NY Observer > Mark Green

'Awful,' 'Irrational,' 'Greek Tragedy' Say Green, D'Amato, Koch

Azi Paybarah — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:26:09 -0400

NY1 News tonight is going to be one big pile-on, judging by these quotes pulled from an advance transcript the network sent over:

“What he did was awful, it needs therapy to explain.”
-former Public Advocate and Democratic Attorney Mark Green

“There are obviously deep psychological problems. You don’t comport yourself in this way given your knowledge of the criminal justice system.”
-former U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato read more »

Mark Green Mocks Fred Dicker's Spitzer Coverage

Azi Paybarah — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:49:58 -0500

Mark Green doesn’t think much of Fred Dicker’s reporting, especially on the topic of Eliot Spitzer.

Green was on Inside City Hall Tuesday night, where he was asked about a report that Spitzer berated Christine Quinn because she opposed his plans to sell property near the Javits center. read more »

Ignizio Praises Giuliani, Dismisses 'Unlikeable' Critics

Azi Paybarah — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:04:06 -0500

Here's Republican City Councilman Vinny Ignizio of Staten Island praising Rudy Giuliani and saying that “those who are having a good time dancing on his grave” don't "have the likability factor themselves.”

If these unnamed people were more likable, Ignizio says, “they’d have offices somewhere in this building." read more »

Watching Florida Returns G.O.P.'s Oddo Has An 'Elvis Moment'

Azi Paybarah — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:47:58 -0500

The votes are still being counted in Florida and it's still to close to call a winner on the Republican side--John McCain and Mitt Romney are about three points apart. But for Rudy Giuliani, the verdict is clear--he's been projected to come in no better than third place.

I emailed the ever outspoken Jimmy Oddo, Republican Minority Leader in the City Council, for his thoughts on Giuliani. Here’s what he wrote: read more »

Anthony Weiner and the Carrion Effect

Azi Paybarah — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:40:37 -0500

A reader pointed out that Adolfo Carrion’s absence from the mayor's race alters the landscape for Anthony Weiner's candidacy.

In the Democratic primary, a candidate must get 40 percent of the vote to win the nomination and prevent a run-off. Without Carrion in the race, it’s more likely that Bill Thompson, the only black candidate, will earn at least that number.

Assuming that if Carrion had run, Thompson and Carrion would have split support from the black and Latino communities, Weiner then would have been in a run-off with one of them, and earned a second chance at capturing the nomination.

More after the jump. read more »

Comptroller Thompson Attends Fundraisers for Two Candidates in Same Race

Azi Paybarah — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:11:00 -0500

Jackson Heights City Council candidate Danny Dromm hosted a number of influential local politicians at a fund-raiser this weekend, most notably city Comptroller Bill Thompson, who will be a special guest at a fund-raiser for Dromm’s opponent in the Democratic primary, Alfonso Quiroz [time clarified]. Quiroz's boyfriend and treasurer is Thompson's director of communications.

More after the jump. read more »

Events for October 23, 2007

Gillian Reagan — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 17:08:28 -0400

8 a.m. Hillary Clinton strategist Ann Lewis and teachers' union president Randi Weingarten will discuss “Women's Agenda in Today's Political Life'' panel at The Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street at Houston Street.

8:30 a.m. Comptroller William Thompson will address the Association for a Better New York at the Hilton New York, 1335 Sixth Avenue between 53rd and 54th streets.

10 a.m. Students will perform at the opening of a state-of-the-art playground that was once a barren asphalt lot at P.S. 242, 134 West 122nd Street. read more »

The Gang's All Here

Azi Paybarah — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:56:00 -0400

Someone—Mark Twain, maybe—once said: “Never pick a fight with a man who buys ink by the barrel.” A modern corollary to the saying might be: “Never taunt a man who owns his own talk radio network.” But Ed Koch and Al D'Amato seem none too intimidated by the return of Mark Green, the new president of Air America Radio, to New York 1’s weekly “Wise Guys” roundtable segment. "I've been looking forward to this. I've been dreaming of this," Koch told me when I hung out with all three at the news network’s studios before yesterday's edition of the show. "We need a little irritant,” D’Amato added. “So, Mark provides the irritant, and that provides the zip."

