2009 Public Advocate Election | The New York Observer

Everyone Unloads on Mark Green, Again

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:17:00 -0400

Mark Green, the best-known candidate in the public advocate's race—and the only one who has been public advocate before—is almost at 40 percent in the polls. This would be enough for him to avoid a run-off with any of his three Democratic rivals. It is more than enough to make him the primary target of all of his opponents. Today, during a debate this morning at the CUNY Graduate Center in midtown hosted by City...

De Blasio Gets Custodians

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:15:00 -0400

The union representing school custodians has endorsed public-advocate candidate Bill de Blasio, his campaign will announce this afternoon. The president of the union, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 891, Robert Troeller, said, “Bill is unquestionably the candidate who represents the voice of the people and will make sure our government listens to everyone.” A campaign aide said the union has 930 members. The endorsement is part of long line of union...

At Endorsement of Katz and de Blasio, Carpenters Official Says Bloomberg Looking 'Better Every Day'

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:35:00 -0400

The New York City District Council of Carpenters endorsed Melinda Katz for City Council Comptroller and Bill de Blasio for public advocate today at an event outside City Hall. Organizing the event was Michael Forde, executive secretary treasurer of the union. As he walked away, I asked him what they're doing in the mayor's race. “We haven’t endorsed the mayor as of yet,” said Forde. “Right now we’re in the process of negotiating labor agreements with all...

Can Mark Green Really Be a Front-Runner?

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:16:00 -0400

Whatever you may think of him, you’ve got to hand it to Mark Green: The man just will not give up. He has spent the better part of three decades trying to be someone—someone big—in politics, and usually coming up short. Some actually believed we’d seen the last of him (as a candidate, at least) on that September night three years ago when, digesting his 20-point loss to Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for...

Norman Siegel Has an Economic Adviser Named Michael Bloomberg

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:56:00 -0400

Michael Bloomberg is getting friendly with one of the public advocate candidates. The candidate is Normal Siegel. According to Siegel, an anti-authoritarian civil-liberties attorney who sued the mayor over term limits, the mayor has engaged him in an ongoing dialogue about economic issues, and even arranged to send him reading materials on the topic. “And I did read it, learned some stuff,” said Siegel, who is current making his third run for the office of public...

Manhattan Dems Go with Yassky, Duck Public Advocate's Race; Weprin Gets S.I.

Fri, 22 May 2009 11:25:00 -0400

City Comptroller candidate David Yassky won the endorsement of the New York County Democratic Organization last night, while one of his rivals in the race, David Weprin, picked up the endorsement of the Democratic County organization on Staten Island. In Manhattan, Yassky edged out John Liu for the endorsement. The vote was 108 for Yassky, 96 for Liu, 6 for Melinda Katz and 0 for David Weprin, according to Arthur Greig, chairman of the law...

Brooklyn for Thompson, de Blasio, Yassky

Wed, 20 May 2009 21:58:00 -0400

The Brooklyn Democratic organization voted unanimously to endorse Bill Thompson for mayor, ignoring a request from prospective candidate Anthony Weiner to delay the vote by two weeks, according to Democratic district leader who attended the event. The organization also voted to endorse an all-Brooklyn slate for citywide offices, going with Bill de Blasio for public advocate and David Yassky for comptroller. According to this attendee, de Blasio got 36 votes,...

Donating to the Public Advocate Candidates: A Kennedy, Two Ferrers, Three Liberal Writers and a Mogul

Wed, 20 May 2009 14:02:00 -0400

For Eric Gioia, there are signs of major institutional support coming from one Kennedy family member, a Schumer aide, and the new city clerk (who landed the job in no small part because of the Queens County Democratic Organization.) Bill de Blasio got money from Fernando Ferrer and City Councilman Domenic Recchia, who supported extending term limits as de Blasio fought against it. Mark Green picked up money from contributors to the Huffington Post, the Daily...

Mark Green's 311 Story

Tue, 19 May 2009 16:30:00 -0400

Yesterday, the New York Post ran a story saying Mark Green is improperly claiming credit for 311, a program that was used in other cities and contemplated by the previous mayor before being implemented by Michael Bloomberg. The article quotes Green at an April 21 event saying, “I had an idea, one of a hundred. I called it 311." Green’s campaign responded in the article by saying the candidate “championed” the idea, and was later...

Bronx Democrats Endorse Katz, de Blasio and Thompson, Defend the Choice on Facebook

Mon, 18 May 2009 13:59:00 -0400

The Bronx Democratic County organization waded into two of the city’s most contested primary races this weekend, announcing their backing of Melinda Katz for comptroller and Bill de Blasio for public advocate. They also announced they’re endorsing Bill Thompson for mayor. For the Bronx Democratic county leader, Carl Heastie, this is his first foray into the 2009 races. On Facebook, Heastie has been fending off some criticism of the endorsements—the comments are coming, somewhat randomly,...

Rangel's Slate: Thompson, Liu, de Blasio

Fri, 15 May 2009 14:07:00 -0400

At a big breakfast event tomorrow morning, Charlie Rangel will endorse Bill Thompson for mayor, John Liu for city comptroller and Bill de Blasio for public advocate. Above is a flier for the event, which starts at 7:45 a.m. (on a Saturday!?). A number of other elected officials from Harlem, like Assemblyman Keith Wright and City Councilwoman Inez Dickens, will also endorse this group at the event. UPDATE: A spokesman...

