Results tagged “billdeblasio”

Now that he's going to be mayor for another four years, Mayor Bloomberg has been reaching out to the Democrats. Yesterday, he had coffee with Public Advocate-elect Bill de Blasio (their klatsch is pictured at left) but City Comptroller-elect John Liu declined to meet with Bloomberg, saying he was too busy. But the NY Times points out Liu later said, "A long time ago, the people of New York decided there would be no king nor a monarch in New York City."

The candidates for public advocate must be feeling 8-track tape useless by now. Earlier this year, Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council made the call to cut the public advocate's budget from $2.9 million to a meager $1.8 million, and now the mayor is visiting far off places (or, Staten Island) to talk trash about the little-known position.

After losing big to Bill deBlasio in last week's public advocate runoff election, Mark Green is saying that he is out of politics for good...again. Green says his defeat came down to two factors: "Turnout; the array of forces. Period." Always the gracious loser, he added, "I was surprised and disappointed that the other side's operation overwhelmed my record and optimism." Green says he will go back to writing and his work at Air America. His daughter told him now he can go back to what he's good at—with there now being one thing we can all safely rule out that is not.

With Bill de Blasio's and John Liu's runoff victories, the Post reports that City Councilman David Yassky (who lost the Comptroller race Liu) said, "I think if Mayor Bloomberg is re-elected he certainly will have very aggressive watchdogs in Bill de Blasio and John Liu that are going to be ready to challenge him when they feel it's appropriate... I think that it's likely to be a more contentious city government over the next four years." Bloomberg continues to lead Bill Thompson in the polls; a mayoral insider admitted, "It's going to get tougher with Liu and de Blasio."

Last night, the Democratic candidates for Public Advocate and City Comptroller were decided in runoff elections: City Councilman Bill de Blasio won the Public Advocate race, with 63% of the vote while Councilman John Liu won the Comptroller matchup with 56% of the vote. While they will face Republican challengers in the November election (Alex Zablocki for PA, Joseph Mendola for Comptroller), de Blasio and Liu are expected to win, given NYC's overwhelming majority of Democratic voters.

Today's runoff elections for Public Advocate and City Comptroller were greeted by lower voter turnout. According to NY1's results, Bill de Blasio has won the Public Advocate race with 62.50% of the vote to Mark Green's 37.50% while John Liu won the Comptroller race, with 55.68% of the vote while David Yassky earned 44.32%. This means the Working Families Party had a big night— both its candidates won.

Today, the Democrat candidates for NYC Public Advocate and City Comptroller will be decided today in runoff elections, because no candidate received at least 40% of the vote during September 15's primary. In the PA race, it's City Councilman Bill de Blasio vs. former Advocate Mark Green (in the primary, de Blasio got 32% to Green's 31%), and in the Comptroller race, it's City Councilmen John Liu (who got 38%) vs. David Yassky (30%). If you're a registered Democrat, go vote—because it's costing the city millions anyway!

Mark Green went on the attack in last night's public advocate debate, linking his rival Bill de Blasio to the recently scandalized group, ACORN. Up until now, Green has attempted to cruise back into the advocate office based on name recognition and the harshest criticism toward de Blasio has come from Charles Barron (who was not even in the race!). But during last night's debate, Green said, "The Working Families party and ACORN put $30,000 in his pocket, so when they come and visit him at City Council who is he working for? You or his employers?"

With only a few days left before the public advocate runoff, the biggest question in the race seems to be: do you feel comfortable with Mark Green because he's already had the job or would you rather just see him go away like he promised three years ago? Green and Bill de Blasio are tied in the polls at 46 percent going into Tuesday's contest, expected to get miniscule turnout after only ten percent of Dems turned out for last week's primary.

Last night, primary returns showed that City Councilman Bill de Blasio earned 33% of the vote, with former Public Advocate Mark Green getting 31%. While both men will now be in a run-off (on September 29) since neither got 40%, the analysis is that de Blasio's results were surprising—the Daily News writes that he "pulled out a much better performance than the pre-primary polls suggested"—while there will be "hand-wringing" at Green's campaign headquarters. de Blasio told his campaign staffers, "You pulled off one miracle: You can do it again in two weeks," while Green said, "Because we've gone from a cluttered four-way race to a clarified head-to-head contest, I sure will contrast my story as a lifelong, independent consumer advocate, fighting for the middle class, and his proven record as a lifelong political insider." The other challengers in the race were Councilman Eric Gioia, who 18%, Norman Siegel, with 14%, and Imtiaz Syed with 3%.

