NYP: de Blasio Running Against Trump Helps Him in 2017 Hurts the City From Gaining From A NYC President Wilhelm's NYCLASS Unite Union Under Fed Investigation for NYCLASS PAC Contributions in 2013 Endorses de Blasio for Reelection in 2017
De Blasio’s war on Trump helps him but hurts the city (NYP Ed) If there was ever any doubt, Mayor de Blasio dispelled it Monday: He’s going to run for re-election against Donald Trump. No, the president-elect won’t be on next year’s ballot. But de Blasio’s “major address” at Cooper Union made clear he plans to campaign mainly against Trump. That’s not a politically unwise strategy in deep-blue New York City, where Trump won just 18 percent of the vote. (And, to be fair, a number of state GOP senators just won re-election by campaigning against de Blasio.) But the tactic may come back to haunt the city — especially its taxpayers, if financial aid from Washington is choked off. De Blasio didn’t hold back the hyperbole. He vowed to make New York — and himself — the center of national resistance to Trump. (Oops: Once again, he’ll be competing with a fellow Democrat, Gov. Cuomo.) The mayor vowed he “will not comply” with any order from a Trump Justice Department “to resume stop-and-frisk” (which the NYPD is still using in moderation, by the way). Is federal intervention only OK when it ties cops’ hands? Similarly, de Blasio promised to resist Washington by stressing the need for decisions “at the local level according to the values of the people who are being governed.” That has a bizarre ring of George Wallace standing in the Alabama schoolhouse door, vowing to resist “the might of the central government” against integration. De Blasio has enough local crises on his plate — like homelessness, city finances and ongoing corruption probes. He should avoid yet another embarrassing foray onto the national stage and focus on them — and how to work with the next president, rather than deliberately antagonize him. * Unite Here Local 100 endorsed Mayor de Blasio’s bid for re-election Tuesday, becoming the fourth labor group to formally back him since he started rolling out support last week. The 12,000-member union was formerly run by de Blasio’s cousin John Wilhelm and has long supported him. The FBI has investigated a $175,000 donation the union made to anti-horse carriage group NYCLASS in 2013, during de Blasio’s first campaign for mayor. The group then gave the money to a political action committee that was funding a barrage of TV that helped sink the campaign of then-frontrunner Christine Quinn.* NYC Mayor Can’t SayExactly How He’ll Resist Trump—Or Make Up Lost Federal Dollars (NYO)
Tuesday de Blasio Still Boycotting Press, Hiring Campaign Workers, Clinton
De Blasio still avoiding most media outlets after tantrum (NYP) — skipping the usual press gaggles before ending the march by granting exclusive interviews to just two media outlets. There, he met reporters from NBC and NY1. It was later revealed that de Blasio also spoke to two Italian media outlets during the parade — but no one else. A spokesman said the mayor decided against giving all reporters access to avoid a “crazy scrum.” WORKERS Now Hiring: Under de Blasio, New York’s Government Grows to Record Level (NYT) The growth in full-time staffing has worried some budget experts, who fear a lack of fiscal discipline at City Hall, and greater pension obligations down the road.* De Blasio Says16,000 New City Employees Is ‘Best Money Spent’ (NYO)
de Blasio on Clinton Leaked email shows de Blasio criticized Clinton during debate (NYP) * Latest Podesta Emails Reveal a Servile de Blasio Eager to Please Clinton Campaign (NYO)* WikiLeaks Emails Show Mayor de Blasio Venting at and Appealing to Clinton Campaign (NYT) The release of a second batch of John D. Podesta’s emails shows Bill de Blasio urging the campaign to engage left-wing Democrats.* The second leak of Hillary Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta’s emails shows New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was determined to offer himself as a Clinton cheerleader pushing the campaign to engage the Democratic Party’s left wing, The New York Times reports. * Leaked Emails Between de Blasio and Clinton Campaign Show a Complicated Relationship of Candidate and Former Confidante (NY1) For days, hacked emails to and from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, have been dripping out on the Wikileaks website — among other things, the emails are giving us some insight into the relationship between the Clinton campaign and Mayor de Blasio, who publicly played coy about endorsing her for six months * Two @HillaryClinton campaign aides referred mockingly to @BilldeBlasio in internal emails as a "terrorist" * WikiLeaks Emails Show Mayor de Blasio Venting at and Appealing to Clinton Campaign (NYT) * .@HillaryClinton aides mocked'terrorist' @BilldeBlasio's public flirtation with @BernieSanders * Mayor says "heat of battle"caused Clinton camp to call him a "terrorist" for delayingendorsement: (DNAINFO)
Sal Albanese @SalAlbaneseNYC Wiki emails show HRC campaign treating DEB like a nuisance 2 humor & his silly "forum" as an event they had no intention of participating in
de Blasio Raises Money Off of Trump Win Has Anyone Seen the Mayor Marching Against?
De Blasio asks shocked New Yorkers for money after Trump’s victory (NYP) Mayor de Blasio plans on riding Donald Trump’s suprise presidential victory — all the way to the bank. De Blasio sent an email to supporters Sunday morning playing up New Yorkers’ fears of a Trump presidency and vowing to “stand up to any attempt to deport people in our city, take away health insurance from the poorest among us, or undermine the reproductive rights of women” — all while asking for a donation to his re-election campaign next year. “While [Trump] only received small pockets of support in New York City, much of it came from people who are prepared to spend a lot of money to defeat us next year,” De Blasio wrote in his email. “And if this election taught us anything, it’s that we must be prepared for everything.” “So that’s why I need to ask,” he continued. “Make a $3 contribution to our re-election campaign as a way of saying you are more committed than ever to fight to protect the values we share.” The email was sent from the mayor’s campaign account and includes a link to make contributions as high as $1,000 directly to his 2017 re-election campaign. Gov. Cuomo made a similar fundraising appeal to stand up for New Yorkers against Trump Saturday morning in an email to supporters, but disabled a link to the state Democratic Party’s campaign account hours later after Post inquiries. But he already promised to protect undocumented immigrants who could face deportation under a Trump presidency. On Wednesday he pledged he would not fork over data to the feds from the city’s IDNYC program, a free identification card immigrants can receive regardless of status.
Trump has ridiculed the mayor as “one of the most incompetent men” and the “single worst mayor in the history of New York City,” in a July sit-down with The Post.
Long Political Operatives Who Want to Run for Mayor
Ex-Bloombergstrategist weighs mayoral run against de Blasio (NYP) A top political strategist for former Mayor Mike Bloomberg is considering challenging Mayor de Blasio in next November’s election, according to sources briefed on the matter. Kevin Sheekey, who heads global communications at financial news giant Bloomberg LP, has yet to begin any campaign fundraising. But the Manhattan Democrat has confided to allies that he’s interested in becoming mayor and potentially challenging de Blasio in the 2017 Democratic primary. Sheekey stirred speculation Friday after posting a “Kevin Sheekey for Mayor” button on his Twitter account, thus causing some followers to question whether the former deputy mayor was joking or being serious. He could not be reached for * John Catsimatidis is considering running for mayor again Business mogul John Catsimatidis is considering another run for mayor next year — or even challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2018. “I have one more race left in me,” Catsimatidis, 68,...
More on Campaign 2017
Anti de Blasio Uber Lobbyists Tusk Forms New Group to Runs Attack Ads Against the Mayor
Anti-de Blasio group to run attack ads over his $5M in legal fees (NYP) An anti-Mayor de Blasio group will launch a new ad campaign Monday targeting Hizzoner for spending $5.4 million in legal fees defending himself in a corruption inquiry. The Internet ads, created by former Mayor Bloomberg aide Bradley Tusk, say the mayor has spent millions in taxpayer money to “defend himself against corruption investigations” while proposing alternatives for the expenditure, including 120 child welfare workers, 126 new cops, and 104 new teachers. The ads will run for several weeks on New York news websites, said Patrick Muncie, a consultant for Tusk Strategies, the consultant who helped the ex-Bloomberg staffer create them. Tusk’s firm hopes to throw its weight behind a 2017 challenger for mayor. De Blasio had been fighting as many as eight active corruption investigations this year from at least five different governmental authorities. Federal investigators are focusing on whether donors received favorable city decisions or contracts in exchange for giving money to de Blasio’s mayoral campaign and nonprofit, Campaign for One New York. The mayor has raised $2.2 million and spent $565,000 on his re-election campaign through July according to city campaign finance records.
Will de Blasio Make Corruption History by Being the First Mayor Indicted?
And so it goes. Covering the de Blasio administration is like throwing darts at a wall covered with party balloons: Just about every toss, something’s going to pop. There’s the police-corruption scandal; the campaign-donation probe; the not-for-profit solicitation outrage; and just now The Post reports that de Blasio has stocked his personal staff with 264 taxpayer-funded “special advisers” — that is, operatives who shortly will peel off and kick-start his 2017 re-election campaign. Your cost: $18.7 million a year. (How many child-welfare case workers might that buy?) Now, The Post didn’t discover all of this. But it did its share — and it didn’t stint on the drama along the way. This is very much in a New York newspaper tradition that stretches back to the 1734 criminal libel trial of John Peter Zenger and his New York Weekly Journal — another “rag” that delighted in vexing pompous, sometimes duplicitous politicians. Zenger beat the rap, of course, establishing the basis for the First Amendment to the US Constitution and setting a precedent that most New York politicians have respected ever since: Newspapers have a right to publish just about anything they damned well please. Even when they are, in Bill de Blasio’s view, an “ideological apparatus” that constitutes “a very negative presence in our city.”
de Blasio Running the City Out of His Lawyers Office
de Blasio Running the City Out of His Lawyers Office
Mr. de Blasio has spent considerable time lately at the Midtown law offices of Barry Berke, who is representing the mayor in the investigations. He has sometimes even done other business from there. The campaign’s fundraising strategy—to solicit low-dollar contributions—was created, in part, because of the investigations. The campaign is trying to show it has deep, community support and wants to be careful not to be seen as too close to lobbyists.
Bo Going After de at Least in A Newspaper Story
Bo Dietl will run against de Blasio for mayor in 2017(NYP) His platform; to clear the streets of homeless people who have turned the city into a “giant toilet bowl,” to personally drive a bulldozer to take out bike lanes, and free cops so they can go after even petty crooks who openly sell and shoot up drugs in Washington Square Park and elsewhere. He says he declared his intention directly to the mayor last Saturday while riding on a friend’s boat in Sag Harbor. * 'YOU’RE DESTORYING THIS CITY': Bo Deitl mulls challenge against 'Big Bird' Mayor de Blasio (NYDN) * The Coalition for the Homeless found a shortage of supportive housing has helped drive homelessness for single adults to record highs and blames Cuomo for his failure to follow through on a pledge to create 20,000 such units, the Daily News writes.
Stringer Stuck In Status Quo Time Warp
Punches That Don't Land
Will Need An Assist From Bharara to Become Mayor
* A new poll from the Journal, NBC 4 New York and Marist shows that de Blasio’s positive job-performance rating inched up to 40 percent, and he holds a substantial lead in a crowded field of potential Democratic rivals, the Journal reports.
Corruption Mayoral Politics Stringer Talks to Consultants Too Much Needs to Too Do What He Things is Right
“Stringer…prvtly told consultants...whether anyone is indicted has significant sway over whether heruns” (WSJ) “It goes without saying that if de Blasio gets indicted, everyone is going to run. The real political question is what if only staff gets indicted, and then what staff?” said Bradley Tusk, a political consultant and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2009 campaign manager, who is trying to find an opponent to unseat Mr. de Blasio. He said opponents would be much harder to attract without indictments. City Comptroller Scott Stringer, a Democrat, has privately told consultants and others that whether anyone is indicted has significant sway over whether he runs, people familiar with those discussions said. Mr. Stringer has said he wants to be ready to announce by the end of the year, but isn’t committed and is less likely to run if no one is charged, they said. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., another Democrat, also has expressed an interest in running but remains unsure if Mr. de Blasio is beatable, a person familiar with the matter said, and believes his chance at being competitive hinges in part on the investigations.
Post's McManus Reports That de Blasio Lost With Less Than 20% of New Yorkers Voting But Does Not Explain Why Voting Numbers Shrinking
Or maybe not so bewildering. Bill de Blasio esteems himself to a degree not remotely commensurate with his accomplishments. He viewed his election as a personal affirmation, and as a rocketship ride to national prominence. But in fact it merely reflected the non-participation ethic that informs New York politics these days. That is, winning 70 percent of the vote in an election where scarcely 20 percent of the electorate turns out is not a mandate, it is a starting point. A wiser mayor would have understood this, and set about building a base.
