Anthony Weiner | The New York Observer

What Was in That Anthony Weiner Poll?

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:20:14 -0500

Anthony Weiner’s comments about how he really could have beaten Michael Bloomberg have caused a little stir this morning.

Aside from how it must look from Bill Thompson's perspective, it's also gotten him into a trade of insults with people in the White House.

But since he opened the door...

A couple of readers reminded me that there was a $44,600 poll Weiner had paid for days before officially withdrawing from the race. His aides never disclosed...

Weiner Returns to City Hall

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:25:49 -0500

Anthony Weiner could have held his press conference about federal health care legislation anywhere he wanted on Sunday. He held it in front of City Hall.

There's been no shortage of finger-pointing among Democrats over who's really to blame for not helping Bill Thompson in his unexpectedly close loss to Michael Bloomberg. Weiner himself has come under fire for criticizing the White House's conspicuously insignificant role in the race. But Weiner himself is not in...

Weiner Thinks Aid To Gaza Could Be the Wedge Issue Among Pro-Israel Democrats

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:00:00 -0400

In an interview for a story I wrote about Barack Obama's impact on Israel politics in America, Anthony Weiner suggested that the president's attention-getting statements about settlements weren't the real issue. The main point of contention among local Israel supporters, he said, may end up being Obama's position on aide to Gaza. "He says something in the [Cairo] speech about the United States has to respect elections. Now that's either Hamas or Lebanon," said Weiner....

Obama Redefines the Debate for New York's Israel Boosters

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:59:00 -0400

Barack Obama is changing what it means to be a pro-Israel politician in America. That much is obvious from the unusually thoughtful, nuanced and varied reactions by officials in New York—the world capital of Israel-boosterism—to his criticisms of the Netanyahu government’s settlement policies. “I think Obama feels that this type of shock therapy will have an effect on Netanyahu and also cause some American Jews to rally to his side,” said Representative Pete King, a staunchly...

Weiner Says 'Momentous' Obama Went Too Far on Israeli Settlements

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:02:00 -0400

The reaction of Israel supporters to President Obama's Cairo speech has been closely monitored for signs of increasing tolerance for criticism of the Israeli government's policy on settlements, which the Obama administration has explicitly opposed in recent weeks. While some veteran Middle East analysts have suggested Obama did not go far enough in his criticism of Israeli policy, Representative Anthony Weiner of New York said that he went "too far." Weiner called the speech "big and...

Weiner on Bloomberg and Vanilla Coke

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:51:00 -0400

Representative Anthony Weiner may have withdrawn from the mayor’s race, but he’s not done criticizing Michael Bloomberg. On the Brian Lehrer Show this morning, Weiner compared Bloomberg’s exorbitant campaign spending with another high-profile, extensive advertising campaign that was not successful. “You know, when they launched Vanilla Coke, I saw so many ads for it, I wanted to try it," Weiner said. "It was still crummy. So I think we have to be careful not to draw...

A Weiner Supporter on the Silver Lining

Tue, 26 May 2009 16:39:00 -0400

Jeff Dinowitz, who endorsed Anthony Wiener when he ran for mayor in 2005, said if Weiner's not running this year it will help the Democratic Party avoid "a divisive primary." "Not having a primary I think is not a bad thing this year," Dinowitz, an assemblyman from the Bronx, said in a brief telephone interview. "Whoever is the Democratic nominee has to face the $100 million campaign. It certainly is better for the Democrats not...

'Anthony Has Said He Is Making Up His Mind'

Tue, 26 May 2009 14:06:00 -0400

I emailed Anthony Weiner's office about a report in City Hall News that he's about to formally announce an end to his prospective candidacy for mayor. His chief of staff Maria Ternes responded with a statement that is not a denial: “This report did not come from our campaign. Anthony has said he is making up his mind. The campaign will announce a decision when Anthony is ready to.” UPDATE: He made up his...

An Old Weiner Story Resurfaces in Brooklyn

Tue, 26 May 2009 13:20:00 -0400

It's not clear who at this point considers Anthony Weiner a candidate for mayor--his official withdrawal from consideration will reportedly come shortly--but someone is still taking him...

