NY Observer > Mike McKeon

Giuliani's 12-Point Vision, Explained

Jason Horowitz — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:43:14 -0400

Rudy Giuliani's senior communications advisor Mike McKeon says that a list of "12 commitments" the former mayor unveiled today is "the vision statement" of the campaign.

The 12 points (full list after the jump) have a sort of Contract with America/biblical ring to them, and clearly emphasize Giuliani's perceived strengths, starting with the statement, "I will keep America on offense in the Terrorists' War on Us."

Giuliani also makes some bold promises to "end illegal immigration," decrease abortions by increasing adoptions, and cut taxes.

Missing from the list, however, is any mention of arguably the greatest policy issue of the day, the War in Iraq.

"You shouldn't read too much into that," said McKeon. "Today's the vision, the substance will come after. We're going to address all these issues in greater detail as we go forward.

When it comes to the war in Iraq, McKeon said. "The mayor's views on that are very strong and very consistent." read more »

Pirro Attacks Hillary, Mateo Attacks Pataki

Observer Staff — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 09:38:27 -0400

The only camera at Jeanine Pirro's press conference just now was wielded by the Democrats' tracker, and The Politicker was joined by just one other print reporter, a Post GA, in the sun in front of a Mobil station on 42nd and 11th.

Still, Jeanine put a cheerful face on her fifth attempt to draw attention to Hillary's failure to press (Republican) congressional leaders to cut the gas tax.

"I disagree with Tom DeLay," Pirro said, standing with taxi advocate (and Bloomberg aide) Fernando Mateo.

After the event concluded and Pirro walked north with Governor Pataki's former communications director, Mike McKeon, however, the message seemed to stray a bit.

Mateo, who had introduced Pirro, stayed behind to chat, saying Hillary isn't the only official at fault:

"The Governor hasn't done shit either," he said. "We need to get him to get off his ass and do something."

The Politicker's Source, and a Kerik Connection

Observer Staff — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 12:22:00 -0400

Mark Humbert of the AP has a story on Mike McKeon's allegation that the Pirro mob contributions story comes from the Clintons (rather than, say, from reality). Humbert quotes my vague denial that our source is a Clintonite.

Anyway, for the record, I went back to the source and asked if I could use a fuller characterization.

He said he wanted his name to stay out of the press, but he is a 23-year old college student in New York City, who says he has some time on his hands, and who is a "political hobbyist" and a reader of The Politicker.

"I'm not with Clinton, I'm not on the campaign staff," he said, sounding a little taken aback at the notion. (Also, he's not on the city's political scene, and Google doesn't show that he has any connection to professional politics.)

Rather, he was reading reports of the Pirro announcement, and saw Azi's note that Bernie Kerik is quoted on Pirro's Web site.

"I think the fact that Kerik is quoted on her Web site kind of tipped me off" to look for mafia connections, he said, recalling reports that Kerik had used mob-linked contractors on a Bronx apartment, and remembering hearing that lots of mobsters had moved to Westchester.

So he went to Pirro's campaign finance reports, and found companies whose names indicate that they are involved in -- natch -- construction and contracting.

Then he put the firm names and "mafia" into Google.

And bingo: Worth Construction.

He emailed his findings to Wonkette (sigh!) and, hearing nothing, to us.

And this is how stories are made these days. Sorry, Mike.

Exclusive: Pirro Not Returning "Mob" Money

Observer Staff — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 06:58:00 -0400

Jeanine Pirro's spokesman, Mike McKeon, told the Politicker that Pirro does not plan immediately to return $2,000 to Worth Construction Company, a firm linked by federal agents to organized crime.

McKeon said Pirro would not return the money today. The campaign's general policy, he said, is to evaluate donations on a "case by case" basis, but he wouldn't elaborate on this particular case.

McKeon defended the Worth contributions, first reported on The Politicker, as well as a set of other mob-linked donations reported today in the Daily News, by pointing out that Democrats had accepted contributions from officials at some of those companies.

