City Hall - October 1, 2008

Howard Holzer, below, plumbs Lincoln for 2008 advice (Page 29), Democratic clubs go to bat for Obama in swing states (Page 31) and

Lee Sanders, above, Vol. 3, No. 5

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October 2008

explains how to get MTA on track (Page 39) .

No More Waiting

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

How Michael Bloomberg helped Bill Thompson find his voice and get off the bench

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OCTOBER 2008

If Term Limit Plan Fails, Bloomberg Has Several Plan B’s Should the mayor’s carefully crafted plan to extend term limits somehow unravel, he has plenty of other options. For months, Michael Bloomberg has dodged questions about whether he would run for a third term by instead referencing other jobs he would love to have, no matter how far-fetched. Here we have compiled three of the most intriguing options, with the hope that, if all else fails, the mayor will give them due consideration.

Term Limits, By the Numbers

In announcing his plan to overturn the law governing term limits, Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.) should have handed out calculators. Here are the numbers underlying the debate, everything from the annual salary of a member of the City Council to the amount of money Bloomberg spent in his last campaign.

Number of 51 Council members whose terms are up in 2009:

Moderator for NBC’s “Meet the Press” On “Meet the Press,” Sunday, Sept. 21: MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Well, I have 466 days left to go in my job, and I was sort of thinking, maybe, to be host of this program. That would be a nice job for me. Probably pays a little bit better than the dollar a year I get now.

$479,500 Total lulus over four years:

Annual amount city employees can earn in health insurance after 10 years of employment:

Number of five borough presidents whose terms are up in 2009:

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Cumulative Council base salary over four years:

$450,000

Total amount all 51 members will earn over four years:

$22,950,000 Average lulu amount per member:

$1,918,000 $9,400

On “Today,” Friday, Sept. 12: MATT LAUER: You running again?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Good job in China.

MATT LAUER: Running again?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: No, but I’m not going to be in China.

MATT LAUER: I was going to say, you’re running again?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Maybe I actually will go. You seem to have the same...

AL ROKER: (Unintelligible)...run for mayor of China.

MATT LAUER: He’s ignore—he’s ignoring.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: You seem to have the same question. Beijing is a good city.

AL ROKER: Beijing, exactly.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: That would be a great job.

City Hall press conference, Wednesday, June 20, 2007 “If everybody in the world was dead and I was the only one alive, yeah sure,” said Bloomberg when asked under what circumstances he would entertain a 2008 run for president. (Source: ABC News)

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Number of three citywide officials whose terms are up in 2009:

Total amount earned in legislative stipends, or “lulus,” in one year:

Mayor of Beijing

President of a post-apocalyptic wasteland

Present City Council salary, per member:

$112,500

TOM BROKAW: It—your net worth, however, puts the rest of us to shame, so I’m not...

CITY HALL

Total four-year salary for all 51 members, plus lulus:

$24,868,000

Number of people who approved of term limits in the 1993 referendum:

580,690

$12,600

Number of people who voted to extend term limits in the 1996 referendum:

Total votes against the referendum:

332,500

$7.4 million

187

505,120

586,890

Total amount Bloomberg spent (of his own money) to promote the referendum:

Number of candidates who have filed with the New York City Board of Elections to run for office in 2009:

394,300

Number who opposed:

Total votes in support of Bloomberg’s 2003 referendum on nonpartisan elections:

142,500

Number who opposed:

Number of donors:

Cumulative votes received of all sitting Council members in the 2005 election:

765,624

48,607

Total amount raised by 2009 candidates:

$37,799,588 Total amount spent on 2009 races:

$8,247,610 Amount Bloomberg spent on his 2001 campaign:

$73 million

Amount he spent on his 2005 re-election:

$77.8 million

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OCTOBER 2008

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CITY HALL

Dynamic Between Mayor and Council Seen as Shifting Through Term Limits Debate

He echoed the impression, held by many in the Council, that a deal was all but certain.

Council Member Peter Vallone, Jr. (D-Queens), who is undecided, said that he “wishes it had been done a different way,” but that people were right on both sides.

Dan Garodnick (D-Manhattan), one of a handful of Council members who would not be term-limited out of office next year, said he opposed revising the law legislatively, but agreed that standing in the way may prove futile.

Whatever the outcome, the debate has injected a fresh sense of uncertainty into the remainder of the legislative term, and instilled anxiety in more than a

BY SAL GENTILE few members of the Council who have yet to etch their own political legacies. s Council members and their aides The mayor’s flirtation with upending huddled around televisions in the east the city’s term limits law over the past few wing of City Hall to watch Mayor Michael months worked as a useful gambit to push Bloomberg broadcast his historic announcement through his legislative agenda and solidify that would upend their political and legislative his political legacy as his term drew to a plans, confusion reigned. close, according to both Council members Some considered the legislative implications and mayoral aides. Dangling the quesof Bloomberg’s announcement: Would supporting tion of whether he would seek to remain him be seen as a vote of confidence in the mayor’s in office—or the idea that he might agenda? Would it shift the dynamic, irrevocably run for president, vice president weakening the Council? or governor—allowed him to Wrote one Council aide in an email after word offer meaningful trade-offs and leaked of the mayor’s intent: “If Bloomberg gets bargain with members of the reelected, there won’t be any legislative priCouncil more effectively. orities—only executive ones.”

Such was the case in FebOthers scrutinized the mayor’s tone— ruary, when the mayor resolved is he usually so terse and downbeat? Perthe debate over the fruit and vegetable haps this was because, as some posited cart legislation by offering concessions to with more than a little resentment, that certain members of the Council that he his maneuver amounted to a clear about-face. normally would not have been able to This is the mayor, after all, who not too long guarantee if he were on his way out. ago called any attempt to repeal term limits Those Council members ultimately “disgusting.”

Then, amid the swirl of hearsay and fact, and Some Council members fear that the advantage they may have had voted for the legislation, despite their reservations. before a bank of cameras as large as anyone in dealing with a lame duck mayor has evaporated.

But now that Bloomberg is done flirtcould remember assembled in the Blue Room at ing and fully on board—and the prosCity Hall, came one of the mayor’s many referthroughout the next year and perhaps for the following ences to the Council: “And so, should the City Council four. That members of Quinn’s staff have met with the pect of the mayor remaining in office after 2010 is indeed vote to amend term limits, I plan to ask New Yorkers to mayor to discuss his proposal and decide whether the a strong possibility—some Council members fear that look at my record of independent leadership—and then changes should be temporary or permanent, including the advantage they may have had in dealing with a lame to decide if I have earned another term.” an evening meeting after the Democratic caucus earlier duck mayor has evaporated.

Aides to both the mayor and the Council said the Bloomberg’s announcement touched off a flurry of this month, has not helped assuage these concerns. private discussions, according to people with knowledge “It’s getting harder and harder to see which piece of Council may find it more difficult to pursue meaningful of the conversations, most of them dominated by even this is coming from which side of City Hall,” said Council trade-offs with the mayor after he succeeds, and after he more questions: What does the mayor want? What will Member Bill de Blasio (D-Brooklyn), who has emerged has ridden a crest of popularity through a dire financial crisis to re-election. this do to the Council? Which measure has support in as one of the leading voices of the opposition.

Aides to the mayor see several admittedly ambitious the Council? Which measure has the support of Speaker Council Member Letitia James (D-Brooklyn), who has Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan)? introduced a bill demanding a referendum on term limits policy items on the horizon if the Council amends term Woven through those questions, as well, was an un- with de Blasio, added that what happens on the bill will limits, including a potential revival of congestion pricing have a large impact on whether the Coun- and a renewed vigor in the mayor’s economic developcil comes to be seen as a rubber stamp for ment agenda.

“In this case, time is on Bloomberg’s side, in that he Bloomberg.

“I think it raises serious questions with now doesn’t have to worry about some running out the clock on economic development projects,” said Jonarespect to our independence,” she said.

But not everyone who favors or oppos- than Greenspun, a political consultant and former comes a legislative rewrite has been as willing missioner of the community affairs unit under Bloomto speak out publicly. Some have lashed berg, who has advised the mayor in the past. “In some out at the mayor, others have been out- cases, Bloomberg is strengthened in that those who are spoken in their support, but a third, less opposed to the development have lost their card.”

He added: “Extending term limits is a new lease on vocal group has expressed quiet disapdertone of resentment at what some perceived as the proval of the way the mayor and the speaker have han- political life and his relevancy.”

Council Member James Vacca (D-Bronx), who opmayor’s audacity in, first, reversing himself without con- dled the deliberations, even as they consider supporting poses a legislative extension of term limits and has often sulting rank-and-file members of the Council—or even the legislation. its majority leader, Joel Rivera (D-Bronx)—and, second, Council Member David Yassky (D-Brooklyn), who is been a vocal opponent of the administration, agreed that putting the question of what to do squarely on their currently a declared candidate for comptroller next year, merely talking about term limits had afforded the mayor shoulders. told the caucus that he was “disappointed” with the way unprecedented bargaining power with the Council “I think he’s been effective in pushing through his Opponents and even some supporters groused pri- the mayor’s plan had unfolded, but acknowledged that it vately that the speaker, a Bloomberg ally, had been too may ultimately be good for the city, according to those in legislative agenda,” he said, “even though he’s a lame willing to go along with the mayor’s plans too quickly, the room, who shared notes on the meeting on condition duck.” fundamentally weakening the Council’s ability to bargain of anonymity. sgentile@cityhallnews.com

Questions swirl in private about what passing an extension means for Council power

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Bloomberg’s announcement touched off a flurry of private discussions dominated by even more questions: What does the mayor want? What will this do to the Council?

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OCTOBER 2008

Term Limits Move Assumed, Democrats Begin To Grasp at Ways To Beat Bloomberg Trying to turn a long shot into a shot, Democrats look at cobbling a coalition

BY DAVID FREEDLANDER emocrats, ready your slingshots.

One way or another, a candidate will emerge next fall to face the Bloomberg behemoth, with little more than a ballot line to protect him or her against a billionaire opponent with deep popularity and even deeper resources at his disposal.

The task is surely daunting, but politicos and pundits say cobbling together a coalition to topple the two-term mayor is not impossible. The key, many say, is to begin now as the kinks of the Council’s effort to overturn term limits get worked out, as indeed Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn/Queens), Comptroller William Thompson (D) and Council Member Tony Avella (D-Queens) have begun to do.

“That’s the place to start and to finish,” was Fernando Ferrer’s advice to those Democrats who seek to avoid his fate as the party’s nominee in 2005.

“You have to ask, ‘Are we all okay with making up the rules as we go because you got more money than God and all your friends happen to be hyper-billionaires? Are the rules just for the little people?’ That resonates every time somebody has to pay a parking ticket.”

Stoking the indignation of voters on term limits will be tough, Democratic operatives say, since it is the kind of process question that sends good government groups into a tizzy but generally registers much less with most voters.

Still, this is a start, and the key to making a successful case that the incumbent plays by his own rules and is more attuned to the needs of his billionaire developer buddies and their newspaper publisher pals than the rest of the city.

“I would go on a rampage. I would argue that he’s a plutocrat, a billionaire,” said Doug Muzzio, professor of public affairs at Baruch College and a former campaign adviser to David Dinkins. “I’d run against the media and do a real middle class populist campaign, painting him as an out-of-touch elitist. Who did he talk to when he decided to do this? Did he go to Astoria or Bayside or Red Hook? No, he talked to his buddies at the Federal Reserve and the Stock Exchange.”

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But a Sarah Palin-sneering-against-the-elites strategy alone is not likely to be enough to overcome a mayor who has spent over $156 million of his own fortune in his two City Hall runs thus far.

No, that tactic must be mixed with a little Barack Obama magic, said Mark Green, the 2001 Democratic nominee, who calls himself, “the world’s expert on what it’s like to run against $74 million in this city.”

“You have to find a local fundraising version of Obama where you tap into the tens of thousands of small donors who are pissed that Bloomberg broke his word, and then with the magic of 6-1 matching dollars, that adds up to 20-30 million dollars. Bloomberg can spend multiple of that, but if a lot of swing voters are angry at Bloomberg’s primary pirouette, you may have something there.”

The key, Green and others say, is to then connect the latest flip-flop on term limits into a broader critique of the mayor’s policies. One does not stay mayor for seven years in this town without making a fair amount of mistakes and more than a fair share of enemies. Though polls show Bloomberg with a stratospheric approval rating, it was not all that long ago that pedestrians could

“It’s very difficult to get elected mayor if you are not on the Democratic or the Republican line,” said Democratic consultant Scott Levenson.

Levenson added that Bloomberg would be hardpressed to try to go back to the parties after so actively shunning them.

“The mayor says he’s committed to non-partisan campaigns,” Levenson said, “so you try to convince him to set the example.”

Part of the reason Bloomberg has remained so effective in office, however, is that he has reached out to core Democratic constituencies like labor unions and minorities and kept them in the fold. He has a strong record to run on, and a history of putting together masterful campaigns.

Come next November, he may even have the support of many Democrats on the City Council, who will, if a term limits extension passes, owe the mayor for their immediate political future, and who will have overturned a twice-voted-upon referendum in order to give Bloomberg another shot at the other end of City Hall.

Each Council member still holds considerable sway over his district and is able to mobilize grassroots support and get-out-the-vote operations on Election Day if he chooses to.

As the Council prepares to vote, opinion on 2009 remains divided, even among those who back Bloomberg’s bid for a term limit extension.

“There is no question that if the mayor is able to run for re-election, I would support him 100 percent,” said Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), who received Bloomberg’s endorsement for his own failed State Senate primary campaign and who, as chair of the committee overseeing the term limit extension hearings, has decided to remain publicly neutral.

But fellow Brooklyn Democrat Lew Fidler, who has also signaled his openness to changing the law legislatively, said that just because extending term limits could be seen as a vote of approval for Bloomberg, that did not mean he would back Bloomberg next year. Fidler said he was committed to supporting the Democratic nominee—assuming that nominee is either Thompson or Weiner—and predicted that a large majority of his fellow Council members would do the same.

“If Anthony and Billy stay true to their word and run, I think most people will end up supporting whoever is the winner of the primary. If they don’t, and if there’s a door number three, I think I want to see what’s behind that door before I commit to it,” he said.

And Council Member Domenic Recchia (D-Brooklyn), who has publicly carried the mayor’s water on the term limit extension, appearing on New York 1 and elsewhere to argue the case for four more years, said on the eve of the term limit bill’s introduction on the floor of the Council that he had not yet made up his mind.

“This is about the democratic process,” he said. “Now is not the time to get into that.”

But even if most members come around to support their fellow Democrat, will it be enough? Unlikely, most political observers say, considering the power of money and incumbency on elections and the mayor’s popularity.

But a lot can happen between now and next November.

He could get blamed if the economy stays sour. If the economy rebounds, his central reason for running again could evaporate.

It is a long shot, even the most loyal Democrats say.

But it is still a shot. dfreedlandnder@cityhallnews.com

Council Member Lew Fidler said that just because extending term limits could be seen as a vote of approval for Bloomberg, that did not mean he would back Bloomberg next year. not walk down city streets without fearing that a crane would tumble on top of them. There are voters in the outer boroughs still smarting over the mayor’s plan to charge them a fee to enter into Manhattan, and parents across the city angry at what they see as increased testing and a top-down approach on schools.

The mayor may also have dug himself into a rhetorical hole last summer when he dropped his Republican affiliation and began decrying the very notion of political parties.

If he sticks to his guns in November ’09 and eschews running on any line, Bloomberg will find himself on the sixth ballot line, all the way over to the right.

That might be a tough spot to get voters to find, especially in a town where two-thirds of registered voters are Democrats.

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OCTOBER 2008

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Bloomberg’s Influence on Presidential Election Slim, Experts Say

SCOTT WILLIAMS

Economic crisis has thrust mayor into campaign, but urban issues never got much attention

Barack Obama and John McCain have listened him when it comes to urban issues.

BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS

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ayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.) has had a pretty good month.

The economic crisis shoved him into the national spotlight and gave him the opening he needed to make a bid for a third term. As lawmakers negotiated a bailout deal in Washington, Bloomberg stayed in close contact with the key players. Both Barack Obama and John McCain turned to him for his economic advice.

This is something of a change of course for them, after largely ignoring Bloomberg’s key concerns—the environment, gun control, infrastructure and education reform.

Back in February, when he formally ended his own quest for the presidency in a New York Times editorial, Bloomberg wrote that he would support whichever candidate would end the partisan bickering in Washington and who best embraced “a new urban agenda.”