Welcome to Camp Bloomberg

Tue, 19 May 2009 19:52:00 -0400

Hank Sheinkopf was working for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s reelection from the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo. “I’m in Florida for the weekend,” said Mr. Sheinkopf, one of a number of prominent Democratic consultants now working for the mayor, in a recent phone interview. He was there for a speaking engagement. “I’m not taking a vacation,” he said. “Until the summer. When my kids go to camp.” It must be sorely tempting...

Weiner, Testing an Exit Strategy?

Mon, 18 May 2009 11:13:00 -0400

A commenter claims to have received a phone call Saturday night “that appeared to be testing messages that Weiner could use to explain why he is not running for mayor.” Anthony Weiner has said that he'll make a a decision later this month about whether or not to enter the mayor's race. There are signs, despite his self-sabotaging comments about waiting to see the lay of the land, that he's at least keeping...

Weiner's Rent

Sat, 16 May 2009 12:16:00 -0400

An interested reader pointed out something noteworthy in Anthony Weiner’s expense report, published before the weekend on the Campaign Finance Board web site. He’s paying rent to a Manhattan-based landlord, something he wasn’t doing during his last filing. The $8,215 in rent was paid on May 11, 2009 to SL Green, the Manhattan-based real estate company run by Mark Green’s family. Weiner’s last expense report showed a payment...

Weiner on Jon Stewart: 'Corrosive'

Fri, 15 May 2009 16:53:00 -0400

Anthony Weiner said he thinks the Daily Show with Jon Stewart--whom he knows personally--has a “corrosive” effect on politics. Here's Weiner in an interview with City Scoops,“New York’s Lifestyle Magazine:" AW: No, I love Jon’s show, and I TiVo it and watch it every day. But I think it has a bit of a corrosive effect on my business.CS: In what sense?AW: Its entire ethos is to make fun of politicians. Colbert’s worse…or better at it,...

Poll: Bloomberg Regains Ground With Voters, Weiner Still Ahead of Thompson

Wed, 13 May 2009 11:37:00 -0400

Michael Bloomberg’s job approval rating is up seven percent, according to a Marist poll released this morning. Bloomberg’s job approval is now at 59 percent, up from 52 percent in February, which was down from the 59 percent approval rating he had in a November Marist poll. Thirty-nine percent of voters say his work is "fair or poor." There is no difference, statistically, between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to Bloomberg's approval—58 and 57 percent, respectively,...

Tony Avella Looks Forward to Running Against Bloomberg

Mon, 11 May 2009 15:58:00 -0400

Tony Avella, a councilman from Queens who is unknown to most New York voters, is delighted by the decreasingly ridiculous-sounding prospect of being the unchallenged Democratic nominee to take on Mike Bloomberg for mayor. "I made a prediction some time ago that I thought either Weiner or Thompson, one of them would decide not to do it," said Avella. "Whether or not they both get out, well, you'll have to ask them. But the rumors...

Obama's Bloomberg Joke

Sun, 10 May 2009 18:33:00 -0400

On the heels of much speculation about an endorsement, Obama put Michael Bloomberg in his speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner last night. At about the 11:30 mark Obama says, "In the next hundred days, I will meet with a leader who rules over millions, with an iron fist. Who owns the airwaves and uses his power to crush all who would challenge his authority at the ballot box. It’s good...

Weiner Aide Blames Hockey Story on Bloomberg Campaign

Thu, 07 May 2009 14:53:00 -0400

The New York Post ran a story today about Representative Anthony Weiner missing a handful of votes in Congress because he was busy playing hockey in Manhattan. Weiner has, at times, tried to make his passion for sports into a political asset, but this story was clearly trying to make it look like a liability, if kind of a small one. Weiner's chief of staff, Marie Ternes, denied in the Post that her boss missed votes...

Weiner on the Costs of Doing Business in the U.S., Haiti

Mon, 04 May 2009 15:28:00 -0400

Here's a video of some comments by Anthony Weiner that drew criticism from UNITE HERE last week. Weiner says, "Frankly, there are some wage jobs that are better in some lower-wage places," and also says that he would prefer to see jobs go to Haiti rather than China because the U.S. should “support our friends than supporting someone that might not be." The video was taken at an April 24 town...