What Do You Do When Facing 7 Federal Investigations Leave Town
de Blasio Runs A Political City Hall
Allies of Bronx Borough President Wonder if Politics Played Role in Lack of Funding for Orchard Beach Pavilion Repairs(NY1) *Mayor de Blasio fast-tracks renovation of Orchard Beach’s landmark bath house, thanks in part to Daily Newser(NYDN) * Let Orchard Beach bloom with a big investment by Mayor de Blasio(NYDN Ed) * PAY FOR MAY(OR): Cuomo is doling out big bucks in the Bronx, perhaps signaling he wants borough prez Ruben Diaz to start mayoral run (NYDN)
Allies of Bronx Borough President Wonder if Politics Played Role in Lack of Funding for Orchard Beach Pavilion Repairs(NY1) *Mayor de Blasio fast-tracks renovation of Orchard Beach’s landmark bath house, thanks in part to Daily Newser(NYDN) * Let Orchard Beach bloom with a big investment by Mayor de Blasio(NYDN Ed) * PAY FOR MAY(OR): Cuomo is doling out big bucks in the Bronx, perhaps signaling he wants borough prez Ruben Diaz to start mayoral run (NYDN)
The CFB Should Deny de Blasio’s 2017 Matching Funds Just Like They Did In 2013 for John Liu Mayoral Campaign
The
Campaign Finance Board must rule that the mayor’s Campaign for One NY
PAC was set up to re-elect the mayor in 2017. Once they rule that the
PAC was a de Blasio illegal campaign tool and must deny the mayor CFB
matching funds like they did in 2013 to John Liu for Illegal Campaign
Activity. Be Confident that All the Candidates Running Against the Mayor
Will Demand the CFB Does Not Give Any Matching Funds to de Blasio
John Liu Gets 'DeathPenalty' From Campaign Finance Board (DNAIFO Aug 5th
2013) The New York City Campaign Finance Board unanimously decided not
to award Comptroller John Liu’s mayoral campaign millions in public
funding on Monday, over what it said were pervasive questions about the
campaign’s fundraising practices. The board’s decision dealt a
significant blow to a mayoral campaign that has struggled to overcome a
federal investigation and trial over its fundraising practices, even as
the candidate has maintained his innocence and no charges have been
filed against him. “[T]here is reason to believe that violations of the
[campaign finance laws] and Board rules have been committed by his
campaign,” Rev. Joseph Parkes, the board’s chair, said, reading from a
statement. “The evidence suggests that the potential violations are
serious and pervasive across the campaign’s fundraising.” In May, two
Liu campaign staffers were convicted in Manhattan Federal Court of
attempted wire fraud after an undercover FBI operation caught them
trying to skirt campaign finance laws. Connor testified to the board
that the Liu campaign had returned 35 donations and maintained that Liu
and his campaign knew nothing of the violations.
de Blasio Approval Poll Numbers Fall 10% Since Feburary Approval Down to 35%
Diaz for Mayor Move? Endorses Wright for Congress
Laying
the groundwork for a possible mayoral run in 2017, Bronx Borough
President Ruben Diaz Jr. plans to endorse Assemblyman Keith Wright, who
is also the Manhattan Democratic Party chairman, to succeed Rep. Charles
Rangel, the Post reports:
Sharpton Crashes Mayoral Hopefuls Power Breakfast
Al Sharpton crashes mayoral hopefuls’ power breakfast (NYP) Real estate developer Don Peebles and city Comptroller Scott Stringer had a power breakfast at the Regency on Monday, which piqued the interest of fellow diner the Rev. Al Sharpton at a nearby table. When he spotted the pair, who are both considered potential challengers to Mayor de Blasio in his re-election bid, “Sharpton walked over to their table to say hello, and joked that some might view their ‘secret meeting’ as a plot to take down de Blasio,” a spy said. Peebles, who’s reportedly worth $700 million, told The Post in August he’s giving serious thought to a run, saying, “I was a political supporter of [de Blasio] . . . I’ve lost confidence in him. It would be irresponsible of me to do nothing.” * De Blasio's affordable housing plan for East N.Y. is not affordable, according to report by Scott Stringer (NYDN)
de Blasio Approval Poll Numbers Fall 10% Since Feburary
De Blasio's Approval Numbers Drop 10 Points from February, According to NY1/Baruch College Poll
(NY1)Mayor Bill de Blasio's approval rating is taking a nosedive in the
city as a growing scandal threatens to engulf his administration and
the NYPD, according to our exclusive NY1/Baruch College poll, which also
shows Governor Andrew Cuomo faring much better statewide Mayor Bill de
Blasio's poll numbers are suffering. His approval rating dropped 10
points from February to 48 percent. 31 percent of city voters say they
disapprove of the job he's doing, and 19 percent say they are not sure.* De Blasio's poll numbers
are suffering, according to an NY1/Baruch College poll, with his
approval rating dropping 10 points from February to 48 percent and 31
percent of city voters disapproving of the job he's doing:* De Blasio’s
approval rating dropped 10 percentage points from February to 48
percent, with 31 percent of city voters saying they disapprove of the
job he’s doing, and 19 percent say they are not sure, according to a NY1/Baruch College poll.
Diaz Teases Mayor Race While Trying to Keep His Kingbridge Plan Alive
In his annual state of the borough address, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz hinted at a possible run for mayor. * As deadline nears, fate of Kingsbridge development unclear (PoliticoNY)
On Wednesday True News Said de Blasio Increase in the Polls Was Because of the Weakness of His Opponents
Wednesday's True News
de Blasio's Poll Numbers 5 Point Increase Represent the Weakness of His Opponents Than His Strengths
In the Era of Trump and Sanders Where is NYC's Real Populist
A Quinnipiac poll found Mayor Bill de Blasio’s approval rating ticked up amid his concerted effort to convey a more forceful public image, and he now receives positive marks from half of New York City voters, The New York Timesreports: New Yorkers Fed Up With Mayor's Handling of Homeless New Yorkers are fed up with De Blasio’s handling of homeless (NYP) New Yorkers aren’t convinced Mayor de Blasio is doing enough to tackle homelessness, with 73 percent saying the city should do more, according to a poll released Wednesday. * De Blasio is doing better than Cuomo handling homeless: poll(NYP)
Thirty-three percent sided with de Blasio on the issue, while 28 percent favored Cuomo. When the voters were asked whose views were closer to their own, 30 percent picked de Blasio and 25 percent selected Cuomo. That was a turnaround from the last time Quinnipiacasked the question in September, when Cuomo got 28 percent and de Blasio 15.
Cox Pushes Ulrick for Mayor - No Word from Catsimtidis
New York City Councilman Eric Ulrich, a Republican from Queens , is considering challenging de Blasio next year, according to at least three GOP leaders, including state chairman Ed Cox, the Post reports: * 2017 CHATTER -- 30-year-old Eric Ulrich as the Republicanchallenger? -- Post "A young Republican lawmaker from Queens is considering challenging Mayor de Blasio next year, The Post has learned. City Councilman Erich Ulrich, 30, is being encouraged to enter the race by GOP leaders, including state chairman Ed Cox, Queens leader Bob Turner and Joe Lhota, the 2013 party standard bearer who lost to de Blasio. All three said Ulrich is interested. The councilman was first elected in 2009 ... Turner said Ulrich can invigorate the GOP while also connecting with outer-borough Democrats turned off by de Blasio's left-leaning policies. 'We need a dramatic, different direction and Eric provides that,' Turney said. Ulrich, who turns 31 on Feb. 13, declined to comment."* State Republican Chairman Ed Cox announced this year’s State Republican Convention to select its candidate to challenge U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and discuss the April presidential primary will be held in Buffalo, the Times Union reports:
de Blasio Gets $$$ Ready Include Slush Fund for 2017 From Special Interests
DE BLASIO COMMITTEE RAISES $485K FROM FOUR DONORS - POLITICO New York The Campaign For One New York, the political advocacy group Mayor Bill de Blasio created in December 2013 to advance his political agenda, has raised $485,009 from just four donors since July of 2015, according to disclosures voluntarily released to reporters. The single largest donor to the group over the last six months was the Fund For Policy Reform, Inc., a nonprofit founded by Democratic mega-donor George Soros. The Fund gave $250,000 in mid-November this year, after contributing the same amount during the previous six-month filing period. The Campaign for One New York also took in $200,000 from UNITE HERE, a national labor union representing hotel workers and textile industry employees, which made its donation on November 23 of 2015. -- DE BLASIO CAMPAIGN RAISED $1.06 MILLION IN SIX MONTHS - POLITICO New York's Laura Nahmias: Mayor Bill de Blasio's 2017 re-election campaign raised $1,065,908 over the last six months, campaign finance disclosures released Friday afternoon show- The mayor's campaign, whichspent $218,422 during the six-month period, reported $847,486 in cash on hand.The 2017 campaign cycle has yet to begin in earnest, and no challengers have formally declared their intention to run against de Blasio in either the Democratic primary or the general election, According to the filing, $1.03 million of de Blasio's donations came from 460 individual donors, including some familiar names from the worlds of real estate, lobbying and business - DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, Forest City Ratner chairman BruceRatner and the company's CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin, and New York Yankees president Randy Levine. \ -- "De Blasio Flush With 'Campaign' Cash" -- WNYC'
Cuomo's Alliance for Mayor Attacks de Blasio from the Left
Alliance of 2 de Blasio Critics Fosters Speculation About MayoralChallenge (NYT) They stood side by side, two Democratic leaders deploring the plague of gun violence. But the event, a news conference on the steps of City Hall, was notable for more than its subject matter. With their joint appearance on Monday, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn and Scott M. Stringer, the New York City comptroller, gave vivid proof of an alliance that has helped make them the most fearsome potential Democratic rivals for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s re-election in 2017. The two Democrats have publicly disavowed any active plans to run against Mr. de Blasio in a primary election, even as they have emerged as two of his most consequential critics on the left. In separate interviews, Mr. Stringer and Mr. Jeffries said they were focused on their current jobs. But in private, they have acknowledged to each other the speculation that has enveloped them during the rocky first half of Mr. de Blasio’s term.* Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, of Brooklyn, and NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer have publicly disavowed any active plans to run against de Blasio in a 2017 primary election, even as they have emerged as two of his most consequential critics on the left.
Ex-con using Eric Adams ties to push youth program’s bogus claims (NYP) An ex-con is using his close ties to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams to reinvent himself as a bishop overseeing youth mentorship programs — but he hasn’t left all his troubling behavior behind, according to records and associates. Lamor Whitehead, founder of Leaders of Tomorrow Brooklyn, has appeared at more than a dozen high-profile events with Adams since his five-year stint at Sing Sing, where he served time on multiple counts of identity fraud and grand larceny before his release in July 2013. Whitehead has used the public spotlight with Adams to tout his group’s mentorship programs and raise funds, including before he registered it as a for-profit business in March 2014. But a number of Whitehead’s public claims about the group have been refuted, including by law-enforcement agencies. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office sent Whitehead a cease-and-desist letter in November 2014 after he promoted a collaborative justice initiative with the DA’s office that didn’t exist. The NYPD and Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce also countered claims by Whitehead that they were partnering with his group on specific initiatives.
NYP's Boss Lobbyists Arzt Fixing Election, Trying to Free Up PA for Bronx BP, If James Winds Up As Brooklyn DA
Stringer and Jeffries Gun Fight With de Blasio
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is slated to unveil today plans for a court in Brooklyn dedicated to handling gun crimes as well as a 200-officer police division to focus on firearm violence, The New York Times reports: * New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries urged de Blasio to use the city’s purchasing power to push manufacturers into making safer “smart guns” by putting them on the NYPD’s approved firearm list, the Daily News reports: * Seeking to quell stubbornly persistent gun-related violence in New York City, de Blasiotoday will unveil a new system for handling such cases, creating a dedicated gun court in Brooklyn and a 200-officer police division focused on gun crime.
How de Blasio Buys Union Support With Trick Health Care Goal Givebacks Numbers Games
Campaign 2017 Reward Your Union Supporters With New School Guard Members
The politically potent Orthodox Jewish community has lobbied and won on a number of issues with the de Blasio administration, and leaders are satisfied with compromises despite their social conservatism
Union with de Blasio ties cashing in on school guard requirement (NYP) Private school students won’t be the only ones who benefit when the city starts posting security guards in their buildings — so will a powerful union with ties to Mayor de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. Records show that Local 32BJ SEIU, the 145,000-strong building service workers union, played a key role in lobbying for legislation requiring that the city provide guards at private and parochial schools, at an estimated cost of $20 million a year. According to insiders, the union intends to sign up the new guards as members, muscling in on the territory of Teamsters Local
De Blasio has given much to NYC's powerful Orthodox Jews,but critics say he's only pandering for votes. (WSJ) Last summer, Mr. de Blasio added funding to a voucher program largely used by Orthodox parents for after-school child care. Earlier in 2015, his administration oversaw changes to city rules on a circumcision policy that many Orthodox opposed. In 2014, he made it easier for parents with special-needs children to enroll them in private schools at city expense, a change eagerly sought by the Orthodox. Rabbi David Niederman, director of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn , said his community received more attention from the de Blasio administration than from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “We were basically ignored then,” said Mr. Niederman, an influential Orthodox Jewish leader who broke with the Bloomberg administration over the circumcision policy. Mr. Niederman, who said he had a relationship with Mr. de Blasio dating to the mayor’s years as a City Council member and as the city’s Public Advocate, said his community of about 100,000 in Williamsburg would largely vote for the mayor’s re-election. * 32BJ SEIU played a key role in lobbying for legislation requiring that New York City provide guards at private and parochial schools as the union intends to sign up the new guards as members, the Post reports:
NYP Which Has Been Pushing Jeffries for Mayor Now Says He Is Not Running
Cuomo’s pick for mayor has doubts running against De Blasio (NYP) U S REP. Hakeem Jeffries, Gov. Cuomo’s choice to oust Mayor de Blasio, is having doubts about entering the race, as Democratic unhappiness over Cuomo’s “belittling’’ of the mayor grows, senior Democrats have told The Post. Jeffries, whom Cuomo has encouraged directly and through intermediaries to challenge de Blasio in the 2017 primary, “is having second thoughts about running, and has begun resisting Cuomo,’’ a prominent Democratic activist with strong party ties told Dicker at The Post.* Astorino Joins de Blasio-Cuomo Feud (YNN)
NYP Led the Campaign for Jeffries for Mayor
Cuomo to appear at fundraiser for potential de Blasio challenger (Oct 14, 2015, NYP)
Possible challenger blasts de Blasio’s out-of-town travels (Oct 13, 2015 NYP)
Possible de Blasio challenger endorses Hillary for president (Oct 13, 2015 NYP)
De Blasio in panic mode over potential 2017 opponent (Oct 6, 2015, NYP
Democratic mayoral candidates unify to support tougher gun laws (Oct 27, 2015 NYP)
Nobody Asked Me But
The mayor said it was “downright crazy” to ask whether he would be endorsing Cuomo’s re-election campaign in 2018 because there were several election cycles before 2018, but said that he was a “loyal Democrat,” the Post reports:
Better Question to the Mayor: Are You Happy and Proud of Your 2014 Endorsement of Cuomo?
The Real Tale of Two City's: Poll Whites Hate de Blasio Black and Hispanic Still Hanging In
Cuomo To Premature to Endorse Mayor
de Blasio Poll Sinking, But No Strong Opponent Disapprove Handing of City
Where are the NYCHA Protesters? The Protesters Against Gentrification? Closing Hospitals? High Crime Neighbors?
Anti horse carriage protesters also here outside @deBlasioNYC 's fundraiser
Protesters blast de Blasio at $1M Midtown fund-raiser (NYP)* OPPOSING FORCES: Black Lives Matter, animal rights activists picket de Blasio’s first 2017 re-election fund-raiser at Midtown hotel (NYDN) * New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio held his first fundraiser for his 2017 re-election bid at the Sheraton Times Square, where he raised $1 million, while protesters gathered on the sidewalk outside the hotel,the Daily News reports: * Critics clamored for attention and clashed with security last night as campaign donors kicked off de Blasio’s first fund-raiser for his 2017 re-election bid at a swanky midtownManhattan hotel. The mayor raised $1 million at the event.
