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2013
Diana Taylor To Stump For Malpass
Sep 13th - 3:57 pm
For the second time in as many days, Mayor Bloomberg’s longtime companion, Diana Taylor, will be hitting the campaign trail – this time for David Malpass, one of the three Republicans vying to challenge Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
Taylor, a Republican, appeared with Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s Democratic primary challenger, Reshma Saujani, at an Upper East Side subway stop today. Tomorrow at 9 a.m., she’ll campaign with Malpass and his family at Penn Station.
Taylor endorsed Malpass back in June at a “Women for Malpass” event, and she also made it clear that she had indeed given serious thought to challenging Gillibrand herself, but her relationship with the mayor made that too complicated.
The relationship between Gillibrand and Bloomberg got off to a bad start when the mayor released a statement questioning her record on one of his signature pet issues – gun control – in the wake of her selection by Gov. David Paterson to replace Hillary Clinton in the US Senate.
The two reportedly have had several behind-the-scenes disagreements since then.
And it didn’t help matters that Bloomberg’s 2009 campaign manager Bradley Tusk and pollster Doug Schoen met with and advised former Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford Jr. while he was mulling a never-realized primary challenge to Gillibrand.
As for Taylor, she has started stepping up her political involvement of late, and also did not rule out a future run for elected office – perhaps even for mayor in 2013.
Liu For Rice
Sep 7th - 2:43 pm
NYC Comptroller John Liu is poised to endorse Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice for AG this afternoon, a source familiar with the comptroller’s plan confirmed.
This provides Rice with a nice get going into tonight’s debate co-sponsored by YNN/NY1, the NY Times, Common Cause/NY and the Network of Bar Leaders – the first statewide televised head-to-head match-up featuring all five Democrats vying to replace AG Andrew Cuomo.
Liu is a former NYC Council member from Queens, and the Queens Democratic Party has endorsed Rice. So that’s one connection the two share. (Nassau County is also adjacent to Queens).
This is a particularly interesting development because it differentiates Liu from NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, against whom the comptroller might be running for mayor in 2013.
De Blasio, along with the Working Families Party and a number of the so-called progressive labor unions (HTC, 32 BJ, SEIU 1199 etc.), is supporting Sen. Eric Schneiderman for AG.
Liu is now siding with the likes of RWDSU, UFCW Local 1500 and a number of other private sector/trade unions in backing Rice. The WFP also backed Liu in 2009, but de Blasio was really its star citywide candidate. De Blasio was subpoenaed in the (now defunct) US attorney’s office probe of the WFP, but Liu was not (to my knowledge).
Thompson For Schneiderman
Aug 13th - 11:18 am
Former NYC Comptroller and 2009 Democratic mayoral nominee Bill Thompson is throwing his support behind Sen. Eric Schneiderman’s AG bid today, calling him “the one candidate in this field who will truly represent all New Yorkers in the fight for equal justice.”
“I’ve seen Eric in action and have no doubt that he will continue his lifelong fight for criminal justice reform, for economic fairness and for progressive change as New York’s next people’s lawyer,” Thompson said in a statement released by the Schneiderman campaign.
“Whether it’s taking on the insurance industry or ending the Rockefeller Drug laws, Eric has shown true leadership and demonstrated that he will be an Attorney General we can be proud of.”
The release plays up the fact that Thompson was the first African American to hold his former citywide post and grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, became the youngest Brooklyn deputy BP and later served as president of the (now defunct) Board of Education.
Ferrer: Bloomberg Wants To Hand-Pick Successor
Aug 9th - 12:16 pm
In case you missed the second item in my DN column this morning, former Bronx Borough President Freddy Ferrer is reigniting an old fight against his former political nemesis, Mayor Bloomberg, saying the mayor is again pushing nonpartisan elections so he can handpick his successor.
“He believes, given his vast wealth, he can either get a fourth term or bequeath it to someone of his choosing,” Ferrer said.
Ferrer, who lost to Bloomberg in 2005 and opposed the mayor’s last push for nonpartisan elections in 2002-2003, said it is “entirely conceivable” the mayor is trying to set the stage for his longtime companion, Diana Taylor, or NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly to succeed him at City Hall.
During a recent interview with WNBC-TV’s Melissa Russo, Taylor declined to completely rule out a run for mayor in 2013, calling the job currently held by Bloomberg “interesting”, but also adding: ” I think it is probably something that is not in the cards for me.”
Democrats Take Their Show On The Road
Aug 8th - 3:56 pm
The party that brought you AG Andrew Cuomo’s upstate RV tour is now launching “Road to a 1000 Democratic Ideas”, described in a press release as “new statewide effort to reach out to everyday New Yorkers for their ideas for improving New York government and solving the serious challenge facing the state.”
