Thompson Should Answer De Blasio's "Excellent Question"

Despite the attention given to the clusterf*&k in Albany, Mayor Bloomberg still gets tons of press and amplifies it with tens of millions in campaign advertising. We all get that he is running for re-election, but is there a race? One smart voter asked that question of City Councilmember and Public Advocate candidate Bill de Blasio. His response is something that actual mayoral candidate Bill Thompson should take to heart.

From PolitickerNY:

De Blasio said it was an “excellent question” before going on to say, “It’s up to us to make sure there is a mayoral race in this city. There is one and we have to regard it as such, we have to talk about it as such."

He goes on to say it’s “irresponsible” to consider the race a forgone conclusion. “There is a deep desire for change among the populace, a lot of frustration with City Hall, tremendous frustration over the economy, obviously” and “a lingering anger over the term-limits decision.”

Of course, Bill is not one to talk about frustration with City Hall and wanting change. Still, it is right that people want change. The only problem is that New Yorkers need to know who can actually provide it. Thompson must get out there if he stands a chance against King Bloomberg.

NYC Wants Bloomberg Gone But Doesn't Know His Opponent

The bad news for Democrats in the latest NY1 poll is that the mayor still enjoys a 60% approval rating from New Yorkers. The good news though is that 55% of the same group of respondents want to see him gone. NY1 asked plenty of questions, and it leads to some important answers. If Bill Thompson (or any other candidate) wants to take advantage of the political landscape, he'd better take notice.

From NY1:

The poll shows that while 60 percent of New Yorkers approve of Bloomberg's job performance, 55 percent say the want "someone else" in City Hall next year.

The poll also shows that an overwhelming number of New Yorkers are unfamiliar with Bloomberg's top rival, Democrat Bill Thompson.

The poll surveyed 683 adults throughout New York City with a margin of sampling error of +/-4 percentage points.

The poll is much more detailed inside, showing that Bloomberg's highest negatives come in the area of taxes (remember this?), education and especially the term limit extension fiasco. Seven in ten New Yorkers still want term limits and six in ten disapproved of the mayor and council's egregious action that extended the limit to three terms.

While some people know of Bloomberg's downsides, there are areas that the people are lacking in information. For instance, the poll doesn't even register a blip of outrage over the fact that Bloomberg helped the Yankees receive more than $1.3 billion in taxpayer assistance to build their new stadium and a few hundred million that went to the construction of Citi Field.

Then there's the fact that hardly anybody knows that Thompson is actually running for mayor. With less than five months before the election, 86% of surveyed New Yorkers have no opinion of Bill Thompson. That means the front runner has some serious work to do so that the overwhelmingly Democratic town understands that there is a Democrat in the race that is opposing an plutocratic "independent" Bloomberg.

Part of the problem is a broken down and bent out of shape party structure that can't seem to get fully behind a Democratic candidate. Even the current Democratic Council Speaker can't bring herself to support the eventual nominee of the her party. What it all boils down to is that Thompson and whatever percentage of party leaders and activists must work tirelessly to combat Bloomberg's onslaught of deceptive campaign material and other dubious activities so that New Yorkers clearly know what choices they have when election day comes upon us.

Thompson Decries Mayor Bloomberg's Child Care Credit Slash

Michael Bloomberg may not like to be "political" in his official Mayoral press conferences, but that isn't stopping Comptroller Thompson from taking shots at the current Mayor for cutting child care credits with the official city seal on his podium.

Thompson Rails On Bloomberg For Pulling 5 Year Olds Out Of Daycare

The issue of mayoral control in the schools is heating up as Albany decides on what to do about the issue. Bloomberg's latest decision to yank five year olds from city daycare centers and placed into crowded public schools was a unilateral move that has enraged parents. It was also a golden opportunity for City Comptroller and Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson to slam Bloomberg for the move.

Dinkins Lends Tepid Support To Thompson

Former Mayor David Dinkins came out and not surprisingly endorsed Bill Thompson for his old job. On the face of it, the news sounds good for the candidate but unfortunately Dinkins screws everything up from there. Perhaps he's not as politically savvy as he once was or simply that he doesn't care much for Thompson, but the fact is he didn't really make a case for Thompson or even against Bloomberg.