Anti horse carriage protesters also here outside @deBlasioNYC 's fundraiser
Protesters blast de Blasio at $1M Midtown fund-raiser (NYP)* OPPOSING FORCES: Black Lives Matter, animal rights activists picket de Blasio’s first 2017 re-election fund-raiser at Midtown hotel (NYDN) * New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio held his first fundraiser for his 2017 re-election bid at the Sheraton Times Square, where he raised $1 million, while protesters gathered on the sidewalk outside the hotel,the Daily News reports: * Critics clamored for attention and clashed with security last night as campaign donors kicked off de Blasio’s first fund-raiser for his 2017 re-election bid at a swanky midtown
de Blasio Poll #s
Bill de Blasio’s Job Approval Rating Keeps Going Down (NYO) More voters disapprove of the job Mayor Bill de Blasio is doing than ever before, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released this afternoon. The poll found that 45 percent of voters give Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, a thumbs up, while 46 percent disapprove of him. This compares to a 44-44 percent job approval in an August poll, when Mr. de Blasio was being hammered over the airwaves by Uber, the e-hail giant. A startling racial divide for Mr. de Blasio persists. 71 percent of black voters approve of him, which is up from previous surveys, as do 51 percent of Hispanics. But 65 percent of white voters disapprove of his performance.* A majority of New York City voters disapprove of how de Blasio is handling crime, police-community relations and homelessness, though NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton’s approval rating is rising, a Quinnipiac University
de Blasio 2017: Lying Eyes Campaign to Be Directed by Focus Groups and Polls and Lobbyists
Mayor de Blasio’s huge ‘quality’ problem (NYP Ed) “I’ve believed in ‘Broken Windows’ all along,” he said, “and I believe in quality-of-life policing, and I actually think it is a progressive position to believe in it.” Get ready for two years of the mayor trying to convince you not to believe your lying eyes. To be clear, support for “Broken Windows” policing should be progressive — but none of the mayor’s “progressive” pals on the City Council seem to think so; they keep looking for ways to limit it. Especially Melissa Mark-Viverito, who the mayor worked hard to install as speaker. A full 53 percent of New Yorkers say the city’s quality of life is headed down; just 14 percent think it’s improving. By 61 percent to 28 percent, voters dislike how he’s handling poverty and homelessness. Sixty percent say they’re seeing more homeless. Then there are the cops. De Blasio’s handling of the police gets 57 percent disapproval, 35 percent thumbs up. This, when New Yorkers approve of Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s performance by 58 to 29 — and of how officers are doing in their community by 68 to 27, including 57-37 approval among blacks.
Cuomo 2017 Mayoral Fundraising?
Round ? in @nygovcuomo vs. @BilldeBlasio battle: Gov headlines fundraiser for @RepJeffries, possible '17 challenger. * De Blasio to kick off 2017 campaign with Midtown fundraiser (PoliticoNY) * NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio will kick off his re-election campaign at the Sheraton Times Square with a fundraiser in Midtown on Oct. 29.* Gov. Cuomo headlining a Nov. 12 fundraiser for Rep.Hakeem Jeffries, potential de Blasio challenger in '17 * Cuomo to appear at fund-raiser for potential de Blasio challenger (NYP) * With donors paying up to $25,000 per ticket, campaign contributors to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2018 campaign committee were treated to an exclusive performance of the hit musical “Hamilton” last night. It was the second fundraiser the governor has held this week.* Before the show started, Cuomo took the stage. Clearly enraged by the current anti-immigration sentiment sweeping the country, he gave an impassioned speech denouncing it and reminded his supporters that America is a country of immigrants, asking: “What would the founding fathers say?” * Cuomo is listed as “honorary guest” for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’ Nov. 12 fundraising event at the Harvard Club, which was announced a day after the congressman, mentioned as a potential mayoral contender in 2017, took a jab at de Blasio for his time away from the Big Apple. * De Blasio received a low grade from another possible 2017 challenger, NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, for his poor record of hiring women-and minority-owned businesses.
Moskowitz Not Running
De Blasio Shrugs After Moskowitz Says She Won’t Challenge Him (YNN) * New York City .”* Eva Moskowitz's decision not to run in 2017 leaves financialelites who oppose de Blasio w/out an obvious candidate (NYT) * In announcing she won’t run for mayor of New York City in 2017 — a race few thought she could win — Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz can now turn her attention to education campaigns at home and across the country that are more easily attainable.
Peebles: Duane Reade manager could run city budget better than de Blasio (NYP) *A manager at Duane Reade is better prepared to run a big city budget than de Blasio — a “spin doctor” who divided the city to get elected, says Don Peebles, the millionaire real-estate mogul who once backed the mayor but is now considering a run against him in the next election.
de Blasio and 2017
As Controls the Housing Message to Target the Seniors in Rent Regulated Apts Who Make Up A Large % of the City Voters
As Controls the Housing Message to Target the Seniors in Rent Regulated Apts Who Make Up A Large % of the City Voters
Blasio Uses Tax Payer $ To Campaign For Re-Election
The Post writes that the $1 million advertising campaign from de Blasio’s administration “alerting” citizens to the rent freeze passed in June is really just a taxpayer-funded campaign tool for the mayor
De Blasio’s $1M ad blitz part of re-election campaign: landlords (NYP) A de Blasio administration plan to spend $1 million in taxpayer dollars on ads touting the Rent Guidelines Board’s June decision to freeze regulated rents is merely an ad campaign for his expected 2017 re-election bid, the city’s largest landlords’ group charged Friday. “Once again, de Blasio is choosing self-serving politics over sound policies. By promoting and owning the rent freeze, the mayor has stripped away any pretense that the RGB is an independent board that bases its decisions on actual data and analysis,” said Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 landlords. Both he and Frank Ricci, the group’s director of government affairs, also said the $1 million could be put to better use, such as housing the homeless and providing rent subsidies to those who need it most. Bill de Blasio'scity-funded happy talk (NYDN) Such information is generally the stuff of public service ads that, for example, advise people to stop smoking, engage in safe sex and eat their vegetables. De Blasio’s ads are in another realm. Although the mayor’s name appears only in tiny type, the PR campaign has the character of spending public money to echo de Blasio’s political message. He ought to think twice before doing it again and to avoid going over the top with an experience-defying whopper on the order of telling New Yorkers that they are snug in their nabes.* Rent Freeze Awareness Ads Being Rolled Out Across City (NY1) * $1 million in taxpayer money for de Blasio’s re-election bid (NYP Ed) Bad enough that Mayor de Blasio wields a nonprofit slush fund, the Campaign for One New York, to tout his achievements using millions raised from folks trying to win political favors from him. Now he’s spending $1 million in taxpayer funds to promote himself as the tenants’ champion. And the ad campaign happens to coincide with another unprecedented event: de Blasio’s first-ever town-hall forum — devoted to “rent security and tenant protection.” This is no public service; it’s an early ad campaign for the mayor’s re-election — and an effort to rig a town-hall meeting that makes him look good. If the mayor insists on packing one board to freeze rents, depriving landlords of the revenue they need to pay rising costs, can’t it at least do the same with the boards that assess those costs — like water rates and property taxes — and freeze them, too? He could — but there’s no votes in helping landlords. To get action, they probably need to give to his slush fund. * The Daily News also knocked de Blasio for the “warm and fuzzy” publicity campaign touting the rent freeze, noting that he promised to deliver for tenants despite the rent board supposedly being an independent entity: Charter Attack Ads Against de Blasio Add to the Local TV Take Charter school advocacy group Families for Excellent Schools is attacking de Blasio in a television ad for the second time in just a few weeks, this time by targeting his K-12 education agenda.* City to Spend $1 Million on Ads Promoting Rent Freeze on Stabilized Units (NYT) The advertising campaign is timed to coincide with the first town hall-style meeting that Mayor Bill de Blasio has held since being elected.
Lobbyists Win By Using Campaign Tools to Threaten Weak PAC $$$ Elected Councilmember With Primaries to Win for Uber
Power in Money: Whenis lobbying in NY not lobbying? (democratandchronicle) When gay-rights groups in 2011 wanted to press the state Legislature to legalize same-sex marriage, they didn’t turn just to a team of lobbyists.They hired a high-powered public relations firm with close ties to public officials to lead the charge. The firm, SKDKnickerbocker, received a whopping $1.8 million for the campaign. he full-court press of ads, mailings and social media worked. New York became the largest state in the nation to make same-sex marriage legal. The spending also made clear something else at the state Capitol: No longer was the key to success solely hiring a lobbying firm to stroll the hallways trying to drum up votes for a special interest. It requires a broad media strategy to win over lawmakers in their districts and in Albany . As spending for lobbying in New York state increased 56 percent over the past decade — from $144 million in 2005 to $226 million in 2015 — so too has the sophistication of the campaigns. A review of records by Gannett’s Albany Bureau showed that the public-relations firms have raked in more than $3 million since 2010 from political campaigns and then worked on efforts to promote key issues before the Legislature through coordinated lobbying efforts. Public-relations firms that can offer a cache of services to public officials and private companies are the new frontier — and state laws have yet to keep up.“The public-relations firms are where it’s heading, especially those that provide political consulting of candidates,” said David Grandeau, the former executive director of the state Lobbying Commission. He said the firms that help state officials get elected can then reap the benefits of their close ties with the lawmakers. “If I’m a consultant and I help you get elected as a state senator, and then I turn around and work for a private-sector, multinational corporation that wants to lobby that public official who I helped get elected, I’m in a pretty good spot to do that, aren’t I?” said Grandeau, a state ethics consultant.* A Manhattan federal judge ruled the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission violated the constitutional rights of thousands of drivers by illegally seizing their cars if they suspected them of illegal activity, the Post reports: * Uber biggest in Manhattan and gentrified Brooklyn and Queens (PoliticoNY)
Uber Shadow Govt Team of Lobbyist Was An Orgy With Ton of Money
Uber Used Target Mailing, Robo Calls and Ads to Threaten Councilmembers
Justin Kintz, Nicole Benincasa, David Plouffe, Rachel Holt, Josh Mohrer, Colin Tooze, Michael Allegretti, James F. Capalino & Associates, Inc., Patrick B. Jenkins & Associates, Kasirer Consulting LLC, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, FrancisJ. Sanzillo & Associates, Inc., Stu Loeser, Bradly Tusk, Jeff Pollock, Jimmy s Siegel political ads, Neil Quattro * Was David Plouffe the Key to Uber’s Deal With New York City?(NY Mag) * Uber Consultant Rudy Giuliani Gives Uber A Big Thumbs UpOn Background Checks (TPM) * Was David Plouffe the key to Uber's deal with
TAXI, Owners, Lobbyists, Campaign Contributions and the App Uber Revolution
The 2017 Ferry de Blasio Campaign
To de Blasio's Progressivism for the Poor Ends Not As Important As His 2017 Re-Election
Rev. Butts Who Has Attacked the Mayor for Disrespecting the Black and Brown Communities Has His Social Service Programs Cut By City Hall
The new revelations come only weeks after Butts issued a stinging public rebuke of de Blasio. “I’m not going to call him a racist just yet,” Butts told Vanity Fair magazine. “I just think that his posture shows great disrespect for the black and brown communities. Great disrespect.” Well, it turns out there was a lot more going on behind the scenes between Butts and the city than we knew about at the time. Butts believes his statements prompted a reaction from City Hall. “I’ve accused him (de Blasio) of divide and conquer, and I’m sure he’s not happy,” Butts said. “I consider it (the suspension of funds) rather cold-blooded when you consider the good we have done in Harlem and our history.” Social service arm of Harlem church cut off from $3.1M in city contracts — faces 'imminent' shut down of programs for homeless, senior citizens (NYDN) Abyssinian Development Corp., the sprawling housing and social service arm of Harlem’s most influential black church, was cut off from $3.1 million in city contracts two weeks ago after it failed to submit three years of overdue tax filings and independent audits to the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services, the Daily News has learned. The Rev. Calvin Butts, founder and board chairman of the development group and longtime pastor of its parent organization, Abyssinian Baptist Church, acknowledged to The News that his group hasn’t filed required financial reports since 2011 and conceded the de Blasio administration was justified in requesting those reports. Flashback Calvin Butts: De Blasio Handling of Police, Race Relations ... * Bill de Blasio: The Vanity Fair Interview | Vanity Fair
“De Blasio, in the words of the Stevie Wonder song, ‘you ain’t done nothing,’Rev. Butts
Eva Moskowitz Says She’s Not Running for Mayor (YNN) Success Academy
Eva Moskowitz's City Hall Steps Announcement * ALL ABOUT EVA? Charter school boss and de Blasio foe Moskowitz to make announcement on 'her political plans' (NYDN) * Parents, Students Rally for Charter School Expansion (NY1) * Eva Moskowitz, the outspoken charter school leader who galvanized critics of the de Blasio administration, has signaled to close allies that she is leaning against a bid for mayor of New York in 2017. She’s planning an announcement about her political futurethis morning.
The Daily After the Charter Rally
De Blasio has reason to worry about a challenge in 2017 from U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jefferies and desperately needs African-Americans to see him looking out for their interests – so they’ll be less likely to abandon him in two years’ time, Bob McManus writes in the Post: * Charter School Leader Has Indicated She’s Leaning Against a ’17 Campaign (NYT) Eva S. Moskowitz, the outspoken operator of the Success Academy
Ticket Pandering for Votes
Hasidic drivers get less tickets so they vote for de Blasio (NYP) Cops doled out fewer tickets to bad drivers in Williamsburg ’s Hasidic neighborhoods because the de Blasio administration covets their votes and needs to keep them happy, a source said. “They pander and he gives them a lot of what they want,” a former mayoral liaison said. “De Blasio is known to have tight ties to the Hasidic community.” Moving violations in the 90th Precinct, which includes an enclave of 70,000 ultra-religious Orthodox Jews, plummeted 32 percent since de Blasio took office, NYPD records show. Cops handed out 7,077 moving-violation tickets in the first nine months of the year and 8,242 in the same period last year. But in 2013, under Mayor Bloomberg, the area was blitzed with 10,365 summonses in the first nine months, records show. Religious leaders “get in with the Police Department and do their thing,” the former official said. “I’ll tell you one thing, they didn’t all take driver’s ed and change their driving habits.”
NYP's Dicker Says What Everyone Knows Cuomo Will Work to Defeat de Blasio
Cuomo Reach to the UFT Undercutting the Mayor as Part of his War on de Blasio
As de Blasio Hit On Minority Hiring by 2017 Challenger
Possible de Blasio challenger seeks probe on minority hiring (NYP) Real-estate executive Don Peebles, who is considering running against Mayor de Blasio in 2017, has asked Public Advocate Letitia James to investigate the administration for “economic discrimination” by failing to hire more minority contractors. Peebles accuses the city of violating Local Law 1, which says city agencies and contractors must make a “good faith effort” to hire minority-and women-owned firms, by failing to hire more minority contractors,
Will de Blasio End the Bubble to Get Re-elected?
