Results tagged “williamthompson”

Now that President Obama has officially opened himself up for criticism about the role he has taken in shaping New York's local politics, some Democrats are openly questioning where the presidential love for Bill Thompson is. One Democrat today is quoted as saying, "The first black President who tells the first black governor to get out, and he won't help the guy who wants to be the second black mayor? The irony is thick."

The latest Quinnipiac poll put Bloomy's approval ratings at 69%, and holding a strong 52-36 lead over the Democrat William Thompson. In an interview with Gothamist, asked what it would take to unseat the billionaire, former DNC chair Howard Dean replied, "Term limits."

With polls recently citing that half of the city is annoyed by Mayor Bloomberg's reelection ads, the billionaire mayor decided to call in some star power for his latest video. Appearing to have not learned any lessons taught to him by his character in , look who showed up all alone to meet up with Mayor Mike along the waterfront.

In the first Democratic mayoral debate between City Comptroller William Thompson and City Council Tony Avella, the pair mostly attacked each other. But last night, Avella went after Thompson, questioning city's pension fund performance and comptroller's acceptance of donations from money managers and his past as head of the school board.

After talking to the victim of the "skank blogger" last week, the Post's Andrea Peyser features a different kind of New York woman in her column today: The second ex-wife of City Comptroller—and mayoral candidate—Bill Thompson. Sylvia Kinard-Thompson, who married Thompson in 1999, says their relationship started to go south in 2002, when he was elected Comptroller, "I wasn't sure if he was going through a midlife crisis, stress of a new job. I was willing to work on it. You hit a bump in the road, you don't just bail out... [But by 2004,] he was starting to stay out. He was on trips longer than he should have... I asked him if he was having an affair. He never acknowledged that he was; he never acknowledged that he wasn't."

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."

Despite a mad dash at the deadline to hit the minimum in donations necessary to receive public matching funds, City Controller Bill Thompson fell just short in the latest cycle and will lose out on $1.5 million in public funds. Thompson scrambled to to find donors on the final day of eligibility—including making a donation from himself to the campaign—in order to hit the necessary $250,000 needed in order to receive six-to-one matching funds. But after a few donations are expected to be disqualified by the Campaign Finance Board, Thompson will miss out. Mayor Bloomberg, of course, has opted out of matching funds and has already spent over $36 million on his re-election bid. Dick Dadey, of the good government group Citizens Union, told the News, "If he doesn't qualify for public matching funds, his campaign is in trouble.For a major candidate to not qualify one month out from the primary sends a disturbing signal about the strength of his candidacy." In the race for public advocate, frontrunner Mark Green was the only one of the four major candidates to miss out on matching funds this cycle. The next opportunity for matching funds is August 20.

Mayor Bloomberg is calling for the MTA to eliminate the fare of the most frequently used—and very slow—crosstown bus lines such as the M50 and M14. Perhaps sensing that the campaign season was beginning to get bogged down in talk of neverending term limits and a recent poll that showed challenger Bill Thompson closing the gap among voters, the Bloomberg campaign came out today with a 33-point proposal to reshape the transit system throughout the five boroughs. After largely letting the MTA stew in its own juices throughout the budget crisis, Bloomberg is reminding New Yorkers that he is still the mayor who not that long ago attempted to make congestion pricing his legacy.

Mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson was downplaying controversy that he sat by silently while a local business owner called Speaker Christine Quinn a "whore" and could "kiss (his) ass." But the man who was caught on tape making the remarks certainly was doing his part of mop-up duty. Tea And Sympathy owner Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett wrote an email to Quinn saying, "Please believe me when I say that the comment that I blurted out was a pathetic attempt to get a laugh out of a couple of people in the room. This inappropriate and rude comment was meant as a joke (a bad one) and was made in such an off-the-cuff manner that I didn't remember having said it." The small businessman also insisted that Thompson could not have heard the ill-advised joke, be caused he never would have "entertained it." And if you could not use your power as Mayor Bloomberg's right-hand woman to mess with his business, he'd love that as well. A spokeswoman for Quinn said that Thompson did apologize for the incident privately over phone and e-mail.

A city committee has paved the way for the Parks Department to come to terms with the Friends of the High Line on a ten-year, noncompetitive deal for the group to get exclusive rights to sell food and merchandise at the newly-opened park. And now City Controller and mayoral candidate Bill Thompson is crying foul, saying, "It almost appears to be some sort of back-room deal." Founders of the Friends of the High Line have already given endorsements to Mayor Bloomberg and board members have contributed over $100,000 to Speaker Christine Quinn. Thompson added, "We should not let the beauty of the park overshadow our obligation to ensure transparency and accountability regarding the operation and use of a public park.” A spokesman for the mayor calls Thompson's comments "politically transparent," noting that he has backed similar deals at other parks and that unlike Bloomberg, Thompson has taken contributions from private groups that conduct business with the city.