From The NY Daily News:

Former Mayor David Dinkins said today he'll endorse Comptroller Bill Thompson for mayor, but does not anticipate saying anything negative about Mayor Bloomberg because he thinks the mayor has "done a pretty good job.”

“Other than 1969, when I endorsed John Lindsay, I have never, ever supported a candidate for mayor who wasn’t a Democrat," Dinkins told the DN's Michael Saul.

“I think (Thompson) is a fine public servant. I’ve known him forever," Dinkins continued. "So, I’m, I suppose, in a sense, biased. His father is a good friend of mine, and that’s a factor as well. But I think Billy will do fine."

Not much more enthusiasm than his 2005 endorsement of Ferrer:

At the time, Dinkins and other prominent Democrats’ support of Ferrer was viewed as lukewarm because they never offered a rationale for why Bloomberg should be booted from office.

“It’s just not my style to lambaste the opposition, unless it’s, you know, Mario Procaccino or Rudolph Giuliani, somebody I see as very extreme, but otherwise that’s just not me,” Dinkins explained. "...I like Mike."

"I like Mike" he says.....

If only New York City had a Democratic party that was able to cart Dinkins immediately off the stage, never to be seen again. Then again, if we had a strong party in this city perhaps the former mayor might actually show real support for Thompson, or whomever out there running against the Conservative and Republican-backed Mayor Bloomberg. Either way, the Democratic nominee is going to need surrogates that give a damn, not those that can't name a single reason to not like the plutocratic mayor we have now.

WFP Challenges Bloomberg To Debate

Now that the courts have all but given the final go-ahead to Bloomberg for his re-election run, it is time for the candidates to make their case to the people on why they should be, or continue to be Mayor of New York City. So far media mogul turned mayor has spent more money on advertising than most people make in a lifetime. $7.5 million in ads, yet no debate. So the Working Families Party is calling him out on it.

From The Working Families Party:

In times like these, we need a real race for Mayor.

The NYC mayoral contest is already overloaded with 30-second TV ads and 15-second sound bites. Mayor Bloomberg alone has spent more than $7.5 million on advertising.

If it's not too soon to spend that kind of money, then it's not too soon to start engaging directly with the people of New York City on the issues that matter to us.

Candidates Bill Thompson and Tony Avella have accepted our invitation to the Amsterdam News / El Diario-La Prensa / Working Families Party debate. Mayor Bloomberg is the only one we're waiting on.

Go on and sign the petition so that Mayor Bloomberg realizes that the city is not going to just re-elect him because of his wealth. New Yorkers need to hear concrete ideas and a discussion between the people that seek to implement those ideas. At this critical time in our city, we must have a real discussion, not an ad war.

Rangel Fails To Endorse Dems Over Bloomberg

Yet another sign of Democratic disunity in New York was on display yesterday when the ethically-challenged Congressman Charlie Rangel couldn't manage to side with his party for the upcoming mayoral election. Rangel is known for blowing off the press in regards to his own corruptive nature, but this is the first I've heard of him blowing off the Democratic party.

From The Daily Politics:

At separate events today, two Democratic heavyweights - Rep. Charlie Rangel and former President Bill Clinton - were effusive in their praise of Mayor Bloomberg, and although both stopped short of endorsing his re-election outright, they didn't announce support of his opponent, Comptroller Bill Thompson, either.

Rangel, a veteran Harlem pol and dean of the congressional delegation, said he is not ready "at this time" to take sides in the mayor's race, despite the fact that Thompson is vying to become only the second African American to hold the post in the city's history.

The DN's Erin Einhorn reports from a Harlem affordable housing announcement that Rangel said Bloomberg has "done a great job," but also added: "Having the comptroller being prepared to be able to run, I think, is totally unfair and the way that term limits have been removed."

Asked point-blank whether he has decided who he will back, Rangel said: "Not yet, no."