Gonzalez: De Blasioprepares appeal for 2nd term in office by 'talking to real New Yorkers' (NYDN) In the coming months, de Blasio is planning a series of public events, town hall meetings and media interviews to tell his story, he said. On Wednesday night, he held a virtual town hall by telephone with thousands of public school parents, answering more than 20 questions. “I’m going to be doing a lot of that, talking to real New Yorkers and answering their concerns,” he said.\
Re-election 2017 and the Unions
The Same Business Leaders Who Backed Quinn Now Target de Blasio
Business bosses have early talks on targeting Bill de Blasio’s reelection bid (NYP)
2017 Bring It On de Blasio: Many Interesting in Bring It to Him
Dan Janison: “(T)ry this one on for size: Cuomo for New York City mayor in 2017.” * Bill de Blasio’s Message to His PotentialPrimary Foes: Bring It On (NYO) * De Blasio doesn’t think much of his former 2013 campaign donor and supposed pal Don Peebles, who is mulling a run against him in 2017. “Interesting way to be a friend,” the mayor said of the wealthy black business leader.* One of Bill de Blasio's allies may try to take him down Business Insider Australia * Bratton pocketed at least $48,000 last year from a company with a $3 million contract to help cops detect gunfire in high-crime areas of Brooklyn and The Bronx.
Hakeem Jeffries for Mayor? (YNN) * Moskowitz Won’t Rule Out Run For Mayor(YNN) * Success Academy
Will GOP Back A Democrat for Mayor
GOP so desperate to get rid of de Blasio it will back a Democrat (NYP) GOP leaders searching for a challenger to topple Mayor de Blasio in 2017 are so excited that Democratic charter-school champion Eva Moskowitz is weighing a run that they’re open to letting her enter the race as a Republican. “I would be very excited about Eva running for mayor. Education is a top priority for the next mayor and Eva is eminently qualified to do that. She’s outstanding,” Adele Malpass, chair of the Manhattan Republican Party, said Monday. Malpass said wealthy backers of charters are prepared to bankroll a Moskowitz campaign.* NYC GOP leaders searching for a challenger to topple de Blasio in 2017 are so excitedthat Democratic charter-school champion Eva Moskowitz is weighing a run that they’re open to letting her enter the race as a Republican.* Although some New York City and state Republican leaderswere open to Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz, a Democrat, running on their line against Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2017, other top Republicans were more hesitant, * Although de Blasio says he wants to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential race, he may actually be hurting Democrats as more and more Republican candidates focus on him as a symbol of inept liberalism, Bloomberg Politics writes: * * Although de Blasio carried the South Bronx in 2013, some residents now have mixed feelings on the mayor and believe the borough is headed in the wrong direction, despite some indicators to the contrary, TheWall Street Journal reports
Louis's Rube Goldberg de Blasio's Re-Election Route to Victory
Errol Louis writes in the Daily News that murmurs about deBlasio being a one-term mayor are wishful thinking, and that the mayor will face more serious problems if he doesn’t decrease income inequality: A more serious problem will emerge if de Blasio doesn’t move the needle on income inequality. In recent history, only three sitting New York mayors have been voted out of office — Abe Beame, Ed Koch and David Dinkins — and each man’s fate was sealed when he failed to keep his central promise to voters. Beame, who served as city budget director and two terms as controller before being elected mayor, campaigned on the slogan, “He Knows the Buck” — and therefore could not escape the wrath of voters when, on his watch, years of reckless borrowing, unchecked spending and bad accounting practices caused a near-bankruptcy of the government in 1975. A crowded field of challengers came after Beame, including Ed Koch, the eventual winner. That simplified thumbnail sketch of recent history is known to de Blasio, which is why he stays focused on his main promises from the 2013 campaign: providing universal pre-K, ending the widespread use of stop-and-frisk policing, building or saving 200,000 units of affordable housing — and, above all, helping to close the income gap between rich and poor.* New York Republican Committee Chairman Ed Cox mocked Cuomo and de Blasio for their squabble over topless performers in Times Square, saying the two are “like two scorpions in a bottle,” State of Politics reports
Dick Grasso kinda announces he's running for NYC mayor against comrade @BilldeBlasio
Louis's Rube Goldberg de Blasio's Re-Election Route to Victory
Daily News' Gonzalez: Elites Trying to Dump Mayor
Elites could be crying out 'chaos' in NYC to get de Blasioout of office: @juangon68 http://nydn.us/1US9J71 Is this city descending into chaos, or are Mayor de Blasio’s critics using small spikes in crime to whip up the public against him? If you believe the blaring headlines, shootings are climbing, the homeless are taking over, drug use has suddenly escalated, and Times Square is hurtling back to its X-rated past. Even Curtis Sliwa has returned with his Guardian Angels show.This is all part of a storyline concocted by powerful people in this town who are bent on turning de Blasio into a one-term mayor.
Former Backer Turns On Mayor
Wall Street Turns Against de Blasio
“He’s anti-business, he’s anti-wealth, he’s anti-accomplishment. His performance has not been up to par. He’s failed.”
Top de Blasio backer considers 2017 run against ‘anti-business, anti-cop socialist’ (NYP) One of the nation’s wealthiest black business leaders is considering mounting a self-financed campaign to topple Mayor de Blasio in 2017 — saying he has lost faith in the candidate he once supported. “I’m giving serious thought to running for mayor of New York City . . . I was a political supporter of Bill de Blasio,” real estate mogul Don Peebles told The Post on Tuesday. Peebles and wife Katrina contributed $9,675 to de Blasio’s 2013 campaign and inaugural committees, records show. But during an extensive interview, the lifelong Democrat — who is reportedly worth $700 million — delivered a withering attack on the mayor’s handling of taxes, charter schools, stewardship of the NYPD and chilly relations with Gov. Cuomo. He slammed de Blasio on numerous fronts, from his management skills to his chat with his son, Dante, about how to act if approached by cops. While he resides in Boca Raton, Fla., Peebles owns homes in downtown Manhattan and is buying a place on the Upper West Side. He also has company offices in Midtown and owns a home in Bridgehampton, LI.Peebles is well-known in New York’s political and business circles. He served on President Obama’s national finance committee and has raised money for Bill Clinton and other politicians. * The narrative that the New York City media is portraying of violence and vagrancy returning to the high levels of the 1980s and 1990s ignores inconvenient facts and basic history, the Daily News’ Juan Gonzalez writes: * Gonzalez: Elites may be crying 'chaos' to get de Blasio out (NYDN) Thursday People beg Peebles: Please run against de Blasio! (NYP)* An ex-supporter calls out Mayor de Blasio’s failures (NYP Ed) * A “local Democratic insider” tells Business Insider that Public Advocate Letitia James is considering challenging New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in the 2017 Democratic mayoral primary:* * The list of Democrats mulling a challenge against de Blasio in 2017 has grown in the wake of criticism, but the mayor in a rare move had a message for all of them during a press conference—bring it on, theObserver writes: Friday Peebles and de Blasio definitely aren’t friends anymore (NYP) “Interesting way to be a friend,” de Blasio said Thursday of the wealthy black business leader, during an unrelated press conference in Beach Channel, Queens . Asked how he would respond to Peebles’ claims that he is anti-business and anti-wealth, he replied tersely, ‘He’s wrong.”
Wilhelm Lies Panders in Harlem on A Name Change He Did to Run in A Jewish District
A LICH Hospital Connection LICH ER stays open as deal with Peebles a ‘whisper away’ (Brooklyn Daily Eagle) Attorneys from community groups, SUNY and developer Peebles Corp., the frontrunner to buy Long Island College Hospital (LICH), asked state Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes on Wednesday for one more day to resolve a snag in a deal that would keep an free-standing emergency department open on the Cobble Hill site, along with primary and urgent care. Developer Peebles plans a mixed use development on the LICH campus, and has partnered with Maimonides Medical Center Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
Wilhelm Lies Panders in Harlem on A Name Change He Did to Run in A Jewish District
Bill de Blasio's Slave Name (CityWatch) The mayor reached a new low in sanctimonious, pandering bullshit this weekend in Harlem. Speaking about why he changed his name, de Blasio cited “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” as an inspiration. Malcolm X rejected his birth name as “not really his name,” and similarly de Blasio decided that his slave name “Warren Wilhelm, Jr.” wasn’t right for him either. His new name “was [his] true self.” The fact that he changed his name 25 years after he first read “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” while in the middle of his first run for elected office, shouldn’t make you think that there were any political implications to his choice. Incidentally, why does the mayor constantly throw his father under the proverbial streetcar wheels? “I honor my father for all he did for his country and all the good in him, but I only unfortunately got to see the bad,” he said at the First Corinthian Baptist Church. A few years ago he told the Times that from his father, "I learned what not to do." Obviously de Blasio must resent his father for killing himself, but he should save it for his therapist’s office, just for the sake of manners. The guy fought in World War Two and lost a leg, and his son grows up and just constantly heaps scorn on his memory. With that kind of gratitude, it isn’t surprising that de Blasio hemmed and hawed about endorsing his former boss Hillary Clinton.* While at a church in Harlem, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the “Autobiography of Malcolm X” helped inspire him to adopt his mother’s maiden name, and described it as the most influential book in his education, the Post reports: De Blasio, who was born Warren Wilhelm Jr., retained his father’s surname until 2001 — the same year he ran for and won a City Council seat in Park Slope. His dad fought in World War II but became an alcoholic and took his own life in 1979 while suffering through inoperable lung cancer. Wilhelm left his family when de Blasio was only 7 years old. “I was affected by seeing my family fall apart,” the mayor told Walrond and about 200 Sunday worshippers. “I honor my father for all he did for his country, and all the good in him, but I only unfortunately got to see the bad.” Malcolm X, whose father died when he was 6, explained in his autobiography that he replaced his last name with an X to protest the “white slavemaster name … imposed upon my paternal forebears.”
This Time the Mayor Caters to The Teamsters (Re-Election Resource) Over NYCHA Tenants Needs
The Daily News writes that de Blasio secured no “meaningful reforms” in a deal with Teamsters Local 237, but NYCHA Chairwoman Shola Olatoye is still fighting “the good fight” to be able to schedule workers after 4:30 p.m. without paying overtime:
The NYCHA fixesshould be in: Olatoye steps up after de Blasio drops housing ball (NYDN Ed) Confronted by mammoth backlogs in repair requests, the New York City Housing Authority’s chief executive called more than a year ago for greater flexibility in assigning maintenance workers. Shola Olatoye noted that, unlike major private landlords, she was barred from putting plumbers, painters and others on shifts that ended after 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. Unless she paid overtime. Thanks to NYCHA’s contract with Teamsters Local 237, 400,000 public housing residents often had to take off from work to get repairs done or fixes were left hanging for long periods. Garbage isn’t collected after 4:30 or on weekends. The consequences on the quality of life have been corrosive. In 2014, the toll proved disastrous when the lighting failed — and went unrepaired — in the Brooklyn stairwell where former NYPD Officer Peter Liang fatally shot Akai Gurley. Despite Olatoye’s plea, Mayor de Blasio secured no meaningful reforms in a deal that afforded Local 237 the wage hikes accepted by other city unions. Teamsters boss Greg Floyd said he’d be happy to expand work hours — provided his members got overtime for each minute past 4:30 p.m. She’s fighting the good fight. Too bad de Blasio failed to win the war by successfully negotiating contract language certifying that Olatoye in fact has the legal authority to get the job done.
A Tale of Two Cities: The de Blasio Poll Show and Increasing Racial Divide
It’s official: New Yorkers are growing sick of Bill de Blasio (NYP) New Yorkers flunked Mayor de Blasio in a devastating poll released Wednesday — giving him his lowest approval rating yet amid revelations in The Post about a growing grade-fixing scandal in city schools. The Quinnipiac University
NYP's End of de Blasio's Term Countdown Clock
They disapproved of his handling of the latest city budget by 38-43 percent, and the city’s rising homeless population by 36-53 percent. Carroll also said it’s obvious that de Blasio had failed to bridge the divide between rich and poor New Yorkers and the racial divide between blacks and whites. “The mayor has yet to close the book on the ‘tale of two cities’ written on Election Day 2013. Black voters still approve of de Blasio by a lot; white voters don’t,” Carroll said. Howard Wolfson, a former deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration, agreed. Following the release of the poll, Wolfson tweeted, “Amazing. Guy who ran on ending ‘two cities’ has a bigger gap btwn white and AA [African-American] approval (32 points in new Q poll) than Bloomberg ever did.” * Quality of life in NYC is at its worst in years: New Yorkers (NYP) * The NY Post has launched a countdown clock to keep track of how much time remains in de Blasio’s “disastrous” first term.
A Tale Of Two de Blasio Conflicting Pitches Putting Re-election Ahead of Progressive ideology
His Progressive Cult Following and the 2017 Voters He Needs to Get Re-elected
Police Department to Redefine Chokehold to Match City Council Bill (NYT) The department has not dropped its opposition to the legislation, which would criminalize police use of the maneuver. * The NYPD is poised to narrow its definition of a chokehold, adopting language from a City Council bill aimed at criminalizing police use of the maneuver.
