‘Elated’ Koch Dreams Of Billboards
Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch was in a very good mood this morning following the release of a Q poll that found 59 percent of New Yorkers want candidates for state office to sign a pledge to support a nonpartisan independent redistricting entity.
That is, of course, exactly what Koch has been endeavoring to make candidates do through his New York Uprising PAC, which is also circulating pledges seeking support for budget and ethics reform.
“I’m delighted that on a shoestring budget we’ve gotten this far,” Koch told me during a telephone interview just now. “I believe that we will ultimately win, as we should.”
Koch, who kicked in $10,000 of his own cash to seed the PAC, said he has received pledges and contributions worth $100,000, which he called “a very modest amount, almost nothing.”
The PAC will be hosting a fundraiser next week in New York City at a wine shop, but the location only has the capacity to hold 50 people, so the event will be small.
Should the money start to come rolling in, the mayor has big plans for it.
“If we had the money, you know what I would do? I’m going to tell you. I’d put up billboards on the West Side Highway and I would put on those billboards the faces of those who we believe are enemies of reform and say: Vote no on these people, vote yes for those who agreed to…our three positions.”
I asked who those “enemies” might be, and Koch responded: “When we get the money to put the billboards up, I’ll tell you who they are.”
So far, more than 60 candidates – incumbents and challengers alike – for legislative and statewide office have signed Koch’s trio of pledges.
That includes all the gubernatorial contenders, both comptroller candidates and all six AG hopefuls. The PAC is poised to announce today that Eric Dinallo is the latest “hero of reform.”
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky was the last holdout, and he informed me today that he has signed and returned the pledges to Koch via snail-mail, although they have not yet been received.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Liz Benjamin on June 23, 2010 at 12:09 pm, and is filed under Albany, Ed Koch, Fundraising, Reform. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
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