So with Bill Clinton at his side, Rangel took out a figurative pistol and shot Thompson in the foot, while the former President looked on without comment. As much as I would hope that Rangel could endorse Thompson (or even Avella) on his own and show that he cares about his local party, the disloyality goes much deeper than just one Harlem Congressman. What we need is leadership and currently, there is none.

Thompson Speaks Out Against Dramatic Raise In Water Rates

The mayor's appointees on the city's water board have decided to raise rates an astounding 14% this week. That increase, coupled with the other raises in the mayor's current term amount to a 60% rise according to mayoral candidate and Comptroller Bill Thompson.

Thompson Calls Justice Dept Decision "Stunning And Disappointing"

All the principal players have had something to say about the Justice Department's decision to uphold the Mayor and Council's term limit extension law. One of those happen to be Mayor Bloomberg's primary opponent, NYC Comptroller candidate Bill Thompson.



It's great to see him talk about the issue, but this press conference will not persuade the Justice Department to change their ruling. If Thompson wants to be the one that ousts Bloomberg, he needs to start talking about his vision for New York and what he intends to do for the people that Bloomberg can't or won't accomplish.

Thompson Talks Term Limits

Thompson stood with Randy Mastro and others to protest Bloomberg's term limit extension law today on the steps of City Hall. They believe the change instituted by the Mayor and Council is discriminatory in nature and should be struck down by the Department of Justice.

Thanks to the ever-intrepid Azi Paybarah of the Observer/PolitickerNY, we have it on tape:

Wherefore Art Thou Congressman Weiner?

Since the news of the term limits extension bill died down, so has the energy of Congressman Weiner's will to be mayor of New York City. I remember him being at City Hall every single day and now we hardly ever see him out in public unless it's in D.C. People were beginning to wonder whether he was still running (technically he hadn't declared but it was quite obvious what his intention was late last year).

I guess know we have a better idea of where he's at:

In a statement to supporters, Weiner wrote: "At the beginning of the summer when Congress takes a break, I will look at the lay of the land again and try to determine the best political course."

A Weiner campaign adviser said afterward that nothing has really changed on their end, since the letter to supporters echoes what Weiner has been saying publicly for months.

But it did seem to be part of an incremental retreat.

Yes, yes it does seem that way.

One less candidate in the race spells bad news for Bloomberg and good news for Thompson, who has been out and about, vigorously campaigning for mayor. Likewise, Weiner's departure would be good news for Tony Avella, since this would make the primary a two-way race and not with him on the side of the Congressman and the Controller.

Thompson Calls Bloomberg "Out Of Touch" For Defending The Rich

Cty comptroller and mayoral candidate Bill Thompson was at City Hall yesterday and called Mayor Bloomberg out for his defense of the rich. It's as if Bloomberg were trying to make it easy to attack him as an out-of-touch billionaire....Oh yeah that's right, he is an out-of-touch billionaire.

Comptroller Cracks Down On Rent Cheating Yankees

Comptroller and mayoral candidate Bill Thompson is out to get the Yankees for $3.7 million dollars in rent that his office says the team cheated the city on. The Bronx bombers have plenty of money, especially with consistently ranking #1 as the team with the highest salary in the Majors. Yet over the last eight years, they've been skimming a little too much off the top.

From NY1:

The Yankees owe the city more than $65,000 in rent payments for the first quarter of last year, according to an audit released Monday by the city comptroller's office. Comptroller Bill Thompson says the team has consistently overstated their rent deductions by more than $3.7 million since 2000.

He says the Yankees have a pattern of not paying the city what is owed until it has been audited.

The Yankees are not disputing the audit and plan to pay. Yankees President Randy Levine says that the audit was a routine part of the team's compliance with a complicated lease.

While I applaud the recovery of $3.7 million, it is still only pennies on the dollar from what the team should not be taking from the city in the form of tax free bonds and other means to have New Yorkers pay for the construction of the new Yankee Stadium. It was nice to see city officials give back the stadium suite, but those hundreds of millions of dollars should be given back to the city, heavens knows Steinbrenner could have financed that stadium if he had to.