De Blasio’s surprise Monday night announcement to add almost 1,300 new cops to the NYPD came just two weeks after a 1 Police Plaza
The Fact That de Blasio Get 1300 More Cops for His 2017 Election Is Over the Head of the Daily News With No Progressive Fingerprints
Cuomo and legislative leaders announced a framework proposal for concluding the legislative session, both houses promised to return to the Capitol today, the Times Union reports: * * New York City ’s plan to hire 1,300 police officers and use many for neighborhood policing is part of a larger “plan of action” or blueprint the department expects to unveil later this week, The New York Times reports: * The Post writes that de Blasio’s reversal on citylawmakers’ request to hire more cops shows he is at least tacitly admitting there’s a problem with a recent rise in homicides and shootings: * The Daily News credits NYPD Commissioner William Bratton’s“canny leadership” for plans to hire 1,300 more cops because the mayor’s decision-making was a “confidence-sapping mess” * @BilldeBlasio Hired More Police To Head Off Political Fallout; Even From His "Base" Sources Say via @Dnainfo * “He was caught between a rock and a hard place,” de Blasioally Bertha Lewis says of mayor & police. (NYT) * "top CityHall official said BDB never wavered from hisposition that the city didnt need more cops 2 keep [NYC] safe” (NYDN) * De Blasio’s decision to add 1,300 new cops, which makes it look like he is responding to criticism, also ties him tighter to NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, New York magazine’s Chris Smith writes: * Mayor, Police Commissioner Introduce Community Policing Initiative (NY1) * The Story of New York’s First Black Police Officer, Told With the Help of Langston Hughes (NYT) The story of Samuel J. Battle, the first black officer in the New York Police Department, is being told in a new book by Arthur Browne, a veteran newspaper reporter and editor. * SILENT HATRED: Newser's book describes how first African-American to join NYPD suffered at the hands of his fellow officers (NYDN) * A machete attack recalls NYC’s bad old, pre-Giuliani days (NYP Ed)
NYC Shootings Map
In addition to the1,300 new police officers that will be hired, a new focus of officers will becommunity policing: * How Bill de Blasio earned this week’s epic flogging (NYP Ed) * BILL BRATTON BESTS DE BLASIO: New Yorkers will be protected by almost 1,300 new cops, no thanks to the mayor (NYDN Ed) * NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton has a long way to go to comply with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s demands that the police force reflects the overall racial makeup of the city, the New York Post writes: * * De Blasio’s reversal in hiring more police officers should allow NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton to reshape and re-focus the police force and also have it reflect the communities it serves, the Times writes: * The New York Police Department will suspend exams taken by prospective recruits for three months beginning in July as part of an overhaul of an unwieldy hiring program, the Wall Street Journal reports: * Mayor, Police Commissioner Introduce Community Policing Initiative(NY1) * MAP: Breaking down six months of shootings in NYC (DNAINFO) * BRATTON'S BIG PLAN: Police commissioner preps to transform the city a second time (NYDN Ed)
de Blasio Strongest Support Comes From the Black Community NYP Floats Paterson
David Paterson for mayor? (Page 6 NYP) David Paterson, the former governor and current head of the New York State Democratic Committee, is being urged to run for mayor. “He hasn’t said ‘no’ to anyone,” a friend of his told me. “He would beat the pants off [Bill] de Blasio.” Paterson confirmed “a number of people have mentioned it to me out of nowhere,” but he told me he isn’t interested. “I tell them, ‘Listen, I wake up in the morning and everything is not my fault, and I have a good day even before I get out of bed.’” If This Is The Best Cuomo Can Do...: In the battle between Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo, I f...
de Blasio Whose Team Blocks Charters While Their Voting Base Supports Them
Mayor de Blasio strongholds also big charter supporters, advocates say (NYDN) Some of the Assembly districts in the city where Mayor de Blasio performed best in his 2013 election has seen the greatest strides in charter school enrollment, pro-charter forces say. Charter school enrollment in the 19 Assembly districts where de Blasio received at least 90% of the vote has increased by 41% since the mayoral campaign season two years ago, they say, citing city Board of Elections and education department statistics. The percentage of students attending charters in those 19 districts increased to 20% of all public K-8 public school students, up from 15%. The numbers come as Gov. Cuomo and Senate Republicans have pushed to increase by 100 the current 460 charter school cap. "The Mayor is politically incentivized to oppose the charter cap because continued growth provides further opening for an edu reform-minded candidate (Hakeem Jeffries, Karim Camara, etc.) to cut into the Mayor's electoral base in 2017," said one pro-charter advocate. "The Mayor is hoping that with only two dozen schools left under the cap in the entire city, that charter school enrollment in his base will not grow much past the 41% we have already seen.
After Rev Butts Attacks de Blasio Organizes Black Churches
de Blasio: Pushing School Control, Building His 2017 Election Team By Organizing Against Rev. Butts
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his aides will visit churches across the city today and discuss why de Blasio seeks to keep control of New York City schools and tighten rent regulations, the Daily News reports: * The Rev. Al Sharpton defended de Blasio, saying those who are criticizing his administration over a spike in shootings and homicides are those who didn’t want him to be mayor, the Daily News reports: Rev. Butts Says de Blasio Losing Support in Black Community Leading clergyman to de Blasio: Fix NYPD or lose our support (NYP) A leading black clergyman on Tuesday warned Mayor de Blasio his re-election hinges on making sweeping changes to the NYPD — including firing cleared chokehold cop Daniel Pantaleo. Rev. Calvin Butts III issued the threat outside City Hall, where he called for the elimination of “Broken Windows” policing and stop-and-frisk — policies de Blasio has criticized but still supports. The Rev. Calvin Butts III warned NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio his 2017 re-election hinges on making sweeping changes to the NYPD — including firing cleared chokehold cop Daniel Pantaleo. Butts backed Bill Thompson over de Blasio in the 2013 Democratic mayoral primary. Grieving family members of New Yorkers killed by cops are set to meet with Cuomo this Friday at his Manhattan office to push him to appoint a special prosecutor to handle such cases, they told the Daily News.
De Blasio names Sharpton ally to head new clergy panel (NYP) The city’s new Clergy Advisory Council will be spearheaded by a top ally of the Rev. Al Sharpton, Mayor de Blasio announced Sunday. Rev. Michael Walrond Jr., who serves as Ministers Division director for Sharpton’s National Action Network, will be responsible for maintaining “a direct line of communication between religious leaders and City Hall,” according to the Mayor’s Office. De Blasio’s announcement comes less than two weeks after black church leaders slammed him for ignoring their concerns and began mounting efforts to draft Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to challenge him for mayor in 2017.
Can Increase Shooting Beat de Blasio in 2017 330 Cops Put on the Streets
With shootings on the rise in NYC, is de Blasio vulnerable? (AP) NEW YORK (AP) — The screaming tabloid headlines harken a darker, scarier time in New York history. "Four more murders in one night," the New York Post wrote under the grieving loved ones of a...Fordham University
More About Campaign 2017
The de Blasio Election Machine
John Wilhelm was his cousin, which was what got me tracking de Blasio’s family history in the first place. Wilhelm was then the national president of the hotel workers union, a cornerstone funder of de Blasio’s early career. Its New York local, the Hotel Trades Council, was pushing at that time for a de Blasio-sponsored bill to allow labor unions to gut the city’s prized campaign finance system. The bill would have made it legal for a union to max out contributions to any single candidate again and again through a variety of different affiliated organizations even if, as in HTC’s case, union president Peter Ward was the only one who could write the checks for each group. The only other union caught in this controversy, which provoked probes and fines by the campaign board, was SEIU 1199, the hospital workers union that had employed both de Blasio and his wife Chirlane when he ran in 2001 for city Council the first time — possibly the biggest and most questionable in-kind donation anyone’s ever made to a Council campaign. . . . Manhattan . In fact, Democrats are so blind to their incestuous ties to the UFT that they ran their statewide Senate campaign out of its headquarters in 2012. The state and city union gave $7.5 million to Democratic Assembly and Senate committees in 2014, setting records. . . .
Many Black Church Leaders Upset With de Blasio . . . Where is Sharpton?
Black church leaders lead revolt against de Blasio’s re-election (NYP) There’s a revolt brewing in Mayor de Blasio’s political base. Black church leaders are so furious at some of de Blasio’s policies that they’re actively looking for a candidate to run against him in 2017 — and leading their list is popular Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. Pastors told The Post on Thursday they’re steamed over de Blasio’s handling of the NYPD, for not providing enough city contracts to minority-run businesses and for tilting affordable-housing policies towards developers. “There’s a lot of displeasure with de Blasio,” said Rev. Johnnie Green of Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem . “In all of the political circles in the black community, there is a constant discussion about the failures of the de Blasio administration.” A May 12 Quinnipiac University poll found 44 percent of voters citywide thought de Blasio was doing a good job. But among black voters the figure was 68 percent — precisely double that of white voters.
Brooklyn Black Activists See Things Different
Tony Herbert This is by far the most ludicrous news reporting to date, Hakeem Jeffries isn't the premier Black candidate and truly not as popular as this reporter eludes to in our community, We have to be careful when listening to people who tell us who our leaders are......I andva host of others are not onboard with this candidacy, dude has been absent on the issues of violence in our community and truly is a political pawn for the special interest!!!! Tish James and I have had our ups and downs but she is a very viable candidate, Eric Adams and Ruben Diaz are just as appealing, but Jeffries is a non start in my book.......#imjs
Black Leaders Make Demands of de Blasio as His Wife Plays the Victim to Shore Up the Black Vote for 2017
DOES HE LOOK WORRIED? Unfazed de Blasio says he can stomach poll that finds his support among blacks plummeting (NYDN) *Black Leaders Showing Signs of Frustration With Mayor de Blasio (NYT) Mayor Bill de Blasio remains popular with black constituents, but some community ministers and activists have complained that he has been slow to address their concerns.* Some of de Blasio’s support in the black community has atrophied due to the perception that he has eased up on his commitment to reform * Dozens of black ministers, justice reform advocates and civil rights activists and four black members of Congress gathered last Monday at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem to discuss a delicate matter: What to do about de Blasio. The meeting was part gripe session, part strategic huddle, revealing the first hints of frustration with a mayor who won 96 percent of the black vote in 2013.* Chirlane McCray: I felt ‘sadness,’ ‘disrespect’ when NYPDcops turned backs on Mayor de Blasio at funeral of slain officer (NYDN) Over the course of the morning meeting, attendees voiced a series of concerns:
Mr. de Blasio, some complained, seems to have lost his appetite for criminal justice reform. The mayor, they said, has been too slow to take action against the police officer whose use of a chokehold on Eric Garner, an unarmed black man on Staten Island , led to Mr. Garner’s death. Other participants grumbled that Mr. de Blasio and his staff have simply not done enough to communicate with black community leaders on issues like affordable housing. The unusual congregation of community influencers, convened by the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, was part gripe session, part strategic huddle, revealing the first hints of frustration with a mayor who won 96 percent of the black vote when he was elected in 2013. -- Rep. Hakeem Jeffries: There is “growing disenchantment with the administration in the black community. The disenchantment relates to policing issues, the mayor’s support of broken windows, his lack of support for banning chokeholds and his willingness to support making resisting arrest a felony.”- Tamika Mallory: “The police turned their backs on him and all of the sudden he is beginning to concede … Is it already to the point that we have to turn our backs on the mayor?”
De Blasio Administration Wants High-Sodium Warnings on Menus (NYT) The proposal, which is scheduled to be presented on Wednesday, was denounced by restaurant representatives as overregulation.Under a plan to be presented by the de Blasio administration today, many chain restaurants would have to post a warning label on the menu beside any dish that has more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium. It is the first foray by the mayor into the kind of high-profile public health policies championed by his predecessor, Mike Bloomberg.* Opponents of de Blasio’s proposal to require chainrestaurants to post a warning label on salt-heavy foods said the plan is based on shaky science and will hurt already struggling businesses, the Journal writes: * The New York City Board of Health voted to move forward with a plan to require salt-shaker icons next to menu items with more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium at chain restaurants, the Daily News reports: *City’s chain restaurants fail to provide sodium info on menus (NYP)
The New York City Board of Health voted to consider waiving a requirement that parents sign a consent form for an Orthodox circumcision ritual that can lead herpes in children, the Times reports: * At the de Blasio administration’s urging, the NYC Board of Health voted to considerwaiving a requirement that parents sign a consent form for metzitzah b’peh, an Orthodox Jewish circumcision ritual linked to herpes infections in infants. A public hearing will be held in July, and the board is expected to make a final decision in September.
De Blasio has appointed allies to the New York City Board of Health ahead of its planned vote today on an ultra-Orthodox circumcision ritual that has been linked to herpes infections. The mayor has installed numerous allies on the New York City Board of Health as his administration prepares to present a controversial plan that would ease the rules on a circumcision ritual linked to herpes infections in infants. * Now We Know the Reason for the Delay The de Blasio administration has delayed presenting to the board a proposal that would no longer require parents to sign a consent form before a controversial Orthodox circumcision practice, the Journal reports * De Blasio has placed allies & donors on the Board ofHealth as he seeks to ease rules on a controversial ritual.
Nanny Mayor's Back With Salt Warning On the Day the Mayor Stacks the Board of the Health Department
To Pass Controversial Ultra-Orthodox Circumcision Ritual
To Pass Controversial Ultra-Orthodox Circumcision Ritual
de Blasio Stacks the Health Department to Win the 2017 Campaign
De Blasio has appointed allies to the New York City Board of Health ahead of its planned vote today on an ultra-Orthodox circumcision ritual that has been linked to herpes infections. The mayor has installed numerous allies on the New York City Board of Health as his administration prepares to present a controversial plan that would ease the rules on a circumcision ritual linked to herpes infections in infants. * Now We Know the Reason for the Delay The de Blasio administration has delayed presenting to the board a proposal that would no longer require parents to sign a consent form before a controversial Orthodox circumcision practice, the Journal reports * De Blasio has placed allies & donors on the Board ofHealth as he seeks to ease rules on a controversial ritual.
McCray Victim of NYPD
* New York City First Lady Chirlane McCray said she felt “tremendous sadness” and “disrespect” when officers turned their backs to her and the mayor at a slain colleague’s funeral this winter, the Daily Newsreports: * McCray: I felt 'sadness,' 'disrespect' when cops turned away(NYDN) -- On the police officers who turned their backs: “It was horrible. I don’t know why the officers turned their backs,” McCray said in a wide-ranging interview on WABC-TV’s “Up Close With Diana Williams” that aired Sunday. “I believe in protest. I think there’s a time and a place for it, and that wasn’t the time,” McCray said, referring to the January funeral for Officer Wenjian Liu, where hundreds of city cops turned their backs on de Blasio and McCray as the mayor delivered his eulogy for the fallen officer. “That was a terribly sad day for the city and for those families. Those families are still grieving and it will take a long time for them to get back to whatever could be called normal,” she added. Daily News’ AdamEdelman
-- WATCH the video
Stringer vs Moskowitz 2017
And you thought the 2016 presidential race got off to an early start. Demonstrating how fast candidates are getting off the fundraising blocks for the next citywide cycle, city ControllerScott Stringer is pushing a June 9 Manhattan fundraiser -- the first of his 2017 campaign. Renee Cafaro, treasurer of Manhattan Community Board 5 and a longtime Stringer ally, will host the gathering at her home at The Plaza. Top-tier tickets go for $4,950 a pop. Stringer has capitalized on his role as the city's top money man to act as a foil to Mayor de Blasio, his fellow Democrat, but has insisted he's not interested in anything but another term as controller right now. As of the most recent Campaign Finance Board records, Stringer, who defeated former Gov. Eliot Spitzer in a Democratic primary before winning the 2013 general election, had less than $42,000 in the bank.
