Minnesota ranked 24th. But it was Minnesota’s infrastructure problems which caught the attention of the world August 1, 2007 when a bridge over Interstate 35W collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13. Investigators have since found that the cause was a design flaw, a metal plate too thin to support its function joining girders. In response to the collapse, the Minnesota state legislature appropriated $6.6 billion over 10 years to improve roads, bridges and transit. The legislation increases funding but also appropriates money to expand transit and offer tax credits and refunds to lowincome individuals. Road and bridge damage “is easy to put off because you think you can do a little repair. If you fail to fix your roads and bridges, there can be devastating consequences,” said Minnesota State Rep. Bernard Lieder (D), the bill’s author. HERE ARE

THE AUGUST

POLL

ELSEWHERE Saint Paul, Minnesota

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gram, six Republicans reconsidered their previous opposition, switching their votes and joining Democrats to override the veto. After seeing the Minnesota bridge collapse, senators in New York moved to increase funding towards bridge and road maintenance. Earlier this year, the Senate passed the Bridge Reform Act, which reallocates $762 million in the $3 billion Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund which would otherwise have gone to pay for snow and ice removal by the Department of Transportation. The Bridge Reform Act would dedicate the entire $3 billion of the Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund to bridge and road improvements. Still, the state lags behind several other states with fewer deficient bridges— California, for example, approved $20 billion in transportation bonds for infrastructure maintenance in 2006. Even that $762 reallocation for New York’s bridges remains in limbo, with the companion version of the Senate bill still bottled in the Assembly

Controversial Infrastructure Tax Hike Gives State $6.6 Billion After Bridge Collapse By Michael Szeto Lieder’s bill paid for the program by enacting an 8.5¢ tax on every gallon of gas and a .25 percent sales tax increase in certain counties. Though people were glad to see the state invest in the infrastructure, many resisted the tax increase, which also drew severe opposition by the Chamber of Commerce and tax interest groups. “The public doesn’t care for a tax increase. As a result, the politicians don’t want to increase taxes,” said Lieder, who also chairs the Transportation Finance Committee. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) opposed the tax increases and vetoed the legislation. However, in the face of strong public support for Lieder’s pro-

Transportation Committee. Assembly Member David McDonough (R-Nassau), the ranking member on the committee, called the Bridge Reform Act, a good start to improving the state’s infrastructure but more money will be needed. To raise the necessary capital, McDonough said legislators may need to consider following Minnesota’s lead to create a dedicated tax to fund infrastructure reinvestment. But the solution may require help from Washington as well. In July, during a visit to New Orleans, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.), California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell (D), participated in a two-day infrastructure investment tour to urge the federal government to make federal investment a top priority. Though states can do more, they concluded that the real key was more help from Washington. “With the federal government contributing only 25 percent of infrastructure funding and the rest coming from financially strapped state and local governments,” Rendell said, “Washington needs to step up its commitment of resources.” mszeto@manhattanmedia.com Direct letters to the editor to editor@cityhallnews.com

Which Council Member Would Make the Best Batman?

atman was the unquestioned box office champion this summer, but Council members were split on which of their own they thought could best step into the Dark Knight’s cape and cowl. “There are so many who fight for good and denounce evil,” explained Inez Dickens (D-Manhattan), “but that’s in the eye of the beholder.” But the description of a potential caped crusader does not necessarily fit any of the Council members, according to Leroy Comrie (D-Queens). “It would have to be someone with a dark personality and lots of free time,” he said, mulling the question. Alternatively, suggested Eric Gioia (D-Queens), the problem in suggesting a colleague as Batman might have a different explanation. “I don’t know who in the Council is most likely to dress up in tights and head out in the wee hours of the night,” he joked. Nonetheless, the Council members did cast their votes. To Bill de Blasio (D-Brooklyn) though, the choice was obvious: James Oddo (R-Staten Island). “For his dramatic flair,” de Blasio explained, “and, he can intimidate criminals with a string of curses.” But for James Gennaro (DQueens), the choice had more to do with policy. “We already have a Batman,” he reasoned, citing Oddo’s 2007 “crusade