They have not. And now, with just weeks to go, Bloomberg is yet to make an endorsement.

For the Obama campaign, Bloomberg is just one of many influential voices.

“Senator Obama has been speaking with a number of knowledgeable people about how to fix our economy, and believes that Mayor Bloomberg has established himself as a significant voice in our national debate on this topic,” Obama spokesperson Blake Zeff wrote in an email.

There was one instance of Bloomberg being asked to validate McCain’s assessment of the economy. While addressing the crisis on Wall Street, Bloomberg was asked if he agreed with McCain’s statement that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. Bloomberg said he did,

berg has played almost no role. Big cities mostly vote Democratic, Shrum said, which may explain the candidates’ reluctance to even talk about urban issues.

“The city is going to be carried by Obama,” Shrum said. “It’s not that Bloomberg is mayor that makes him so influential. It’s that Bloomberg is Bloomberg.”

Shrum agreed that Bloomberg should endorse a candidate if he wants more of a role. Shrum, an Obama supporter, suggested his candidate, since the Democratic nominee hails from Chicago and actually has an urban agenda.

“A lot of the stuff Bloomberg cares about, Obama’s been talking about,” Shrum said. “I think when McCain has to talk about anything other than foreign policy or national security, he has the expression of a five-year-old going to the dentist.”

When talking about the economic crisis, the candidates have shifted the focal point from Wall Street to to Bloomberg’s advice on the economic crisis, but have mostly ignored Main Street in an attempt to connect with voters in battleground states. They are, citing the country’s strong work ethic.

Until September brought the collapse of several major in a sense, ignoring New York, which will feel the sharpWall Street firms, Bloomberg had played almost no role est effects of the crisis, said Ed Rollins, the former Reain the presidential race, said Robert Shapiro, a Columbia gan aide who was national chairman of former Arkansas University political science professor who specializes in Gov. Mike Huckabee’s (R) unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination. public opinion and presidential elections.

“I think certainly a city like New York is going to have “I haven’t seen any particular indication of that,” Shapiro said. “I think he’s been drowned out by Sarah Palin, far more problems than they ever thought, especially with layoffs,” Rollins said. the financial crisis and the conventions.”

Bloomberg could try bringing some of the focus back If he intends to change that in the little time remaining, Bloomberg needs to make an endorsement, some- to New York, but he is too embroiled in his own efforts to amend the city’s term limit laws, Rollins added. thing Bloomberg seems unwilling to do.

William Cunningham, Bloomberg’s former communi“I’ve listened to both candidates and I want to make sure that, for as long as I can, I have a good dialogue with cations director, admitted that the candidates have been both, that I can give them my views and the perspective addressing some urban issues, but only peripherally. of New York,” he told Tom Brokaw recently on Meet the What they seem to forget, Cunningham added, is that urban issues can also be of interest to voters outside of Press.

While in London, Bloomberg told reporters he knew major cities.

“If you were to discuss the issues of New York City, who he would vote for in November, but still declined to endorse either candidate, saying he would not want his you would have tremendous impact on Westchester, personal choice to jeopardize New York’s chances of re- Nassau, Suffolk, Northern New Jersey,” Cunningham ceiving help from the federal government if the financial said. “Here’s a way to talk about urban issues and realize that suburban and urban interests are many times the crisis deepens.

Even though urban issues are largely absent from the same.”

Of course, McCain and Obama can be forgiven for not campaign trail, Obama’s website includes a link to the candidate’s stance on “urban prosperity,” which includes including environmental sustainability and infrastrucdetailed approaches to issues like poverty, homeland se- ture repair in their stump speeches, given the distressing curity, education and housing. McCain’s website does financial news of the day, Cunningham said. Like it or not include a specific link but addresses many of the not, this is where Bloomberg is finally getting his chance to have a substantive impact on the campaign. same issues.

“It’s not that he doesn’t want a chance to talk about Robert Shrum, a Democratic consultant who was the senior strategist to the 2004 presidential campaign of the falling bridges,” he added. “It’s that, you know, there’s Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, agreed that outside of be- something much bigger that’s falling.” ing sought out for his expertise on the economy, Bloomahawkins@cityhallnews.com

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OCTOBER 2008

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Election Barrons

A Victory for Operation Power, and for Crucial Campaign Foundation

BARRY SLOAN

Brooklyn’s new power couple consider what Inez’s win means for Charles’ ’09 campaign.

Council Member Charles Barron may be able to turn to his wife, likely Assembly Member Inez Barron, to help him open doors in his borough president campaign that have so far been closed to him.

BY DAN RIVOLI vonne Graham is fundraising and gathering a base of support for a bid to succeed her term-limited boss, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz (D). Yet she had little hesitation about donating $250 to the Assembly campaign of Inez Barron, whose husband, Council Member Charles Barron, is potentially one of her chief rivals in next year’s election, if the term limit law stays intact. If term limits are extended, Barron is uncertain about challenging Borough President Marty Markowitz (D-Brooklyn) and is unlikely to run for a third Council term.

But Graham said Charles was not on her mind when Inez called asking for a contribution, and she donated to the Assembly campaign just as she donates to any other capable candidate who asks for a contribution.

“I was not looking at whether it will hurt or help,” Graham said.

Educator and community activist Inez Barron won her Assembly primary with 44 percent of the vote in a four-way race.

In this Democratic district, Inez is almost certain to succeed Diane Gordon, who was convicted of corruption last April.

For the crowded primary, Inez carried support from people like Graham and

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unions that have opted against supporting her husband, perhaps New York City’s most inflammatory politician, in his campaigns for office so far.

And this division seems likely to continue.

DC 1707, for example, gave to both Inez ($500) and borough president candidate Council Member Bill de Blasio (D-Brooklyn) ($1,000). G.L. Tyler, the political director for DC 1707, said that Inez had union ties as a teacher. Tyler said that while Charles has not received support so far and did not in his 2006 House race, the Council member has always been a friend to its causes and had always been a contender for the union’s support.

Social Service Employees Union (SSEU) Local 371 gave Inez a maximum donation of $6,000. She also racked up endorsements from several unions and the Working Families Party. The union has yet to donate to a Brooklyn borough president candidate.

Faye Moore, the union’s president, said Inez and Charles are separate candidates, though praised Inez for carving out her own identity separate from Charles.

Though the union backed Inez, Moore said it will give equal treatment to the borough president candidates next year.

“That’s why people look for our support. They know we deal with people on an individual basis,” Moore said.

Lack of union support and PAC funding has been a problem for Charles Barron in the past, particularly in his 2006 campaign against Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-Brooklyn). Even when unions made Towns a target after several key votes on issues like the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) made him unpopular with the labor movement, Barron was unable to generate much labor support for his campaign.

With his wife capturing support from some of the groups which opted against backing him, as New York’s first elected power couple, the Barrons may be able to parlay support for Inez into an entrée for Charles to groups and people whom he has struggled to connect with so far. Especially with his fundraising lagging behind his opponents for the borough president race, this could provide an important boost.

But the couple themselves have slightly different thoughts on how a Barron in the Assembly will help a Barron get to borough hall.

“It brings more numbers, but they’re people who are already sold on Councilman Barron,” Inez said.

The Assembly district covers most of the same area as the Council district, though there are five more election districts that will be represented by a Barron come January 2009.

That will prove important, Charles said.

“That says a lot for the voters of the 40th Assembly district and for me,” Charles said. “This is going to have a catalyst in the propelling of our campaign.”

So while Inez Barron spoke more modestly about her impact on her husband’s 2009 run, Charles considers his wife’s victory as helping lay the groundwork for his campaign’s infrastructure because she defeated the candidate backed by his one-time political rival, Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-Brooklyn).

He considers her primary win and likely election as a crucial step in expanding the Barron brand.

But as for helping build support within the political establishment through the new friendships and relationships she makes in Albany, Inez Barron said she does not expect her win to make major inroads for her husband.

“It’s clear that Charles Barron is an insurgent,” Inez said. “It’s going to take a progressive thinking pattern to support that kind of candidacy.”

Any boost she is able to give her husband in running for borough president, she said, will come from how successful she is as an “elected activist”—a term she borrowed from Charles.

He agreed.

“How effective she’ll be in Albany— that’ll energize Brooklyn,” Charles said.

“That’s going to help our campaign.” drivoli@cityhallnews.com

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n addition to his wife’s Assembly primary win being a positive sign for his Brooklyn borough president race, Council Member Charles Barron called it a win for his organization, Operation Power.

Operation Power started as a loose coalition of community leaders, educators and activists that recruited volunteers and campaigned for Barron’s unsuccessful 1997 Council primary. After Barron won his Council seat in 2001, the group was initially put on the backburner.

He resurrected the group for this year’s primary, beginning to position it as a counter to the strength of Brooklyn’s existing political establishment in preparation for his boroughwide race next year.

“Operation Power is what’s going to propel me to borough president,” Barron said.

In addition to Inez Barron, who won a four-way race for the seat of indicted former Assembly Member Diane Gordon, the Operation Power slate included Kevin Powell, the former Real World star and activist who challenged Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-Brooklyn). But Barron also supported candidates for a slew of minor positions: two candidates ran spirited but unsuccessful district leader races. One even lost by under a hundred votes.

Barron’s former chief of staff Paul Washington won a position as a judicial delegate, a step forward in his campaign to succeed his former boss in 2009.

Though Barron is flexing political muscle by running candidates for county and state committee seats, Washington said Operation Power is about engaging the community and having a greater voice in the political process.

“It’s not just about Council Member Barron,” Washington said. “In order to effectuate change we have to run a number of candidates.”

Every third Saturday of the month, about a hundred Operation Power members gather in the House of the Lord Church in East New York to attend what they call political education seminars.

“We’re not only developing political leadership but we’re also developing an informed constituent,” said Nayo Joy Simmons, co-chair of Operation Power.

The group also supports their slate of candidates with the usual retail politicking: handing out literature, palm cards, petitioning and getting out the vote. The current crop of newly elected Power candidates, Barron said, give his campaign the infrastructure to compete with well-financed candidates.

“There is young leadership out there,” Barron said, “doing stuff under the radar and propelling my borough president candidacy.”

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OCTOBER 2008

Extent of Damage to Pension Funds from Wall Street Turmoil Still Unknown Diversified portfolio provided some cushion as markets started to tumble, but concerns remain

BY JOSHUA CINELLI

W

hen teachers lay down the chalk and move out of the classroom, will they receive their pension in full? How about police officers and firefighters? That is the question public employees have been asking as the stock market reeled with the recent collapse of investment bank giants and governmentsponsored enterprises.

The value of the New York City pension funds’ assets fell from $112 billion to $105 billion over the past fiscal year, according to the city comptroller’s office.

Unlike private sector funds, which can be insured, shortfalls in the public funds would fall on city taxpayers.

According to Adam Blumenthal, a managing partner at Blue Wolf Capital Management and a former first deputy comptroller for Bill Thompson, there is no cause for major concern—at least not yet.

“The markets are volatile at the moment and the pension funds are going to bounce around,” he said.

Blumenthal is credited with diversifying the pension funds during the market turmoil at the beginning of the decade, and he expressed confidence that the

present investment structure of the funds will more than meet their return expectations.

The assets of the pension funds are comprised from the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), the Police Pension Fund, the Fire Department Pension Fund, the Teachers’ Retirement System and the Board of Education Retirement System, but are operated independently with oversight of the comptroller’s office.

In the fiscal year 2007, the combined funds paid $9.6 billion in benefits. The defined benefit pensions of city and state workers are constitutionally guaranteed and as a method of preventing a future shortage in the fund, the city’s contribution has increased from $1 billion in 2001 to the $6 billion for the proposed budget.

Since the current turmoil began, Thompson has repeatedly pointed out that shares in troubled firms like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch accounted for roughly 0.2 percent of the investment fund investments.

“During the comptroller’s tenure, he has stressed the importance of diversifying the pension funds’ portfolio be-

yond traditional asset classes, giving the funds a larger measure of resiliency amid more trying fiscal times,” said Thompson spokesperson Laura Rivera.

In the year ending at the end of June before the most recent market turbulence, each fund individually stated a loss. The municipal public worker employee retirement system, NYCERS, with over 300,000

This is our money we are talking about.”

Toussaint is a member on the board of trustees of NYCERS along with the five borough presidents, the public advocate, the actuary, the comptroller, other union leaders and Cliff Axelson, an outside advisor from the investment consulting firm Callan Associates. Each of the funds has a vendor who advises the board of trustees on their investment strategy.

While the asset allocation was down for the year, the investment expenses have steadily increased. In the NYCERS 2007 final report, investment advisor fees were listed at $77.9 million, but are estimated to be $107.3 million for 2008.

Blumenthal said this increased cost was due to the funds having a more active role in the management.

There has been an increase in asset allocation of private equity and real estate—up to now, 7 percent of the total—but how these funds will weather the financial storm remains to be seen.

“You can’t have $100 billion in the capital market,” said Blumenthal, “and expect to be insulated.” jcinelli@manhattanmedia.com

“You can’t have $100 billion in the capital market,” said former first deputy comptroller Adam Blumenthal, “and expect to be insulated.” active members, was hit the hardest, chalking up a nearly 8-percent loss from $42.2 billion to $38.9 billion, compared to the 18.3 percent return the year prior.

“We are talking about billions of dollars of your wages that were deferred and put into pension plans,” Roger Toussaint, the president of the local 100 Transit Workers Union, said at a recent protest of the $700 billion bailout package on Wall Street. “This is not some abstract issue.

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OCTOBER 2008

& Invite You to Enter for the Chance to Attend an

ADVANCE SCREENING

Workers who care for city’s neediest fear they are being left behind

BY MICHELLE FRIEDMAN

O

fficials of Day Care Employees Local 205 and Head Start Employees Local 95, two child care locals within District Council 1707, representing approximately 25,000 private nonprofit city workers, claim they are being ignored in an attempt by the city to force the union to accept an inadequate health plan on their behalf as part of negotiations for new contracts.

At a recent rally, DC 1707 executive director Raglan George assured members that he plans to fight ardently to obtain sufficient benefits for them, and criticized the Bloomberg administration for cutting child care budgets at the first sign of an economic downturn. “We are going to tear this city apart if [Bloomberg] doesn’t give us this contract,” he told the crowd.

Local 205 Head Start workers are further concerned that the city is holding back a 1.5-percent cost-of-living increase that was approved in the last contract, which expired over a year ago. Day care workers are also operating under a contract that has been expired for over a year, yet were never made any cost-ofliving guarantees.

The weight of this contract battle has already hit other unions throughout the city.

In an interview, George insisted that this would only complicate contract negotiations going forward.

“This is holding back wages and benefits for everyone, and if we don’t get this contract, it will impact salaries in the future,” he said.

George also believes that day care workers are frequently the unfair victims of cuts due to their not-for-profit status.

Unlike city workers who have a contract directly with the city, DC 1707 negotiates with the city’s Sponsoring Board, which negotiates contracts with nonprofit workers and is seen as a less stable entity more susceptible to economic fluctuations.

The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators represents day care directors and assistant directors who work in the same centers as DC 1707 members. According to vice president Randi Herman, they are experiencing the same problem.

“What we have here is different constituencies in the same environment all working under expired contracts,” she said. “What we are seeing is that the

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city clearly needs to reduce costs, and is looking at health care coverage as a way to do that.”

New York City maintains the largest center-based public day care and Head Start systems in the nation, with nearly 10,000 workers combined. However, 17 centers have closed under the Bloomberg administration, and 17 others downsized through class reductions. In total, 1,300 child care slots have been eliminated since 2004, according to DC 1707.

Not so, contested Administration for Children’s Services spokesperson Sheila Stainback, who claimed that only five contracts have been terminated in the last four years, largely as a result of shifting demographics in neighborhoods rather than a neglectful system.

She also noted that it is extremely difficult to estimate the number of eliminated child care slots because of vouchers given to families to provide for private day care, as well as the cycle of center closings, openings and mergers. Without turning over any numbers, Stainback maintained that the balance of slots eliminated and created ultimately balance themselves out.

As a result, unions throughout this sector have been spending more time ensuring the job security of members, with officials in agreement that the fiscal situation will only lead to further cuts.

“What has happened to 1707 is likely to happen to us,” said Jim Pearlstein, chair of the Solidarity Committee of the Professional Staff Congress. “[It’s] a concrete manifestation of a cultural and political shift.”

