Dean Endorses Two Council Candidates In The Same Race

Howard Dean may be the genius behind the fifty state strategy, but he needs a little help remembering which progressive candidates he endorses. Yesterday all New York City Council candidates began the long and arduous petitioning process and District 39 hopeful Josh Skaller enlisted the Governor for some assistance on the first day out there. Unfortunately, things did not go exactly to plan, which was good news for his rival Brad Lander.

From The Brooklyn Paper:

“I told Brad that I would not endorse [anyone] before I realized that this was Josh’s race,” he said, later adding that he did not have a plan to campaign with Lander as he did with Skaller today. “Brad is a perfectly good candidate. He’s a progressive. Most people like him. So I tried to do what I think was the fair thing, which is to endorse both.”

Well that seems fair enough considering the circumstances. Personally I am behind Josh in this race but honestly as long as Bill de Blasio's replacement is not as slimy as Bill de Blasio, then I'll be satisfied. Lander's statement to the Brooklyn Paper made light of the situation:

For his part, Lander, the former head of the Pratt Center for Community Development, said he was “thrilled to have Gov. Dean’s co-endorsement.”

“He’s a progressive champion on health care and bringing the troops home,” Lander added. “His endorsement shows that there are two strong progressive candidates in the race.”

As long as we get a progressive Council member, then I'm excited for District 39.

Update: Based on this account from the Daily Gotham, I take back anything nice I said about Brad, this is just low and petty politics:

An odd thing happened, though. Working Families Party somehow is turning this visit to personally endorse Josh (where Howard Dean says outright that he thinks Josh can win) into an endorsement for their candidate, Brad Lander. In a letter from Brad Lander's campaign, Dan Cantor of WFP says:

This morning at a press conference in Park Slope, Brad picked up the backing of none other than former Governor, DNC Chair, and Democracy for America founder Howard Dean.

The press conference referred to is the same press conference you see in the video above where Howard Dean endorses Josh. Truth is, Howard Dean had nice things to say about Brad at that press conference. But watch the video. The reason Howard Dean was at that press conference was to endorse Josh Skaller. Dan Cantor doesn't mention that, does he? Nor does he mention that Howard Dean, right after the endorsement, did some campaigning with Josh. Dan Cantor and Brad are misleading people with this. It is true Howard Dean, because he basically didn't realize that Josh and Brad were running against each other, had previously promised Brad he wouldn't endorse in the race. And so there was, buried in the press conference, a backhanded endorsement of Brad to recognize that promise. But to turn a Josh Skaller endorsement press conference into one endorsing Brad Lander is misleading.

We already have plenty of misleading in the Council. What New York needs is an honest activist who will fight for his district and the city as a whole, that candidate is Josh Skaller.

Josh Skaller Goes After Bloomberg For His 400,000 Jobs Claim

Chances are if you live in New York you have received anywhere from one to a dozen pieces of campaign literature in the mail from Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Nearly all of them make the claim that if we re-elect him to a (unethically manufactured) third term then he will miraculously save or create 400,000 jobs. Even in NYC, that is a big eye-catching number. Yet so far the only jobs that have come from that number are the printers, pollsters and campaign staff of Michael Bloomberg that have been espousing the number.

I am tired of the Mayor getting away with making claims of being our city's savior while his Executive budget says the exact opposite. My fellow Democracy for New York City organizer Josh Skaller, who happens to be running for Bill de Blasio's current City Council seat is sick of Bloomberg's propaganda too:

“The truth is clear. Bloomberg’s so-called plan is glossy smoke and very expensive mirrors,” Skaller said. “He is re-selling the ideas we have all supported in the past and offering few new ones. When I join the City Council, the City will take clear and transparent actions to fix our economy by generating new ideas, creating good jobs, and becoming the center of America’s new green economy.[...]

“The Mayor’s Executive Budget cannot stretch the truth, or investors who have taken out municipal bonds can sue the City for fraud. But Bloomberg’s glossy campaign mail is bound by no such constraints - and the numbers they use represent the fuzziest math.

“According to the Executive Budget issued May 1, 2009, New York City is projected to lose 328,000 jobs between August 2008 and the third quarter of 2010. Employment will be flat until 2012. The peak period for these projected job losses? The second quarter of 2009 - also known as now. So where is the leadership that Mayor Bloomberg would like us to believe in? What is the rationale for a third term in office?

The truth is there is no rationale. Bloomberg is spending millions to drill a false sense of security in his Administration when there is no reason to feel safe (unless you are a developer or just plain rich). Whenever someone tries to confront the Mayor on the disconnect between his message and the facts, he blows a fuse.