With Rep. Anthony Weiner officially deciding not to run for mayor this year, that leaves NYC Comptroller William Thompson as the leading candidate in the Democratic primary. City Council member Tony Avella (D-Queens) is still running; a NY1 poll shows Thompson would beat Avella by 30 points. Thompson said of challenging Mayor Bloomberg, "This race isn't over. If anything, this race is just beginning. I think the mayor, in spending $20 million this early, is trying to create a distorted sense of reality. He's trying to let you believe that he can't be beat. The truth is, talk to New Yorkers, they want somebody new. They want someone who will stand up and fight for them." Bloomberg, naturally, disagrees, telling reporters, "If you have a good message, people are going to be responsive. It’s not money. It’s whether or not you have something to say. It’s the substance." And a Daily News editorial says the city's Democrats don't seem to have a message against Bloomberg.

There was some talk about a year ago that upon finishing out his second and final term, Mayor Bloomberg's plans were to ride off into the sunset and begin pouring some of the many millions he had accumulated into the philanthropic causes supported by his foundation. In the time since, Bloomberg has in fact found a way to open the vault on his fortune at a record pace—into winning an election that no one seems to believe will even be close. With a financial report filed this weekend, Bloomberg has already spent $18.7 million on his campaign for a third term, twice what he had spent at this point in 2005. It's also nearly ten times what challenger Bill Thompson has spent and triple what any possible contender can spend until September under campaign finance regulations. A public affairs expert tells the Times, “There appears to be very little downside to this kind of spending...It’s a shock-and-awe approach.” The paper also calls the mayor's treatment suspiciously harsh treatment of Anthony Weiner (who's not even in the race!) "a thuggish cast to Mr. Bloomberg’s Park Avenue-style campaign."

Mayor Bloomberg picked up a big endorsement from across the aisle yesterday from Democratic rising star, Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Booker said, "Mayor Bloomberg is simply the model in America...A lot of us younger, next-generation, thirty-something forty-something mayors have been relying on him for a long time as giving us examples and instruction in how to dramatic change in our cities.” Booker became more visible throughout the 2008 presidential campaign as a fervent supporter of President Obama. Bloomberg rival Bill Thompson tried to take the sting out of an endorsement from such a prominent black politician saying, "I respect Mayor Booker, but hard-working people who actually live in New York know that we need change." State Senator Bill Perkins went further, calling it, "Just racial...that (Bloomberg) would go outside of the city to get some support." Neither Bloomberg nor Mayor Booker mentioned any potential rift between the two due to the Garden State's role in the Maple Syrup Phenomenon.

Opponents of extending term limits staged a rally on the steps of City Hall today as a last ditch plea to the Department of Justice to get in the way of Mayor Bloomberg's hopes for a third term. Tomorrow is the deadline for the Department to decide whether the term limits extension passed by City Council in November should be tossed out on the grounds that it unfairly impedes minority voters.

Overtime costs for cops and firefighters are on the rise and City Controller William Thompson doesn't think that the mayor's budget is sufficiently accounting for it. Today Thompson is presenting his report on the budget to City Council and beforehand told reporters, "The city routinely and severely underestimates how much annual overtime will accumulate, and inevitably this widens the budget gap that will need to be closed." Thompson said that the mayor's office is undershooting the OT spending by more than $140 million in a year that saw the city pay out more in overtime than recent ones that saw the blackout, the RNC Convention and sending troops to assist Hurricane Katrina damage respectively. A spokesman for the mayor said that no matter the estimates, the city's budget will be balanced just like any other. Over the weekend, Thompson also compared Mayor Bloomberg's recent comments about the futility of taxing the rich to former President Bush's "trickle-down philosophy."

Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday that he has no plans to cap his spending on a reelection bid—and he was certainly not eager to discuss the issue. While the mayor seems to have enjoyed a light news week addressing big headlines like the maple syrup smell and the vicious attack at the teeth of Staten Island Chuck (not that we're complaining!), his plans for financing the upcoming campaign did not sound like something he was eager to have at the tip of his tongue.

The Daily News performed a hilarious survey to see whether a hundred people in downtown Brooklyn know who City Comptroller William Thompson and Representative Anthony Weiner—the two Democrats likely to battle it out for the 2009 mayoral nomination—are. Armed with photographs of the two men, reporters asked folks if they could identify the subjects. The findings? Answers like "They look familiar. I've seen them, but I can't remember their names." Apparently 20 recognized City Comptroller Thompson while "29 [were] able to identify" Rep. Weiner "but three people thought he was former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey." One woman said, "That's Spitzer. No, wait, it's the gay governor from New Jersey, McGreevey." But Thompson and Weiner shouldn't worry—there's still, what, seven months till the primary.

Fancy that: After kicking open the doors to a third term bid, Mayor Bloomberg's approval rating has gone up to 69%, from 66% in November, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. Quinnipiac points out this "puts him back on a track of 69 percent or higher approval ratings in every other poll since he began his second term." Interestingly enough, respondents still approved of term limits 69-25% and disapproved of the City Council's decision to extend them 56-42% (they just seem like to Mayor Bloomberg?).

In order for one of the most controversial suggestions of Thursday's Ravitch Commission report--tolls at all of the now-free East River crossings--to become a reality, it appears right there may be too many political tolls for them to become a reality.