Moskowitz taunts de Blasio at Manhattan Institute dinner (Capital) "I realize Mayor de Blasio sometimes gets picked on unfairly," she said, as the audience started laughing. "For example, he's been criticized for traveling to Iowa and the like, but I don't think his traveling to those places causes any harm. Coming back to New York , well, that's a different story," she concluded, to laughter, whistling and cheers from the friendly audience, whose members donated anywhere from $1,000 to $75,000 to the conservative think tank for its annual awards dinner, according to an invite. "Some of you may recall that the mayor said to a cheering audience of teachers' union members that it was, quote, 'time for Eva Moskowitz to stop being tolerated, enabled, and supported,'" she said, referencing a now-oft repeated line of de Blasio's from the mayoral race. "Getting this award makes me feel better," she said. "It's nice to know that someone is willing to tolerate me and to celebrate, I may take a victory lap around Central Park in a horse-drawn carriage," she finished with a grin, to thunderous laughter from the audience, mocking de Blasio's unfulfilled pledge to ban carriage horses. * Success Academy
Mayor's National Tour Does Not Include NYC Town Hall Meetings
de Blasio Attacks New Yorkers In San Francisco . . . Does He Respect the Voters Who Made Him Mayor?
De Blasio traveling farther and farther away from New York (NYP) * America ’s transportation funding woes lies in taxing the rich. “If you ask me where I think we should get revenue that could have a transcendent impact on our country, no one here will be shocked if I say there’s several ways I think we should be taxing those who have done very well,” he said. At the mayor moves to court Silicon Valley , Internet titans including Facebook, Google and Twitter this week have issued a public rebuke of the de Blasio administration on an ostensibly obscure subject: municipal taxi policy.* Big Apple mayors never go beyond the confines of City Hall. (Wash Post) .@BilldeBlasio will take listener calls on a California radio station this morning; he does not regularly do that in NYC.* De Blasio takes calls in ‘a wonderful, progressive town’ “To string together a policy disagreement with innuendo and false rumors for a second ridiculous and dopey ‘think piece’ on this topic in a week is a stretch—even for Capital New York.” * De Blasio caps off cross-country tour praising liberal San Fran Mayor de Blasio gushed about the “wonderful” liberal City by the Bay in a radio interview there Friday, as he wound up a four-day trip to promote his progressive agenda * De Blasio gushes over liberal San Francisco in cross-country frolic(NYP) * Welcome back from your trip, de Blasio! We missed you, butapparently the feeling isn’t mutual (NYP) * De Blasio took questions from Cali residents on a radio show during histrip there -something he's never done at home (NY1)
Cuomo takes aim at de Blasio, again (Capital) The latest was Cuomo’s statement to the Associated Press that he stands with the police and firefighter unions in their fight with the de Blasio administration over pension costs. * The mayor gave two speeches in California yesterday — one at his daughter Chiara’s private university and another at the University of California-Berkeley — after making a similar stop to push his progressive agenda for income equality in Washington. He has also appeared recently in Nebraska and Iowa .* De Blasio responded to the criticism by saying his agenda would be updated in collaboration with partners and noting he was “optimistic” he would endorse Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, Salon reports: * Mayor de Blasio takes jab at predecessor Michael Bloombergwith Eric Garner comment during Californiatrip (NYDN) * While de Blasio is calling for paid sick leave throughout the nation, he isn’t providing the benefit to city workers after a child is born or when relatives get sick though he could do so unilaterally for non-union employees, the Post writes: * * New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio capped off his tour of the U.S. in San Francisco where he praised the city for its progressive policies, the Post writes
de Blasio 2017
How de Blasio's 13 Points Politically Loses the House
What the Mayor Missed While Traveling
While he was gone — everything de Blasio missed in New York(NYP) 13 shootings 5 murders 1 police officer attacked by a hammer-wielding madman State New York and San Francisco , where he visited Friday, but won’t sway swing voters where the party hopes to regain seats. “That stuff is not going to help us win back the House,” said one Democrat. Members also argued the mayor lacks ideas for moving the proposals past congressional Republicans. “Finding common ground with Republicans is hard work. I don’t see that work getting done,” said a senior congressional aide.* De Blasio’s rollout of a 13-point progressive agenda last week in the nation’s capital drew more eye-rolling than enthusiasm from some lawmakers in his party.* De Blasio " 'has more has more actors than members ofthe NY delegation' on board, said one Hill staffer." (NYDN) * The chaos of a de Blasio presidency (NYP) * De Blasio road trip missed chance to learn truth of NYC’s success (NYP) * De Blasio " 'has more has more actors than members ofthe NY delegation' on board, said one Hill staffer." (NYP) * STAYING IN NYC IS 'MALPRACTICE': De Blasio defends latest out-of-town trip, says he's right to promote city's interests in D.C. *
Last Week True News Has de Blasio Running for the WH in 2020 Today NYP's Dicker Moves Up Date to 2016
Is Our Mayor Thinking of Joining the Token Opponents Running Against Clinton?
Mayor Does Nothing for Vets as As He Runs for President in 2020
The vets say the mayor hasn’t put forth any policies to help them and hasn’t even met once with his Veterans Committee. Some in Veterans Community Say Mayor Hasn't Done Enough to Prioritize Their Needs (NY1) It was supposed to be a step toward better addressing the concerns of veterans, but in naming six new appointees to the city's Veterans' Advisory Board this week, Mayor Bill de Blasio came under heavy criticism from some in the veterans community, who say he hasn't done enough to prioritize their needs.* Veterans groups say de Blasio has ignored their needs (NYP) * Mayor de Blasio has shown a “tone-deaf disregard” for veterans since taking office, they charged at City Hall on Thursday. Representatives from more than two dozen veterans organizations said Hizzoner has done nothing to address — nor formulated any plans to tackle — high rates of suicide, unemployment and other struggles among vets.* Sources say the report in the Post on Monday that alleged de Blasio is eyeing a 2016 presidential run against Hillary Clinton is“fantasyland,” the Daily News reports:* Despite repeated denials by his aides, “de Blasio 2016″ rumors continue to persist. * * Mayor Bill de Blasio’s trips across the country to promote his agenda are being financed through a nonprofit funded by groups with business before the city, the Post reports:
Representatives from more than two dozen veterans’ organizations rallied outside the New York City Hall Chicago , and he couldn’t beat Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the issues that matter.* The governor said he’s “not commenting” on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s trips to the Midwest and inaccurately claimed the mayor did not comment on his trip to Cuba , Capital New York reports
Iowa On the heels of snubbing Clinton , NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared in Iowa (right as she was leaving the early presidential voting state) to preach his tax-the-rich message.* Mayor Bill de Blasio often sounded like the national player he aspires to be on his Midwest visit, delivering a fiery speech on income inequality and calling for a revival of progressive-era politics, The New York Times reports * Mayor de Blasio, in Iowa, Cites ‘Rampant Inequality’ in U.S. (NYT) Mayor Bill de Blasio sounded a lot like the national player he aspires to be, delivering a fiery speech about the dangers of income inequality and calling for a revival of progressive-era politics.* Bill de Blasio fudges frisk facts while speaking in Iowa (NYDN) * Hillary Clinton 'loves' Bill de Blasio (NYDN)* Though his focus was national during his brief Midwest trip, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio could not entirely escape local issues, as a Nebraska rancher and radio host showed up to question the mayor’s proposal to take horse carriages out of Central Park. Also, de Blasio brushed off questions about whether he wants to run for president.* De Blasio slams Walker: He’s dismantling middle class life (NYP)
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How de Blasio is Trying to Help Clinton By Sucking the Air Out of Warren's Message While Setting Himself Up for 2020 WH Run
NYC Mayor Decries Wealth Gap (WSJ)* Mayor Talks Income Inequality, Progressive Politics in Iowa (NY1) de Blasio Dis Obama Also “President Obama isnext in line for Bill de Knife. … de Blasio charged Thursday that the president hasn’t moved fast enough to address income inequality, an issue Hizzoner described as ‘the crisis of our time.’ ‘My critique would be I wish the president had early and often talked about income inequality and rallied the American people to address the issue,’ the mayor said on the second day of his swing to the Midwest to promote his progressive agenda. ‘I wish that had happened earlier on in his administration.’”* State Republican Chairman Ed Cox said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio should end his “Magical Mystery Tour” in the Midwest, stop focusing on national matters and return to the boroughs, the Observer reports: * In a Q&A with de Blasio in the Midwest , the mayor said he was not concerned Democrats view him as disloyal by not endorsing Hillary Clinton’s presidency, the Wall Street Journal reports:
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How de Blasio is Trying to Help Clinton By Sucking the Air Out of Warren's Message While Setting Himself Up for 2020 WH Run
I was a @NYCCouncil member 4 15yrs with front seat view of 3 mayors, Koch, Dinkins, Giuliani All paid more attention 2 running City than DEB
The de Blasio Clinton Dis Causing A Trust Problem That Could Defeat Him in 2017
Hillary Team: Benedict Bill - Is He Positioning Himself to Run in 4 8 Years?
Last time mayor of ny kept a dem dangling in prez race was Koch 1980. Result: 8 yrs 4 Reagan 4 Bush
De Blasio’s Hillary diss leaves Democrats, Clintons fuming (NYP) He’s Benedict Bill. Democratic leaders are fuming after Mayor de Blasio turned his back on mentor and megasupporter Hillary Rodham Clinton by not endorsing her presidential bid. A party source told The Post on Monday that Hizzoner has rankled the top echelon so much that donors may pull support for him when he’s up for re-election. “Some of Hillary’s biggest bundlers are like, ‘WTF?’ ” the source said. * The Clinton-de Blasio political marriage (NYP, 2013) * De Blasio’s decision to not immediately endorse Clinton ’s presidential candidacy sparkedplenty of debate in political circles, with some calling the move a slap in the face to his former boss and others describing it as a reflection of his commitment to liberal issues. * Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, who is married to Clinton’s top aide, Huma Abedin,chastised de Blasio for refusing to back his former boss right off the bat, saying she was “working on a progressive vision of health care when (the mayor) was still smoking pot at NYU or wherever he went.” * Former NYC Public Advocate and Democratic mayoral candidate Mark Green questioned why de Blasio was holding Clinton to a higher standard than Cuomo, who got the mayor’s endorsement last year despite their clashes on taxes and other issues.* De Blasio was met by a chorus of boos by Mets fans at the team’s home opener yesterday. Jeers broke out as soon as the mayor, who is open about his allegiance to the Boston Red Sox, was announced during pre-game festivities at Citi Field. * .@BilldeBlasio will "keep manufacturing ways to try to insert himself...into the prescampaign"(NY Mag) * Congressman: Sean Patrick Maloney Bill de Blasio ‘Should Have HisHead Examined’ After Snubbing Hillary (NYO) * Public Advocate Not As Ready for Hillary As SheUsed to Be (NYO) * This is what Anthony Weiner says about Mayor de Blasio notendorsing Hillary Clinton (WNBC) Anthony Weiner Among Critics Who Slam Mayor de Blasio for Not Endorsing Hillary Clinton * Mayor Bill de Blasio doubles down on Hillary snub (CrainsNY)
De Blasio St Patrick's Gay Marriage Double Standard Is All About the Votes for 2017
De Blasio’s absence from the St Patrick’s Day Parade will “smack of a double standard” after he accepted honors from Jewish groups that lobbied against same-sex marriage, the Daily News writes: *The St. Patrick’s Day Parade — which marks its 253rd year — kicks off on Fifth Ave. around 11 a.m. with Timothy Cardinal Dolan as its grand marshal. More than 2 million people are expected to attend. For the first time, an openly gay group will be able to march under a banner. But NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said the inclusion of NBC Universal’s contingent is not enough to persuade him to participate.
LATE AS USUAL: Mayor de Blasio weighs in on McDonald’s brawl in Brooklyn, calling girls’ actions ‘deeply disturbing,’ saying city needs to address ‘mental health’ issues
The Church and State Re-Election Dance
The Church and State Re-Election Dance
* In finding new ways to commingle church and state, Mayor Bill de Blasio has carved himself a niche as a liberal who is willing to embrace religious groups rather than treat them as adversaries, the Timeswrites: * For someone unaffiliated with any church, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has become an unlikely advocate for the religious, from supporting the right of Orthodox Jews to use oral suction during circumcision to closing schools on Muslim holidays.*Mayor de Blasio Emerges as an Unexpected Champion of Religion (NYT) In finding new ways to commingle church and state, Bill de Blasio has carved himself a niche as a liberal who is willing to embrace religious groups rather than treat them as adversaries.
de Blaiso Takes the Public for A Fool
Buys Votes With Staking the Board of Health
Waters Down Living Wage Wage Reporting
Health Board Politics: Campaign 2017
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to name new members to the Board of Health—which must approve a change to a controversial circumcision ritual—that would give him a majority City Politics Buffet Circumcision Rite (WSJ)
NYT Notices de Blasio Reaching Out to Jewish Vote
de Blasio Campaign 2017: I Do Anything For the Religious Jewish Vote . . . But No Koch Leadership On Israel
de Blasio Campaign 2017: I Do Anything For the Religious Jewish Vote . . . But No Koch Leadership On Israel
The de Blasio administration has delayed presenting to the board a proposal that would no longer require parents to sign a consent form before a controversial Orthodox circumcision practice, the Journal reports
Mayor de Blasio Seeks Stronger Ties With Jewish Voters (NYT) Bill de Blasio has reached out to both liberal and conservative factions of the community to create a role for himself as a spokesman for Jewish concerns both in New York and abroad. * Israel * @BilldeBlasio heads to Israel thissummer: (NYT)
De Blasio Set to Waive Rule Requiring Consent Form for Circumcision Ritual (NYT) New York City could ease a requirement on a Jewish ritual that has been linked to herpes infections in infant * NYC repealing Jewish circumcision law requiring consent (NYP) de Blasio’s administration seeks to waive a rule requiring parents to sign a consent form before an Orthodox circumcision ritual that has been linked to herpes in infants * The de Blasio administration, under pressure from ultra-Orthodox rabbis, is set to easeNew York City ’s regulations on a controversial Orthodox Jewish oral circumcision ritual that has been linked to herpes infections in infants.*Amid rising anti-Semitic violence abroad and his own political travails at home, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has embarked on a furious campaign to define himself as an international spokesman for Jewish concerns, and to deepen his relationship with New York’s often fractious Jewish community. This summer, he’ll make his first trip as mayor to Israel .A Bad Call on Risky Circumcisions (NYT) The New York City Health Department, American Academy New York City is backing off of two questionable bids—one from an employment services company that failed to disclose an executive was accused of murder, and another with a firm headed by a friend of the NYPD commissioner, the Post reports:
As de Blasio Makes Backroom Deals With Jewish Leaders, Koch Was A Public Leader Protecting Israel
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- Ed Koch Despised Jimmy Carter - Business Insider Ed Koch Said He Despised Jimmy Carter More Than Any Other Living ... with Carter in 1980 because he felt he was hostile toward
De Blasio circumcision deal puts health officials in a tough spot (Capital) * Mohel de Blasio (NYP Ed) *NY Times ed board, usually friendlier to @billdeblasio, comes out hard against his metzitzah b’peh policy* Mayor "has simply decided to let Mohels do their thinguntil a baby gets sick": Bad Call on Circumcisions @nytopinion * NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, which came into power a year ago with a promise to reconsider an existing regulation on the Orthodox Jewish ritual of oral suction circumcision, is now negotiating with a group of rabbis over how to protect children’s health while still preserving religious freedom.* * De Blasio is taking steps to define himself as an international spokesman for Jewish concerns and strengthen his relationship with New York ’s often fractious Jewish community, The New York Times reports
Who Can Beat de Blasio in 2017
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WSJ takes a look at the quest to find a candidate to challenge NYCMayor Bill de Blasio in 2017. New York City Republicans have quietly begun laying the groundwork to recruit a candidate to challenge Mayor Bill de Blasioin 2017, with some promoting charter-school executive Eva Moskowitz.