“Wise Guys,” for those who are uninitiated, is a kind of cross between “Meet the Press” and a Friar’s Club roast. D’Amato, the Republican senator-turned-wily superfixer, weighs in from the right. Koch, the mayor-turned-movie-reviewer, brings perspective from Planet Koch. But the show has been missing a reliable voice from the left for the last year or so, ever since Green left his slot to run for attorney general. (Unsuccessfully.) The show’s producers replaced Green with a rotating series of guests: Carl McCall, Roberto Ramirez, Judith Hope, Bill Cunningham and Bob Kerrey. But none of them had Green’s game. So now he’s back, rested, ready and, yes indeed, tan.

"What I love about ‘Wise Guys’ is that it's an exchange of opinions, rather than a monologue of insults,” Green said. As a counterexample, he cited the New York Post editorial page—which had its share of fun with Green back in 2001, when he was running for mayor. (Unsuccessfully.) “Bob McManus doesn't want the other side. He can lecture to the flock and feel like he's convincing, without having to expose himself to someone saying 'on the other hand.'"

"Well, to be fair," D'Amato interjected, in typical “Wise Guys” fashion. "You can say the same thing about the New York Times, which runs ultra-liberal philosophy that appeals to that base." He went on to say, "most of the time, they're beating little Pinch’s drum to make up for the fact that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth." (If you don’t know who Bob McManus and “Pinch” are, this may not be your kind of show.)

Despite what one might think, D’Amato is not Green’s primary antagonist. “I only pile on slightly,” the former senator said. “I become the referee because Edward and Mark go at it.”

Will the dynamic change now, I asked, now that Green has returned as the president of his own media outlet? "You mean we have a dispute, he takes his marbles and goes to his station and let's us have it?” Koch asked. He laughed heartily.

Green, shifting into his earnest mode, leaned forward, and assured me that he would not be ordering the likes of Thom Hartmann and Randi Rhodes ~~Steve Earle~~ to pursue his political adversaries. "The talent at Air America radio would kill me if I tried something like that,” he said.

Green paused for a moment.

Now," he added, "I do have a show on Air America Radio on the weekends..."

Elsewhere: Bloomberg, McCain, Dodd

Azi Paybarah — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:32:22 -0400

One of New York’s most powerful unions, SEIU/1199, has signed on in support of a gay marriage bill.

Mark Green interviewed Mike Bloomberg on Air America radio.

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, says he'll sit out the election if Rudy Giuliani is the Republican nominee. read more »

Elsewhere: Quinn, Green, Engel

Observer Staff — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:24:43 -0400

Mark Green, guest blogging on Huffington Post, said, "Rudy Giuliani is not the first politician to exaggerate and play to the cheap seats."

Scott Sala responds.

Republicans may look weak right now compared to the Democrats, but they may be stronger in the general election, according to Ben.

Representative Jerry Nadler and others will discuss Iraq at an event tonight at Columbia University.

Representative Eliot Engel criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her trip to Syria.

Tom Elliott thinks monogamy is a better way to stop STDs than circumcision.

Mathieu Eugene may win his City Council race in Brooklyn by knocking all his opponents off the ballot.

Errol Louis and Erik Engquist discuss the race here.

DMI has more about their forum on New York's shrinking middle class.

State Senator Andrea-Stewart Cousins weighed in on the school funding and blamed Albany's secret negotiations for Westchester's shrinking share.

A former spokesperson for Ross Perot is running for office in NJ.

Ever wonder who is trying to get reporters to cover Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee and Tommy Thompson?

Karol is looking for guest bloggers. [link fixed]

And pictured above is City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, whose budget proposal is here. -- Azi Paybarah