Vice President Al Gore accepted $4,000 from Worth Construction executives in 1999. But the contribution triggered scandal when it emerged after the campaign (one Connecticut Post story about it appears on this weird site, more in Nexis), and campaign officials said they hadn't realized who it came from. In 2003, Senator Joseph Lieberman accepted a $2,000 check from the firm's president, who listed his occupation as "self-employed/construction" on the federal campaign finance filing.

No other federal, New York City, or New York State candidates, with the exception of one Westchester County judge, have taken money from Worth or Pontoriero since Al D'Amato in 1997. As the News reported, "In 2003, an FBI agent testified that Worth Construction owner Joseph Pontoriero is an associate of the Genovese crime family and that Worth had tried to bribe a local official."

Pontoriero didn't return The Politicker's call seeking a comment.

McKeon blamed the stories on the Clintons (who, he hinted darkly, "know how to do these things without fingerprints"), though The Politicker's tipster was not (as far as we know) Clinton-inspired and the News story was reported by Greg Smith, a veteran of the mafia beat who needs nobody's help in spotting mob-linked names on a campaign filing.

He also emailed over a list of recipients of contributions from firms named in the News story, which shows that three of the five (other than Worth)have also contributed to Democrats.

One firm named by the News, the Bergassi Group, has contributed to Chuck Schumer and to several members of the New York City congressional delegation. Another individual in the News story, Richard Nasti, has written checks to Andrew Cuomo, Richard Brodsky, Elliot Spitzer, and Alan Hevesi. "Jeanine Pirro has been a leader in the fight against organized crime - any suggestion to the contrary is just ridiculous," McKeon said.

Pirro Debuts...But Where's Page 10?

Observer Staff — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 08:16:00 -0400

Jeanine Pirro kicked off her campaign a couple of minutes after 11:00 in the Conrad Suite of the Waldorf Astoria today, a room about five times as large as the tiny press room in the Westchester District Attorney's office and packed with reporters and cameras.

Her self-definition: "I'm Republican red on fiscal policy with conservative beliefs on making tax cuts permanent, but I've got broad blue stripes on social issues that don't change based on the office I run for."

As with many campaign openings, it was a revealing appearance that demonstrated both Pirro's considerable strengths -- her sharpness on the attack and her charisma -- and her serious weaknesses -- ignorance of the issues and inexperience with the antagonistic political press.

She is, first of all, forceful and charismatic, camera-friendly, and just self-deprecating enough to pull it off. She has the strength of never having taken positions on most federal issues, and rattled off a well-tailored set:

Red issues: Supports Bush tax cuts, estate tax cut, war on terror, Patriot Act, Unborn Victims of Violence Act.

Blue issues: Pro-immigration , stem cell research, assault weapons ban, and choice (mostly).

She also went after Hillary, whom she always called by her first name alone. (No "Senator Clinton" here.) She accused her of breaking promises to create Upstate jobs, but most of all of some dishonesty in running for President while running for the Senate.

But Pirro's weaknesses were also on display. She's always faced the prosecutor's friendly press room and doting television interviewers. She's not quick on her feet. Halfway through her announcement, she began a sentence with disgust -- "Hillary Clinton" -- and then stopped dead for several seconds and looked pained. "I'm sorry. Could I have Page 10?" she whispered.

And she doesn't know much about the issues on which she has newly taken positions. ABC's Mark Halperin stumped her with a question about how much her tax cutting plans would expand the deficit. She responded to questions about withdrawing, or adding, troops to Iraq by saying she'd defer to the "experts," among whose ranks the sitting Senator has inserted herself.

And her decision to be led into the event by her college-age daughter, and her mother, whose battle with cancer Pirro immediately mentioned, makes it harder to argue that Al's travails are off limits. The campaign is about her, or it's about her and her family, but it's hard to pick and choose.

Of course, as her spokesman Mike McKeon noted after the press conference, it's not like the questions about Al are going to vanish, whatever she may do.

¡Viva la Política! Pataki Going Latin, Starts In Vieques

Andrea Bernstein — Sun, 13 May 2001 20:00:00 -0400

Under nearly cloudless skies, thousands of Mexican-Americans gathered on East 116th Street to celebr read more »