The Bloomberg Campaign Picks a Democrat, and It's Not Anthony Weiner

Mon, 04 May 2009 12:30:00 -0400

Publicly, Michael Bloomberg does not have a position on which candidate he would prefer to see nominated by the Democratic Party. Privately, though, the mayor's campaign aides have a definite preference, admitting that they would much rather run against the likable but unthreatening city comptroller, Bill Thompson, than against the exquisitely pesky Anthony Weiner. According to Bloomberg campaign sources—who are not at all convinced that the voluble congressman from Brooklyn is really out of the running,...

Weiner Praises Haiti as a Business Location, UNITE HERE Calls the Comments 'Unacceptable'

Fri, 01 May 2009 15:43:00 -0400

Anthony Weiner is drawing criticism from the influential union UNITE HERE over comments he made about outsourcing at a public forum in Brooklyn last Friday. According to a transcript provided by a spokesman for the union, Weiner said, “[F]rankly there are some wage jobs that are better in some lower wage places.” He then said he would prefer to see jobs go to Haiti rather than China because the U.S. should “support our friends than...

Bill Thompson Believes

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:36:00 -0400

According to City Comptroller Bill Thompson, he is running for mayor. “Everybody is saying, ‘I’m seeing you everywhere around the city of New York,’” Mr. Thompson said on April 27 as he sat in a conference room upstairs from his Broadway campaign headquarters, which shares space with state court offices and a dentist. “I think as people start to see more from the campaign, that will have an impact on people.” Soft-spoken and unfailingly polite, Mr....

Weiner Criticizes Obama for 'Bow' to Saudi Leader

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:12:00 -0400

At a meeting in Manhattan last night of a conservative, pro-Israel group, Anthony Weiner criticized President Obama for bowing to the leader of the Saudi royal family, according to Ira Stoll, the former New York Sun editor. Here is how Stoll, who attended the event, described Weiner's comments to me in an email: “He said that until Saudi Arabia changed its behavior it shouldn't be hand-held by president Bush or ‘bowed to by president Obama.’...

Weiner on R.A. Rage, Jew-Receptiveness and Bloomberg's Inescapable Republicanism

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:15:00 -0400

At a "getting-to-know-you" forum at N.Y.U. last night, Anthony Weiner took a moment to strongly criticize Michael Bloomberg for extending term limits and then running for re-election. “He lied," said Weiner, who may or may not also be running for mayor. "I don’t like it when my mayor lies to me.” Specifically, Weiner was referring to Bloomberg's 2008 State of the City speech, in which the mayor promised to convene a charter revision commission, but never...

Thompson and Avella Try to Remind Gay Democrats There's a Race On

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:31:00 -0400

Whether they coordinated their timing or not, Comptroller Bill Thompson and Councilman Tony Avella arrived in convenient succession last night at a New York University auditorium, getting a politically influential audience of gay and lesbian Democrats to themselves for an hour each. They didn’t have to deal with erstwhile Democratic mayoral contender Anthony Weiner. The congressman had committed to the mayoral forum, which was sponsored by gay and lesbian Democratic clubs, but he pulled out...

Bloomberg Aide Declares Thompson the First 'Negative' Campaigner

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:40:00 -0400

Michael Bloomberg’s campaign—which was reported last week to have tested negative messages against Anthony Weiner last week—is responding to a web video from Bill Thompson, declaring him the first candidate to go negative in the mayor's race. The Thompson video went up on his campaign's YouTube channel on February 10, but only seems to have come to the Bloomberg campaign's notice after we posted it this morning. The video features random New Yorkers, some of whom...

Weiner Still Bashing Bloomberg for Those Campaign Calls

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:38:00 -0400

Here’s Anthony Weiner in a television interview on Fox this morning, explaining that he decided to possibly withdraw from the mayor’s race because “there’s just been an enormous amount to do in Washington.” Later in the interview, though, Weiner sounded very much like a candidate, criticizing the Bloomberg campaign for polling Weiner’s negatives. (A Times story, citing calls made in mid-March, quoted Weiner aides suggesting that the Bloomberg campaign was push-polling.) “I’m trying to focus...