Last night was the second debate for what might be the sleeper race in the city-wide elections this fall, the four-way contest for public advocate. While the first debate wound up being a Mark Green pile on, this one saw mud being slung in every which direction after the recent momentum and attention gained by the biggest fund raiser and endorsement-getter, Bill de Blasio. The candidates showed they were hungry for the second highest elected position in the city, a job Councilman Simcha Fielder recently suggested should be done away with.

If you're a local news junkie, you've probably seen TV spots from Public Advocate candidate Bill de Blasio around his Park Slope home that prominently featuring his family, who in case you missed it, include his African-American wife and their two children. Well, now his fellow City Councilman Charles Barron accuses him of pandering to the black community with campaign ads.

Last night, the Democratic candidates for NYC Public Advocates squared off for a WABC 7-televised debate, and it got good fast: Within 10 minutes, City Councilman Bill de Blasio attacked frontrunner and former Public Advocate Mark Green, "I have to say, with all due respect to Mark Green, he has a little amnesia. He did not stand up to Rudy Giuliani when it mattered most, when Rudy Giuliani wanted to stay on for 90 days at the end of 2001. Mark caved in to him for political reasons.” Green retorted, "There was not any public official in the eight years of Rudy Giuliani who stood up to him more often and more successfully." Green also told moderator Diane Williams, "Diane, let Bill attack me one more time because he needs it emotionally."

Yesterday, it was revealed that City Councilman Bill De Blasio was kicked off the ballot for the Public Advocate primary. Why? The Daily Politics' Elizabeth Benjamin, which calls the city's petition rules "infamously archaic and exacting," explains, "One false move - a misplaced numeral or missing period - and you're dead, which is why campaigns spend so much money on election attorneys. In this case, the problem was that de Blasio's cover sheet claimed there were 131 volumes of petitions, when in reality there were 132. This may seem trivial, but it was sufficient grounds for the rejection of all the Brooklyn Democrat's 125,000+ signatures." De Blasio's campaign believes that the issue can be resolved with the Board of Elections, and all three of his Democratic opponents told PolitickerNY that he should be on the ballot: Norman Siegel said, "Technicalities should not prevent a candidate from being on the ballot," and Mark Green chimed in with, "This super-technical violation shouldn't keep him off the ballot - but should lead to reforming ballot access laws," and Gioia said, "If he met all the requirements he should be put back on the ballot. Regardless, our campaign will continue to move ahead at full speed no matter what the courts decide."

Councilman Bill de Blasio says that because the billboard industry is "synonymous with New York," the Buildings Department should ease up on issuing hefty fines for what he calls minor infractions. De Blasio tells the Daily News, "The fines given to one single billboard can go over $100,000, but the fines issued in the East Side crane collapses were a fraction of that. It's like the world turned upside down." The Buildings Department began cracking down on illegally installed billboards several years ago after community groups pressured the City Council to take action. A spokesman for OTR Media Group, one of the city's major billboard companies, says, "This is the same Buildings Department that should be cracking down on unsafe buildings." But department spokesman Tony Sclafani explains that "illegal signs can pose a danger to the public if not safely installed." The city is currently engaged in a legal battle with billboard companies over the City Council rules, which ad men say are too restrictive and lead to outrageous fines.

After Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum announced she would not run for a third term in 2009, the race for the seat was officially on. City Council member Bill de Blasio thinks he's right for the job--his 2009 election website, which once announced his campaign for Brooklyn Borough President, now highlights out his experience organizing people against the term limits extension. Speaking with City Room, de Blasio said of his possible, rumored opponents, including fellow Council members John Liu and Eric Gioia (who has raised $2 million), Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV and lawyer Norman Siegel, "It's a strong field of candidates, a group of quality people. In a way, you wish there were more elections in this city with this kind of a field of strong candidates."