Ray Kelly

Ray Kelly, who tops today’s Quinnipiac poll of possible mayoral candidates, is pictured here during a visit yesterday with Jewish leaders in Williamsburg—something that many who are pondering elected office do at some point.

The picture was e-mailed to reporters by Yoel Lefkowitz, a political operative and member of the Jewish community who seems pleased to be among the courted.  read more »

Despite the recent acquittal of the three police officers on trial for the death of Sean Bell, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly still leads the pack of potential mayoral contenders, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.

That seems in part due to his name recognition and in part because most voters probably aren't thinking about a race that's still a year and a half away. Considering also that most candidates haven't even declared, the significance of the results are limited.  read more »

Today, Barack Obama decided to meet with an Amtrak worker and talk about expanding and improving rail service. The timing is not an accident.

He is alone among the presidential candidates in not advocating a cut in gas taxes over the summer, a stance for which he received an extremely rare bit of (conditional) praise from Paul Krugman, but for which he was attacked by his opponents.  read more »

Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr. told me just now, "Once again it's a travesty of the judicial system where it seems like this verdict is going to have black and Latino communities feel like the system works for some but not for all."

"What do we do now? What do we do now? What now?" Diaz asked rhetorically.  read more »

WNBC.com got hold of a March 25 letter from Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to Madison Square Garden Chairman James Dolan, Vornado Realty chief executive Steve Roth, and the heads of the M.T.A. and Amtrak, faulting the parties for holding up the installation of a security perimeter around Penn Station to protect what he called “the single most critical transit hub in the United States” from terrorist attacks.  read more »

A Quinnipiac poll released this morning finds that, among possible mayoral candidates, Ray Kelly is favored by 22 percent of respondents. He's followed, in order, by Anthony Weiner, Marty Markowitz, Christine Quinn, Betsy Gotbaum and Bill Thompson.

Polls at this stage in an election cycle should be taken with a massive grain of salt (as in, many of these candidates haven't officially declared they are going to run for mayor yet, and Betsy Gotbaum has said she won't run), but it seems to say something, at least, about Kelly's potential if he ever chose to get in. Also, although the poll was taken without listing party affiliations for the candidates, it is expected that Kelly would run as a Republican.

More of the release after the jump.  read more »

After Michael Bloomberg's annual Martin Luther King Day breakfast at City Hall, I ran into Police Commissioner (and prospective mayoral candidate) Ray Kelly, who told me, “This is the seventh breakfast I’ve been to under this administration.”

He went on, “[It] always has a good feeling. Martin Luther King, of course, is an iconic figure who did so much for race relations, [so it's] is certainly important in my position, as police commissioner, to be here.”

Kelly said Bloomberg “obviously puts tremendous effort into [race relations], as he does everything he undertakes. The mayor has been at the forefront of everything this administration has done to keep [race] relations, in this, the most diverse city in the world, strong, among all those communities.”

I asked him if Bloomberg's job is one he thinks he could do some day.

After a hearty laugh he said, “Right now, I’m just trying to be police commissioner.”

Here's something that could (hypothetically) come in handy for anyone (hypothetically) planning to run for public office:

The city is on track to record the lowest crime rates ever for 2007, including the lowest number of murders on record, Michael Bloomberg and Ray Kelly just announced.

This will be the 17th year in a row that felony crimes have decreased.

Press release after the jump:  read more »

Ray Kelly held a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with local residents at a medical center in Canarsie last night, complete with a slide show, videos, and tables of cold-cut sandwiches.

Kelly delivered his usual "stump speech" (though widely rumored to be weighing a mayoral bid, he hasn't declared) about lower crime statistics, increased diversity for incoming classes of cadets, and a willingness to improve police community relations.

Many of the more than 100, mostly black and Jewish, attendees said they wanted more police in the neighborhood, but few complained about negative experiences, despite some high-profile incidents involving the police that occurred in the area during the 1990's.

More after the jump.  read more »

The Department of Education faces another lawsuit, this one over racial exclusion in schools. [New York Times]

A report ordered by Ray Kelly shows racial discrepancy among those stopped by police. [City Room]  read more »

Here’s a notice for an invite-only event Ray Kelly is having on November 29, where he will “discuss issues of importance to our community" and express "his views on security and public safety.”