Jason Post, a Bloomberg spokesperson, seemed to put this dispute low on the administration’s priority list, pointing out that the workers in question are not city employees and thus do not negotiate with the city. He did note that the administration will “continue to work with the union leadership to address their concerns.”

George made no secret about his frustration and warned that if a sensible solution is not achieved in a timely manner, measures will become more drastic.

“If they are going to attempt not to deliver contracts for us, they are going to do it to other unions,” he speculated. “We may be left with no way to fight back but through civil disobedience. I’m not saying we’re going on strike, but it is a very strong possibility.” michelle.b.friedman@gmail.com Direct letters to the editor to editor@cityhallnews.com

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16

CITY HALL

www.cityhallnews.com

OCTOBER 2008

Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Campaign Finance

A selection from

campaigns, get more people involved in politics and give small donors a chance to have a bigger voice.

Since then, $109 million in inflationadjusted tax dollars have been spent on city campaigns. Hundreds of people have been able to wage credible campaigns for public office who might have been priced out 20 years ago. Supporters of the CFB credit it for, in consultant Hank Sheinkopf’s words, “strengthening democracy.”

But as the system enters its third decade, there are growing questions about how effective the system has been at improving competition in New York—and mounting complaints from candidates about the CFB’s enforcement of campaign finance rules.

hile incumbents like Ed Koch and David Dinkins have fallen in elections under the CFB, they are the high-profile exceptions. Since the campaign finance system has been in place, incumbents at the citywide, borough or Council level have faced 350 contested primary or general elections in New York City. On a mere 13 occasions has an incumbent lost. In 2005, for example, the only incumbent who didn’t win reelection was Allan Jennings, a Council member who’d been excoriated in the press over sexual harassment complaints by two ex-staffers.

Often, incumbents faced no opposition at all. Since 1989, incumbents have avoided primaries 178 times and faced no general election opponent 48 times. In 2005, seven incumbents faced no primary or general election challenger. Over 20 years, in all possible races, incumbents

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number of candidates and political professionals contacted

by City Limits said they did not wish to comment on the record about the CFB’s enforcement practices because the agency might retaliate against them.

Executive director Loprest denies that the staff would ever do so. One candidate who was not reluctant to describe his experience was Stephen Kaufman, a former Assembly member from the East Bronx who ran for City Council in 2005.

“The board is a horrible creature that stifles free speech and is the tail that wags the dog of city government,” he says.

“They fucked me over.”

Candidates who join the campaign finance program must adhere to spending limits in exchange for matching funds.

A

But some costs were exempt from those limits, including the expense of circulating petitions to get on the ballot.

These exempt expenditures have often posed a problem: Were a campaign to disguise costs for real campaigning as

Vote Values

1

hen the 2009 municipal elections get into full swing a year from now, filling mailboxes with campaign literature and TV screens with 30-second ads, New York City’s Campaign Finance Board will use millions in public money to match private political donations in an effort to reduce the power that wealthy donors wield.

That effort is 20 years old—dating to 1988, when, in the aftermath of a series of municipal scandals, New York City launched a campaign finance system that restricts the size of contributions and, for candidates who agree to restrict their spending, provides public financing. The idea was to limit the role of money in

In 2005, the limit for a candidate for City Council was $150,000 for the primary and another $150,000 for the general election.

Someone running for mayor could spend $5.7 million on the primary and that again on the general.

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have a winning percentage of 97.5 percent—equivalent to the Yankees losing four games over an entire season. That’s about how they fared before the CFB: In 1985, the last city race before public financing, officeholders went 57 for 58.

Officeholders enjoy advantages besides money—like name recognition— that campaign finance laws can’t do much about, but incumbency does confer a financial edge as well. Statistics from the CFB show that incumbents consistently raise more money than challengers or people running for open seats, and also get a larger proportion of their money from large donors.

Many incumbents did not accept matching funds in 2005. But some did, even in cases where they faced very poorly financed opponents and had to submit socalled statements of need justifying their receipt of taxpayer money.

Seventeen sitting Council members filed such statements over the last two elections. Council member Charles Barron, for one, accepted about $141,000 in matching funds in 2005 and raised $66,000 on his own—against an opponent who managed to scrape together $15,000.

In asking for matching funds, Barron claimed his opponent had the support of local political clubs. Council member Larry Seabrook, who pled for public funds saying his opponent had “a base of support in Coop City,” used $71,000 in public money; his foe did not register a donation or expenditure with the CFB. CFB executive director Amy Loprest isn’t fazed by the poor showing of insurgent candidates under public financing. “I don’t think that it is a purpose of the program to throw incumbents out of office,” she says. “Incumbency really is the single greatest predictor of electoral success.”

Mich $1 ael Blo o pe 21 r v .7 mberg ot 2 e

BY JARRETT MURPHY

City Council member Al Vann’s 2005 re-election bid didn’t make much news, but it was a real bargain—with Vann spending $30,107 overall and receiving 12,460 votes in the general election, he paid a rock-bottom price of $2.42 per vote. Most other candidates had to spend a little more—some quite a bit more—to get voters to pull the lever. As you’d expect, given Mayor Bloomberg’s massive spending, the mayoral races in 2001 and 2005 saw quite a price range.

2001

Michael Bloomberg $121.72 per vote 2001

Mark Green

$30.22 per vote

2005

Michael Bloomberg $125.80 per vote 2005

Fernando Ferrer

$23.50 per vote

Source: Campaign Finance Board. (Calculations by City Limits.)

Note: All amounts adjusted for inflation to 2008 dollars.

CITY HALL

www.cityhallnews.com

OCTOBER 2008

17

Tax dollars at work for candidates Matching funds paid to date 120

100

millions

80

60

40

20

0 1989

1991

1993

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

2008

Notes: Inflation-adjusted to 2008 dollars; includes special elections; does not include funds repaid to the CFB. Source: Campaign Finance Board. (Calculations by City Limits.)

exempt, it could violate the spending limit and gain an advantage over other campaigns. On three occasions in the past two elections, the CFB has accused campaigns of doing just that.

then Council speaker, had claimed some $1 million—far more than his opponents—in exempt expenses because he had collected a substantial number of petition signatures for both the Democratic primary ballot

payment of matching funds. In the primary election, Miller placed fourth.

Even on the CFB board, there was disagreement over whether the rulings in late 2005 were right. “There is no rule or decision directly on point rendered by this board,” CFB member Dale Christensen wrote in a rare dissent.

“Arguments to the contrary ... have the wholly unfair effect ... of changing the rules in midstream.”

In September, the CFB closed the books on Miller’s 2005 campaign, finding that Miller (who now belongs to the board of City Limits’ parent organization, City Futures) had been $10,410 over the $5.7 million spending limit. It fined him $13,800. Recent changes to campaign finance law have eliminated most exempt expenditures. The CFB believes that will simplify enforcement.

Of course, governing the largest city in America and overseeing a $59 billion budget is fairly complex, too. It’s fair to wonder if the challenges of the campaign finance system merely weed out people who aren’t suited for public office.

In September 2001, just days before the scheduled primary, the board invalidated about $296,000 that Alan Hevesi, the comptroller who was running for mayor, claimed in exempt expenditures. The disallowed amount included the cost of printing literature that was supposed to be handed out during Hevesi’s petition drive.

In 2005, just 12 days before that year’s primary, the CFB met to examine whether Kaufman had violated the spending limit by claiming too many exempt expenditures. Like Hevesi, Kaufman had his petition carriers hand out literature. But Kaufman didn’t claim the cost of printing the literature as exempt, as Hevesi had. Kaufman claimed only that the petition-carriers wages were exempt. It was unclear if that issue had been addressed in the Hevesi decision.

Pointing to the contracts Kaufman used for his petition workers, the CFB decided that 50 percent of Kaufman’s claimed petitioning expenditures would actually count against his spending limit.

That ruling posed a serious problem for Gifford Miller’s mayoral campaign. Miller,

and his own third-party general-election ballot line. His petition carriers had also distributed literature. After the Kaufman ruling, Miller asked the CFB for guidance.

The board sought public comment, asking campaigns to weigh in on the distribution of literature: “Is it always, never, or sometimes exempt?” Several rival campaigns accused Miller of breaking the rules, although one acknowledged that there was no “brightline rule” in place.

It was a judgment call, and in the week before the primary, the call went against Miller. The board refused to accept all Miller’s petitioning expenditures as exempt. That forced his campaign to pull some $800,000 in last-minute TV ads to avoid violating the spending cap, which would have put Miller in jeopardy of major fines. The CFB also withheld the Miller campaign’s final

hile some candidates from the 2005 elections gripe about how long it has taken the CFB to decide penalties, the CFB itself is waiting— waiting for $322,621 in outstanding fines and public funds repayment from 2001 City Council candidate Ethel Chen, as well as $144,416 from Garth Marchant, who also sought a Council seat that year.

Felipe Luciano has $73,530 outstanding to the CFB from his Council campaign in 2005. The CFB has a lien on former Council

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member Allan Jennings’ house; he owes $50,200.

There’s little doubt that some candidates have tried to rip off the system. Ron Reale went to jail for it. Sheldon Leffler, a Queens city Council member who lost his race for borough president in 2001, was convicted of it and subsequently disbarred. But Rev. Joseph Parkes, the current chair of the CFB, believes that most violations are more negligent than nefarious. “People in the hustle and bustle of the campaign, they don’t pay attention, or usually it’s their treasurer. There can be a temptation to make up invoices post factum and so forth,” he says. But he adds, “We can say they didn’t mean to do this or to defraud us, but in point of fact they did, and we have to send a message to future candidates.”

For Council member and mayoral hopeful Tony Avella, the complexity of the campaign finance program is also a barrier to candidates. “In terms of enabling more independent candidates to run for office, to do that you should make the system easier,” he says, “and what they’ve done is actually make it more complicated for independent candidates to run.”

Of course, governing the largest city in America and overseeing a $59 billion budget is fairly complex, too. It’s fair to wonder if the challenges of the campaign finance system merely weed out people who aren’t suited for public office. And Loprest notes that while “some professional candidates run afoul of the law,” many grassroots campaigns do not. “I think we try to provide as much assistance as possible.”

Go to www.citylimits.org to obtain a copy of the full article, and to learn more about the history and successes of the city’s campaign finance program, the challenges facing the system in 2009 and the push for a more sweeping “clean money” reform statewide.

18

www.cityhallnews.com

OCTOBER 2008

CITY HALL

In Squadron’s Win, a Possible Roadmap for Future Insurgent Victories Endorsements, strong union support and aggressive field operation were key to toppling Connor

BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS artin Connor (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan) has served in the State Senate for over 30 years, more than almost any other Democrat. He authored over 100 bills, led an effort to reform the legislative process and has been a steadfast defender of human rights, civil rights, gay and lesbian rights, and women’s rights. He was even once the minority leader.

So, naturally, he lost in the primaries to Daniel Squadron, a 28-year-old whose previous claim to fame was co-authoring a book with Sen. Charles Schumer (D) and serving as the communications director for the Transportation Bond Act campaign.

But Squadron’s supporters stress that his win was not a fluke—rather, the result of a perfect storm of union support, key political endorsements, an aggressive ground operation and a district, which includes Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, that was swayed by this year’s ubiquitous call for change in politics.

According to both his supporters and opponents, Squadron’s victory could have far-reaching consequences for future races and machine politics in general.

“It’s a pretty classic example of the strength of a strong field operation in a relatively low-turnout primary,” said Doug Forand, a chief advisor for the Democratic State Senate Campaign Committee, which supported Connor’s campaign.

Forand said that if Democrats capture the majority this year, there could be more insurgents like Squadron making a play for incumbents’ seats in the future.

“The seats they hold are going to be much more attractive to other potential candidates,” he said. “None of our members can afford to take any re-election for granted.”

Almost from the beginning, Squadron’s campaign was declared a top priority by the Working Families Party (WFP), a growing labor-fueled organization known for its expansive field operation.

“We got involved early this time,” said Rachel Goodman, the New York State campaign coordinator for the

DANIEL S. BURNSTEIN

M

Daniel Squadron’s supporters stress that his win was not a fluke and reveals something deeper about the state of city politics. the candidate, when he eventually got to Albany, would push the WFP’s legislative agenda, which includes paid family leave, the so-called millionaire’s tax and green job development for upstate, Goodman explained.

But the WFP’s all-or-nothing support was also seen as an extension of the party’s ongoing campaign against Connor, which also endorsed Connor’s 2006 primary challenger, Ken Diamondstone.

Squadron accused Connor of being an absentee senator, reluctant to attend community meetings and too entrenched in the dysfunctional system of Albany to be able to fight for change on behalf of his constituents.

Connor, meanwhile, regularly touted the various legislative reforms he had supported over the years.

Squadron’s ability to rack up a host of prominent political endorsements also contributed to his surprise victory.

As the majority of New York’s political establishment aligned behind Connor, a number of elected officials, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.), Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan), Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (D), fellow Schumer alum Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn/Queens) and, of course, Schumer himself, broke from the pack to endorse Squadron.

The move speaks to desire to not only flip the Senate to Democratic control, but also to make way for younger, more progressive legislators in Albany, Kavanagh said.

Kavanagh noted that he himself was first elected in 2006, after winning a primary against party-backed candidate Assembly Member Sylvia Friedman. Friedman

According to Doug Forand, if Democrats capture the majority this year, there could be more insurgents like Daniel Squadron making a play for incumbents’ seats in the future.

WFP, who oversaw the party’s support for Squadron.

Squadron was also able to secure endorsements from the powerful Communications Workers of America, the United Auto Workers and the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council.

Goodman, who has known Squadron since high school, noted that WFP lent five full-time staffers to work for Squadron’s campaign, played a large role in the campaign’s field operation and helped devise his overall strategy.

“We had folks on the ground from every possible angle,” Goodman said. “It really was a dense operation.”

The party supported Squadron based on a belief that

had won the seat in a special election just six months earlier.

“I guess I’m more comfortable than a lot of people with someone like Daniel, who brings tremendous promise,” said Kavanagh, pointing out that he was the only state legislator to endorse Squadron.

Stringer agreed, and dismissed the notion that Squadron’s win could cause any rifts in the Democratic Party.

“I don’t think there will be anything long-lasting,” Stringer said. “I think Daniel has the political acumen and the personality to bring people together.”

But Squadron’s win may have exposed some deeper rifts within the city’s political hierarchy.

Democratic leaders like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Assembly Member Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn), chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, both supported Connor. Then, during a Connor endorsement event in front of City Hall in July, several senators extended their criticisms of Squadron to Schumer, accusing the state’s senior senator of basing an endorsement more on loyalty than competence.

The squabble even bled over into the Hasidic community, where an ongoing dispute between two factions in the Satmar sect contributed in small part to Connor’s defeat.

Connor was supported by loyalists of Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum, while Squadron was endorsed by Teitelbaum’s brother, Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum, whose followers live upstate in Orange County but maintain a presence in Brooklyn.

An eleventh-hour plea by Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg’s deputy mayor for governmental operations and chief political operative, to Zalman’s supporters on Squadron’s behalf was not enough to unite the Satmar vote behind the insurgent.

Isaac Abraham, a civic activist who describes himself as a spokesman for the Hasidic community, sided with Aron Teitelbaum, saying Connor had been asleep at the wheel as a legislator.

Abraham said the Squadron/Connor race was a preview for how the Hasidic community will likely approach the 2009 elections.

“There is a very clear message to the Brooklyn party itself,” said Abraham, who had announced plans to run for David Yassky’s (D) Council seat in Brooklyn before the question of extending term limits was raised as a realistic possibility. “That you are not going to control the votes and you are not going to tell us how to vote anymore.”

The fracturing of the Hasidic vote between Squadron and Connor means Lopez and other Democratic powerbrokers will need to double their efforts to court their vote in the future, Abraham said.

Connor blamed his loss on new residents in his district who were unfamiliar with his progressive credentials.

“I didn’t get the same reception among the gentry who moved in three or four years ago,” Connor said in his concession speech on primary night.

Connor has reportedly still not called Squadron to concede.

When asked by phone what his plans would be following January, Connor said hastily, “I don’t have any. I don’t have any right now.”

He then hung up. ahawkins@cityhallnews.com

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CITY HALL

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BY EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE

Waiting How Michael Bloomberg helped Bill Thompson find his voice and get off the bench

here was his father on Jan. 2, 2002, swearing him in as comptroller and saying how much he was looking forward to administering a different oath in eight years. (“I’m glad he didn’t say four years,” Michael Bloomberg was heard saying amid the laughter.)