De Blasio Also Outraged About Kindergarten

Thu, 07 May 2009 12:24:00 -0400

City Councilman Bill de Blasio, a candidate for public advocate, is seizing on parental outrage about long waiting lists for city kindergartens, and has dedicated a page of his campaign web site to it. From the page, parents (or anyone, really) can download a letter to mail to Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, or send an email. “When it comes to the education of our children, we cannot leave families in...

Gioia Gives Bill Lynch Another Crack at Mark Green

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:10:00 -0400

In signing up with Eric Gioia’s campaign, Bill Lynch said the choice was obvious. “I cannot think of a major issue in the City in the last decade that Eric hasn’t been deeply involved in,” Lynch said in a public statement released by the campaign. “And he has spent more time in more different communities getting to know the diverse people of our town than anyone.” Certainly, there's something of a convergence of interests here on...

Mark Green's East Side

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:43:00 -0400

In the lead up to a forum for public-advocate candidates on Manhattan’s East Side hosted by local Democratic clubs, one contender is working the home-turn angle hard. "Mark Green definitely seems to be targeting the East Side," said Caroline Mello, president of the Lexington Democratic Club. "In a phone call to me he said he had been an Eastsider for decades and it was symbolically significant for him to have the support of our neighborhood." The...

Gioia Hires an Outspoken Obama Supporter

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:18:00 -0400

Eric Gioia—who has repeatedly invoked Barack Obama’s campaign themes—has picked up an outspoken Obama supporter from the Bronx, Haile Rivera. Rivera, who dropped out of his own race for City Council to pursue a job with the administration, emailed supporters to say he was joining Gioia’s campaign to do Hispanic outreach. Rivera wrote: “As you know, I was a strong supporter of President Barack Obama and this was due in great part...

Sometimes, Eric Gioia Just Won't Remain Seated

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:43:00 -0400

Eric Gioia won't be kept down, even when remaining seated is part of the rules of a candidate forum, like it was last night at an event hosted by C.U.N.Y. Law School for the Democratic candidates for public advocate. This clip shows Gioia standing to deliver his remarks after the moderator, New York Times Metro Desk Political Editor Carolyn Ryan, asked him not to. As small a detail as it may seem, the whole sitting-standing...

Gioia Gets Michael Oliva, Who Gets No Official Title

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:55:00 -0400

Eric Gioia’s campaign for public advocate has hired Michael Oliva, a Democratic operative with an impressive record of getting judges elected. Oliva also has a knack for creating campaign literature that doesn’t look like something I immediately want to throw away. (The signature at the bottom of his emails include the phrase: “Wake me when the day breaks/ Show me how the sun shines,” which is a lyric, for better or worse,...

Gioia Agrees to Probe Diversity on Community Boards

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:30:00 -0400

In this clip from last night’s Stonewall meeting, Eric Gioia tells an audience member that he will investigate all 59 community boards in the city to see if they’re living up to diversity requirements. “Many of them do not have even one openly LGBT member, including Community Board 1 in Astoria, which has the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender population in all of Queens,” Dirk McCall, a gay rights activist, told Gioia. I covered that...

Siegel Wonders if The New York Times Still Loves Mark Green

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:30:00 -0400

Last week I asked which public advocate candidate will be the first to start bringing up the past political lowlights of Mark Green, whose name recognition has arguably made him the early front-runner in the race. Turns out, it's civil rights attorney Norman Siegel. At a candidate forum last night hosted by the Stonewall Democrats, Siegel was asked who he thought The New York Times would endorse for public advocate. Siegel said it's not an easy question...

The W.F.P., Bill de Blasio and the Public Advocate's Race

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:46:00 -0400

Bill de Blasio, one of many candidates for public advocate, recently scored a crucial, and unusually early endorsement from the labor-backed Working Families Party. The endorsement will provide de Blasio a significant boost of campaign support with months still to go before the September Democratic primary. But the race is a heavy lift. Already, de Blasio is running against candidates who are better-funded (Eric Gioia), or more widely known (Mark Green and Norman Siegel). In a brief...

Without Weiner, Who Comes Out for the Democratic Primary?

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:51:00 -0400

If Anthony Weiner drops out of the mayor’s race (Tony Avella notwithstanding!), it could leave New Yorkers without a competitive Democratic mayoral primary, driving down turnout for everyone on the ballot. Jerry Skurnik, a political numbers cruncher not affiliated with any campaign, said a Democratic mayoral primary featuring both Anthony Weiner and Bill Thompson could have drawn between 500,000 and 600,000 voters. Now, with Weiner looking like he may drop out, Skurnik said he predicts...

The Republican Public Advocate Candidate Will Have His Day, Says Organizer

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:40:00 -0400

The organizer of a forum for public advocate candidates at Fordham Law School is disputing a report on City Room saying the G.O.P. candidate, Alex Zablocki, wasn’t invited because organizers “thought it was unlikely that he had a serious chance, as a Republican.” When asked if this was an accurate description of his reasoning, organizer Janos Marton, a law school student, said, “I believe what I said was, 'I (we) felt that students would be...

Lappin Won't Run for Public Advocate

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:29:00 -0500

Jessica Lappin will not enter the public advocate’s race, according to her campaign adviser. “Jessica weighed a number of factors and at the end of the day decided the right decision for her this year was to run for re-election for the city council,” said Mark Guma, the adviser. Lappin, a freshman City Council member from Manhattan, would have been the only woman in the race, and would have been the only candidate (for what it's...