de Blasio 2017: A Tale of Two Daily Press Opposing Spins - All Things to Voting Blocks
de Blasio the Campaign Manager Mayor has a habit of including at least two opposing voting interests groups that he is courting for his 2017 re-election, in his daily press spins. Wednesday de Blasio announced that the NYC public school would observe two Muslim holidays. On the same day the mayor announced that he would be going to Israel in the summer as a healer. Friday the NY Times drops a story how the mayor and his developer buddy Speyer would develop luxury housing in queens without the 20% affordable housing he promised. Also on Friday the mayor is reported on telling the 1% that they must pay $13 dollars an hour. Mayor Bill de Blasio Urges New York City Businesses to Raise Wages to More Than $13 an Hour (NYT) Lacking lawmakers’ support for the increase, the mayor appealed directly to employers, addressing the Association for a Better New York in Manhattan. “ I need you — we all need you — to take responsibility,” the mayor said.* New York Mayor Calls on Businesses to Raise Wages (WSJ) * The business group Partnership for New York City said it supports Cuomo’s plan to raise the state’s minimum wage from $10.50 to $11.50 an hour in New York City , State of Politicsreports:
Campaign Manager Mayor Ignores Court Separation of Church and State Decision . . . All About the Votes
De Blasio says school worship use will continue, despite ruling (Capital) The mayor’s office said the use will continue despite the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a lower court backing of a ban. Wiley Norvell said the administration “remains committed to ensuring that religious organizations are able to use space in City schools on the same terms provided to other groups.” “Now that litigation has concluded, the City will develop ‘rules of the road’ that respect the rights of both religious groups and non-participants,” Norvell said. The United State Supreme Court declined on Monday to review a Second Circuit decision that upheld a standing ban by the city Board of Education on the use of public schools for religious services, even as the practice has been allowed in the face of previous legal pressure since 2002.* Supreme Court Leaves Intact New York’s Ban on Religious Services in Schools (NYT) The court declined to review a case involving the Education Department’s longstanding policy barring religious organizations from using public school facilities.* The U.S. Supreme Court opted not to take up a case challenging New York City ’s ban on religious groups using public schools for services, but Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would like to accommodate such groups, The New York Timesreports: * Editorial: Bill’s big bargain on faith (NYDN Ed) * The best of de Blasio (NYP Ed)* Now, de Blasio Creating His Own“Religious Liberty” Problem ( Gay City News)
NYT Covers-Up Lobbyists Berlin Rosen and Shadow Government Out of Mayor's Slush Fund 1NY Story
A video touting de Blasio’s pre-k program was sent from a City Hall address, under the city seal, to a list of de Blasio’s campaign supporters, among others, raising questions among legal experts and good-government groups about whether it was an appropriate form of official communication, The New York Times writes
PBA Creates The Yes Mayor de Blasio, Just Re-Elect Me in 2017
The lurch toward reconciliation between NYPD union officials and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has come quietly, aided by coincidences of timing, an evolving strategy from some union leaders and a series of well-placed nudges — both on and off camera — from the mayor. And so, a sort of détente has set in, at least temporarily.* The union representing NYPD lieutenants ratified its seven-year labor contract with the de Blasio administration.*
Hikind Praises de Blasio for Addressing Orthodox UPK Concerns Yeshiva World News ... high praise for NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio this evening following word that Universal Pre-K requirements will now accommodate New York City 's Jewish Orthodox families.* New York City may have school on Christmas and Thanksgiving. And their school day may be interrupted by a period for religious prayers.
As Europe Hunts Down Muslim Terror Sleeper Cells de Blasio Visits
de Blasio Who Also Needs the Jewish Vote for 2017 Heads to Paris
2017 Battle: Moskowitz Takes to City Hall Steps
Eva Moskowitz to take steps of City Hall over charters schools(NYDN)* Eva Moskowitz Accuses City Success Academy
de Blasio 2017
de Blasio's Permanent Campaign Government Political Campaign
Familiar Consultants Hired by de Blasio’s Pre-K Drive(NYT) Mayor Bill de Blasio’s privately financed campaign to offer prekindergarten to all 4-year-olds in New York City paid consultants in his election run much of the money it spent in recent months. Those consultants, who were paid not by the city but by a new nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York, included BerlinRosen, a public affairs firm that took in $43,950 in fees and expenses, and an affiliate of Hilltop Public Solutions, which was paid a $16,500 “management fee,” according to a filing with the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Hilltop hired Bill Hyers, the manager of Mr. de Blasio’s mayoral campaign, in December, the same month Mr. Hyers established the Campaign for One New York, which quickly branded itself as UPKNYC. Genova Burns Giantomasi Webster, a law firm that worked on Mr. de Blasio’s mayoral run, was paid $23,467 in fees.
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Adam 2017
Brooklyn borough prez puts out feelers for mayoral run(NYP) *The next NYC mayoral election isn’t until 2017, but one of de Blasio’s supposed allies – former state Senator-turned-Brooklyn BP Eric Adams is already quietly making moves for a possible challenge. Publicly speaking, Adams has insisted he won’t run against the mayor.
More About de Blasio 2017
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Catsimatidis: Radio Host, Politician, Developer, Lobbyist -Many Hats
Catsimatidis Wants to Buy the Daily News
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Billionaire John Catsimatidis is mystery man behind Daily News sale(NYP) * From the Cats 2013archive: When John Catsimatidis ran for mayor, he published his own newspaper (NYT)Catsimatidis trying to slip pricey biofuels mandate into budget (NYP Ed) With a bitter-cold winter and skyrocketing heating-oil use, the GOP’s timing couldn’t be worse. Senate Republicans, under pressure from maverick supermarket billionaire John Catsimatidis, are trying to slip a “green biofuels” mandate into Gov. Cuomo’s new budget that could add $150 million a year to heating costs in New York , business sources have told * Rupert Murdoch's FOXreceives $52 million in tax subsidies from NY * Billionaire supermarket mogul, political donor and sometime candidate John Catsimatidisdid not deny his interest in potentially buying the Daily News, but said he’s under a confidentiality agreement and can’t discuss its possible sale.* No fewer than four very rich men are reportedly interested in buying the money-losing Daily News.
From the Cats 2013 archive: When John Catsimatidis ran for mayor, he published his own newspaper
The Post. Catsimatidis, a Republican mayoral hopeful in 2013 and a heavy campaign contributor to Senate Republicans as well as Cuomo, is well known in the city for owning the Gristedes supermarket chain. But he’s also the owner of United Metro Energy Corp., a large company that is putting the finishing touches on a massive Brooklyn biofuel-processing plant that will be the largest in the northeast when it opens this fall. Catsimatidis told The Post that his lobbyists, including the well-connected firm Connelly McLaughlin & Woloz, “are trying to get it done’’ and that he’s “hopeful’’ the biofuel mandate — forcing homeowners and businesses to use a mix of traditional petroleum heating oil with soybean- and other vegetable-based oils — will be approved this year.Senate Republicans, under pressure from supermarket billionaire and mega-donor John Catsimatidis, are trying to slip a “green biofuels” mandate into Cuomo’s new budget that could add $150 million a year to heating costs in New York .* "New York’s GOP polsconsider helping a billionaire’s biofuels." Republican Crony Capitalism (WSJ)
de Blasio and WFP Black Ops Triangularization Taking the Heart Out of Cuomo
De Blasio Endorses Hochul, Cuomo’s Pick for Lieutenant Governor(NYT)
Blacks Stand Behind de Blasio
Here's Why De Blasio Still Has 'Overwhelming' Support FromBlack Community(DNAINFO)The mayor has seen his approval rating among blacks remain steady at 65 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University Quinnipiac University
Campaign 2017 is A Tale of Two School Systems
NYT: Small Donations Fuled Mayor's Race
But Leaves Out Small Donor PACs Like NYCLASS, United for the Future and 7 Million Jobs for New York
Mayoral candidates received $14 million in matching funds, according to a report by the New York City Campaign Finance Board to be released Tuesday.
.ORTHODOX CLOUT IN VOUCHER DISTRIBUTION: School vouchers for low-income families have disproportionately gone to Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhoods thanks in part to the mayor’s support, City & State’s Nick Powell writes: http://goo.gl/zIVTvb
POLITICO deemed de Blasio “the new icon of the left.”
Shocking Campaign Manager Mayor Opens 2017 Re-Election Campaign Account
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Mayor Moskowitz 2017
Eva Moskowitz, the founder of Success Academy Charter Schools and a former city councilwoman, said she would not rule out a future primary bid against New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, the Observer writes:
de Blaiso Education Triangulations of His 2017 Re-Election Using Government $$$
Buying 2017 Votes
Help the deserving(NYDN Ed) Lower hurdles to special ed programs — but beware a stampede out of public schools. Mayor de Blasio has promised to remove hurdles for families seeking taxpayer funds for special education tuition at private schools — warding off mandates threatened by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. The mayor and Chancellor Carmen Fariña must now proceed with caution to avoid creating a hugely expensive stampede of students out of public school programs. Under federal law, the Department of Education must pay for private school for a disabled child if parents can show DOE is not equipped to meet the student’s needs. Such schooling isn’t cheap: It runs an average of $60,000 a year for private special ed, in contrast to $45,000 for services in public schools. To discourage parents from simply opting out of public school, particularly for common learning disabilities, the Bloomberg team systematically challenged families seeking city funding. Silver felt the Department of Education was too tough on families seeking better for their kids (an interesting stance by a man who has fought efforts to give the parents of general education students even the choice of charter schools). De Blasio responded by committing to decide eligibility within 15 days and to refrain from year-to-year legal challenges. That should ease the way — perhaps so much that private education will become a primary option for many more students. This isn’t to argue that any child should be trapped in lousy schooling. But it is to state that the mayor and chancellor must give tickets out of the system only to the most deserving children who really have no other choice* * Now that New York City is offering to pay for a full day of pre-K, some religious schools have opted out because adding spiritual teachings to mandatory secular studies would make the school day too long, the Journal reports: * Nearly 80% // During his mayoral campaign, de Blasiopromised Jewish leaders that he would bring back full funding. (NYDN)
de Blasio Builds His Reelection Machine for 2017
Help the deserving(NYDN Ed) Lower hurdles to special ed programs — but beware a stampede out of public schools. Mayor de Blasio has promised to remove hurdles for families seeking taxpayer funds for special education tuition at private schools — warding off mandates threatened by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. The mayor and Chancellor Carmen Fariña must now proceed with caution to avoid creating a hugely expensive stampede of students out of public school programs. Under federal law, the Department of Education must pay for private school for a disabled child if parents can show DOE is not equipped to meet the student’s needs. Such schooling isn’t cheap: It runs an average of $60,000 a year for private special ed, in contrast to $45,000 for services in public schools. To discourage parents from simply opting out of public school, particularly for common learning disabilities, the Bloomberg team systematically challenged families seeking city funding. Silver felt the Department of Education was too tough on families seeking better for their kids (an interesting stance by a man who has fought efforts to give the parents of general education students even the choice of charter schools). De Blasio responded by committing to decide eligibility within 15 days and to refrain from year-to-year legal challenges. That should ease the way — perhaps so much that private education will become a primary option for many more students. This isn’t to argue that any child should be trapped in lousy schooling. But it is to state that the mayor and chancellor must give tickets out of the system only to the most deserving children who really have no other choice* * Now that New York City is offering to pay for a full day of pre-K, some religious schools have opted out because adding spiritual teachings to mandatory secular studies would make the school day too long, the Journal reports: * Nearly 80% // During his mayoral campaign, de Blasiopromised Jewish leaders that he would bring back full funding. (NYDN)
Another Re-Election Pot of Money for the Mayor Gets Fancied Up
De Blasio names big givers to advisory board(NYP)The
committee advising the not-for-profit arm for City Hall initiatives has
been stacked with big mayoral campaign donors. Besides actress Cynthia
Nixon, nearly two dozen of 58 Mayor’s Fund to
Advance New York City appointees (or their relatives) gave Mayor de
Blasio’s campaign the maximum allowed, or raised above $4,950 as
intermediaries, including Gina Argento, Jay Eisenhofer and Anthony
Bonomo.* New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
supporters and political observers said he deserves credit for his
progress on pre-K, but now hope he will turn his attention to other
issues as he begins the second half of his first year as mayor, The Wall Street Journal reports:
de Blasio Puts Together His 2017 Campaign . . . Irish Vote Way Down
Dis the Irish Irish New Yorkers are furious after the city made the annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast atGracie Mansion
Lhota
de Blasio Puts Together His 2017 Campaign . . . Irish Vote Way Down
@BilldeBlasio plan to add Eid al-Adha & Eid al-Fitr to @NYCSchoolsholiday schedule. NYC must be inclusive * De Blasio: NYC Public Schools To Close On 2 Muslim Holidays *City Adds Two Muslim Holidays to Public School Calendar (NY1)
de Blasio is at his “wit’s end” and seeking advice from people who are close to him and Cuomo about how he can improve their relationship, the Daily News’ *New York City will become the nation’s first major metropolis to close its public schools in observance of the two most sacred Muslim holy days, de Blasio announced – a watershed moment for a group that has endured suspicion and hostility since the Sept. 11 attacks. Now that he’s closing schools on two Muslim holidays, de Blasio is being pressured to keep his word and add the Lunar New Year to the list. * Two months after de Blasio took heat for calling Sheldon Silver a “man of integrity,” the indicted former Assembly speaker joined a rally to pressure the mayor to make good on a campaign promise to close public schools for Lunar New Year.