There was David Dinkins all but endorsing him at a Harlem lunch Sept. 18, there was the economic turmoil making him a prime interview subject, just as a mayoral campaign in which his fiscal credentials would be central was just starting to take shape. There was the hot dog vendor at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge in late September who called out a simple question: “Hey, you going to be the next mayor or what?” His response: “Working on it.”

The moment was coming together. Bill Thompson was ready. The political world was ready. After most of a decade as the mayor-in-waiting and after passing on a 2005 run, he was finally set to come off the bench.

“As you get closer to the campaign, the prospects become more real,” Thompson said that day, before walking out onto the bridge. “I don’t know that four years ago or three years ago I couldn’t see myself as mayor of New York. But we are getting closer.”

Then there was Oct. 2, when the mayor, the man he wants to succeed, the man he had for so long been looking to run to succeed, reversed course. The second mayor to see term limits closing out his time in office became the second mayor to look for a way to beat back the law.

Thompson has responded by swinging hard. Not known for being the most forceful or vicious speaker—he tends to refer to himself as “you” in conversation (as in, “you have been serving as the comptroller,” or “you look at the economic situation”) and often proceeds through thoughts by asking long rhetorical questions and then answering them quickly with a “yes” or “no”—he has slammed Bloomberg’s “attempt to suspend democracy,” in every interview he has given, as a “self-serving” “backroom deal.”

He stepped up the rhetoric about his own political future as well. While just days before he was still shrugging off official talk of running for mayor, Bloomberg forced his hand. “I am running for mayor,” Thompson started repeating over and over again. “I am running for mayor.”

Until then, Thompson had been insisting that making just this kind of declarative statement about his intentions for next year would make doing his job as comptroller more difficult and restrict the kind of events he was able to do with his government staff. So this was news—expected news, relatively insignificant news in comparison to the larger earthquake still shaking the local political world, much less surprising news than his September wedding announced on Page Six or his never-announced move out of the family home in Bedford-Stuyvesant for a shared brownstone in Harlem.

But it was news nonetheless. Bill Thompson is done waiting… probably.

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he last time Thompson was faced with the prospect of running against Bloomberg, in 2005, he took a pass.

The prospect of running against an incumbent who was both popular and pouring so much money into his campaign that he could drive television advertising rates up for everyone else by so significantly reducing the supply of airtime, proved far less enticing than an essentially free ride to a second term as comptroller.

But speaking several days before Bloomberg’s intentions to run again in 2009 became clear, he insisted that the root of the decision had not been these pragmatic concerns.

“It was always a question of ‘How is Mike doing?’” Thompson said, arguing that there had been a significant value to the city in their collaboration, and that the attention Bloomberg gave to his advice made him feel comfortable opting out of the race.

“It was never whether or not I wanted to run for mayor,” Thompson said. “I thought it was in the city’s best interests that Mike Bloomberg succeeds. And if you go back to 2002, even the beginning of 2004, there were people who didn’t think he did. I thought he was moving the city in the right direction.”

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

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CITY HALL

www.cityhallnews.com He took a break from this opinion in the summer of 2005, endorsing former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, after reaching what he said was the determination that Ferrer “could do a different job, and in some ways a better job.”

Nonetheless, Thompson carefully avoided criticizing Bloomberg, and quickly returned to backing the mayor once the votes had been counted. This could put Thompson in an awkward position if he does indeed face Bloomberg next November: even if he can brag about a highperforming diversified pension portfolio, he will have a hard enough time arguing that he can be a better fiscal manager than the billionaire ex-businessman. But claiming that Bloomberg after the first, more controversial and difficult term was fine, but Bloomberg after two terms is not will be a hard case to make. To do this, Thompson will have to simultaneously

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candidate for re-election next year. That will mean big trouble for him and the other candidates who had been counting on an open race. Thompson’s ’09 campaign was never a shoo-in—most people thought he lacked the fire in the belly and a clear message.

That was in a race without Bloomberg. In a race with Bloomberg, the rationale behind his candidacy gets even more muddled.

His opposition to the term limits change may have finally given him his voice, for in the themes of his populist attack on the mayor’s proposed move, the faint strains of an attack on the mayor are beginning to take shape.

To start, he argues that the term limits reversal erodes a prime Bloomberg strength: the mayor’s casting himself as the anti-politician who does what he must in the service of the city without paying attention to the usual political considerations.

Thompson’s opposition to the term limits change may have finally given him his voice, for in the themes of his populist attack on the mayor’s proposed move, the faint strains of an attack on the mayor are beginning to take shape. attack some parts of the Bloomberg record while taking credit for the parts he has collaborated on and supported.

Plus, there are those billions.

“Dollar-wise, you can’t compete. But there are other components of elections than just dollars,” Thompson said the day after the prospect of running against Bloomberg became clear, his SUV winding through midtown traffic back to the comptroller’s office at the Municipal Building. “I think you”—he—”should be able to make a case to the voters of New York City.”

On the seat next to him was a printout of the Quinnipiac poll released that morning, showing that the mayor’s approval rating stood at 75 percent, up slightly from other recent ratings. Though the same poll registered strong support for the idea of term limits, and 56 percent opposition to the idea of extending the allowed time in office to 12 years, this was down 9 percentage points from a poll on the same question done in July.

Facing Bloomberg in a potential matchup, Thompson scored a paltry 8 percent, compared with 13 percent in a field without the mayor. At the moment, New Yorkers are not, apparently, hungering for Thompson to be mayor, while 51 percent were eager to see Bloomberg continue on the job.

Making an argument about Bloomberg “breaking faith with the people of New York City,” as Thompson referred to the push for a third term, would not seem to be enough, especially with an electorate that watched Bloomberg brush past the technicalities of the campaign finance system in 2001 and 2005 without much complaint.

Thompson expects the Council to pass Bloomberg’s bill and let the mayor be a

When Bloomberg huffed that, “This is not the time for politics,” in response to a question after announcing his term limit reversal, the reporters in the Blue Room were not the only ones laughing.

To Thompson, it was “100 percent a political decision.” More than that, he said, the move begged the question of how much else belied the carefully tailored Bloomberg apolitical image.

“I haven’t usually questioned Mike’s motives. But there are some things that have occurred recently that you have to take half a step back and at least rethink things,” he said. “The term limit move on his part, I think that looking at dollars that were given from the mayor’s office in different ways to those who had supported him in the last election—that was obviously political. So I don’t know that Mike is as non-political as he had been before.”

That explains, Thompson charged, Bloomberg’s comments that the problems which have engulfed Wall Street are more severe for the city than the aftermath of the destruction of the World Trade Center.

“In an economic sense, it was relatively easy to pull together. … The problem we have today is something very different.

The problem we have today is a lack of conviction. It’s a crisis of confidence,” Bloomberg said at the press conference announcing his bid for a third term.

“Today people are worried about their homes, about their jobs. They don’t have a clear answer about how they can work their ways out of this. I think it’s a much more difficult situation; it’s going to take a lot longer.”

Thompson said the mayor is choosing to view things somewhat backward.

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CITY HALL

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

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Michael Bloomberg’s bid to scrap term limits and seek re-election has caused big problems for Bill Thompson’s long-plotted mayoral campaign.

People are certainly scared about their paychecks and mortgages today, Thompson said, but that hardly compares to the aftermath of seeing an icon of the city crumble before their eyes.

“I think that if you go back and look at the situation after Sept. 11, it wasn’t a question of the financial structure,” he said. “It was about the viability of the future of New York. I remember the questions: would businesses move out of New York City?

Would the financial sector go elsewhere?

Would people leave New York City? Would there be wholesale fear and people get out of New York City? I thought it was a much more trying time for the future.”

In conversation and in public speeches, Thompson tends to show his

exasperation and confusion on his face easily, rolling his eyes and screwing up his face when he hears something that does not make sense to him. That is the look he develops when he talks about Bloomberg’s implication that only he can lead the city through tough times and buttress the shaken confidence people have in New York and the stock market.

“I think that is an opinion that is carried by a few. I don’t think it’s an opinion carried by the vast majority of New Yorkers,” he said. “I don’t think they think he’s the only person who could do a good job.”

Making his case against changing term limits, Thompson said that Bloomberg similarly seems to be overlooking most New Yorkers in deference to the city’s elite

After Trying to Be Like Mike, Trying to Put Some Distance C

ouncil Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan), the prospective 2009 candidate who had done the most to position herself as the potential mayor most in the mold of Michael Bloomberg, immediately took herself out of consideration of a race that would include the incumbent mayor. If term limits are changed, she said, all she wants is to run for re-election for her Council seat and her job as speaker.

For Comptroller Bill Thompson (D) and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn/ Queens), the remaining anticipated Democratic candidates, running as the “next Bloomberg” will be somewhat harder if Bloomberg himself is in the race.

Weiner had become increasingly complimentary about Bloomberg’s record since his 2005 unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination. Over this past summer, he began to pitch himself as the one who could bring the same visionary, businessfriendly, independent approach to government. Now, he said that even if the term

leaders who have long been hungering for a third term.

This kind of attitude has been a hallmark of the Bloomberg administration, Thompson charged, critiquing the mayor’s attention to the larger picture over individual concerns— whether in the massive rezonings he has overseen, the school reorganizations, the public health initiatives or any other major item on his agenda.

Though Bloomberg has without question improved the city, Thompson said, the rising tide which may have lifted them has not lifted certain parts of the city.

“Has everybody benefited? Definitely not,” Thompson said. “The number of working poor is expanding, middle class people are being squeezed more and more

everyday, so is everybody benefiting? I believe the city’s a better city. Is everybody benefitting? Everybody hasn’t.”

Bloomberg supporters might have watched the Dow fortuitously rise as the news of his announcement leaked, but Thompson believes his record presents strong evidence that he has been making a difference in the finances of average New Yorkers, using his powers of audit and review to keep down water rates, insurance rates, mortgage foreclosure rates and transit fares, while at the same time keeping the public employees’ pension funds robust.

That widespread advocacy on behalf of ordinary New Yorkers, he said, is the measure by which he believes he should

limits extension fails, he will probably tamp down on his efforts to attach himself to the mayor.

“I think this is a seismic change in the way Bloomberg’s going to be perceived,” he said, adding that he agreed with the mayor’s top-level staffers who reportedly opposed the switch. “I think I had a similar sense about the mayor that the voters did. That’s changed now.”

Thompson, the chief financial officer of the city and a naturally more reserved person, might have benefited from running after someone like Bloomberg, who got New Yorkers used to a leader with business sense but without the flamboyant personality of an Ed Koch or Rudy Giuliani.

But unlike Quinn and Weiner, he said, the plan had never been to portray himself as an extension of Bloomberg, whether the mayor is in the 2009 race or not.

“Everybody would like to say that they are the next Mike Bloomberg. There are characteristics that Mike has that I’m sure I have,” Thompson said, but added, “I’m trying to be who I am. I don’t think you can fool people, fool the public into saying, ‘I’m just like that person.’ I don’t think anyone’s going to buy that.”

—EIRD eidovere@cityhallnews.com

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CITY HALL be judged as comptroller, even if, as the city chief financial officer, he managed to miss the Council’s maneuvering millions of dollars in taxpayer money in the slush fund scandal until the U.S. Attorney’s office uncovered the situation.

“I could sit here and talk about how because of some of the work we’ve done, New York City has the highest bond rating in history—it isn’t the one area, it’s not bonds, it’s not the pension funds, it’s not contract registration, it’s not legal settlements,” Thompson said. “It is converting that office into an office that fights for New Yorkers all of the time, on a regular basis, and is involved in every aspect of New York.”

This attention to the great mass of New Yorkers has defined his response to the economic crisis. Though he always discusses how much the decline of Wall Street will affect city revenues and the jobs lost at each of the defunct banks and companies, he has been alone among the citywide officials in consistently making a point about how many ancillary jobs are connected to Wall Street.

“When you talk about a crisis on Wall Street, everybody seems to think about investment bankers and the analysts and those either making hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars a year,” Thompson said, rejecting that way of thinking. “It’s about the persons making $30,000 and $35,000 who work in a kitchen, or food services, or who’s cleaning the office, who’s working in security, who’s a secretary or works in the back office—all those jobs are attached.

Those are New Yorkers, those are our neighbors who are losing their jobs.”

Asked whether he thinks Bloomberg sees the problems these people face, Thompson said, “I honestly don’t know.”

y Oct. 4, when Thompson arrived at the midtown Sheraton to address the National Action Network convention, he was starting to audition this argument into a reason for running against Bloomberg.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn/ Queens), who also spoke to the group that afternoon, framed his argument about changing term limits as an extension of his campaign as the outsider who can shake up City Hall and shake out the insider deals.

“He’s decided that he and a group of people who at the other end of City Hall depend upon having another four years for their paychecks, for their continued power,” the congressman said, “have decided amongst themselves that the present law that had been put in place by the citizens of New York simply wasn’t good enough and they were going to do away with it.”

Thompson stuck to the populist prism.

Bloomberg attributed his change of heart on term limits to economic problems that developed in September, but, Thompson said, “we have been struggling in New York City for at least a couple years.”

Thompson continued to whip them up. Long before Bloomberg decided he

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OCTOBER 2008

The Scramble to Be Second Fiddle A

s Bill Thompson makes his case that he should be in the top job in government over the course of the next year, he is likely to repeat a line that has become a favorite in conversations and speeches across the city: that as comptroller, he is the second-highest elected official in New York.

That is a matter of some dispute. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum (D) claims the title for herself. After all, she points out, if something happens to the mayor or he resigns, she would be the one promoted, not Thompson.

“The comptroller and I have this kind of running game,” she said. “We make a joke about it, but the charter’s the charter.”

Final proof, she said, is that her office is the second item on the citywide ballot.

Thompson is not convinced. As the city’s chief financial officer, he makes the case based on the numbers.

“As I’ve pointed out to Betsy, they pay me more than they pay her,” he joked, discussing their competition to a luncheon of local leaders in Harlem last month.

Currently, the comptroller makes $185,000 annually, compared with the $165,000 paid to the public advocate. (The mayor’s salary is set at $225,000, though, of course, Michael Bloomberg takes only $1 each year.)

Thompson also enjoys a larger budget for his office and more staff. But the number he seems more fond of citing as a measure of his success in expanding the role of comptroller during the last seven years is the count of high-profile candidates that were lined up to run for comptroller next year before changing term limits became an option. Whereas the 2001 race was a contest between him and then-Council Finance Committee Chair Herb Berman (D-Brooklyn), the 2009 race was set to feature at least five candidates.

The 2001 public advocate’s race, meanwhile, featured seven candidates, while next year’s has so far attracted only two definite contenders: civil liberties lawyer Norman Siegel and Council Member Eric Gioia (D-Queens).

And Thompson and Gotbaum are not the only ones who want to be thought of as No. 2. Gifford Miller used to say he was the city’s second-highest ranking official when he was Council speaker, and Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) has been known to make the argument as well.

“All of us want to be a little bit more important than the other,” Gotbaum said. “It’s a human reaction.”

—EIRD eidovere@cityhallnews.com

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needed to change the law so he could continue in office, Thompson reminded them, the subprime mortgage crisis was ravaging poorer communities, hitting the outer boroughs and minority neighborhoods particularly hard.

“Everybody acts like the financial crisis

People in the crowd yelled out their approval. The argument against term limits was the same kind of dismissal of average New Yorkers they all knew too well, he said. Just as the elite of the city had for so long ignored the real problems of so many, the mayor and 51 Council

“It was never whether or not I wanted to run for mayor,” Thompson said. “I thought it was in the city’s best interests that Mike Bloomberg succeed. And if you go back to 2002, even the beginning of 2004, there were people who didn’t think he did.

I thought he was moving the city in the right direction.” started three weeks ago on a Monday morning when Lehman Brothers closed and AIG almost went down the tubes. That’s not when the financial crisis started. It started in our neighborhoods,” he said. “What we have seen in our people who have been laid off from jobs, who are having problems with mortgages, water rates that continue to go up, our fuel, our rents.”

members were ready to ignore the two referendums which passed and preserved term limits.

But not him.

Thompson wanted them to know he heard them, had been hearing them as they got forced out of their neighborhoods, had been hearing them as they questioned whether focusing on reorganizations and test scores

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really meant anything about schools being improved. And he wanted them to know he had been and would be their voice.