Certainly, it's nothing new for Kelly to be out doing retail-type stuff in the community, but it's still the sort of thing that will continue to feed rumors that he's interested in a bid for mayor in 2009. (Along with prospective Republican nominee John Catsimatidis, who has been staffing up and running ads in plain sight.)

A new Quinnipiac poll shows that opposition to congestion pricing among New Yorkers has grown, but mainly because most respondents think they're also going to have a transit fare hike. According to the release, “New Yorkers will go along IF income from congestion pricing is used to prevent an increase in transit fares.”

Also: Ray Kelly’s approval numbers are down to 55-30 from 62-25 in August, even as rumors continue of a mayoral run. And Bloomberg’s ratings are holding steady, and high.

Full release after the jump.  read more »

Last night at a party for The Atlantic Monthly's 150th anniversary, held on the stage of the NYU student center auditorium, the aging cable-access porn star Robin Byrd was looking around the room. She saw Robert DeNiro, and locked in.

"Hello!" she said, touching his right arm.

"Hi" he replied.

"Hi," she said, curling a smile.

"Hi, hi," he replied, holding his look for an extra second and turned away.

"I guess he recognized me and doesn't wanna talk," Ms. Byrd concluded. "Look at him! He's got a clavicle problem, you know. A clavicle problem."

Mr. DeNiro's left arm and shoulder were in a sling.

"Because his arm is not in a cast, just a sling! He has a clavicle problem, poor guy."

"I don't really know what The Atlantic is," she continued. "Is it something political?"  read more »

Corey Kilgannon over at City Room has video of Ray Kelly reading a Dr. Seuss book to kids recently. It's not quite kissing babies, but reading to children is a time-tested skill among people who aspire to run for office. Just ask Eliot Spitzer and George Bush.

Here's Christine Quinn discussing nightlife safety, and looking mayoral, with potential 2009 candidate Ray Kelly in the background. It was taken by noted shutterbug William Alatriste yesterday.

Here's a snippet of an interview Police Commissioner Ray Kelly did yesterday with WNBC's Gabe Pressman,according to a transcript:

GABE PRESSMAN: "Would you say that Rudy Giuliani could be elected president on this issue, terrorism?"

KELLY: "Well, he certainly did a spectacular job as mayor on 9/11, so to the extent that that resonates with the voting public. And if we had another attack anywhere in this country, certainly would, I think, you know, move in his favor."

The full interview airs at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday.

UPDATE: The transcript of the interview is here.

-- Azi Paybarah

Charles Barron, one of three lawmakers cited in NYPD intelligence reports leading up to the Republican National Convention, has a suggestion for Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

-- Azi Paybarah

It's a mash-up mash-up! Barack Obama is now the subject of a 1984-style video too.

Police Commission Ray Kelly briefly discussed the Sean Bell shooting in an interview with Lx.tv.

The city's new transportation commissioner is Michael Horodniceanu, according to Streetsblog.

The folks who disrupted Joel Klein's meeting last night got a thumbs up from the blogger at Pissed Off Mom.

There's a write-in Assembly candidate on Staten Island.

The head of the state's lobbying commission stepped down.

The Nassau County Comptroller's audit of Maureen O'Connell was finally released.

MoveOn.Org is coming under fire from other anti-war activists for supporting an insufficiently aggressive plan for ending the Iraq War.

And above is Mr. Met at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Queens.

-- Azi Paybarah

The City Council's "Republican trio" released a letter today announcing their continued support of Police Commission Ray Kelly in the wake of the Sean Bell shooting, which occured, oh, almost a month ago. No word on their stance on the consolidation of Brooklyn into New York City in 1898.

The letter reads, in part:

Again, some will continue to publicly call for your ouster and criticize you and the department in harsh terms. Despite the voices lined up against you, the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers fully support you and the men and women of the department. You can count us among that number.

The key number, at least when it comes to Council Republicans, being three. --Andrew Rice

The Baker Commission is recommending a gradual troop pullback.

