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Al Sharpton
Cuomo Takes A Pass On Sharpton Event – Again
Jan 16th - 8:11 am
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s press office announced this morning that the governor will be attending a 10 a.m. MLK Jr. Day commemoration at the Empire State Plaza in Albany.
That means Cuomo will not be attending National Action Network’s Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton – generally a must-do event for New York elected officials (especially Democrats seeking to curry favor with Sharpton and the all-important African-American voting bloc) held at the House of Justice in Harlem. (1:30 p.m.)
Both Mayor Bloomberg and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand sent out schedules indicating their plans to be on hand for NAN’s annual MLK fest. It’s a safe bet many, many other currently sitting pols and aspiring candidates will be on hand, too. After all, it is an election year.
It’s not the first time Cuomo has skipped a gathering hosted by Sharpton.
Cuomo Won’t Attend Sharpton Event With Obama
Apr 6th - 5:33 pm
Gov. Andrew Cuomo will not be on hand when President Obama addresses the Rev. Al Sharpton’s “Keepers of the Dream Gala” in midtown Manhattan tonight, sources from both the administration and Sharpton’s National Action Network confirm.
Cuomo was invited to attend the event at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers for which Obama is making a special trip back to the Big Apple – his second in just over a week.
The governor, who has been keeping a deliberately low profile and sticking close to Albany while the Legislature is in session, declined Sharpton’s invite, opting to remain at the Capitol and work. (State lawmakers put in three days in Albany this week and aren’t scheduled to return until Monday, April 11).
The administration is sending Alphonso David, Cuomo’s deputy secretary for Civil Rights, to represent the administration at the NAN gala.
David, as you may recall, is one of a number of staffers Cuomo brought with him to the second floor from the AG’s office, where he served as special deputy AG for civil rights.
Sharpton and the governor spoke on the phone, according to an administration source, and there were no hard feelings about Cuomo’s decision to stay away from the NAN event.
Sharpton, as you may recall, criticized the lack of diversity on the Democratic ticket during the 2010 campaign, which spurred Cuomo to pledge he would create the most diverse administration in New York history if elected. (He’s still working on that, according to black and Latino leaders).
Sharpton Preaches Against Budget Cuts
Feb 20th - 3:30 pm
NY1′s Erin Billups reports that the Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a fiery sermon this morning, accusing lawmakers of forgetting why they were elected, and calling on them not to impose drastic budget cuts without asking the rich to pay more in the form of taxes.
“You get elected and act like your only job is to get re-elected. (applause) As soon as you get in you’re worrying about how to get back in rather than how to do the job that people sent you up here for.”
“You cannot cut working class people and the poor and talk about you love them. You cannot spare the super rich and penalize those that are helpless and vulnerable, and act like you did what you had to do. You did what you wanted to do!”
The speech comes on the day that Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to attend the annual Black and Puerto Rican Legislature’s Conference. Cuomo’s budget calls for cuts across the board, including $2.85 billion to Education and Medicaid. Cuomo has said he is opposed to extending an income tax on those making more than $200,000.
Sharpton And Bloomberg Venture North
Dec 21st - 2:38 pm
YNN’s Tamara Lindstrom caught Mayor Bloomberg and the Rev. Al Sharpton this morning after their brief visit to the Louis Gossett Jr. Finger Lakes Residential Center in Tompkins County, after which they returned to NYC to propose an overhaul of the state’s juvenile justice system.
Bloomberg and Sharpton were full of praise for the staff at the center – the mayor went so far as to say the people working there are doing “God’s work.” But also said they’d like to see the kids incarcerated closer to home, noting most of them come from the five boroughs.
In a press release outlining his plan, the mayor called the state-run juvenile facilities “relics of a bygone era, when troubled city kids were stripped from their families and shipped to detention centers in remote rural areas.”
It would be more humane – and possibilty cut down on the recidivism rate – Bloomberg reasoned, to let NYC further develop its own juvenile justice system where kids won’t just be “retained,” but also “reformed.”
Dance Fever!
Dec 20th - 8:59 am
Say what you will about the Rev. Al Sharpton, but the man’s got rhythm.
Sharpton cut a rug with his daughter, Dominique, to the tune of James Brown’s “Poppa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” at last week’s “The Stars of New York Dance” fundraiser in Brooklyn that raised money for at-risk children.
