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Christine Quinn
HRC Leader: Paladino ‘Out Of His Mind’, Should Quit Race
Oct 11th - 9:01 am
The outrage from the LGBT community in response to Carl Paladino’s anti-gay remarks in Williamsburg yesterday continues, with the head of the Human Rights Campaign’s pro-gay marriage operation in New York saying the Buffalo businessman doesn’t belong in the governor’s race at all.
“Out of touch, out of his mind, should be out of the race,” Brian Ellner e-mailed to me this morning.
Ellner’s statement was actually the second of the morning and went further than the first reaction he sent out, which read:
“Paladino’s comments are stunningly out of touch with values in this state – and worrisomely tone deaf given events of recent days.”
NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the first lesbian and first woman ever to hold her leadership post, called Paladino’s remarks “dangerous,” particularly since they came on the heels of an anti-gay torture spree of two gay teens and a gay man by members of a Bronx gang that rocked the city over the weekend.
“Given the horrifying anti-LGBT hate crime recently in the Bronx where four people were brutally attacked, the bullying of Tyler Clementi which led him to take his own life, and the recent rash of suicides by at least seven LGBT youth, Mr. Paladino should be ashamed for his hateful and backward remarks,” said Quinn, who also defended Cuomo’s record on LGBT rights.
“As someone who is seeking to a lead our State, it is clear that Mr. Paladino has no regard for the civil rights or the well being of LGBT New Yorkers. We need our elected officials to be leaders on diversity, not urging second-class citizenship for some groups of people.”
Quinn vs. Bloomberg In AG’s Race
Sep 23rd - 2:44 pm
Mayor Bloomberg and NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn played down the fact that they are on opposite sides of the AG race, despite the fact that he’s strongly backing the Republican (Staten Island DA Dan Donovan) and she’s all in for the Democrat (Sen. Eric Schneiderman).
Quinn, who endorsed Schneiderman during the primary, acted as a surrogate for him and recently loaned her his campaign her communications director, Jamie McShane, told NY1′s Grace Rauh she doesn’t believe Bloomberg would “ever want me to endorse somebody and not put my full all behind them.”
During a Blue Room press conference at City Hall, a seemingly exasperated Bloomberg said he “didn’t even know” about Quinn’s backing of Schneiderman, adding: “Why does there have to be an enemy and a fight on everything; why on earth would I care?”
He also said he thinks Quinn should vote for Donovan because “he would be one of the best attorney generals we’ve ever had,” adding:
“If Chris asked me I’d be happy to give her my opinion,” the mayor said. “She’s never mentioned it to me and I assume that if one of her staff goes to work it’s legal. Chris is very careful to make sure that anything she does or her staff does is legal.”
Quinn, Maloney, Brodsky Send Aides To Schneiderman
Sep 23rd - 10:39 am
Top mouthpieces for NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Rep. Carolyn Maloney have joined Sen. Eric Schneiderman’s campaign to help the Manhattan Democrat handle communications for the remainder of the AG race.
NYC Council communications director Jamie McShane is on loan to the Schneiderman camp for the next six weeks as senior communications advisor. (Recall that Quinn served as one of the senator’s top LGBT/pro-choice/woman surrogates during the primary).
Alix Anfang, who rassled with reporters for Maloney’s successful weathering of a primary challenge from newcomer Reshma Saujani, has departed the congresswoman’s office to sign on with Schneiderman as a deputy press secretary.
In addition, Alex Monticello,who was the communications director and deputy campaign manager for Assemblyman Richard Brodsky’s short-lived 2006 AG campaign, has taken a leave from his post as associate counsel to the Assembly Corporations and Transportation Committees to become Schneiderman’s upstate deputy press secretary.
(Brodsky, as you’ll recall, was one of the four fellow Democrats Schneiderman defeated in the Sept. 14 primary).
“We are thrilled to be adding three extremely talented and hard-working new members with a wealth of experience to our communications staff,” said Schneiderman spokesman James Freedland, who has been serving as the loan press contact since leaving the senator’s office to join his campaign.
“The addition of Jamie, Alix, and Alex reflects Eric Schneiderman’s ongoing commitment to communicating with New Yorkers in every part of this state.”
Empire Center Sues NYC Pension Funds, Council
Sep 20th - 10:19 am
The Empire Center for New York State Policy has filed a lawsuit against 2 New York City pension funds, and the New York City Council, claiming they failed to release public records as part of the Freedom of Information Law.
Two of the lawsuits allege that the New York City Police Pension Fund, and the New York City Fire Department Pension Fund has refused to release names and pensions of retired employees. The 3rd one is aimed at the city council for failing to release a list of their member items, known as “discretionary funding”.