There are ways this could come together. Thompson would have a base in the African-American community to call on, and has cultivated support among other minority communities, in addition to his strength among white and Jewish voters. The forgotten outer boroughs, overlooked New Yorker campaign has proven effective, though rarely successful, in past mayoral elections. Running against an incumbent who presided over a drop in the economy following a year when both presidential candidates adopted the mantra of change—after insulating himself against Weiner in the primary by being the sober fiscal manager with just enough knowledge of city government— Thompson might just have found the voice his candidacy has until now lacked.

The months ahead will be a search for Bloomberg vulnerabilities, dissecting the results of every poll, analyzing job reports and economic trends to see if anyone will be willing to listen.

Either way, after how he has rejected the term limits extension, Thompson would likely be hard-pressed to quietly slide back into a race for comptroller next year with a straight face, and if he does, could face the prospect of a tough primary unless all of the expected 2009 contenders fall back into place and bide their time for another four years. But he seems hesitant to fully pull the trigger.

He has not formally switched his account at the Campaign Finance Board from Undetermined, will not lobby Council members on term limits and has not joined any of them at press conferences blasting the change, as Weiner has. Nor will he join a lawsuit to stop the change to the limits if the change is made legislatively.

And when pressed to state unequivocally that he is running for mayor, no matter what the Council and mayor do on term limits, he artfully defers.

In October 2008, after so many years of plotting a run for mayor in 2009, he never could have expected to be in this bind. He is only 56, but if he reverses course and runs for another term as comptroller next year with his eyes on a 2013 run at Gracie Mansion, or even if he ends up being the Democratic sacrificial lamb against Bloomberg, his moment may have been taken from him before it ever arrived.

For now, though, he is holding firm.

In the middle of his speech at the National Action Network convention, someone in the room inadvertently leaned against the control panel, and the lights dimmed and went out.

Thompson took advantage of the metaphor.

“They’ll do anything to stop us,” he said, as staff scrambled to get things working again.

Thompson laughed.

“Tell you what,” he said, the room still dark, “I will continue to talk.” eidovere@cityhallnews.com

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DEVELOPMENT

Downturn Underscores Need for Willets Point Redevelopment

BY SETH PINSKY he financial downturn that we have witnessed over the last few weeks is alarming, and the full ramifications for our local economy are still unknown. It is crystal clear, however, that difficult times lie ahead and the City now faces an extraordinary challenge to prevent many of the great strides that the city has made from being lost.

Boom times do not inevitably follow slowdowns. We must catalyze growth ourselves with smart investments in our future. New York City has, time and time again, responded to challenges with the grit and determination that has made our reputation, and we must rise to this occasion.

New York City Economic Development Corporation has dozens of projects in the pipeline, the goals of which are to not only stimulate development, but also to ensure that when this downturn ends (which it, of course, will), we will be wellpositioned to capture the growth that will follow.

A key piece of stimulating development is creating and enhancing alternative central business districts. From Downtown Brooklyn to Long Island City, St. George in Staten Island to 125th Street in Harlem and the Hub in the Bronx, we are working to create 24-7, mixed-use cores that can serve as centers of activity outside Midtown and away from Wall Street, di-

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versifying the City’s economy and making the City less dependent on the financial services sector.

Similar to these other areas on which we are focusing, in the case of Willets Point, the Administration is seeking to take a traditionally under-developed area and turn it into a catalyst for New York City’s economy. Today, this fate is at a critical juncture. Having been approved by the Community Board, the Queens Borough President and the City Planning Commission, the the proposal will now go in front of the City Council.

Full-scale development of this neighborhood—an area with so much untapped economic potential—is, to say the least, a rare opportunity in a city like New York.

The neighborhoods surrounding Willets Point are thriving, vibrant communities.

Downtown Flushing is already an emerging center for business. Corona and Jackson Heights have become renowned for their diversity. Redevelopment of Willets Point will link these dynamic communities and provide residents access to a revitalized Flushing River waterfront.

Beyond the planning advantages provided by this project, the redevelopment of Willets Point will also provide a number of other benefits. It will, for example, create 18,000 construction jobs and more than 5,300 permanent jobs. It will also capitalize on the site’s proximity to both major airports, providing convention space and a hotel that will serve as a cen-

ter of business and commerce. Finally, it will generate a substantial number of incremental, affordable housing units, as well as new parks, playgrounds and community space in a part of Queens that sorely needs all of these amenities.

As important as these achievements would be, however, what is perhaps most important about this project is the fact that it would take what is today a 60-acre site that is in dire need of environmental remediation—with dangerous levels of pollution threatening the health and safety of nearby communities—and create New York City’s first green neighborhood. In this way, Willets Point will be transformed from a dangerous eyesore into a model for sustainable development of which we all can be proud.

In advance of the approaching Council vote, 75 leaders from throughout the city joined together to send a letter to members in support of the project. This group included prominent community leaders, elected officials, merchants, environmentalists, urban planners, business leaders, union members and citizens of the community. They spoke with one voice about the importance of seizing this historic opportunity to bring much-needed infrastructure and development to Willets Point and to erase the blight that has impeded its progress for more than fifty years.

As New Yorkers know, tough times lay ahead. That is why it is more critical than

ever to take this opportunity and ensure that large-scale projects like Willets Point move forward, generating jobs and investment. Willets Point will help keep New York’s economy growing—and it will send a strong message that Queens will play a vital role in our economic resurgence.

This is a challenging time for New York City, and in this time, bold leadership is needed. I hope that you will join with me in supporting the redevelopment of Willets Point as a sign to the nation and the world that we are, in fact, a city of bold leaders and that we are as New Yorkers have always been: optimistic and oriented towards a brighter future.

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Seth Pinsky is President of New York City Economic Development Corporation.

In Crisis, New York Must Retain Businesses and Improve Infrastructure

BY MARISA LAGO he recent events on Wall Street, once unimaginable, have had a damaging impact on our economy. Now we find ourselves at a critical moment in New York State history and, as a result, we must work harder than ever to attract and retain business.

As Empire State Development’s newly appointed CEO and President, it is my priority to ensure that we do what is best for New York. These challenging times mean that we need to realize that we are all one state: upstate must be able to benefit from downstate’s assets and vice-versa. We must recognize that our competition is not just neighboring states, but global. In order for any initiative to buttress the state’s economy to be successful, we must work together.

We can start by building on Empire State Development’s recent successes: Through open dialogue with upstate economic development leaders, civic groups and elected officials, we created regional blueprints for reviving the economy in upstate communities. We then translated those blueprints into city-by-city action plans capitalizing on each region’s unique

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assets. We opened our first trade office in China. And we revitalized the State’s iconic I LOVE NEW YORK brand with new marketing campaigns that engaged the business community and drew heavily on the expertise of local tourism professionals.

ESD’s more proactive approach to dealing with individual companies led to more than 13,000 new jobs, the retention of 39,000 jobs and the leveraging of more than $2 billion in private investment since 2007. Impressive statistics, especially in these tough times.

But we need to do more. We can start by addressing the brain drain affecting upstate by concentrating on the factors that impede growth. The high costs of doing business in our state affect all New Yorkers.

Economic development is multifaceted, starting with infrastructure.

To promote sustainable growth, we need community redevelopment and strong ties with private and non-profit organizations. We need to strengthen our ties abroad to nurture growing markets and open new markets, and we can never lose sight of the big deals that can have a transformative impact on our state.

New York cannot afford to have

companies taking both entry-level and higher-paying jobs out of the state. That is why last year we hired professional and talented economic development staff for all of our regional offices and subsidiaries.

We must target growth sectors for support, continue cementing our links between the business and academic worlds, and help the ideas that are generated in today’s research laboratories become the lynch pins of the technology

companies of tomorrow.

We need to work on the factors that make it difficult to do business in New York, while encouraging the development of 21st-century business sectors and building on our tremendous workforce.

Today’s economic climate means that all of us are faced with tough choices.

ESD is no different: we have development projects that were envisioned in a different economic climate. We must be realistic about how we spend. ESD is involved with development projects that have a major infrastructure component essential to the fabric of our community. These projects must go forward. But we are taking the realities of the current economic climate into account. Adjustments are needed to maximize the benefits while accounting for more constrained resources; we must and will make the hard choices.

In all our endeavors, ESD will strive to partner with the state’s business community to make New York an even more attractive place to live and work.

Marisa Lago is the CEO and President of the Empire State Development Corporation.

CITY DEVELOPMENT SHOULDN’T LEAVE NEW YORKERS STRUGGLING New York City already has too many jobs that pay poverty wages. Our tax dollars must not be used to create more dead end jobs at new developments such as Hunters Point, East 125th Street and Coney Island.

It’s time to establish city-wide standards to ensure workers receive a fair wage at developments financed with public money.

New jobs must be good jobs that come with the wages and benefits New Yorkers need to support their families.

Local 32BJ SEIU

Fighting for Good Jobs for New York’s Working Families

101 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10013 212.388.3800 www.seiu32bj.org

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CITY HALL

DEVELOPMENT

Balanced Development for a Better New York

BY MELINDA KATZ

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here are few issues more controversial in City politics than those surrounding development, and for good reason. With each development project and each rezoning, we are faced with the same vital question: what kind of city do we want to live in and leave for our children? Too often these debates get caught in the traps of extreme thinking on both sides. This is unfortunate.

Development has been, and will continue to be, a key to New York City’s economic vitality. However, development does not just mean building bigger. The concerns of existing communities must be paramount in any and all future development projects.

In my seven years as Chair of the City Council Committee on Land Use, I have worked closely with the City Planning Commission, neighborhood groups, developers and my colleagues in government to overcome divisions and build a future that preserves the neighborhoods that make New York City the place we love while allowing for the growth necessary to spur economic development.

We have rezoned more than 6,000 city blocks—the first major overhaul of the city’s zoning regulations since the 1960s.

Under my watch, more than 90 percent of these 6,000 blocks were downzoned in order to limit height and density and preserve the unique qualities that enhance so many of our city’s great neighborhoods.

Together, we have worked to ensure that areas such as Bay Ridge, Middle Village, Bensonhurst, Forest Hills, the West Village, Wakefield and much of Staten Island remain protected.

At the same time, we have fostered new, larger scale developments, including the creation of thousands of new units of affordable housing, while laying the groundwork for some of the great neighborhoods of tomorrow. It is easy to forget that places we now recognize as the backbone of New York’s middle class once faced major opposition and required vision and leadership to be carried out.

What would the City look like without Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village and the thousands of working families that call these places home?

The rezoning of 368 blocks in Jamaica is an example of a project that reflects the need for growth and preservation. Jamaica has long been a transportation hub, and the AirTrain to JFK has created opportunities for new businesses to thrive in what used to be underutilized industrial space. The rezoning expands the com-

mercial core, providing thousands of new jobs and new housing for over 5,200 families while protecting the character of the existing residential areas by limiting residences to one- or two- family structures.

By embracing balanced development, we were able to build a new Jamaica that strengthens the middle class and fuels economic growth.

With the still unfolding financial crisis, the task of protecting and retaining New York City’s middle class is more pressing than ever. A New York without home-grown teachers, fire fighters, police officers and others who work so hard for their communities is no New York at all. The right development strategy creates new jobs, new schools and new opportunities for the city’s middle class. Some projects are undoubtedly going to need to be scaled back or slowed down due to lack of funding, but we must remember that our city is growing and we must keep pace with that growth. Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC estimates that New York City will have one million additional residents by 2030. The lessons of early last century teach us about the blight we risk when we fail to anticipate, plan for and adapt to population growth.

When we treat development debates

as battles between good and evil, everyone loses. It is never a simple question of “build or don’t build.” Change is not easy, but New Yorkers have always been up for the task. In good times and in hard times, development has remained an important economic engine for our city. Working together, we can create the next new New York—grander, bolder, greener and more vibrant than ever.

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Melinda Katz, a Democrat representing Queens, is the chair of the City Council Land Use Committee.

Not everyone wants to spend four more years in the same job.

For those ready to move on, there’s the Job Board.

FREE TO POST FREE TO VIEW Submit job listings (175 words maximum) to:

editor@cityhallnews.com.

To view job listings, go to:

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AN ECONOMIC ENGINE

NEW JOBS GENERAL GROWTH PROPERTIES (GGP) AND THE CITY OF NEW YORK HAVE DEVELOPED AN EXCITING PLAN TO MAKE THE SOUTH STREET SEAPORT A THRIVING DESTINATION FOR A GROWING LOWER MANHATTAN. IN THESE DIFFICULT FINANCIAL TIMES, A NEW SEAPORT IS CRITICAL TO LOWER MANHATTAN’S LONG-TERM ECONOMIC STABILITY: Add $19 million per year in taxes - $14 million more than the City currently accrues from the Seaport Produce approximately $300 million annually in economic activity for the City – an increase of $140 million more than the Seaport’s current annual economic activity Employ 2,150 workers, double the existing number of employees who currently work at the Seaport and spur an additional 600 jobs throughout New York City Generate 5,750 construction jobs and all on-site construction labor will be unionized

GGP’S NEW SEAPORT WILL PROVIDE EXCITING NEW CULTURAL AND COMMUNITY AMENITIES TO LOWER MANHATTAN: Waterfront plaza with five acres of open space and expanded water transit access and docking Enhanced pedestrian access to the waterfront and the harbor Specialty food market, a weekly greenmarket and one-of-a-kind retail Reopened views of the harbor and Brooklyn Bridge Restored landmark Tin Building Free year-round events, exhibits and performances

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT GGP AND THE NEW SEAPORT, INCLUDING IMAGES YOU CAN DOWNLOAD, GO TO WWW.THENEWSEAPORT.COM

CITY HALL

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OCTOBER 2008

Holzer Presents His Memo to the President-Elect, Vintage 1860

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

Lessons for next president from Lincoln, courtesy of self-taught Lincoln scholar

Harold Holzer says his new book, Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter 1860-1861 is full of important advice for the next president, whoever it is.

BY DAVID GIAMBUSSO n the subject of Abraham Lincoln, Harold Holzer—like Lincoln himself—is largely self-taught. In fact, Holzer remembers that his Civil War professor at CUNY did not even like him.

“I decided then that I wasn’t going to be a history academic. I was going to get into it my own way,” he said.

Decades later, Holzer is one of the country’s leading Lincoln scholars. He has written and edited over 30 books on Lincoln and the Civil War, has toured the country giving lectures, and is co-chair of the U.S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

A former press secretary for Bella Abzug and Mario Cuomo, he comes at his topic not just with an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Lincoln, but with his own experience in politics to lend his insight a little more weight. It also informs the décor of his office at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he is senior vice president of external affairs: Lincoln statues and lithographs are scattered everywhere, and photos of Holzer with politicians, movie stars and authors with whom he has collaborated in his lifelong study of America’s 16th president line the walls.

His latest book, Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter 1860-1861, is propitiously scheduled for release on Oct. 28. The book, according to Holzer, holds many lessons for the next person to occupy the White House, whoever that may be.

The book chronicles one of the most difficult transitions in American history. The Union was on the verge of collapse, with forces in and outside of Washington hoping to sabotage Lincoln’s presidency. Wild speculations flew back and forth on the new president’s intentions, qualifications and character. Throughout the entire period Lincoln remained silent, making no speeches and issuing very few statements for public consumption, following a deliberate tactic that Lincoln called “masterly inactivity.”

Not only did he face resistance in the South, where state legislatures were moving to secede, but in Washington, several members of the outgoing President James Buchanan administration were conspiring against

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him from within the White House.

The efforts were much more serious, Holzer quipped, than when members of the Clinton administration allegedly removed the “W” keys from White House keyboards while packing up before the inauguration of George W. Bush in 2000.

Thinking about his own history in New York politics, his study of Lincoln and his knowledge of where things are now, Holzer recounted one story from the book where Lincoln traveled to Albany after being elected: “The legislators were all fighting with the governor about who should sit where; who should go to the dinner,” he said. “I mean, nothing has changed!”

Holzer’s book holds several important lessons for the next president who, like Lincoln, will likely be facing a major crisis from the moment he takes office.

“He was the model President-elect,” said Holzer.

“What he has is something that people don’t have today, and generally CNN and FOX and blogs make it very difficult to have—and that’s patience,” said Holzer, citing the quality as one of the most important aspects of a president.

Holzer also points to Lincoln’s desire for diversity in his cabinet as a value the next president should look to adopt.

“More than rivals, Lincoln went in a huge way for diversity,” he said. “He would let everybody else squabble and fight, listen to everybody and finally do the decision.”