The “contest” was won by Colvin Grannum, president and CEO of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, and his partnter, Shani M. Worrell, dancer and vocalist for the Restoration Youth Arts Academy.
NYC Councilwoman Tish James also participated, (if you click here the link in the first line, there’s video), and apparently suffered from a “wardrobe malfunction,” when the strap on her gown broke. NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio danced with his wife, Chirlane McCray, but there’s no video that I can find.
Barron: Sharpton Is Voting For Me
Oct 31st - 6:51 pm
Despite the recent attempt by the Cuomo campaign at a rapprochement with the Rev. Al Sharpton, the prominent black leader publicly announced over the weekend that he will be voting for NYC Councilman Charles Barron for governor on the Freedom Party line.
At least, that’s what Barron says.
According to the Brooklyn Democrat, who has accused Cuomo of ignoring the black community, Sharpton made this announcement on his radio show Saturday morning. Barron was a guest on the show.
“He said that he is a Democrat and he’s going all across the country supporting the Democratic Party ticket,” Barron told me during a brief telephone interview this evening.
“But here in New York, he is voting for Charles Carron because I was there with him and in our movement and our cause for so many years, and how could he not go with someone who has been there in our community for so may years?”
Barron said much the same thing yesterday to blogger Michael A. Harris.
The councilman offered a new twist on the story when I spoke to him. He said Sharpton made an analogy about his decision to stick with an ally being much along the lines of President Obama’s snub to Rhode Island Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio out of loyalty to his opponent, independent candidate Lincoln Chafee, who (as a Republican) crossed party lines to endorse Obama over GOP Sen. John McCain in 2008.
I have been unable to track down Sharpton’s spokeswoman Rachel Noerdlinger to either confirm Barron’s claim or comment on it.
City Hall news’ Edward-Isaac Dovere wrote recently about the “complicated” relationship between Sharpton and Barron. Wayne Barrett has delved deeply into the topic of Sharpton and his tangled political alliances, too.
Wise Guys Smackdown!
Oct 13th - 1:52 pm
NY1 forwarded this rather heated “Wise Guys” exchange last night between former US Sen. Alfonse D’Amato and former state Comptroller H. Carl McCall over the role of the Rev. Al Sharpton in the AG’s race, vis-a-vis Sen. Eric Schneiderman’s ill-fated “annex” comment during the Democratic primary.
At issue was D’Amato’s anti-Schneiderman OpEd in which he accused the Manhattan senator of being willing to “prostitute” the AG’s office to land Sharpton’s endorsement.
Several readers have noted D’Amato is a major backer of Staten Island DA Dan Donovan (he contributed $10,000 to Donovan’s campaign in September and also tried unsuccessfully to woo him into the 2006 AG’s race).
D’Amato is also perhaps not the best messenger to be hitting Schneiderman on his ties to special interests, whoever they may be, considering the fact that he’s a lobbyist himself and once got paid $500,000 just to make a single phone call for a client.
At any rate, this clip gets entertaining at around the 3:20 mark.
D’Amato On AG Schneiderman: ‘God Help Us’
Oct 13th - 10:33 am
Former US Sen. Alfonse D’Amato has penned a scathing denunciation of Democratic Sen. Eric Schneiderman’s AG bid, accusing the Manhattan lawmaker of being willing to “prostitute” the office to win the support of the Rev. Al Sharpton.
In an OpEd entitled “The Rev. Al Sharpton, Our Next Attorney General?”, which ran in a local publication in D’Amato’s home base of Long Island, the senator-turned-lobbyist wrote:
As hard as it may be to believe, that’s what State Senator Eric Schneiderman, the Democrat running for state attorney general, would have you believe. Schneiderman vowed that if he’s elected in November, the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and the House of Justice, its Harlem headquarters, “will have an annex in Albany for the first time in state history.”
“God help us. Politicians have been known to do a lot of pandering to get elected, but this is an all-time low.”
“…To prostitute the office of attorney general for Sharpton’s support is shocking and appalling, and should automatically disqualify Schneiderman from this important office. To say that you would follow in Sharpton’s footsteps is frightening. How soon we forget the case of Tawana Brawley.”
In the piece, D’Amato echoes the criticism lobbed at Schneiderman by his Republican challenger, Staten Island DA Dan Donovan, who used his first TV ad of the general election to highlight the senator’s pre-primary comment about providing Sharpton’s National Action Network an “annex” in Albany if he’s elected.
