Results tagged “mayoralelection”

In Borough Park yesterday, it was Giuliani Time! Former mayor Rudy Giuliani campaigned on behalf of Mayor Bloomberg and struck an ominous note at the Jewish Community Council breakfast, "I worry daily that the city might be turned back to the way it was, to the way it was before 1993. And you know exactly what I’m talking about."

At an event where Mayor Michael Bloomberg, alongside the city's Veteran’s Affairs employees and NYC Service participants, helped put together care packages for overseas troops, the mayor was asked about the Wednesday night debate between Democratic mayoral hopefuls City Comptroller Bill Thompson and City Councilman Tony Avella (the two Democrats spent much of the debate attacking the mayor). Bloomberg said he didn't watch the debate but apparently heard about it, suggesting the candidates "wasted an opportunity" in attacking him instead of giving reasons why they would be good for the city, "I'm not going to 'face' either of them... I'm running on a record, and I'm trying to lay out the things that I would do if given another opportunity."

Last night, Democratic mayoral hopefuls City Comptroller Bill Thompson and City Councilman Tony Avella went head to head during a debate that aired on NY1. Only their main target was Mayor Bloomberg, the now-Independent (who is also on the Republican ticket); Thompson railed, "For the last eight years we have had a Republican mayor, Mike Bloomberg, who has focused on Wall Street, big developers and the wealthy. From jobs to housing to education, we need to go down a different path in this city," while Avella said, "The people of this city twice voted for term limits. The message could not have been clearer. And the arrogance, I'm sorry the arrogance of Billionaire Mike Bloomberg to think he's so important that he could overturn the term limits law, I think is disgraceful. I think he should be turned out for that reason alone."

District Council 37—the city's largest union which represents municipal workers—threw its support behind City Comptroller William Thompon's mayoral bid yesterday. On why Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who won the endorsement in 2005, lost out, DC 37 executive director Lillian Roberts noted, "He's changed! He's changed!"—the union was also unhappy the mayor directed $9 billion of city work to outside contractors (which the mayor said saved money). And Local 2627 president Robert Ajaye said of Bloomberg, "He's arrogant, too arrogant." Bloomberg's reaction was, "I will not make irresponsible promises to win an endorsement," (he did promise 4% raises in 2005, but times were so different then!). The NY Times, which says it's an "unexpected boost" to Thompson, has analysis: Regarding the DC37 and Working Families Party endorsements of Thompson, "the groups indicated that they had soured on the mayor because of what they felt were an imperfect feel for the city’s working class and his imperious move to rip up the city’s term-limits laws in order to run for another term."

The Daily News and NY Times are reporting that District 37, the city's largest union, will endorse City Comptroller William Thompson for mayor. The News writes that this is a "turnaround from four years ago that gives fresh momentum to Thompson's campaign."