Ray Kelly's handling of the Sean Bell tragedy could yield "a political payoff if he indeed runs for mayor," something he hasn't ruled out.

A fourth witness to the shooting incident is sought.

Malcolm Smith says that "we will only hamper the investigation" if it's looked at "as a racial incident."

Good news for Albany is bad news for Eliot Spitzer, says Bill Hammond.

"He'll never be able to keep a lid on spending if the Legislature has a $1.1 billion surplus burning a hole in its collective pocket. And he'll never be able to rally public support for reform if the public gets that things have calmed down in Albany."

The hospital closing recommendations were endorsed by Eliot Spitzer and George Pataki.

Pataki also said yesterday that Iraq today is worse than when he saw it in 2004. He also ruled out a pay hike for state legislators.

Despite overseeing electoral losses in his backyard, Nassau GOP leader Joseph Mondello will be elected state party chairman today.

Andrew Cuomo's spokesperson said she and another campaign aide pulled out of panel discussion yesterday because they were tied up working with transition work for the incoming AG.

The local economy is really good.

A Bronx lawmaker helped steer $50,000 to a non-profit run by his chief of staff.

Where is Hillary?

The conservative Weekly Standard thinks the liberal Charlie Rangel may salvage international trade.

-- Azi Paybarah

The City Council's Democratic Caucus is meeting right now in the member's lounge.

According to one staffer who almost got attend the members-only meeting, the agenda includes:

The police shooting; the new attendance policy; and upcoming land-use issues and bills for consideration.

The ever-outspoken Charles Barron has called for Ray Kelly's resignation. James Sanders, whose constituent was killed, said Kelly should resign if the police are found to have acted inappropriately.

Hiram Monserrate, a former cop, said it was a "questionable shooting and very problematic."

Speaker Quinn said in a public statement that "appropriate actions will be taken" after a full investigation.

-- Azi Paybarah

Rev. Al Sharpton posed briefly for a photo with Mayor Bloomberg in City Hall's blue room before holding his own press conference on the steps of City Hall.

Surrounded by supporters, Sharpton said, "The city must show moral outrage." He alleged that some of the undercover officers at the scene were drinking.

(Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at least one officer had "two drinks, two beers in the bar," and that the officer in charge of the scene said all officers were "fit for duty.")

Sharpton said the black police union, 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, had taken a vote of no confidence in Kelly and that, overall, community relations with the police are in trouble.

"Imagine living in a city where you have to live in fear of cops and robbers," he said.

Sharpton and company then left to meet with the family, and he said he'll also meet with the Queens DA and speak publicly around 4:30.

Bloomberg, during his own press conference inside City Hall, said he was "deeply concerned," and that Kelly will be the Police Commissioner for the remainder of Bloomberg's term in office.

"There's nobody that should go out into the street and be worried about their safety," Bloomberg said.

NYPDConfidential has a comparison of this incident to the Amadou Diallo shooting.

-- Azi Paybarah

Five Years Later    read more »

Five Years Later  read more »

Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest    read more »

Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest  read more »

The pushback to Mayor Bloomberg's call for a vast expansion of the State's DNA database has already begun. The Innocence Project just issued a release that lays out the reasons for its opposition. One of those concerns, expressed by a group of scientists and ethicists under the Project's umbrella, is that the entire genomes of suspects who have not been convicted could end up in the files of law enforcement.

But this afternoon, when Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was asked about whether the proposed database would compromise privacy, he said "That's why the Mayor is setting the standard at convictions."

Indeed, the mayor made clear that only convicted criminals would have to provide DNA samples. That is a policy that the Innocence Project supports, though they question how realistically effective it would be.

Other concerns voiced by victims and former prosecutors affiliated with the Innocence Project are included below.