As for an inaugural address, Holzer noted that Lincoln wrote an angry first draft, excoriating those who wished to expand slavery and delivering an ultimatum to choose “peace or the sword.” But he recommended the next president follow Lincoln’s example of moderating the tone over the course of editing—by the time the final draft was written, Lincoln asked Americans to look to “the better angels of our nature.”

Another key piece of advice from Lincoln, according to Holzer: “Leave your hometown advisers at home.”

Lincoln only hired one friend from Springfield when he was elected and rarely heeded that man’s advice. Holzer said presidents like James Carter, who brought their entire network of advisers from home and tried to transplant them to Washington, tended to face calamitous results.

Finally, Holzer advised, “Stick to the principles that got you elected.”

Senators Barack Obama and John McCain will both have difficulty achieving many elements of their agendas while navigating the fallout from the current economic turmoil. Lincoln’s example of dealing with a crisis greater than any other in American history while nonetheless holding fast to what had guided him during the campaign was crucial to his success, Holzer said.

The timing of the release is fortuitous—Holzer worked on the book for four years, aiming for Lincoln PresidentElect to hit the shelves when it could have maximum impact.

“I always hoped that it would come out when there was a President-Elect,” he said. Though a committed Democrat who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, Holzer is comforted by the fact that no matter who wins in November, the next president will be a Lincoln admirer.

“Obama loves Lincoln,” he said. “He quotes him all the time. McCain quotes Lincoln all the time. Sarah Palin misquotes Lincoln all the time.” dgiambusso@manhattanmedia.com Direct letters to the editor to editor@cityhallnews.com

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Tom Stevens From: Queens Party: Objectivist Job experience: Attorney; member of judicial committee, New York Libertarian Party #1 campaign promise: “I will fight at every turn for smaller government, fewer taxes and more individual freedom.”

Promoting the Rand Brand

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ho is Tom Stevens?

He is the founder of the Objectivist Party, the only political organization based on the philosophy of author Ayn Rand.

That philosophy stresses the necessity for reason, fact and rejection of “mysticism,” which puts him at odds with a national Republican Party he argues too often uses religion to decide policy.

“I don’t see the Republican Party changing sufficiently that they’d become more libertarian,” Stevens said.

Stevens, who started the party on Feb. 2, 2008— Rand’s birthday—draws a fine line between his Objectivist Party and the Libertarian Party, though the two share principles of less government intrusion and bureaucracy.

“The Objectivist Party follows the philosophy of objectivism. There’s not that political underpinning of the Libertarian Party,” Stevens said.

While Stevens is a supporter of the Libertarian Party, he feels, like Rand did, that the Libertarians hijacked her philosophical beliefs for its platform.

Objectivists, Stevens said, are in the true party of Rand.

“She constantly criticized the libertarians for stealing her ideas and being anarchists,” Stevens said.

He estimated that there are around 100 people enrolled in the Objectivist Party and has already formed 14 state affiliates. Stevens is currently forming international affiliates, including one in the United Kingdom.

“People have read Ayn Rand and know her philosophy around the world,” Stevens said.

“They’re interested in the Objectivist Party.”

Though Stevens’ party is on the ballot in Colorado and Florida, he recommends that his supporters in other states vote for Bob Barr, the former Republican congressman from Georgia who is this year’s Libertarian presidential nominee.

Stevens, 51, started his political career in the local Republican Party. He is still registered with the GOP, but he said that is only because of the work he was doing as a consultant to the presidential campaign of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who sought the Republican nomination touting his own libertarian principles.

Stevens hopes that peeling off some of the Paul supporters is enough for him to reach the goal of receiving 5 percent of the popular vote.

“We can affect change,” Stevens said, “and get a hardcore group of people to spread our concerns that the two major parties are for big government and becoming more socialist.”

—Dan Rivoli

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CITY HALL

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OCTOBER 2008

Lancman Cultivates His Public Persona, and His Influence

Róger Calero From: The Bronx Party: Socialist Workers Party Job experience: Butcher, Strike Organizer at Dakota Foods #1 campaign promise: Immediate and non conditional withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries.

Freshman Assemblyman explains the strategy behind becoming “Mr. Visibility”

SCOTT WILLIAMS

“I’m not getting into the paper or on TV to amuse myself,” Lancman said. “That’s all just one additional tool in the arsenal of trying to get a point of view to carry the day.”

BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS

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ssembly Member Rory Lancman (D-Queens) is not a celebrity, but his constituents could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

Every day seems to bring more appearances of Lancman—on television, in the newspapers, online and even overseas—with a frequency that has begun to turn heads outside the borders of his Queens district.

He is being called “the ubiquitous Mr. Lancman” and “Mr. Visibility.”

“He’s got a buffet of topics that he’s very well-versed in,” said Austin Shafran, director of political affairs at Sheinkopf Communications. “He’s definitely hit his stride.”

But for a first-term assembly member with very little name recognition, stepping up his press operation is having mixed results.

Lancman said his only goal is to shine a light on the concerns of his constituents. His most recent media appearances have shown him addressing topics that run the gamut from the presidential election to Iran freedom of speech.

In early September, he was on Channel 11 criticizing Sen. John McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Before that, he wrote an op-ed for the Albany Times-Union rejecting the severity of Gov. David Paterson’s (D) economic warnings. He also keynoted a seminar in London on “libel terrorism,” wrote a letter to Barack Obama advising him on how to shore up the Jewish vote and publicly opined on John Edwards’ extramarital woes. And in late September, he appeared

before the United Nations, decrying the “hateful ideology” of Iran’s government.

His intention, he said, is not simply attention.

“I’m not getting into the paper or on TV to amuse myself,” he said in an interview. “That’s all just one additional tool in the arsenal of trying to get a point of view to carry the day.”

As a freshman legislator, he said he is attempting to wield every ounce of the limited power he has to vocalize concerns about the economy, politics and foreign affairs.

“I don’t chair a committee,” he said. “I’m not exactly on the rolodex of the big important people in the state.”

Lancman is adamant about getting his point of view out, even when it does not seem to directly address the needs of his district, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of East Flushing, Murray Hill and Browne Park.

“This international stuff—believe it or not, in New York City, people expect their legislator to get involved with,” he said.

When he dabbles in foreign affairs, he manages to do so with few negative effects, even going so far as to get a few bills signed into law—such as the libel terrorism law he co-sponsored with now-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau).

Yet when he dove headfirst into the summer’s budget cuts, rejecting Paterson’s assessment that the state was in a fiscal freefall, he risked retaliation from the executive chambers.

Fortunately, there was none to speak of, and today Lancman claims victory over Paterson’s rhetoric, saying his more moderate assessment of the state’s financial woes trumped the governor.

But Lancman’s economic opinions did not go unchallenged. Bill Hammond, a columnist from The Daily News, slammed Lancman for his “head-in-the-sand thinking” and portrayed his critiques as just pre-Election Day posturing.

“What I am learning is that my background as a lawyer and a litigator, where you respond to everything,” he said, “requires discipline to not respond and get into a back-and-forth with every columnist or blogger.”

Lancman’s next steps will be digital, as he and his staff have launched a website to aggregate all his communications. The site so far contains just a couple of posts: a video of his response to Sarah Palin’s speech during the Republican Convention and a lengthy response to Paterson’s veto of one of Lancman’s bills.

He also recently launched a blog exclusively about the state budget, promising up-to-the-minute coverage about the state’s finances.

As for whether Mr. Visibility is planning on using his still-evolving public persona to run for higher office in the future—he ran against State Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Queens) in 2000 and, should Council Member James Gennaro (D-Queens) lose this year, is rumored to be looking at another run—Lancman chose his words carefully.

“If some other seat or opportunity opens up, I definitely might be interested,” he said. “But right now, I say this with a 100-percent sincerity, there’s a tremendous opportunity for me and everyone else in the Assembly.”

In mid-interview, he paused to give directions to a lost constituent. Legislator, media commentator—and now tour guide?

“I’m a full-service assemblyman, baby,” he said. ahawkins@cityhallnews.com

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The Butcher, The Socialist, The White House Candidate he presidential election of 1912 marked Socialism’s peak in American politics. Candidate Eugene Debs, in his third race for president, received 6 percent of the popular vote.

In 2004, socialist Róger Calero won 3,689 votes nationwide—not enough to make up a fraction of a percentage point.

Running under the Socialist Workers Party—started in 1938, and currently one of several socialist parties in America today—Calero traveled the country to collect petition signatures for ballot access and rally union members that he believes are the bulk of his base.

“We’re a party that is rooted in the working class, oriented toward the labor movement,” Calero said.

“It’s an effective vehicle to fight for the demands and needs of working people.”

Calero, born in Nicaragua, entered socialist politics while working as a butcher and meat packer. In 2000, he organized a strike at his meat packing plant when the boss tried to decertify the union, he said.

As a supporter of union rights, he has fought alongside immigrants in May Day demonstrations to support legalizing undocumented workers. He said the immigration debate is the most important fight facing the working class people today.

Calero also dabbles in journalism as a contributing editor to The Militant, a weekly socialist newspaper in the city.

After running for president in 2004, he tried for the Senate in 2006. He came in second to last place with 6,967 votes—slightly edging out the Socialist Equality candidate.

In this year’s presidential race, Calero said he had aimed to get on the ballot in 13 states, including Washington, D.C., and had so far secured a spot in seven states, including New York.

Calero said that third-party candidates and groups often fail in their objectives when they act as pressure groups on one wing of the two major parties.

As a union organizer, Calero feels that he can deliver more results for union workers with the Socialist Workers Party than with the Democratic Party, which has been aligned with the labor movement.

“They’re a capitalist party,” Calero said. “Our experience is that the only way we can make significant gains for working people is when we act on our own.”

He sharply criticized both major party presidential candidates and said that while Sen. Barack Obama is casting himself as an agent of change, he would not bring about enough change.

“More and more you see a convergence of their politics,” Calero said. “It only confirms that the attacks against the working people have been bipartisan.”

—Dan Rivoli

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CITY HALL

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OCTOBER 2008

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Local Democratic Clubs Recruit Obama Supporters to Swing Other States’ Votes Activists stump for “change” by changing where they stump for Democratic nominee

BY DAN RIVOLI he presidential primary season was long over when Jennifer Treuting ventured to the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania for the weekend on Sept. 27.

Treuting, an early supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, was doing field work for his campaign to convert voters in the northeastern Philadelphia suburbs that broke strongly for Clinton.

The economy has been a pressing issue for voters since the financial collapse of several Wall Street institutions.

One woman Treuting visited was worried about keeping her two children in college. Treuting explained Obama’s tax plan in hopes to tap into the unease about the country’s economy.

“At the end of the conversation she was still undecided, but she had more to think about,” said Treuting, 25, a freelance writer and a producer for an advertising company, a Brooklynite originally from the small upstate New York town of Port Jervis.

She traveled with a group of around 30 people who signed up with Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century (DL21C), an organization of young, professional New Yorkers who recruit volunteers to campaign for Democratic presidential candidates.

Many of the city’s Obama boosters are looking to do more than just pull the lever in a voting booth or make a small donation, so local Democratic clubs and organizations like DL21C are rounding up eager supporters to travel to swing states.

The Gramercy Stuyvesant Independent Democrats are targeting their resources and manpower in Florida, where the club hooked up with a campaign office in Sunrise, a town in Bro-

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

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Obama fans and loyal Democrats at the Three Parks Democratic club work the phones to win over swing state voters. ward County. Former Assembly Member Sylvia Friedman (D-Manhattan), the club’s president, said the Obama campaign was willing to accommodate the volunteers in the swing state of their choice.

“They want volunteers everywhere,” Friedman said. “No one’s ever said ‘no’ to us.”

Democratic presidential candidates have won New York by double-digit percentage points in the past four elections.

And, as polls show Obama likely to give Democrats a fifth landslide in New York, his campaign’s resources have been allocated to other states.

Dave Pollak, New York State director of Obama for America, said Democratic clubs have the existing infrastructure to

organize and mobilize volunteers to crucial swing states without campaign funds and manpower. The organization does, however, train volunteers.

“When all the focus nationally is on the battleground states, local political clubs and grassroots organizations have the network to communicate to their people how they can contribute by traveling to battleground states,” Pollak said.

The DL21C has tapped into the scores of New Yorkers interested in volunteering on behalf of Democrats since 1992.

This year, the group is organizing trips to northeast Philadelphia, eastern Ohio, Virginia and New Hampshire to campaign for Obama.

Elizabeth Caputo, the organization’s chair, said New Yorkers are often trans-

McCain New Yorkers Focus Their Efforts on Home Turf onald Regan carried New York in 1984, but ever since, the Empire State has been viewed by Democrats as a sure thing and by Republicans as a lost cause.

Ed Cox, John McCain’s New York chairman is hoping to defy that wisdom. Recent polls, along with a healthy grassroots campaign, have given him cause to hope.

“We actually have a real grassroots operation going on,” Cox said, telephoning in from a campaign stop in Rochester.

“We’re doing this on a very intensive volunteer campaign that we’ve been building now for 17 months.”

McCain has not spent any money on advertisements in the state, and so far the thrust of support has come from an army of roughly 6,000 volunteers led by Myers Mermel, formerly of the Huckabee campaign, who have been mobilizing their

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own communities.

“I noticed that the Obama campaign has been training people to pull out of New York to go to other states,” he said, “We find that neighbors talking to neighbors, New Yorkers talking to New Yorkers, is the most effective strategy.”

That strategy involves McCain supporters in all 62 counties meeting in each others’ homes, phone-banking their neighbors, and going door-to-door to garner support. Volunteers identify and register voters from their own communities and participate in online meet-ups at the McCain campaign’s New York website, www.nymccain.com.

In a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2-1, the odds still appear heavy against a McCain victory in November. But according to some political theorists, changing demo-

graphics, as well as McCain himself, have blurred the line of loyalty for many New Yorkers.

“First, we’ve had Republican mayors in New York City for almost the last 16 years, and a long tradition of GOP state office holders, so the idea of a Republican New York is hardly bizarre,” said Robert Weissberg, a political science professor at New York University. “To be sure, these are liberal Republicans, but still Republicans, and, critically, McCain is more or less from the liberal wing of the party.”

Weissberg also pointed out that voting patterns are hardly set in stone.

“People die and many become too old to vote. Meanwhile, people move to New York and others leave, so this year’s electorate is not the one from, say, 10 years ago,” he said.

—David Giambusso

plants who would rather vote in their more Republican-leaning states than in New York.

“In a place like New York that is overwhelmingly Democratic, the sense that they can act is much greater when they come to Pennsylvania,” Caputo said.

Caputo estimated that at least 200 to 400 people will travel to swing states on Saturday trips leading up to the election.

“We have graphic designers and artists and bankers—Democrats who want to help out,” Caputo said. “They want to do more than write a check.”

These trips to swing states will have a greater impact on election results if field organizers capitalize on volunteers’ expertise, according to Christopher Hull, an adjunct professor of politics at Georgetown University and author of a book on the 2008 Iowa presidential caucus.

“The [volunteer] who has the political culture of a Midwesterner—and there’s plenty of people in New York that would fit that description—those are the ones you want going door to door,” Hull said.

On Broadway and West 103rd Street, Three Parks Democratic Club set up a makeshift campaign office in a former vegetable market, covering the walls with posters of Obama, Clinton and, for some local flavor, one of local Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell. Organizers are using the location to recruit volunteers willing to pony up $25 for the bus ticket and to stump for Obama in Pennsylvania. The club also traveled to Willingboro, New Jersey, to campaign for the Democratic candidate in the competitive House race there.

Stacy LeVine, a 29-year-old Upper West Sider by way of Florida, said that giving her time to the campaign is the best way to ensure an Obama presidency—though she wishes she could vote by absentee ballot in her native state.

“I need to do something beyond my vote,” LeVine said. “New York is a lock for Obama.

It’s the other states that need help.”

Throughout September, the Upper West Side club recruited more than 500 people to travel to Bristol, Pennsylvania, a small township northeast of Philadelphia, to knock on doors, register voters and have them fill out questionnaires to gauge which issues matter in this election.

“The people in this neighborhood are doing whatever they can to reach out to important voters, wherever they are,” said Bob Botfeld, the club’s president and district leader. “They want to feel like they’re doing something.”

The reception has been mostly positive. “If we show knowledge of their local issues, they listen,” he said.