D’Amato is a little all over the map this election cycle, coming out strongly in opposition to the GOP/Conservative standard-bearer, Carl Paladino, while publicly praising and raising campaign cash for Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Andrew Cuomo.
The former senator also has long-standing ties to Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, even though he backed former Nassau County Legislator Bruce Blakeman in the three-way primary of would-be Gillibrand challengers. Blakeman lost on Sept. 14 to former Rep. Joe DioGuardi, who, to my knowledge, hasn’t yet received D’Amato’s nod.
Schneiderman In Rochester
Oct 9th - 2:53 pm
….which is about as far away as you can get from Harlem, where the Rev. Al Sharpton celebrated his birthday earlier today, and still be in New York (although I guess Buffalo or Rouses Point are further still).
And not only was the Democratic AG contender appearing in an upstate urban center, but he was also standing with law-and-order Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy, who formally endorsed the Manhattan lawmaker’s statewide bid and his plan to crack down on gun violence, combat illegal guns, and shut down gun smuggling.
“We have led the fight on the streets of Rochester to combat gun trafficking, but it isn’t enough,” said Duffy, who is Andrew Cuomo’s LG running mate and also the city’s former police chief.
“This is an interstate problem that needs an interstate solution. I know Eric, and there is no question that when it comes to cracking down on gun smugglers and drug dealers, Eric is the toughest, smartest candidate in the race.”
“Eric has never shied away from the tough fights, and I trust that he won’t shy away from the fight against illegal guns either. Eric will join with Andrew Cuomo, to keep our upstate communities safe and stem the tide of violence.”
Duffy often acts as a political surrogate for the Democratic gubernatorial contender. But since Cuomo has already formally endorsed Schneiderman, despite the fact that he was not the AG’s first choice to win the five-way Democratic primary, today’s nod from the mayor is really merely a formality – and a handy way to get the senator out of the city.
Maggie Haberman notes that neither Schneiderman nor Cuomo was on the list of expected attendees at Sharpton’s birthday celebration at his National Action Network today. (Gov. David Paterson was on hand, and made his presence known by cracking a Tiger Woods joke).
Schneiderman has been under fire from his GOP opponent, Staten Island DA Dan Donovan, for saying during the primary that NAN would have an “annex” in Albany if he’s elected. Donovan has sought to portray Schneiderman as too “radical” to be the state’s top attorney. Schneiderman calls this a smear campaign.
Sharpton was supposed to attend a closed-door meeting of African American officials in Harlem back when Cuomo was still reeling from Carl Paladino’s landslide GOP primary win and trying to figure out how best to deal with him. (Seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?)
But the Rev. didn’t show, and he hasn’t endorsed Cuomo, either. The Voice’s Wayne Barrett recently noted a connection between Sharpton and the Paladino campaign. He also pointed out that Paladino’s unpaid adviser, Roger Stone, was involved in Sharpton’s 2004 presidential bid.
Air Schneiderman Responds To Donovan Attack (Updated)
Oct 6th - 12:43 pm
Democratic AG nominee Sen. Eric Schneiderman is out with his first TV ad of the general election cycle, which responds to an attack ad launched earlier this week by his GOP opponent, Staten Island DA Dan Donovan.
The spot touts Schneiderman’s record fighting “corruption” in Albany, noting his key role in the first-ever expulsion of a sitting senator (Hiram Monserrate) and accuses Donovan of being pro-Wall Street – a theme the Manhattan lawmaker’s campaign has been hitting hard for several weeks now.
Yesterday, Donovan released his first ad featuring the Rev. Al Sharpton and Schneiderman’s pre-primary pledge that Sharpton’s National Action Network would have an “annex” in Albany if he’s elected. The hope is, of course, to cast him as too close to special interests and too much a creature of Albany to clean it up.
Schneiderman’s ad is airing through upstate – an area that trends more conservative (even in some of the Democrat-dominated urban centers like Buffalo and its surrounding suburbs) and therefore an important vote-rich region for GOP candidates.
Considering the 5-to1 enrollment edge Democrats enjoy in NYC, coupled with the fact that Schneiderman’s name recognition got a boost thanks to the five-way AG primary, Donovan really needs to do well upstate and in the suburbs if he’s going to have a shot at winning on Nov. 2.
The script of Schneiderman’s ad appears after the jump.
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