Weiner Says the Poll Means Bloomberg Will Get 'Very Nasty'

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:18:00 -0400

On a conference call from Haiti, where he is on a trip with other members of Congress, Anthony Weiner told reporters he’s been the victim of push-polling conducted by Michael Bloomberg's mayoral campaign, and that it indicates the mayor is “preparing to do some mudslinging” and get “very nasty” in order to get re-elected. The calls Weiner was referring to were described by one of his aides in a New York Times story as “push...

Bloomberg Refers Weiner-Call Question to His Campaign

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:30:00 -0400

Michael Bloomberg told reporters in Queens today that he doesn't think his campaign was spreading negative information about one of his possible Democratic challengers, Anthony Weiner, as reported in The New York Times this morning. When asked if he signed off on the polls—which included unflattering information about Weiner—and if he is spreading that information, Bloomberg said, "I don't think we do that, but you should go to the campaign and talk to them....

Sometimes, Bloomberg Pollsters Ask Negative Questions Because They Want to Know the Answers

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:45:00 -0400

This morning's Times story about a series of polling calls that included negative information about Anthony Weiner gives the impression that the calls were a form of Bloomberg-campaign "push-polling." The article never asserts this directly. The piece leaves that to a Weiner aide, who says that the calls sound "suspiciously like" a push-poll, and to Weiner pollster and adviser Joel Benenson, who says, as an apparently general observation, that push-polling is a "dishonorable" practice. Also,...

The Death of the New York City Democrat

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:00:01 -0400

In Washington, Democrats won the White House and expanded their control of Congress. Albany is run by a Democratic governor, Democratic Assembly leader and a Democratic Senate majority leader. Everywhere New Yorkers look, Democratic dominion is spreading. Except in New York City. The city may be a bastion of American liberalism, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly six to one, but it can’t win the mayor’s office. Nearly 16 years since Republican Rudy Giuliani...

Stimulus Funds Bring Bloomberg and Weiner Together

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:30:00 -0400

Here’s Michael Bloomberg introducing Anthony Weiner at the press conference in Brooklyn this morning, and thanking him for securing federal money for the city. When he took the stage Weiner said the “middle class and those struggling to make it” will be helped by the stimulus funding because mayors, like Bloomberg, won’t have to “make the deep slashes that they might otherwise have had to made.” The stage-sharing moment between Bloomberg, who is running...

Bloomberg and (Lots of) Company Announce $261 Million in Stimulus for the City

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:25:00 -0400

Michael Bloomberg just announced the city is getting $261 million in federal stimulus money that will preserve and create approximately 32,000 jobs throughout the five boroughs. Bloomberg was joined at the announcement in Greenpoint by Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, potential mayoral rival Anthony Weiner, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and City Councilman David Weprin. "I want to thank President Obama and our congressional delegation for delivering this critical funding to New York City,"...

At Brooklyn Democratic Club, Thompson Ties With Avella, Few Votes for Weiner

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:28:00 -0400

Long-shot mayoral candidate and City Councilman Tony Avella got the same number of votes as his not-so-long-shot primary opponent, City Comptroller Bill Thompson, among voting members of a Brooklyn Democratic club last night. The very left-of-center Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats decided to make no endorsement in the mayor’s race until May, according to the club’s president, Lucy Koteen. There were about 40 voting members, she said, and Avella and Thompson split them evenly. It's worth noting that...

Poll: Weiner Leads Thompson, Both Lose to Bloomberg

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:19:00 -0400

Anthony Weiner, who said he's not actively campaigning for mayor and has indicated that he may not run, would still beat Bill Thompson in a Democratic mayoral primary, according to a Quinnipiac poll released this morning. In a hypothetical matchup, Weiner leads Thompson 30 to 23 percent among Democrats, with 38 percent undecided. In February, a poll showed Weiner beating Thompson 32 to 22 percent, with 42 percent undecided. However, if the general election were held...

Weiner Welcomed at Colorful Parade

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:03:00 -0400

A photographer on Flickr posts this picture of Anthony Weiner at last week's Phagwah parade in Richmond Hill. The photographer, who posted the picture under the name "surgery," wrote this caption: "when congressman anthony weiner took the stage, the crowd cheered "big weiner" and tried, with only mild success, to shower him with dye." "big weiner was not amused." A Weiner spokesman explained that he had marched in another parade that day, but did not consider it...