against aluminum bats.” Appropriately enough for a role that has attracted so many different actors over the years, the ﬁnal tally was a split decision, with other Council members more partial to Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens) as Batman. “He’s got the physique, the commitment to law and order and an innate sense of justice,” David Yassky (DBrooklyn) said of the Public Safety Committee chair. Plus, Vallone already has some experience answering to the name. “When I was a prosecutor, my nickname was Batman,” he said. Oddo and Vallone each got ﬁve votes from other Council members, effectively tying. But Oddo voted for himself, as did Vallone, giving the minority leader the edge. But Batman was not the only superhero Council members were looking to cast. Several who nominated Oddo made another pick as well: If Oddo was Batman, they said, Vincent Ignizio (R-Staten Island), was, without a doubt, Robin.

Council members receiving more than one vote: James Oddo Peter Vallone Jr. Letitia James Melinda Katz Gale Brewer

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AUG UST 2008

Breakfast Burritos And Iced Tea With Tom Duane

City Hall: I like your tie. Tom Duane: Thank you. I bought this tie in Albany when we had to stay over a weekend to do the budget. And so I went to a Marshalls or a TJ Maxx. And look— [FLIPS OVER TIE TO REVEAL MICHAEL KORS LABEL] it’s my little ode to Project Runway. CH: Are you in a rent-regulated building? TD: No, I’m in Penn South, which is an equity co-op. We buy our apartments. There’s a waiting list. Nobody moves out, they get carried out. That will be true for me. My maintenance is so much lower than people in market rate co-ops. I finally have money in my pocket to spend.

Duane tries to set limits on his breakfast burrito consumption and use of sarcasm. CH: So what are you buying now? Michael Kors neckties? TD: This is what my mother asks me, “What do you spend your money on?” I was like, “Mom, I haven’t gotten a raise in 10 years, and therapy because of you.” [WAITER ARRIVES] TD: I should eat a salad but I know what I want. CH: What are you wrestling between? TD: Well, I should have a salad, but the breakfast burrito is calling me. I’m going to tell you something else that I spent my extra cash flow on: My partner and I bought

a fixer-upper in Sullivan County in 2002. CH: Are you dealing with things like a locust infestation or badgers digging up your yard? TD: We have a lot of deer actually, which I love. I know they’re bad and they eat up all our flowers. They’re beautiful. Sometimes you’ll see 20 of them on the lawn. TD: You know, when I went to Albany, I gained about 80 pounds my first two or three years there. CH: Really? Why is that? TD: I was lonely. I didn’t have fruit. There are a lot of receptions in the beginning. I don’t want to say that there were always pigs in a blanket, but that type of food. Little quiches. But the problem was that I would eat all that, and I would eat dinner too. My whole routine has changed. Over the last three years, I’ve lost 60 pounds. CH: Are you and your partner married? TD: No. CH: Do you—this is a personal question—want to get married? TD: We are not going to make a decision until New York legalizes. We’ve talked about it with Massachusetts and California. We’ll wait for New York. We want the right to decide to get married and the right to decide not to get married. We can’t be domestic partners because we don’t live together. Louis has a rent-stabilized apartment on the Upper East Side. I have a one-bedroom apartment here. So, it works perfectly. There are many, many, many sleepover dates. CH: So you’re kind of an Upper East Sider, too. TD: Well, I almost never stay there. CH: Is the Senate kind of like junior high school in terms of the competition and the egos? TD: Anyone who studies sociology might be interested in how it is. Because we’re all very competitive of each other, but competitive as a party. We have to work together and we actually develop relationships with each together. CH: How does the Council compare? TD: The City Council wasn’t partisan, even though we had Republicans, it was rarely partisan. I think when I first got to the Senate, my anger about some of the bills being on the floor that I so vehemently disagreed with— my anger about that and the sarcasm came across as arrogant or—I’d say arrogant and know-it-all. So actually, it was Senator Bruno that told me how I came off when I did that. I tried to tone it down with everyone. I’ve always encouraged people to tell me when I’ve hurt their feelings and not hold back and let me know. CH: Your Senate office seems like a very touchyfeely, caring, talking-about-how-we-feel type place. TD: Yeah. I think I could have better boundaries. CH: Christine Quinn is poised to be a mayoral frontrunner. Which of her qualities that do you feel responsible for fostering? [TAKES A LONG PAUSE AND CHEWS HIS FOOD] TD: A long time ago, I like to think that I helped her with her self-esteem. I don’t think she knew how great she is. I mostly think about what she’s given me. You could have a big political fight with someone about something and it’s absolutely not personal. I think I helped her to come out. CH: When did that happen? TD: During my campaign for City Council in ‘91. I was in