The Empire Center has been collecting data from all state agencies, and posting them on their website SeeThroughNy.net. They have already posted salaries of nearly 1.5 million state workers and the pensions of another half a million retired state workers.
The lawsuit has already triggered a response from New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. She tells the Daily News that the city should be able to release the information by Wednesday.
“This is a victory for taxpayers throughout New York,” said Tim Hoefer, operations director of the Center and its SeeThroughNY website. “We applaud Speaker Quinn for acknowledging the tardiness of the Council’s response to our FOIL and for her commitment to expanding openness in the future.”
Quinn Wants To Hear Sampson Say ‘I Do’
Aug 9th - 8:19 am
Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson is under fire from LGBT advocates who are increasingly disillusioned and unhappy with his stance on same-sex marriage.
Wary of the headache this issue caused Senate President Malcolm Smith, who had to do a delicate dance to both appease the LGBT community that had invested more than $1 million to help him win the majority and the members like Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. who held the votes to his leadership post, Sampson is both supporting the six remaining “no” voters and refusing to promise to bring marriage to the floor for another vote.
That approach led to an often hostile sit-down this weekend between Sampson and members of the Stonewall Democratic Club.
It has also spurred the creation of several PACs that are loosely working together, along with ESPA, to target key Senate races, directing resources directly into these districts and not to the DSCC’s coffers.
NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the highest-ranked (and perhaps only) openly gay legislative leader in the state, joined me on “Capital Tonight” last Friday. She spoke about the overturning of California’s Prop. 8 and the ripple effect that will have across the country.
I asked what she thought of Sampson’s refusal to commit on marriage, and she said:
“As a member of the LGBT community in New York, I want to hear that it’s going that the bill is going to the floor and that it’s going to happen as soon as possible.”
“And I understand why Senator Sampson might not want to say that, I really do, from the perspective of being as a legislative leader myself. But I want to hear that, and I also think that in this case it would be strategically helpful to the overall efforts to move the bill forward, which I know Senator Sampson wants to do.”
NYC Councilman Seeks Probe Of Ethics Probe Leak
Jul 21st - 7:17 pm
NYC Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez just released a lenthy statement regarding an Ethics Committee probe into allegations that he inappropriately touched a staffer, calling on the body to broaden its scope to include an inquiry into how news of its investigation was leaked to the press.
Rodriguez “absolutely and unequivocally” denies that he touched anyone in “any type of offensive way” and also insists he didn’t argue with, or raise his voice, to the staffer in question, either.
The councilman did allow that he might have made “incidental contact without realizing or recalling” he had done so in the “close quarters of the doorway leading into the Red Room,” (where Council press conferences are generally held). He said a number of his colleagues were also present, and apologized if he “subjectively offended” the aide in any way.
Rodriguez said he requested a sit-down with the staffer and committee-selected referees to try to clear the air, but discovered a hearing would be held instead.
NYC Council Weighs In On Mott’s Strike
Jul 20th - 9:06 am
Thirty-seven NYC Council members, including Speaker Christine Quinn and one Republican (Peter Koo), have weighed in on the ongoing Williamson Mott’s strike, sending a letter to the president of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group that calls on the company to return to the bargaining table with unionized workers.
“We understand that the costs of operating a plant such as this have increased. However, we don’t feel that this justifies bargaining demands for pay cuts and increasing health coverage costs, especially for a company as profitable as Dr. Pepper Snapple,” the group wrote.
“For more than 100 years, Mott’s has thrived while proudly calling New York State home. The workers who are responsible for the company’s success should not be forced into a contract that cuts their income at a time when the cost of living in this state increases with each passing year.”
“Your employees are entitled to be treated with respect and compensated fairly for their work. We urge Dr. Pepper Snapple to return to the bargaining table with RWDSU Local 220.”
Quinn For Linares
Jul 14th - 9:23 am
NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn has endorsed a bid by former Councilman and ex-Bloomberg administration official Guillermo Linares to return to public life by running for the 72nd Assembly District seat being vacated by Senate hopeful Adriano Espaillat.
“I want to help my friend Guillermo write another chapter in an already historic and distinguished career in public service,” Quinn said in a statement released by Linares’ campaign.
“We need his intelligence, integrity and experience in Albany fighting for equal rights and equality of opportunity for all New Yorkers.”
Linares served in the Council from 1992 to 2001 when he was term-limited out of office. He was the city’s first Dominican-American elected official and won an eight-way primary, defeating, among others, Ydanis Rodriquez, who now holds Linares’ old seat.
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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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