As for his New York residence, locals often do not even realize to ask, he added, “unless you have an accent.” drivoli@cityhallnews.com

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CITY HALL

Calculating Futures on Pension Funds and Political Maneuverings C

Q: We have just passed the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. How do you think the city has progressed since then?

A: We have progressed dramatically. If you go back and think back, Jan. 1, 2002: mayor, comptroller, public advocate on the steps of City Hall. We were all being sworn in. It happens every four years.

We were covered not just by NY1 and local print, local newspapers and television stations. We were covered by CNN, CSPAN. They carried the ceremony live.

The eyes of the world were on New York.

And the ground was still smoldering at Ground Zero. If you go back, would New York City survive? Would businesses flee Lower Manhattan? Would New York City continue to be a viable city? All of those questions hung in the air and the greatest sentiment was uncertainty. And there were new people being sworn in to run government. I think New York City has changed and progressed dramatically. If you look initially just at lower Manhattan, there was a lot of focus yesterday, I did a lot of interviews, at lower Manhattan, it’s still the third largest business district in the country. The number of square feet for office space has declined a little bit, but if you look at Lower Manhattan now, it’s still a strong business hub and it’s also a great and continually growing residential area. It’s a strong area. It’s now a 24-hour neighborhood. It’s progressed.

You’re looking at buildings like the Goldman Sachs building, which are being built, and others in Lower Manhattan. I think if you look, we have bounced back dramatically in that area. The number of jobs there are approximately the same as existed there before. And it’s growth and development. The World Trade Center site, you’ve broken ground. And you’ve broken ground on the Freedom Tower.

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

omptroller Bill Thompson was the featured speaker at the City Hall On/Off the Record breakfast held Sept. 12 at the law offices of Arent Fox. Speaking just after the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Thompson addressed his view of how the city has progressed since those dark days in 2001, how he thinks city pension funds stand and why he deserves credit for their health, and his thoughts about elected officials who might try to change the term limits law without putting the matter forward for public referendum.

What follows are selections from the transcript of the on-the-record portion of the morning.

when we were attacked on Sept. 11 and we stayed in a recession while the rest of the country came out of it. We looked at budget gaps that were of record proportion, in excess of $6 billion. Fast forward a few years down the road, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007—record surplus. We bounced back and were humming on all cylinders and, if you look, real estate, construction boom, tourism has grown, some of it fueled by a weak dollar, but we’re having more tourists than ever before. Look, we went from record deficits to record surpluses. And New York City now, despite of the economic downturn and subprime mortgage crisis and Wall Street and what’s happened there and the credit crunch, we’re still doing better than most municipalities around the country. Doing better

Q: How would you describe the health of the city pension funds currently?

A: We went through and I’ve been around for almost seven years as the comptroller. I have seen the ups and down. If anyone here loses a billion dollars in a month, try and sleep. Or if you realize you’re looking at the market and it continues to go down, it eats a bit of a hole in your stomach. We were in the middle of three consecutive down years when I started in the market and we went from $80 billion in size to $73 billion during my expert leadership. We have grown over the last few years to over $100 billion. So we continued to grow. Right now in our last fiscal year we probably lost about 5 percent, but then again, if you look over a period of time, the last five years we’ve gained an average of 12 percent as far as an increase in the last few years. We have done well. The one thing that I am the proudest of and I am happy to see Adam Blumenthal here, former deputy comptroller, involved in that. He used to put a lot of things personally in place for us on the economic side. We started in 2002 to move in a different direction. It was stocks and bonds portfolio before, 70 percent stocks, 30 percent bonds. So when the market went up, we looked re-

“Are we losing money?

Everyone is. Are we losing less than we would have lost before? Yes.”

Q: And by other measures?

A: The city’s economy after we struggled for a few years. We were in a recession

than the state of New York definitely. The predictions of doom and gloom, the one of New York City being one that people fled from, we’ve bounced back dramatically. And it really is one of the great success stories in the nation’s history.

ally smart. Market went down, not too bright. We have diversified the portfolio, more in real estate so we’re moving toward 5 percent in real estate, private equity, 5 percent in that direction. More international equity, that’s where a lot of growth is these days over the years, to create more balance, a better diversified portfolio. Right now, as the market goes down, and we see such volatility in the market, no one has seen things like this before. We’re in better shape. We’re in much better shape than we were before.

Are we losing money? Everyone is. Are we losing less than we would have lost before? Yes. As we also move into some conservative strategies in hedge funds and start to move in that direction, we will create even more balance.

Q: If the mayor and the Council change term limits without a referendum, they will be the ones deciding whether they themselves get to run again. Is there any way, in your mind, for that decision not to appear self-serving?

A: No. Just to be blunt and direct, there is no way for them not to appear to be selfserving.

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To view the video of this interview, go to www.cityhallnews.com.

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CITY HALL

Council Member Gale Brewer and Rising Star Justin Krebs Rebecca Hall, Rising Star Walter Swett and Rising Star Nazli Parvizi

Scenes from the Rising Stars Party

Rising Star Bethany Jankunis and State Assembly Member Deborah Glick

Steven H. Richman and Michael Tobman

On Sept. 17, elected officials, staffers and others from across the political community gathered at Commerce Bank’s City Hall branch to celebrate the 2008 Rising Stars, profiled in the September issue of City Hall.

ANDREW SCHWARTZ PHOTOS

Rising Star Tyson Pratchard, Joy Warren and Rising Star Cleon Edwards

The Next Generation of Political Leaders in New York Hank Sheinkopf and State Senator Eric Schneiderman

Council Member Eric Gioia, State Senate Democratic nominee Daniel Squadron and Council Member Erik Martin Dilan

Claie Dorfman, Rising Star Dana Weisberg, Jon Sanneman and Peter Hilerio

CITY HALL

State Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell and Jerry Skurnik

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Rising Star Bethany Jankunis, Rising Star Julie Menin and Kim Jacobs

Council Member Hiram Monserrate and Rising Star Julissa Ferreras

Rising Star John Raskin and Rising Star Lilliam Perez

OCTOBER 2008

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State Assembly Member Richard Gottfried and Rising Star Dan Squadron

Bianca R. Agustin, Margarita Alonzo and Michael Klein

Rising Star Miosotis Munoz, Rising Star Robin Chappelle and Carrie Marlin

Molly Watkins and Sarah Ferguson

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OCTOBER 2008

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ichael Bloomberg has been a good mayor—a very good mayor, a font of often extremely good ideas that he has helped bring to city government and to the city. For the most part, the residents of this city are lucky to have had him as the chief executive these past seven years, and future mayors will be lucky to have the example of the Bloomberg years to have to live up to themselves.

Though there are failings and blind spots to his leadership over the last seven years, overall, there are many good results.

The question now is whether these are the kind of ends which justify Bloomberg’s means. He has already shown that he does not really believe in the democratizing spending limits of the campaign finance system. Now the twiceapproved term limits law, the other cornerstone of the democratized political process in New York, is likewise apparently not worth his attention.

A referendum would be impractical, he says, after waiting until after the deadline passed to get one on this November’s ballot to openly make up his mind. Voters should be free to have as many choices as they want on the ballot, he says, after saying that he still believes term limits are a good idea, just as long as they set in after three terms, not two.

So the Council has a stark choice.

Members will be tempted to vote themselves another term. This is understandable. Many of them would like to abolish term limits altogether, and many of them have long advocated for an extension to three terms instead of two. There are

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those among them who look forward to next year—some out of selfishness, some out of a commitment to public service—as the unfair end of their careers in politics.

But only those deluding themselves will be able to argue that this is anything but a referendum on Bloomberg. Those who vote to extend the limits are entitled to believe that he should continue in office—and there are many reasons to feel that way—but they should be clear and forthright about what they are doing.

They took most of a year to debate congestion pricing, the last big idea brought forward by the mayor, have held countless hearings on many bills that would more drastically affect the lives of New Yorkers, rather than the lives and salaries of the people in City Hall.

The act on the term limits extension and, in the weeks and months leading up to the final vote, on how they react to the accelerated pace with which the mayor wants to move the bill will be very revealing.

The assumptions Bloomberg and Quinn have made that they will quickly win this vote—and then re-election to their current posts next year—and the pragmatic reality that they may well be right on both counts is exactly why we need term limits in the first place: to diffuse concentrations of power and prevent assurances of continued control.

In the meantime, Bloomberg should finally appoint that charter commission he said he would back in his State of the City address earlier this year, and give them the term limits question as a top priority. Perhaps more importantly, he should pledge that if given the opportunity to run for another term, he will donate

no more than the maximum spending cap allowed by the Campaign Finance Board to his own campaign. After seven years in office, he should not try to make the case that he still needs to drown the campaign in his millions in order to break through.

Council members who are really opposed to changing term limits should unequivocally rule out running for reelection next year even if given the chance. Those who declared themselves, or all but declared themselves, as candidates for other offices who have not said they will make those runs next year regardless, even if facing an incumbent, need to make themselves clear.

Term limits should not be changed, but if they must be, they should be changed by public referendum, and not in a way that affects those currently in office, on either side of City Hall. New Yorkers made themselves clear on this issue just 12 years ago. The Council and the mayor need to listen, no matter the current economic situation, no matter the recent changes of heart of a few influential billionaires.

A crisis is exactly the wrong time to try to disrupt the democratic process. Next year’s elections need to go on as regularly scheduled, with New Yorkers given the choice of whom they think should be put in charge of the city, just as they were able to following the Sept. 11 attacks.

That is a gamble. But it is the essential gamble of democracy. And if Bloomberg and the others in city government scheduled to be booted by term limits do not like how New Yorkers roll their dice in 2009, they are welcome to come back in 2013 and run again.

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LETTERS What We Talk About When We Talk About Term Limits Dear Editor, Frankly, I would welcome the opportunity to serve my constituents and the citizens of New York for another term. It’s likely that at the end of 2009 there will be unfinished business in two areas where I have taken leadership roles: public education and minority affairs. The possibility of continuing to advance these causes and promote progress has real appeal.

My “self-serving” personal considerations are not the reason term limits should be re-examined. There are a number of substantive reasons why this issue should be revisited. The Federal Constitution imposes term limits on the president for a very specific reason—to confine the lasting influence of one president’s judicial appointments to a reasonable time frame: a maximum of eight years. The Constitutional amendment imposing presidential term limits came in the wake of

Franklin Roosevelt’s attempt to “pack” the Supreme Court. The Constitution places this restriction only on the Executive branch of government; there is no attempt to curb the legislative branch of government other than scheduled elections.

When New York City voters were presented with the issue of term limits in 1993 and again in 1996, no such distinction was made. Voters could only vote up or down—imposing term limits on both branches without regard to the very different functions and impact on these separate branches of government.

One important consequence of term limits for the city’s legislative body, the Council, is the impact on legislative leadership. Legislative leadership works very differently than executive leadership. An executive—the mayor or the president— governs by directive. Orders are given— for example, across-the-board budget cuts of 2.5 percent—and there is a distinctly vertical hierarchy.

A legislative leader guides more by consensus. For the City Council, our leg-

islative leader is elected from amongst our membership by the membership.

With current term limits, Council members are faced with only two options.

Each has drawbacks: elect a brand new member or elect a lame duck. As a system of governance, this puts the Council in a weaker position than the executive branch, where the leader can hit the ground running from day one, not having to build or maintain coalitions.

Another consideration for the electorate is the constitutional requirement that council district boundaries be redrawn after every national census— which is a ten-year cycle. City elections are on four-year cycles, so there is “jiggling” to make the city election cycle fit the constitutional requirements. I ran in 2001, in 2003 and in 2005 and will have served two twoyear terms and one four-year term to complete my eight years of service. This makes for inconsistent cycles of service, which potentially affects pragmatic things like committee tenures and assignments. And there are direct costs to the public of hold-

ing odd-year elections that traditionally get less attention and lower turnouts than presidential elections.

Term limits also bring an unintended consequence that I believe will become more detrimental over time. City agencies always have some institutional continuity because the majority of staff do not come and go as a result of an election. On the other hand, legislative staffers serve at the pleasure of the speaker or Council member. With key benefits pegged to 10 years of service and term limits capped at eight years—two years shy of that threshold— staff members are out along with their principals and without the benefits that traditionally make civil service attractive.

This is a disincentive that will ultimately lower the caliber of people willing to work in staff positions at the Council.

For all of the above reasons, I believe the issue of term limits needs to be reexamined.

IN UNITY, COUNCIL MEMBER ROBERT JACKSON

CITY HALL

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OCTOB ER 2008

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OP-ED

How the Mayor Can Really Help Create New Jobs

BY DR. JOHN TEPPER MARLIN

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don’t know what I do next,” a midcareer Lehman Brothers worker told me last week. “Barclays doesn’t want my unit. Maybe I should start up a business.”

Nearly 30 years ago, Mayor Bloomberg did just that. He left Salomon Brothers in 1981, during the recession of 1981-82, and he turned his $10 million severance check and Salomon shares and his insights into the value of technology to Wall Street into a giant company with more than 9,000 employees concentrated in the New York City area.

Now, to replace jobs being lost in financial services, New York City needs to repeat that many times. Mayor Bloomberg’s record as a successful business leader helped reverse the 9/11 diaspora by convincing displaced businesses

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to return from their temporary suburban sites. His economic challenge today is greater, as credit problems have intensified and the likelihood fades of large new commitments from Washington, Albany or insurance companies. The latest estimate from Albany of the imminent loss of New York’s financial services jobs is 40,000—and that may be too low.

A shift is needed in the emphasis of the city’s economic development efforts forged after the loss of the World Trade Center, which were preoccupied with real estate—just visit the City’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) website (www.nycedc.com) and count how many of the “Success Stories” are tied to finding space, creating space, filling space.

Today, the city has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to harness the energy of Wall Street entrepreneurs bursting with

ideas as grand as Bloomberg’s was in 1981, but who need partners to make their ideas a reality.

Layoffs from the downsizing of Wall Street create a unique opportunity for talented displaced workers to start or partner in new businesses or social ventures.

The displacement could help advance the Mayor’s PlaNYC 2030 agenda by encouraging green entrepreneurs—profit-oriented or nonprofit, like Solar One and GreenEdge NYC—to make the Big Apple into the Green Apple.

The growth of the knowledge industry on Route 128 and in Silicon Valley was based on the MIT-Stanford model of a three-way fusion of energy from business, government and university sources.

Sociology Professor Henry Etzkowitz calls this the “triple helix” of innovation.

How can the mayor spur such growth?

The elements of such an approach lie

The View From Chicago, Land of No Term Limits

BY STEVE RHODES hen Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he was overturning the law to run for a third term, he cited Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley as a prime example of what long-serving mayors can do.

“There are mayors in this country who have been serving for many, many years who are brilliant mayors,” Bloomberg said that day from the Blue Room in City Hall.

“Just take a look at Chicago. You go to Chicago, you’ll see a city that is clean, that is thriving, people are moving into, they have lots of new facilities, they have real competition when it comes to business…

Richie Daley, I don’t know how long he’s been in office, but it’s a long time, and I think he’s cleaning up.”

Sitting here in the belly of Chicago’s Daley Machine, I’ve got a word of advice for you, New Yorkers: Don’t let him do it!

And that comes from someone long opposed to term limits laws and who has also been generally impressed from afar by the Bloomberg administration.

The truth is, though, that it is Daley’s very reign that has caused me to rethink my position on term limits; Chicago’s political culture, in fact, ought to be Exhibit A for the term limits crowd.

After all, I often use Bloomberg here as the prime example of why term limits don’t in fact restrain a mayor from effectiveness.

I seem to recall Rudy Giuliani trying to pull the same stunt in the wake of 9/11. Things turned out just fine once Rudy was forced out of office, though, didn’t they? It’s an example I wish we could live through here.

Perhaps Bloomberg—like many other mayors—is just jealous. What other mayor,

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other than Daley, could, for example, run out of patience with such instruments of democracy as the courts and state government and order a secret midnight raid to shut down a controversial airport without even notifying the owners whose planes were still there, leading the FAA to threaten his administration with an $8.7 million fine?

Is it wrong to suggest the public could take Daley out at the ballot box if they so chose? Well, sort of.

Chicago is a city that does not operate by rule of law; it operates by rule of Daley.

Violations of an anti-corruption law were so gross that a federal judge who ordered a monitor of city hiring said he felt that he had been duped by the city for years when he finally caught on to their schemes. And yet, Daley was not penalized.