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

Chelsea resident since 1976, Tom Duane (D) has been representing the neighborhood in some capacity for nearly 20 years, first in the City Council and, since 1998, in the State Senate. Today his district stretches as far north as the Upper West Side and includes Greenwich Village and parts of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Duane recently sat down for lunch at one of his regular haunts, the Ninth Avenue diner Dish, to talk about his former staffer Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D), the Senate culture and his big cat bill. What follows are selections from an edited transcript.

an endorsement interview. The discussion was around, “Why is it important to be out in politics?” My answer was that I thought it was important to be out because not being out meant it was something you didn’t want to be. And being gay, or lesbian, or bi or tranny—it’s not right to give the message that it is something you want to hide. CH: I wanted to ask you about a seemingly random bill that you sponsored which dealt with large cats and keeping them out of contact with the public. I didn’t realize this was an issue in New York. Was this a Siegfried and Roy reaction? TD: It did happen to a girl in California. Haley. The humane community was obviously very concerned about it. It was at, like a photo-op kind of thing. Have your picture taken with a— CH: —Rabid tiger. TD: It was that kind of thing, where someone wasn’t trained to work with big cats. And that happens when you bring them to children’s parties or to a bachelor party. CH: A big cat? TD: Yes. CH: How big of a cat? TD: There’re people with big cats in their backyard. CH: There was that guy with the tiger in Harlem. TD: So this bill says that only if you are accredited by the national zoo association can you handle big cats. People can get killed, like Haley. And also when a big cat does that, and it’s in their nature, they have to be put down. So it’s tragic across the board. Though the bill is very worthwhile—obviously, or I wouldn’t have introduced it—I think that the Republicans knew that they could get some humor out of it in the public realm. I think that’s why—many bills pass the Senate without much debate at all—they debated for like 45 minutes. I’m not sure if it was to buy time or whether it was for fun. CH: Was there a big cat lobby? TD: Well, the Humane Society was very interested and happy about it. It was unexpected, but [the Republicans] may have thought I wasn’t prepared to defend it, but I was. It passed with only two negative votes, which means people really had to think about it. ceichna@manhattanmedia.com

>> To read more about what offices Tom Duane says he would run for, and why he needs a professional organizer, go online to www.cityhallnews.com.

AUGUST 2008

Reyna Picks Maltese in Senate Race Diana Reyna (D-Brooklyn/Queens) may serve on the City Council with Joseph Addabbo (D-Queens), but she does not seem to want her colleague and fellow Democrat to win his race against State Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Queens). Reyna’s district covers Williamsburg and Bushwick in Brooklyn, but stretches into the Ridgewood section of Queens, where she was on July 18 to attend the 35th anniversary celebration for the Glenridge Senior Center. Maltese attended as well, with new State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau) along for the event, lending his help to the targeted senator in a race Democrats have called the tipping point in their quest to gain control of the Senate. After embracing and kissing Maltese, Reyna made a short speech to the crowd of seniors, rallying them to do their part in giving Maltese an 11th term in Albany. “Let’s make sure that our friend Serf continues to remain in our community because without Serf, I don’t think this community could have struggled and survived and improved,” she said. “I have great respect for this man and he has always been a friend. I don’t see partisan lines. I see a human being who cares and never says no.” Reyna also offered words of praise for new Council Member Anthony Como, a former Maltese aide who in June won the special election for the neighboring Council district and was also on hand for the event. But perhaps Reyna’s lack of enthusiasm had something to do with her apparent chafing at having to spend more time at Council meetings than in the district. Apologizing for not being at the Glenridge Center more recently, she explained that unfortunately, “City Hall has tightened the belt when it comes to the scheduling and attending meetings out there.”