NYC comptroller William Thompson is proposing that the city plug the MTA's budget gap by raising automobile registration fees in the 12 counties served by the MTA’s trains and buses. If passed by the State Legislature, his plan would require drivers in the city and surrounding counties to pay $100 a year to register their vehicles. (The city currently charges $30 every two years.) According to the Times, drivers with vehicles weighing more than 2,300 pounds would have to pay an additional 9 cents per pound. By that measure, owners of Lincoln Navigators, which weigh in at 6,000 lbs., would owe the city $450 per year. Thompson says the revenue could add up to about $1 billion per year and serve as an alternative to the MTA's "devastating" budget proposal announced last week.

Even though the area once home to the House of D is now better known as the House of TJ's, City Councilman David Yassky and Controller William Thompson are still trying to block the city from the reopening and expansion of a jail in Downtown Brooklyn that has been closed since 2003. The two filed a lawsuit against the city trying to stop $430 million deal planned by the Bloomberg administration to add 720 beds to the the Brooklyn House of Detention in a move they say is a "waste of taxpayer money and would have a destructive effect on the local economy.". The suit claims that the city "secretively and illegally" re-populated the jail when it sent 31 prisoners there over the weekend in order to claim that it never closed. The Dept. of Corrections says it would like to have the jail reopened by early next year.

The faltering economy and the fall of Wall Street banks has turned city leaders into counselors trying to calm New Yorkers down, given the huge impact of those businesses on the city.

A new detail has come out that may influence the ongoing term limits debate. If term limits are extended from eight to twelve years as is being currently discussed, city council members would be guaranteeing their retirement health insurance, which kicks in after someone has worked for the city for ten years. That lifetime retiree health insurance costs up to $12,600 a year, theoretically putting the entire cost of over $200k each for the city to insure the family of its council members and their staffs. Most council members spoken to by the NY Times denied that the benefits had any bearing on their term limits stance and many have already qualified for it with other city jobs. But that still didn't refrain the councilman likely to propose the term limits extension bill Oliver Koppell from saying that it "might be a good selling point" for council members. Meanwhile city comptroller and likely mayoral candidate William Thompson spoke out against the connection saying, “There is just too much self-interest involved. And this would add to that perception.”

The Mayor and City Council have been talking about maybe attempting to extend term limits, but both sides seem to be waiting for the other to make the first move. And that is frustrating other politicians who are running for office. City Comptroller William Thompson Jr., who is running for mayor next year, said, "It is time that the mayor clearly state his position and not continue this charade." And City Councilman John Liu said, “At some point, people just get tired of the is-he-or-isn’t-he game the mayor likes to play. It happened with regard to his presidential ambitions, with running for governor and, now, a campaign for his own re-election.” As for Bloomberg, he said of Thompson, "I think it’s absolutely a great example of what America is all about. The comptroller has the right to state his opinion anytime he wants.”

Second quarter campaign filings reveal who's leading and who's lagging among the contenders for the mayor's office. On top of the list is Representative Anthony Weiner (he ran a surprisingly strong second to Fernando Ferrer in the 2005 Democratic primary) who raised $1.4 million and believes he reached the maximum of $6.2 million (including matching funds). City Comptroller William Thompson raised $625,000 and has raised $4.8 million so far. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn raised $620,000 for the period, which consultants believe is a disappointment, given that she has $3 million so far. And City Councilman Tony Avella raised $32,000, for $212,000 total.

City Comptroller William Thompson is embroiled in a bitter divorce with his second wife that has gotten so strange that his own lawyer has taken to insulting him! The Daily News reports that lawyer Saul Edelstein--who had called Thompson's ex-wife "crazy as a loon"--said privately but in "full voice," "By the way, my client's not too smart, either."

In the wake of revelations that the City Council had a slush fund (for rainy days when the mayor would cut budgets), City Comptroller William Thompson told City Council Speaker Christine Quinn that his office would review how the council uses discretionary money. In a letter, he wrote, "It remains clear…that the Council’s process was conceived and used to deflect legitimate inquiry into how our City’s tax dollars are being allocated.”

City Comptroller William Thompson Jr. sharply criticized the Parks Department after his office examined the 79th Street Boat Basin's financial statements, finding many discrepancies and possible criminal activity. Thompson said, "During the course of the audit, a number of red flags were raised. The number and magnitude of these red flags raised the question of whether fraud occurred at the Boat Basin.”

Mayor Bloomberg presented the preliminary 2008-2009 fiscal year budget which inclued cuts to almost every city agency, saying, "Everyone is going to have to tighten their belts." One big reason is the slowing economy and its effects on the city; for instance, the city had previously thought Wall Street profits would be $16.8 billion last year but they are more likely to be $2.8 billion.

Just because the 2009 elections are over 22 months away doesn't mean some interesting moves can't happen. Adolfo Carrion Jr. (pictured, on left), the Bronx Borough President, has decided to run for City Comptroller in 2009, making it a tough field and shedding light on the mayoral contest.