The U.S. attorney’s office, at least, is still circling. In 2006, federal prosecutors won the conviction of the mayor’s patronage director for his participation in what was called “massive fraud” in city personnel practices, including deeming a dead man qualified for employment.

“Prosecutors allege that officials rigged hiring to guarantee jobs and promotions to favored applicants, including members of pro-Daley political groups that took orders from the mayor’s office,” the Chicago Tribune explained in a trial preview that gives you some of the flavor. “Prosecutors [described] a thriving machine centered in the Daley family’s 11th Ward that gave jobs to ‘goofballs’ and workers who ‘did not know what they were doing’—so long as they had the right political or labor union connections.”

So when Bloomberg says, as he did recently, that Daley is “cleaning up” in Chicago, it’s important to know just how.

Elsewhere, the accumulation of power allows the mayor to intimidate opponents, including those on the city council deathly afraid of losing funds for their ward—controlled by the mayor—to repair alleys and replace street lights. The fact that the mayor is likely to be around for a very long time plays a huge factor in the way they lay down on every vote for him, rendering the council practically invisible.

If Chicago had a term limits law like the one in New York, Daley would have been forced out of office 13 years ago.

Somehow, I think the city would have survived.

Instead, even veteran journalists, like one from the Tribune recently, posit that corruption is “the price we pay” for efficiency. If only that efficiency existed in reality and not in the imagination of apologists who obviously don’t ride our public transportation system, which was found by the National Safety Transportation Board after the umpteenth mishap to have falsified or lost 80 percent of the maintenance records on one particularly heavily traveled line—the one from downtown to the airport.

Even if the benefits of a (not so) benevolent dictator were real, though, would they really be worth the price of our liberty?

Democracy can be an ugly, inefficient affair. That’s a price worth paying. The question is, do you limit democracy at the ballot box in order to maximize democracy in practice?

I’m beginning to think so.

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Steve Rhodes is a longtime Chicago journalist and founding editor of the webzine The Beechwood Reporter.

in the nine EDC sectors based on industry groups—bioscience, emerging technology (software, etc.), fashion, green industry, manufacturing/industrial, media/entertainment, not-for-profit, professional services and real estate. Each has an EDC website page under NYC Business Climate/Industry Overviews.

A wannabe entrepreneur could usefully spend time on this site. But how to fast-track partnerships? What about overlaps such as a green fashion company or a digital-media startup?

More broadly, how do wannabe entrepreneurs meet one other? Mr. Merrill and Mr. Lynch serendipitously met at the (former) 23rd Street YMCA. They had adjoining lockers. Isn’t this a major edge for NYC? Can the process be intensified?

Mayor Giuliani’s EDC sponsored fullblown venture-capital conferences for dot-coms. The startups would write up their ideas and submit a one-page summary of their business plans. Angel investors and VCs would walk through the equivalent of a camp fair with each startup at a separate table. It was speeddating to introduce Finance to Technology.

Might the EDC or the Mayor’s Department of Small Business Services try to replicate the synergy generated by the dot-com conferences? EDC staff members are themselves familiar with the professional infrastructure of each industry. What is needed is a way to bring someone with an idea in touch with other people who could help test and realize it.

For example, the city could announce a New-Opportunity Fair at which industry membership associations, like the NY Software Industry Association for emerging technology, would be invited to send representatives.

At such a fair, citywide passes could be given away or sold. The passes would allow the bearer to attend certain open meetings, times and places to be posted on dedicated website pages, with the URL listed on the pass. The pass might also be promoted in upscale publications like City Hall.

Such initiatives would make it easier for people with business ideas to connect with partners. They would strengthen the people-oriented component of the city’s economic development programs. And they would help to create a climate for a multiplied replication of the kind of jobcreating innovation that the Mayor launched in 1981.

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John Tepper Marlin, principal at CityEconomist (www.cityeconomist.com) and adjunct professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, served three city comptrollers as chief economist and senior policy adviser from 1992-2006.

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OCTOBER 2008

Clinton: Giving Is As Good As Sex, and More Available Now

Bloomberg Digs GOP, Suggests SI Beep for Veep Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.) has shown no hesitation to criticize the GOP since disaffiliating last year with the party he had joined to run for mayor in 2001. And though he may need the GOP line back for the 2009 campaign, even the week before he announced his bid for a third term, he was making digs at the GOP vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

“Not to get political, but I was going to compare the population of one of our states to Staten Island,” Bloomberg said at an Upper East Side town hall meeting Sept. 23. “But I didn’t.”

Palin governs a state with a population of 670,053, whereas Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro (C) represents the smallest borough at 477,377 people, according to a 2006 census bureau estimate.

If Bloomberg’s joke ruffles any GOP feathers, he can claim his dig was a shot at Wyoming, population 515,004.

Battle of the Cartoon Titans, ’09 Edition Naturally, most people believe that Rep. Anthony Weiner’s (D-Brooklyn/ Queens) early and forceful criticisms of Bloomberg’s attempts to change the term limits law has something to do with wanting to run for mayor himself.

Four More Years?

ANDREW SCHWARTZ

Former President Bill Clinton kicked off the new 92nd Street Y series “The Business of Giving in the 21st Century” on Sept. 28 by participating in a discussion with Matthew Bishop of The Economist about philanthropy.

Clinton offered three reasons why people should give to organizations like his Clinton Global Initiative, which had just completed its annual meeting in midtown and raised $8 million to help up to 150 million people. That kind of philanthropy, Clinton said, is cost-effective, can make a difference and is the right thing to do.

Then he offered a fourth reason.

“You ought to do it because you’ll be happier than if you don’t,” Clinton said.

“It’s better than buying another car, it’s better than buying another boat. People who do it, they find it’s actually fun.”

Supporting Clinton’s point, Bishop pointed out that the same part of the brain responds to giving as responds to sex or dancing.

“The older you get,” Clinton joked, “the more the giving scale goes up.”

CITY HALL

Deputy Mayors Robert Lieber, Kevin Sheekey, Ed Skyler, Linda Gibbs and Dennis Walcott looked on as Michael Bloomberg announced his support for changing the term limits laws and running again himself.

But though many expect that the term limits extension may pass the Council and Weiner has hardly backed down from running next year, the congressman says he has been trying to avoid talking about what a race between him and Bloomberg might look like.

“I’m trying to push back on the speculation about me running against a guy for whom it’s not legal,” he said. “Kind of reminds you of the school yard game, ‘If Superman fought Mighty Mouse, who would win?’”

Asked which he saw himself as, Weiner did not miss a beat.

“I’m Underdog,” he said. “Underdog!”

Paterson’s Blind Faith in Bloomberg’s Political Plans While not endorsing the idea of overturning term limits through Council legislation, Gov. David Paterson has made clear that he likes the idea of Michael Bloomberg continuing as mayor past the end of his current term, which ends next year. Though he is a long-time opponent of term limits on principle, Paterson’s support for Bloomberg has put him on the other side of the Democratic hopefuls who had been expecting an open race next year.

To some observers, this was simple self-preservation: if he is re-elected mayor next year, the chances of Bloomberg running against Paterson for governor in 2010 are significantly lowered.

At a joint press conference to announce new plans for Ground Zero held just after the Blue Room press conference in which Bloomberg made his shocker announcement, both the governor and mayor played down the importance of a potential Bloomberg gubernatorial run on their feelings about the term limits question.

Asked if he had made his decision because he saw Bloomberg coming at him in 2010, Paterson smiled.

“I wouldn’t have seen him running against me even if he was,” he joked.

Pressed by another reporter, Bloomberg pledged not to run for governor or a fourth term as mayor.

Dinkins Admits His One Non-Democratic Vote David Dinkins was given special recognition for his role in helping get the Working Families Party off the ground at the group’s 10th anniversary dinner on Sept. 18, but in his remarks to the crowd, Dinkins admitted that he is not a Working Families Party voter himself.

After taking a moment to slam the Liberal Party—“I wasn’t the first to say this, but it was neither liberal nor a party,” Dinkins said—the former mayor admitted that he had not followed the Working Families Party’s standard suggestion that supporters pull the lever for cross-endorsed candidates on the WFP line rather than the Democratic line.

“I voted on the Democratic line every time except once,” Dinkins confided, “’69, for Lindsay.”

Dinkins was apparently not so impressed with 1969 Democratic nominee Mario Procaccino, who won such a contentious primary that it prompted the creation of run-offs in New York.

De Blasio Boosts Obama for ’08, But Not ’09 Council Member Bill de Blasio’s (D) plan for Brooklyn borough president in 2009 is uncertain as Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.) attempts to extend term limits. But until a three-term limit is law, de Blasio is still rallying support for 2009, most recently at a vice presidential debate at a Williamsburg bar.

Hip 20- and 30-something Sen. Barack Obama supporters crammed into the Hope Lounge—“the perfect place to have the event,” de Blasio joked—to cheer on Sen. Barack Obama’s running mate Sen. Joseph Biden at the Oct. 2 debate.

Gearing up for a possible 2009 borough-wide race, de Blasio—Sen. Hillary

Clinton’s 2001 campaign manager and presidential campaign booster—used the vice presidential event to increase his base to include the young, liberal creative set that flocked to Obama’s campaign.

“There’s going to be a lot of involvement in the ’09 elections because of Obama and Hillary’s campaign,” de Blasio said as he was handed a plastic cup of Blue Moon beer garnished with an orange slice.

After the debate, de Blasio got on the microphone from his perch next to the DJ’s turntables and fired up the crowd with a short pro-Obama speech.

When he was done, an event organizer thanked de Blasio for attending and reminded the crowd of Obama fans that there are important local elections next year, including de Blasio’s borough president run.

“Who are you going to vote for in 2009?” she asked the crowd.

The crowd’s attention waned as they mingled about the bar, though a few shouted out, “Obama.”

Not Waiting for November, Squadron Participates in Hearing Democratic State Senate candidate Daniel Squadron cleared his first hurdle in his campaign for Albany, defeating 28year incumbent State Sen. Martin Connor (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan).

Despite a general election in the Democratic Senate district, Squadron already assumed some of the duties of a Senate Democrat, joining Democratic State Sens.

Bill Perkins (Manhattan) and Martin Malavé Dilan (Brooklyn) at a Sept. 19 hearing held by State Sen. Liz Krueger’s (Manhattan) Democratic task force on mayoral control of city schools.

But he was careful not to get too ahead of himself.

“It’s an honor that I’m welcome here as a candidate,” he said.

Squadron faces John Chromczak in the general election on Nov. 4.

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: Fare Hearing ince taking the reins of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) last year, Elliot “Lee” Sander has seen his already troubled agency take all sorts of hits. Already facing a budget gap of nearly $1 billion next year, the MTA has seen construction costs skyrocket, revenues from real estate holdings fluctuate and a crushing increase in ridership because of the soaring price of gas.

And then, of course, there was the Legislature’s failure to pass a congestion pricing plan, leaving the MTA without a new revenue stream, even with crucial new capital projects and infrastructure upgrades.

Since then, Sander has taken to issuing dire warnings about the fate of the city’s transportation system.

He is relying on the Ravitch Commission, due to release its findings in December, to come up with suggestions for alleviating the agency’s dire fiscal situation—though he admitted any possible solution will be politically difficult.

What follows is an edited transcript.

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CH: Without something like congestion pricing, to secure a dedicated source of revenue, what is the MTA able to do to make up for the shortfalls?

LS: Well, my first priority is the core program. We cannot go back to where we were in the ’70s and ’80s. My highest priority is to ensure that we have adequate funding for the purchase of cars, buses, commuter rail equipment, track, signals—what we call our “core program.” I do believe that New York will not be competitive as the global center of finance and other industries if we don’t do the expansion projects. But I do want to emphasize the importance of the core program.

CH: When the fare hikes were announced, Mayor Bloomberg suggested if the MTA could not shore up its finances without having to rely on a fare hike, it

ANDREW SCWARTZ

City Hall: The MTA, especially in the city, is a fairly maligned institution. In the media at least, the reports tend to be about bad news rather than good news. So what’s the good news you can tell us about the MTA today?

Lee Sander: The reality is that there is an extraordinary amount of good news, and often that news is reported, but it tends to be on page 20 or on page 30, and it tends to be the more salacious stuff that ends up on page two or three. “If it bleeds it leads,” and that has a tendency to be the case with the MTA. That’s not to say that we have not had a number of very positive stories on page one of major newspapers, but the negative stuff tends to be sensationalized, get more coverage.

In terms of what that good news is, in general we have record performance in terms of our system overall, from a performance standpoint. Our on-time performance is at a record level with the commuter railroads. Our bus performance, in terms of breakdowns, mean distance between failures, is also at record levels.

Some extraordinary accomplishments: We took over the city private bus lines—they doubled their maintenance performance in the last year. On the subway side, while we’ve seen a drop in terms of, again, what we would call mean distance between failures, most directly attributed to the increased age in subway cars, overall that performance is amongst the best in the United States of America. We got an international award last year about it. We think that when we get our new set of subway cars, that will go back up.

to what we have to do in terms of revenues, whether that’s the state’s participation, or raising revenues independent of that. That is clearly one of the most critical issues facing the city and the region next year. If we don’t get the adequate funding to maintain the system, we will go back to what we were in the ’70s and ’80s, sooner than later, and New York’s position as a global leader will be at risk. The stakes involved here cannot be understated.

Again, the governor has been very supportive. He’s the one who created the Ravitch Commission. The mayor has been terrific in terms of going out and talking about the importance of the infrastructure, and I believe the Legislature wants to be there as well.

Lee Sander, executive director and CEO of the MTA, said that in the news coverage of his agency, “the negative stuff tends to be sensationalized.” was in some way mismanaging its finances. What are critics like Mayor Bloomberg missing?

LS: I had a good conversation with the mayor afterwards.

The mayor said anybody can cut 5 percent. When I discussed it with the mayor, the mayor did not realize that we cut 5 percent from ’04 to ’07, and that we are committed to cutting 6 percent over the next four years, and that adds to 11 percent. I also shared with Mayor Bloomberg that when I was transportation commissioner under Mayor Giuliani, I cut my agency budget by the highest percentage of any agency. I think our cuts that we took at [the city Department of Transportation] at the time were in the range of 15 to 20 percent, while improving service. And so

CH: With both the state and city in serious financial turmoil right now, are subsidies possible?

LS: The Commission is aware that both the city and the state are constrained. But I am also mindful of the circumstance, for example, we were in in 1993, where the City of New York faced a huge issue in terms of crime.

And, as challenged as the city was then, the city understood that it needed to pass “Safe City, Safe Streets,” to deal with that issue. And I think we’re in a similar context again now involving the state and the city and others. As the governor and mayor have said, we just cannot allow the MTA to go backward. It’s a shame that the popular perception of the MTA, at least initially, is one that is not as high as I believe it should be. Again, when you begin to remind them about what it was in the ’70s and ’80s, their own personal commute, the reliability of their own personal commute, then you tend to get a different reaction.

CH: What do you think the impact would be on the national economy if we could not pursue these projects, and if the debt service continues to balloon as a percentage of the budget?

LS: I think it means that it would be a matter of when we turn the lights off. New York, in many ways, is a function of its transportation system. The history of New York, its emergence as a center of commerce, was first owed to the great port that it had, then the Erie Canal, then the subway system, the airports. Its ascendancy economically is directly linked to transportation. And so, if we start going backwards, New York will not remain the global capital, and its position both internationally and nationally will decline. And the amount of money that we’re

“If we don’t get the adequate funding to maintain the system, we will go back to what we were in the ’70s and ’80s, sooner than later, and New York’s position as a global leader will be at risk. The stakes involved here cannot be understated.”

I have a record of cutting budgets as aggressively, I think, as probably anybody in the city, or close to it.

CH: The Independent Budget Office came out with a report over the summer that said subsidies from the city and state have remained flat since 1990. Do the city and state need to do more to ensure that we can take on these capital projects?

LS: The bottom line is this: The MTA is facing probably the most severe financial crisis that it has since the early ’80s, perhaps since it was created in 1968. So the Ravitch Commission has made recommendations that will speak

talking about, while it’s large—our need is in the neighborhood of $2 billion annually, when you look at what we need to finance, roughly a $30 billion a year program on the capital side, a structural debt that we have on the operating side due to debt service—it’s a large need. But when you look at the contribution that the system makes in terms of the regional GDP, it’s a fraction. However, it will be an unbelievably difficult political lift to secure that funding. But the consequences of not securing that funding are dramatic.

—Sal Gentile sgentile@cityhallnews.com

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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 – 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. –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.