This statewide tour involves state Democratic Party leaders – Jay Jacobs (chairman), Charlie King (executive director) and June O’Neill (ex-chair, executive committee chair) – traveling to communities across New York to solicit ideas from residents and (ostensibly) forwarding the best of those on to the gubernatorial designee and his running mate, Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy.
Naturally, there is a companion Website. The effort kicked off today with events in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx.
The press release features quotes from former NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (hosting the Brooklyn kick-off), Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (hosting the Bronx kick-off), Assemblyman Keith Wright (hosting the Manhattan kick-off) and Sen. Eric Adams. Both Thompson and Adams were scheduled to attend the Brooklyn event.
De Blasio vs. Google
Aug 5th - 12:20 pm
NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is going up against seach engine mega-giant Google, calling on the company to disclose the full scope of its efforts to influence policy in Washington, D.C. by spending some of its considerable resources on political contributions.
As Maggie Haberman reports, de Blasio has had discussions in recent weeks with Google on the heels of his successful effort to get Goldman Sachs to agree not to spend on political ads in this election cycle – even though a recent US Supreme Court decision allows corporations to drop unlimited amounts of cash to try to elect of defeat candidates running for federal office.
De Blasio’s office made this handy Web video to illustrate its efforts. It makes clever use of Google to demonstrate how little information there is on Google’s own contributions, while there’s plenty of stories out there about how the company has managed to become something of a political heavyweight in D.C.
This strikes me as a smart issue for de Blasio as he tries to position himself for a likely run for mayor in 2013. It’s in keeping with his populist ideology, which will make his allies in progressive labor circles happy, and also is just edgy enough to perhaps catch on with younger, tech-savvy voters.
De Blasio isn’t the first New York pol to go up against Google. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky recently asked AG Andrew Cuomo to investigate the company, alleging it is violating a privacy law he penned several years ago. In 2007, Assemblyman Mike Gianaris took on Google Earth, claiming its images were too detailed and could help terrorists plan attacks.
Senor vs. Stringer On Mosque
Aug 4th - 11:38 am
…This could be subtitled: “Two guys who flirted with the idea of challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and took a pass go head-to-head.”
Dan Senor, who was wooed by the GOP and Conservative Party to take on the Democratic senator, has been using the mosque to keep his name in the game, following up a WSJ OpEd with this “Hardball” debate against Mahattan BP Scott Stringer.
Stringer, who is preparing for a likely 2013 NYC mayoral bid, actually opened a federal committee to explore a run against Gillibrand, backed off after other, more high-profile, Democrats got calls from the White House to cease and desist.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
More For Moya
Jun 11th - 1:13 pm
On the heels of yesterday’s news that expelled ex-Sen. Hiram Monserrate is circulating petitions to run against him, Queens Assembly hopeful Francisco Moya announced today he has landed the support of three Democratic elected officials expected to run for mayor in 2013.
NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, former city Comptroller Bill Thompson and Manhattan BP Scott Stringer endorsed Moya, leading his campaign to declare that he has “Moya-mentum.”
Here’s what the trio had to say about their preferred candidate, as per the Moya campaign….
Cuomo’s Validators
May 27th - 1:08 pm
The line-up of people who introduced AG Andrew Cuomo at the convention today was very telling and demonstrated how ethnic and geographic politics is alive and well in New York – no matter how much Democrats insist it’s on the wane.
First up for former NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson (pictured here doing a post-speech interview with local TV).
Not only is Thompson black – a subtle acknowledgement about the concern about the Democrats’ all-white statewide ticket – but he also was briefly touted as a possible statewide contender himself, either as LG or a primary challenger to state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.
Thompson ultimately took a pass on politics altogether this year, preferring instead to go into the private sector and prepare for his second attempt at the NYC mayor’s office in 2013. (It will be a trick for him to keep his name recognition up until then, which explains appearances like this one – and his visit to Somos el Futuro in Albany recently).
More >
De Blasio: I’d Be A 7-Day-A-Week Mayor
May 11th - 12:26 pm
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio today took a bit of a swipe of Mayor Bloomberg for being AWOL when the Staten Island ferry crashed last Saturday, saying he would opt for a seven-day-a-week schedule if he were in charge.
NY1′s Bobby Cuza caught de Blasio at this morning’s ABNY breakfast. The public advocate was asked during the post-event Q&A what he thought of the fact that Bloomberg had monitored the crash and its fallout from an undisclosed location (that was not, according to the Times’ Michael Barbaro, Bermuda).
“The history of mayors in the city is of being very hands-on and being at the site of each incident,” de Blasio replied. “And I think it’s important for the public to see that. I think the public values seeing their chief executive at the scene of any particularly difficult moment.”
“I think we understand the mayor has a lifestyle, and it doesn’t mean he isn’t a good mayor on many levels. I wouldn’t do it. It wouldn’t be my lifestyle. It wouldn’t be my choice. I think it’s better for the mayor to be here seven days a week. But I still think he’s been a very effective mayor on many levels.”
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