—Jason Horowitz

We don't all oppose adding more DNA profiles to the database, but we have serious concerns about how this expansion has come about and the unintended consequences it may bring. The public should know the answers to important questions such as: How much will this expansion cost the state, where will that money come from, and what else will not be funded in order to pay for the expansion? Which crime victims' services and crime prevention programs will be impacted financially? Will this expansion - which Governor Pataki has said will add some 40,000 profiles to the DNA Database in 2006 alone - create backlogs in the state's crime labs? What staffing, training, and technology changes will be necessary to ensure that the work is done properly while trying to meet this demand? How will this expansion impact other forensic work being done in the state's crime labs? What measure will the state take to ensure that crime scene evidence is processed and analyzed quickly - the key to solving crimes? Until these questions are answered, the state's DNA Database expansion should not move forward. It is precisely because we support strong, sound law enforcement that we question this expansion and call for full, open consideration of the implications of expanding the DNA Database so fundamentally.

Mayor Bloomberg stood before District Attorneys from all five boroughs and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly today and demanded that the State Legislature require all convicted criminals to give DNA samples for inclusion in a State database.

The Mayor argued that by toughening up the state's current database law, one of the weakest in the nation, more criminals could be caught, more falsely accused suspects could be exonerated, and more crimes could be prevented.

All of that sounds tough for a state senator or assemblyman to argue against. So there was natural curiosity at the future site of New York City's new DNA laboratory on 26th street this afternoon as to why no such legislation had been passed.

"The fact that we didn't do it before is best left to history," said Bloomberg, who added that he had not consulted either Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver or Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno about the proposed legislation.

"Some people want a fight," said Bloomberg, "I don't want a fight. I want this legislation."

But the mayor, using unusually strong language as he was flanked by the city's top law enforcement officials and victims of violent crimes, sure seemed to be preparing for a fight.

—Jason Horowitz

The Daily News writes about Ray Kelly and 2009; and Ben Smith reports on Rudy Giuliani's amassed wealth.

The Post reports that Council Member Andrew Lanza has been absent from the council almost half the time; and revisits the Spitzer-Whitehead feud.

And the Times wraps up the May Day schedule.

—Nicole Brydson

Kelly’s Heroes    read more »

Kelly’s Heroes  read more »

Memo to M.T.A.: Meet Ray Kelly  read more »

Memo to M.T.A.: Meet Ray Kelly    read more »

Anthony is the only candidate in an early 2009 poll who seems to draw real interest, with 23% of the registered voters polled saying they'd "like to see the Democrats nominate" Weiner.

Ray Kelly, the favored subject of media speculation, gets 13%; Betsy Gotbaum gets 12%. Adolfo Carrion and Bill Thompson do worse.

It's a weird question though; many of the (majority) who backed Mike might like to see the Republicans nominate Kelly. Perhaps they saw the question of who they'd like the Democrats to nominate as, given recent trends, "Who would you like to lose?"

One interesting moment at yesterday's New School campaignfest came at the end, when Mark Halperin asked for speculation on the 2009 Republican nominee. Ray Kelly's name was, of course, mentioned; but the guess that caught my attention came from Miller aide Steve Sigmund, who used to work for the AOL Time Warner Foundation: Dick Parsons.  read more »

Back in September, Mayor Bloomberg announced his plan to have the NYPD lead the city's coordinated response to a major disaster, making it official that Commissioner Ray Kelly, and not Joseph Bruno, Commissioner at the Office of Emergency Management, was the city's security and emergency management tsar.

But today, in the wake of the M&M-in-hot-air-balloon-float-smashing-lamppost-at-the-2005-Thanksgiving-Day -Parade disaster, the Mayor announced that Mr. Bruno would have his own task force to chair.  read more »

"I am appointing a task force to investigate the incident to determine if proper procedures were followed," the Mayor said in a statement. "The task force will work with Macy's and produce a report which will recommend possible changes in procedures if any are determined to be necessary. I have asked Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo and Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Bruno to co-chair the task force."

New York clearly demonstrated its confidence in Mayor Michael Bloomberg by handing him an overwhelmi  read more »

New York clearly demonstrated its confidence in Mayor Michael Bloomberg by handing him an overwhelmi  read more »

The endorsement arrived a couple of days late but, well, it probably wouldn't have helped much anyway. But ex-New York Times reporter Judith Miller told Larry King last night that she likes Mike and, particularly, Ray Kelly. Which may help explain why the Post spotted her at a Bloomberg event not long ago. And what Kelly was doing scouring Mott Haven for WMDs last week. (Sorry, cheap shot.)