As City Hall News reports, there are no details and no specifics for Bloomberg's claim. As I'm sure his cadre of consultants have told him, just keep drilling meaningless and empty numbers into the heads of voters and he'll coast to victory. Unfortunately for those highly paid politicos, the more we hear from people like Josh Skaller, the less people are going to believe the distortions and half-truths that come out of the Bloomberg campaign.

Tens Of Thousands Rally For Fair Share Tax Reform

Governor Paterson, Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and a few too many other State Senators have not come forward as of yet to support the Fair Share Tax Reform Act. What the proposed bill would do is simple. Instead of punishing the working class for the budget deficits caused by Wall Street's unadulterated greed, we should split that burden with the rich by making the state income tax progressive in nature with a tiered system.

However, with multiple bills presented in the Senate, Majority Leader Smith has not shown the leadership necessary to support his middle class constituents. Instead, he and the governor are listening to the lobbyists of big business at the expense of hard working New Yorkers. So what are those New Yorkers to do? Turn out for a huge rally at City Hall Park.

Having the afternoon off, I had to go down and join the action, though I had no idea how many people would actually show. Here's the first sight I saw:



Don't worry, all the cops were on their best behavior at the event with what looked like a good amount of people, perhaps even a couple thousand. Then I was told I had to walk over a block and then up a few to enter the crowd you see behind the sleepy police officer.



While walking, all sorts of signs were on display, including this sweet guy that still refers to his mother as "Mommy."



Once I went around, I got a better view of the stage and not surprisingly it was full of politicians and union organizers. If you can't tell the man at the podium is City Comptroller and Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson.



While the speeches were great, they were mostly the same, so I decided to venture away from the stage and check out the people who showed up for this. As you can tell, the area around the four-block long park was packed. The park however, was only so big, so the crowd overflow was led up Broadway. Jumbo-trons and sound systems were set up so that people could hear who were nearly a mile up the street. At one point the crowd was checked at 40,000 people....40,000, on a Thursday afternoon! Ahem, Governor Paterson, that translates quite a few votes, if you know what I'm saying, cough, primary race next year, cough, cough.



Then just before I reached the back of the crowd, I ran into City Council candidate Josh Skaller, who came out from Brooklyn to demand that Albany listen to the demands of working New Yorkers. He may look happy and serene in the picture, but he's ready to get tough and defend this barricade and many more if he gets the chance to represent the 39th Council District.

Tens of thousands of dedicated working people, all who can vote and want to not only be heard, but recognized and respected by their Governor and the rest of the politicians up in Albany. I certainly hope they got the message to support this legislation. Of course, it doesn't hurt to keep reminding them. You can do that by contacting your legislator and by getting involved locally.

Meet And Greet Two Amazing NY City Council Candidates

Are you in New York City or nearby? Do you have plans tomorrow night? Well if you don't and care about your community and are starting to wonder who will be running in the city elections next year I have just the place for you. Democracy for New York City has put together a "Meet and Greet" for two homegrown candidates, Josh Skaller and Steve Behar.

From Democracy for NYC:

Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 7-9:30pm
Butterfield 8, 5 East 38th Street
(between Fifth & Madison Avenues)
www.Butterfield8NYC.com

To RSVP, click HERE...

Democracy for NYC started back in the spring of 2004, after Governor Howard Dean discontinued his presidential campaign and retooled his national grassroots support into Democracy for America, a progressive grassroots organization with coalition groups across the country. Governor Dean encouraged people to stay involved in politics at all levels of government, make our voices heard on the issues that matter, help elect good candidates, and eventually run for office.

Two of our DFNYC Linkup hosts, Steven Behar of Bayside, Queens and Josh Skaller of Park Slope, Brooklyn, are doing just that. Their respective city council districts will be open seats in the 2009 elections in New York City.

There is nothing more inspirational in politics than people who are passionate about their community and as average citizens, decide to become candidates for local office. It goes on all the time, though the stories usually don't make it to the national press. However, as New Yorkers we have the chance to go around the press and form community groups that help strengthen the area in which we live.

Plenty of local stories in the media talk about corruption in politics and unfortunately makes people cynical about the system. Whenever I hear that cynicism I respond with optimism, and tell those disaffecteds that if they don't like the system they've got, then go out and change, even if it means that the person in particular should run for office. While most react with some level of bashfulness, there are those few that actually get up and take action. Two of those people are Josh Skaller and Steve Behar, so if you want to see what it takes, come out tomorrow night and meet them for yourself.