Dis the Irish Irish New Yorkers are furious after the city made the annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast at
Hillary
So @BilldeBlasio defended Hillary Clinton's e-mail/FOIA avoidance tactics. I wonder what AndrewCuomo thinks? Will Clinton's Email Problems Rub Off on Cuomo? Cuomo administration begins large-scale email purges (Capital)
Lhota
De Blasio’s 2013 GOP opponent Joe Lhota criticized the Democratic mayor, saying he lacks perspective because he “has surrounded himself with people who think like him and act like him.” Nevertheless, Lhota said he won’t challenge de Blasio again in 2017 because he doesn’t see a path to victory.* In a speech to some of NYC’s most powerful business leaders, Mayor Bill de Blasio called on the private sector to voluntarily hike the minimum wage to $13 an hour. Unlike many of his more wary real estate brethren, Rob Speyer moved quickly to build a strong relationship with de Blasio, but the two aren’t on the same page on affordable housing.
Staten Island
Staten Island
De Blasio vowed to eradicate the “forgotten borough” moniker and even disgruntled Staten Island residents might concede that the borough is not that forgotten by the mayor, The Staten Island Advance reports
de Blasio Builds His Reelection Machine for 2017
Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a series of changes to make it easier for special-needs students in New York to receive private schooling at public expense.* De Blasio announces plan to smooth path for special-needs kids(NYP) * Mayor To Ease Reimbursement Process For Special Needs StudentsBringing a final settlement to an issue that has for decades vexed Orthodox parents of New York City’s special needs children, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that beginning in September the city will remove much of the bureaucratic red tape that was described by parents as a recurring nightmare.
Campaign 2017 The Jewish Vote: Ticket Pandering In Williamsberg for 2017 Votes
Hasidic drivers get less tickets so they vote for de Blasio (NYP) Cops doled out fewer tickets to bad drivers in Williamsburg ’s Hasidic neighborhoods because the de Blasio administration covets their votes and needs to keep them happy, a source said. “They pander and he gives them a lot of what they want,” a former mayoral liaison said. “De Blasio is known to have tight ties to the Hasidic community.” Moving violations in the 90th Precinct, which includes an enclave of 70,000 ultra-religious Orthodox Jews, plummeted 32 percent since de Blasio took office, NYPD records show. Cops handed out 7,077 moving-violation tickets in the first nine months of the year and 8,242 in the same period last year. But in 2013, under Mayor Bloomberg, the area was blitzed with 10,365 summonses in the first nine months, records show. Religious leaders “get in with the Police Department and do their thing,” the former official said. “I’ll tell you one thing, they didn’t all take driver’s ed and change their driving habits.” Orthodox leaders have nagged City Hall for years to lay off. They even brought up the issue when Mayor Bloomberg was running for re-election in 2009, the former city official said. De Blasio — whose support from the Orthodox voting bloc helped him trounce Republican Joe Lhota in the 2013 election — has since placed religious liaisons in key administrative positions and eased city regulations on rabbis who perform circumcisions.
@MikeBloomberg health commissioner: City wrong to repeal circumcision forms Former city health commissioner Tom Farley thinks it was a mistake for the current board of health to repeal consent forms that had been required before metzitzah b’peh, the controversial circumcision ritual that requires a mohel to put his mouth on a baby's wounded penis. “I thought the consent forms were the right thing to do and the right balance and so I’m disappointed they rolled that back,” Farley told POLITICO New York . “There are some parents who are not themselves ultra-Orthodox who may hire a mohel who is and they may be completely unaware of this [practice]. Those parents deserve to be informed before they take that risk. Under the current schema I don’t think that’s guaranteed.”
De Blasio has appointed allies to the New York City Board of Health ahead of its planned vote today on an ultra-Orthodox circumcision ritual that has been linked to herpes infections. The mayor has installed numerous allies on the New York City Board of Health as his administration prepares to present a controversial plan that would ease the rules on a circumcision ritual linked to herpes infections in infants. * Now We Know the Reason for the Delay The de Blasio administration has delayed presenting to the board a proposal that would no longer require parents to sign a consent form before a controversial Orthodox circumcision practice, the Journal reports * De Blasio has placed allies & donors on the Board ofHealth as he seeks to ease rules on a controversial ritual.
de Blasio Meet His Campaign New York PAC Donors in Israel
de Blasio Friend Sarsour Traps the Mayor in the Middle East Conflict
de Blasio's Owes His Victory to 3% of New Yorkers, 80,000 Black Voters and 1 Sharpton
Governing to 282,344
New Yorkers
282,344 votes were cast for de Blasio in the 2013 Democratic Primary, about 3% of New Yorkers (8.500.000). de Blasio tied Bill Thompson, the only African-American in the race, overall at 42 percent of the vote. Sharpton did not back Thompson in the primary. In the general election virtually every vote cast by black New Yorkers — 96 percent — went de Blasio way. Of those we have flagged as likely Black (which would exclude Whoopi Goldberg, Spike Lee & David Dinkins), we have 178,843 Dems who voted in 2013 Primary. That is certainly too low.
Many Black New Yorkers Are Seeing de Blasio’s Victory asTheir Own(NYT)In New York the Democratic Primary is the real election, for most elective officers.. In the primary runoff Comptroller John Liu received 127,173 or just 4% of the registered Democrats in the city (3,177,740) in the runoff. De Blasio did a little better with 138, 736, he got 4.4% of the city's democratic voters. John Liu was elected with just 2.7% of all the city's registered voters casting their vote for him.* "This isn’t thecampaign"-Ray Kelly to Bill de Blasio * Bill de Blasio’s Circle of Power(NYT)
2017 The Last Hurrah Before 2021 Creative vs Service Class Politics
Yes the Creative Class vs Service Class Will Be the Battle
According to a certain theorist, the new class struggle in NYC pits the creative class vs. the service class (City Lab) The Uber lobbyists team won not the hands of the voters but by scaring weak council members and their speaker
Campaign 2017 The Jewish Vote: Ticket Pandering In Williamsberg for 2017 Votes
”de Blasio's Jewish Polls Down Jewish voters comprised 19 percent of Democratic primaryvoters in New York City, and de Blasio’s approval rating among Jews fell 37 percent in a recent poll, which may explain why he is in Israel , Greg David writes in Crain’s:
Bloomberg's Health Commissioner de Blasio Made Wrong Decision to Repeal Circumcision Forms
de Blasio Stacks the Health Department to Win the 2017 Campaign
The New York City Board of Health voted to consider waiving a requirement that parents sign a consent form for an Orthodox circumcision ritual that can lead herpes in children, the Times reports: * At the de Blasio administration’s urging, the NYC Board of Health voted to considerwaiving a requirement that parents sign a consent form for metzitzah b’peh, an Orthodox Jewish circumcision ritual linked to herpes infections in infants. A public hearing will be held in July, and the board is expected to make a final decision in September.
De Blasio has appointed allies to the New York City Board of Health ahead of its planned vote today on an ultra-Orthodox circumcision ritual that has been linked to herpes infections. The mayor has installed numerous allies on the New York City Board of Health as his administration prepares to present a controversial plan that would ease the rules on a circumcision ritual linked to herpes infections in infants. * Now We Know the Reason for the Delay The de Blasio administration has delayed presenting to the board a proposal that would no longer require parents to sign a consent form before a controversial Orthodox circumcision practice, the Journal reports * De Blasio has placed allies & donors on the Board ofHealth as he seeks to ease rules on a controversial ritual.
Monday Update While New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio emphasized his trip to Israel’s core purpose was attending an international conference of mayors, where he gave a speech on anti-Semitism, he said renewed violence in the region cast the visit in a new light, The Wall Street Journal reports: *
Mayor de Blasio, Visiting Jerusalem, Hears From All Sides of Region's Conflict (NYT) * De Blasio preaches peace while meeting with Arab, Jewish, Palestinian students and terror victims in Israel: 'It's a tough ... New York Daily News On his first visit to Israel as mayor amid heightened tension in the country, Mayor de Blasio stressed the need for peace while meeting Jewish and Arab families whose kids go to school side by side. The message of hope later took a somber turn Saturday night as de Blasio stopped at a Jerusalem hospital to visit victims of recent terror attacks.* New York Mayor Bill de Blasio stands in solidarity with Jerusalem ... International-Jerusalem Post Israel News * NYC Mayor De Blasio in Israel for 'Solidarity Mission' Amid Tensions Haaretz * Jerusalem - NYC Mayor De Blasio In Yad Vashem: Attacks By Palestinians Against Israelis'Must End' * On his visit to Israel , @BilldeBlasio takes a carefulapproach with his every word: * De Blasio: Palestinian knife attacks against Israelis ‘must end’ (NYP)
De Blasio’s Israel trip timed with donors’ event (NYP) Mayor de Blasio’s weekend trip to Israel was timed to coincide with a conference in Jerusalem sponsored by two of his biggest financial backers, The Post has learned. Alexander Levin, president of the World Forum on Soviet Jewry, funneled $100,000 in the last 18 months to the Campaign for One New York, which has been called a political slush fund for the mayor. Levin’s group is co-sponsoring the International Mayors Conference, where de Blasio was keynote speaker Sunday, alongside the American Jewish Congress and the American Council for World Jewry, which are both chaired by influential Democratic donor Jack Rosen. Rosen has been a guest of the White House, flown the Clintons in his private jet, and owns the $3.3 million Park Ave. pad where Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin moved in 2012. Records show Rosen has also shelled out $25,000 to de Blasio’s nonprofit, which has raised $3.8 million to tout pre-K and his progressive agenda. The mayor’s office also coordinated his Israel itinerary to align with Jewish donors who have given generously to de Blasio’s campaigns for public office. Getting face time were the likes of Martin Kleinman, president of Americare, whose family has contributed more than $28,000. His firm has been the target of federal lawsuits and at least two multimillion-dollar state fines over questionable Medicaid billing. Leon Goldenberg, of Goldmont Realty, whose family has donated more than $14,000, and Ari Noe, CEO of OTR Media Group, whose family and firm donated more than $12,000, also joined the mayor.
Taxpayers should not be funding this anti-American hate-spewer (NYP) Put aside for a moment that the ills about which Sarsour complains do not exist in the United States today, but plague parts of the Muslim world. Sarsour contends that Israel and American supporters of the Jewish state are responsible for slaughter in the Mideast . Among other successes, she was credited with working with City Hall officials to close public schools for the observance of two Islamic holy days. Last year, she traveled to Ferguson , Missouri
De Blasio deems $25K Israel visit ‘very important, absolutely legal’ (NYP) *Israel this weekend funded by a Jewish businessman. The $20,000-to-$25,000 three-day trip includes his and four aides’ expenses.* As I report on @BilldeBlasio trip to Israel @bobhardt wonders why a little knownbusinessman foots Hizzoners bill
De Blasio pal at odds with Jewish legislator over Palestinian ‘courage’ tweet(NYP) A prominent Arab-American activist with close ties to the de Blasio administration got into a fierce Twitter war with a Jewish legislator when she posted a photo of a young Palestinian boy clutching rock in front of Israeli soldiers and labeled it “the definition of courage.” Queens City Councilman Rory Lancman responded to the Sunday tweet by Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab-American Association of New York, by writing: “No, the definition of barbarism.” Sarsour — whose group received $164,050 in City Council funding since 2012 and campaigned for Mayor de Blasio — fired back “city elected official attacking a constituent on foreign policy issue when they weren’t asked. Welcome to the NYC Council.” The social media brouhaha went back and forth for two days, with Sarsour at one point tweeting: “The Zionist trolls are out to play. Bring it. You will never silence me.” “What you have is a tale of two Linda’s,” said one city political operative. “In one breath, she says she’s trying to bring people together and then she says some of the most divisive things I’ve ever seen on Twitter.”
De Blasio to meet with Palestinians during Israel visit (NYP) * Israeli students not target of Molotov cocktail toss: cops (NYP) A maniac who hurled a Molotov cocktail in the vicinity of two Israeli rabbinical students was actually targeting a shopkeeper who had just kicked him off a nearby bench, police said Wednesday. * Court ruling on ‘Muslim mapping’ insults Muslims, Jews and the NYPD (NYP) * Unlike his predecessors who visited Israel , New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to meet with Palestinians by attending a bilingual school gathering, but will not meet with Palestinian government officials, The New York Times reports: * The Center for Constitutional Rights wrote an open letter calling it “troubling” that de Blasio’s trip to Israel is being financed through a “private gift to the city” from an Israeli entrepreneur, Politico New Yorkreports: * Bill de blasio to visit Israeli school hit with arson attack (NYDN) * Brooklyn assemblyman traveling to Israel to showsupport after attacks (NYDN) Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who is Orthodox Jewish, and several others from Brooklyn left for Israel on Wednesday to show solidarity in the aftermath of the latest terror attacks.* In an open letter to de Blasio, the Center for Constitutional Rights criticized how his three-day trip to Israel this week is being financed. The visit – the mayor’s first since his election – is being paid for through “private gift to the city” by Israeli entrepreneur Baruch Eliezer Gross, and has been approved by the NYC Conflicts of Interest Board. * In a break from his predecessors, de Blasio is intent on meeting with Palestinians during his Israel trip.* A prominent Arab-American activist with close ties to the de Blasio administration got intoa fierce Twitter war with a Jewish legislator, Queens Councilman Rory Lancman, when she posted a photo of a young Palestinian boy clutching rock in front of Israeli soldiers and labeled it “the definition of courage.
de Blasio Has Made History by Supporting the Iran Deal and Becoming the First Mayor to Oppose Israel's Leaders
de Blasio is making history by being the first mayor to oppose the leader of the state of Israel. Since an Irish Mayor in the 40's William O'Dwyer worked with the Pre- Westies Gang of Hell’s Kitchen to deliver guns to Jews fighting to establish the state of Israel. To Mayor Koch who hand a letter to Carter criticizing the the presidents foreign policy towards Israel, which contributed to the re-election defeat to Ronald Reagan. While no NYC newspaper has reported the mayor's reaction to the deal with Iran an newspaper in Israel did N.Y.C. mayor praises Iran deal, applauds Obama's commitment to diplomatic solution (Haaretz) While Mayor Bill de Blasio expresses strong support for historic nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, New York Senator Chuck Schumer sounds more cautious note. By supporting the agreement de Blasio not only is the first mayor not to support Israel, he has turned his back on the people of Israel in their time of need. When comparing de Blasio to Koch the changes are breathtaking. In a 2008 op-ed in Real Clear Politics, Koch detailed that he refused to campaign with Carter in 1980 because he felt he was hostile toward Israel . Koch wrote:
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