"I'm -- by the way, I'm very grateful to live in New York, because I think that they have -- that we have in New York one of the best counterterrorism teams in the entire country, and I feel slightly more relaxed now that I know that Mayor Bloomberg is going to be there for another term with Commissioner Kelly, and his two aides, Mike Sheehan and David Cohen, because what they are doing in New York is nothing short of extraordinary to protect the city, and I think New Yorkers are aware of it," she told King.  read more »

She added later, "I do know that I want to be a little freer than I was at The New York Times to speak out and to express a personal opinion. It's great to be able to tell you, I was really glad Mayor Bloomberg was reelected. I couldn't have said that two days ago. It's nice to be able to have personal opinions that I can express."

Over at the the Lipskys' blog, there's much rejoicing at today's Times examination of the Bloomberg Administration's unconventional Bronx Terminal Market deal.

To me, though, the central theme of the piece is a window on a defining feature of the Bloomberg administration: the extent to which whole areas of policy are, for better or worse, controlled by the Mayor's strong subordinates. It was, to some extent, natural: Mike came to office with fewer opinions on matters of public policy than most politicians. But these are matters that weren't discussed, or even contemplated, in his last election; and it raises the question of what personal projects and personalities a second term might bring.  read more »

It's safe to say that, legality aside, the Related Company would not be part of this deal had Dan Doctoroff not gone to work for Mike Bloomberg. Ditto the stadium push. In another arena, it seems likely that without the happenstance of hiring Tom Frieden, there would be no smoking ban. Mike's ballyhooed taste in art is Patty Harris's taste. The transformation of the NYPD into a local Department of Homeland Security is owned by Ray Kelly.

The Mayor has often talked about picking good people, giving them responsibility, and making them accountable. He's succeeded in empowering competent managers; but the trade-off seems to be that he's contracted out whole areas of policy, leaving the incoherence that makes this administration so hard to describe or analyze as a single piece. And so hard to predict.

Attention Ray Kelly: There is a horde of bicyclists in hooded sweatshirts, circling around Union Square. One even has a megaphone! No, it’s not Critical Mass, but instead a VH1 promotion for I Love The 80’s. (Get down there now for your 3-D goggles).

The Real Estate is accustomed to seeing a heavy police presence when the anarchist bike crowd congregates in the park. So we’re left to conclude that if Critical Mass can somehow enlist funnyman Michael Ian Black into the anti-car struggle, the man might leave them alone.  read more »

-Michael Calderone

New York has been blessed with the talents of some of the most famous federal and local prosecutors  read more »

The New York Daily News and the New York Post, July 22, 2005. "We will be instituting random searches of packages and backpacks as people enter the transit system... no racial profiling will be allowed."—Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, as quoted by Reuters, July 21, 2005.  read more »

We've long thought that the NYPD's clumsy, and perhaps illegal, detention of protesters (and random people standing near them) on a West Side pier during the Republican National Convention was more of a black eye for the mayor than City Hall really noticed, amid the general relief that there was no rioting or terror during the convention. At the time, Bloomberg compounded the sense that he has a blind spot on the First Amendment by comparing protesters to terrorists, which we griped about at great length here.

Now Newsday has a telling piece of a storyline that will play out through the election, as lawsuits pile up and details emerge:  read more »

"[Police Commissioner Ray Kelly had pledged July 25 in a written agreement that the West 15th Street pier would be used only as a "secondary" facility, records show. Instead, Hudson River Park Trust director Connie Fishman complained, just about every detainee was being held there."

If John Kerry and John Edwards thought their convention would givethem some much-needed momentum, th  read more »

It's been nearly nine years since Peter Neufeld's name entered the national consciousness along with  read more »

You can slog through Big Deal , Bruce Wasserstein's giant text on mergers and acquisitions, and find  read more »

Six years before Mayor Bloomberg hailed Jeffrey Wigand as a "genuine American hero" for exposing the  read more »

Last Sunday, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers embraced the state of Israel with a passionate sel  read more »

Fishy accounting practices; executives and directors cashing out for millions while employees and sh  read more »