At Clinton Homecoming, Jokes of the Bloomberg Presidential Run and the Thompson-Weiner Race Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.) welcomed Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) back to New York at a Gracie Mansion reception Aug. 4, and Clinton returned the favor with a gentle tease about the mayor’s in-depth questions about what worked and what did not during her presidential campaign. “I’ve always liked him, but my gosh, I felt so special,” she said, as Bloomberg reddened slightly, laughing with the crowd.

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www.cityhallnews.com “And I noticed all through the conversation, he was taking notes, and Kevin was recording. So I know that somewhere all this information will be put to good use.” Those who were listening closely could hear the man in question, Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, having a good laugh from his perch on the press riser. The event drew a big crowd, including Chevy Chase and Barbara Walters, who both spoke of their admiration for Clinton. But the more surprising faces in the crowd, perhaps, belonged to Rep. Peter King (R-Nassau), a former backer of Rudy Giuliani who has indicated he might run against Clinton in 2012, and former City Council President Andrew Stein, who has kept a very low profile since his retirement from public life in 1993. The reception was to honor Clinton after the end of her primary campaign. But two of those applauding her, at least for a moment, were focused on their primary to come. On his way out of the event, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn/Queens) passed City Comptroller William Thompson, a likely rival in next year’s mayor’s race. As he did, he nodded back in the direction of the porch of the house they are both hoping to move into on Jan. 1, 2010 and suggesting a photo-op. “Would have made a nice picture, by the way,” Weiner said. “I’m just saying.” Thompson laughed, then suggested another setting where Weiner’s competitiveness is well known. “I was thinking of a hockey rink,” Thompson said.

Rivera Suspends Council Campaign to Work Miami for Obama Bronx Democrat Haile Rivera has been named field organizer of MiamiDade County for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Rivera has suspended his own campaign for City Council in the Bronx until he returns to New York after Election Day. Rivera, who left his job at Food Bank in New York City in December in order to work full time for Obama, first came to admire the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee during Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign. Rivera recalled seeing Obama on television in 2004. “I saw passion,” he said. In July 2007, he gained national attention for being one of four small donors selected to have dinner with Obama in a webcast event. In Florida, Rivera will register new voters and work to win over Democrats who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton but dislike Obama and Arizona Sen. John McCain. Rivera is glad to be working in Miami, where his fluency in Spanish will be particularly useful.

Dog Day Afternoon

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

While Mayor Michael Bloomberg played host to Sen. Hillary Clinton at her Gracie Mansion welcome home party August 4, his companion, former State Banking Superintendent Diana Taylor, stood at the back of the tent entertaining her own special guests, labradors Bonnie and Clyde.

Elected Officials Decry Rise in Hate Crimes Hate crimes are on the rise around the city, and government officials are up in arms. The New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Unit reported a 20 percent rise in hate crimes in recent years. Just in the past few months, Surrogate Court Judge Diana Johnson was targeted, in addition to several reported incidents in Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights, Eastern Queens and elsewhere. Victims have been targeted for their race, sexual orientation and religion. Several members of the City Council, State Senate and Assembly have publicly denounced the crimes and called on the NYPD to deal with the crimes swiftly and decisively.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Gets Judge as Executive Director Judge Michael Corriero of Manhattan’s Youth Part Court became the new executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York in July. As judge, he presided over a court that handles violent crimes committed by 13to 15-year-olds. He previously served as a Big Brothers trustee. An advocate for improving the juve-

nile justice system, Corriero wrote the book Judging Children as Children: A Proposal for a Juvenile Justice System. He has traveled internationally promoting juvenile justice. In Sierra Leone, for example, Corriero assisted the local bar association to reintegrate the former child soldiers into society. The City Council has cut the funding for the Big Brothers program, so one of Corriero’s primary goals is to identify new sources of funding. “I think that the City Council situation is to some degree fluid, but it’s the notfor-profit world’s reasonability to maintain the quality of its mentoring services to the city’s children,” Corriero said. In addition, Corriero hopes to use his judicial experience to expand the Big Brothers program to the courts. As a judge, he said, he frequently recommended children to the mentoring program. By Susan Campriello, EdwardIsaac Dovere, Andrew Hawkins, Michael Szeto

