Politicians and Their Martin Luther King Day Messages

For politicians, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was busy as they made the rounds at a number of city events. Governor Spitzer, Lieutenant Governor Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and Representative Charles Rangel all appeared at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network's House Justice and also the Brooklyn Academy of Music's celebration.

Paterson and Rangel emphasized that the Iraq war would have been opposed by King. Spitzer mentioned meeting the family of Sean Bell, the unarmed man who was killed in police fire last November, and promised justice. But the governor would not agree to state summit that would delve into policing issues as Sharpton had suggested (Sharpton told Spitzer, "You have been tough on a lot of stuff. We need you tough on this.") Cuomo's speech about minorities being "victims of criminal justice" brought "frequent bursts of applause," according to the NY Times.

Less warmly received by audiences was Mayor Bloomberg, who spoke about Bell's shooting, saying, "It's not what we say, it's what we do about things like police procedures and training, and that's why I hired an independent, respected research firm to look at the NYPD's undercover practice and weapons training." He also cheekily mentioned that he endorsed Rangel to run for president, and then shared this anecdote: “You should know that Congressman Rangel was one of the first people that urged me to run for mayor. And I’ll never forget the time I called him and said, ‘Charlie, I’ve got some good news and some bad news for you. The good news is I’m going to listen to you and run for mayor. The bad news is I’m not doing it as a Democrat.’”

Photograph of Mayor Bloomberg and the Reverend Al Sharpton at the National Action Network offices by Richard Drew/AP