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: Guy Power lot of people have been calling on Guy Molinari since the news of Rep. Vito Fossella’s (RStaten Island/Brooklyn) scandal broke and the congressman announced he would not seek re-election. In the months since, local Republicans scrambled to find a candidate to fill the seat. That candidate, Frank Powers, died suddenly just weeks after they did. Molinari publicly lambasted the local GOP leadership for the 11th-hour decision to give the nomination to Robert Straniere, who was ousted from the Assembly by his own party in a 2004 primary. Molinari, a former congressman and borough president, has now sought to re-establish himself as the man with the reins of the Republican organization he brought to prominence decades ago. In his law office on Staten Island, Molinari spoke about the need to install a new borough GOP chair, Conservative Party support of Council Member Michael McMahon’s (D) Congressional bid and why he is not joking about running a primary against Council Minority Leader James Oddo in an attempt to return to Borough Hall in 2009. What follows is an edited transcript.

City Hall: Why did the Staten Island Republican Party allow itself to hinge on the success or failures of Rep. Vito Fossella (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn)? GM: Well, the fact of the matter is that Congressman Fossella was the person who controlled the party for at least a half-adozen years. So, the other elected officials paid deference to him. I was present a few times when the elected officials would meet—just have supper, some laughs, and I was invited—so you can see that he was the one calling the shots. His father and his uncle are big fundraisers, so all these years, the party was getting along pretty well, until Vito had his problems. When Vito had his problems, the elected officials seemed to go in different directions. CH: You are trying to replace the borough GOP chair John Friscia next year. Why? GM: It comes down to one word: recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. You don’t see recruiting anymore in the party. Recruiting is part of the county chairman’s job. I had a conversation with our party chairman a couple weeks back. I said, “John, what’s happening?” I guess we had about six days to go [to pick a Congressional candidate]. And he said, “Nothing. Everything’s pretty much the same.” And he was kind of lackadaisical about the response. And I said, “John, you’re the county chairman. It’s your responsibility to come up with a candi-

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

still becomes very important to us. Since its inception, the Republican Party made a mistake in saying it would not accept an endorsement of a new Conservative Party. That haunts us even today. We were outnumberered 2.5-to-1, almost 3-to-1 back then, and we said, let’s have a boycott of taking their endorsement. The Democrats said, nah, we’re not going to do that. That put us way back. Most of the Conservatives, I dare say, prior to that were Republicans and conservative Democrats. So we lost something that was a natural partner of ours, and Jim Molinaro is somebody that we want to work with. He controls a lot of votes. CH: With Molinaro endorsing McMahon, what do you think this new alliance of the Democratic Party and the Conservative Party will do to “Somebody has to speak up,” said former Borough President Guy Republicans? GM: The relationship between the Molinari. “And I figured I’m the one to do that.” Republican Party and the Conservative Party date.” And he said, “I don’t view it that to take him out. So, we have to be prepared here has never been worse than it is today. way.” So, I said, “Well. Let me be blunt in advance for all seats, especially this. I’ll Again, the Conservative Party controls a lot about it. You’re not doing the job expected. tell you why. There’s great concern in our of votes on Staten Island. And smart politiOur party’s in bad shape. You’re not doing party that Councilman McMahon, if he’s cians are going to want to seek to get those the job that we expected of you. I’m going elected, and I’m sure he’s going to be elect- votes and that means working together with to tell you right now, that I’m going to seek ed, that he will then take the organization on the borough president. That’s one of the reato oust you next year. We’ll have a county the Democratic side, pull it together, and sons why he got the endorsement. Even committee fight across the island, and we’ll then go after Republicans that are holding now, I work with Conservative Party in this oust, as I’ve done it before. The county seats. That’s what I did. And I had a conver- last go around. They had a very good candichairman will bring fresh faces in and will sation with him, and he told me, he said I set date, Paul Atanasio, former Marine, like myself. He ran for Congress bring the party back to ago. Two years before where it was before.” So “There’s great concern in our party years I did. And he ran a good he said, “Well, we should that Councilman McMahon … will race, but narrowly lost. He terminate the conversation right now.” I said, then take the organization on the went to Wall Street, made a of money. So he had “Fine. Goodbye.” And Democratic side, pull it together, and lot money, was an attractive I’m already underway then go after Republicans that are candidate. The only rap on organizing to do what I promised what I’d do holding seats. That’s what I did.” him was that he didn’t live on Staten Island, he lived in next year. Brooklyn. But he said, “If I CH: Isn’t it detrimental to the party to the model and he’s following the model I set win this election, I’m going to move to Staten Island.” So, he was a good candidate. I like run a primary for borough president forth. against a popular Republican candi- CH: In terms of building a farm team, him a lot. I tried my best to see if we couldn’t was it wise for the borough’s get him to run when we faced this same date, James Oddo? GM: I’m the guy who brought the party to Republican Party to tap a Conservative, problem: He’s not a Republican, he’s a where it was, so I don’t think I have to rather than a Republican, to be borough Conservative. What we’ve done, through stupidity, is we alienated the Independence apologize for thinking that I might run for president of Staten Island? borough president again. I was forced out GM: The problem was [that] Jim Molinaro Party and the Conservative Party. And the by term limits, okay, or I probably would was my deputy borough president, and he Republican Party’s in shambles. So, we have stayed. If I ran for borough president, expressed a desire to serve in that capaci- couldn’t have done a worse wrecking job if it wouldn’t be because I’m running against ty. And he’s a man who had a lot of very you were paid to do it. Jim Oddo. It would be because I wanted to close relations with Republicans. Probably be borough president again. It shouldn’t be did more for the Republican Party, directly CH: Molinaro endorsed McMahon, and indirectly, than any other one person. and you have been a long-time critic misinterpreted. I asked to change his party registration of former Assemblyman Robert CH: Do you think, if Mike McMahon when he told me he wanted to be borough Straniere (R). Are you going to endorse wins Fossella’s seat, it is possible for president, tried to get him to become a or vote for McMahon? the GOP to win it back in a few cycles, Republican. But he’s one of the founders of GM: I wouldn’t rule that out. It takes a lot or will he be too popular or the Conservative party in New York State. to get me to vote for a Democrat, Where they made the mistake is permitting although I have in the past. Sometimes entrenched? GM: He’ll work hard for the job. He works the relationship with the borough presi- nobody knew about it. hard. Our best shot at him would be the next dent deteriorate to the point where it is —Dan Rivoli election. That’s the time we’re going to have today. The Conservative Party nomination drivoli@cityhallnews.com

esponsible New York is organized around a core set of values, beliefs and principles that are essential to guiding true political reform in the State of New York. Our quest is to create a political movement to return Albany to its rightful owners. Our pledge is help create an organization with no personal agendas, other than to give a voice to all New Yorkers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Democrats, Republicans, Conservatives and Independents from cities, suburbs and rural areas both upstate and downstate.

Responsible New York is an advocate for: + Responsible State Budgeting + Real Estate Tax Reform + Election and Campaign Finance Reform (including redistricting ) + True Government Transparency + An End to Unfunded Mandates + Equitable Distribution of Economic Development Resources + Government Employee Compensation & Pensions Consistent with Private Sector + An End to Back-Door Borrowing /Reining in Out of Control Authorities

Our objectives are not to help the few, but to help the many. â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Tom Golisano We invite you to join Responsible New York. Please go to our website at www.responsiblenewyork.com and join the conversation. We invite candidates to participate in our process. Please go to www.responsiblenewyork.com/ questionnaire.