A second term is not a lock for Mayor Tall, who's proven that the very tall among us aren't guaranteed to be the best equipped to handle the optics of running a city and not getting tangled in a donation net of your own making. And while the threats by this person or that person to run for mayor have been looming, one of the mayor's many detractors is putting his money where his mouth is, announcing a run for mayor today. Or well, not his money, more like charter school and real estate money, as real estate executive Paul Massey of global real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield announced he'd be running for mayor next year.
In his press release, Massey said that today was the day he formally filed papers with the New York City Campaign Finance Board to create the "Massey for Mayor 2017" committee. And you're gonna want to keep that name in mind when you check out the Campaign Finance Board searchable database, because Massey has immediately turned down the city's public financing option. Back in May he told The Real Deal that his campaign was "going to raise boatloads of money" from his friends in the business community. Ah, more money in politics. Seems like a good strategy, cozying up to rich people who might later have favors to ask, definitely something that isn't causing the current mayor fits.
Massey, a registered Republican, also took direct aim at the rhetoric that got de Blasio elected, proclaiming that "This is not a tale of two cities; this is the world’s greatest city and diversity is our strength," and that he'll govern on Fiorello LaGuardia's maxim that "there's no Democratic or Republican way to pick up the trash." That famous quote might not be as relevant as it once was though, as there's clearly a Democratic and Republican way to piss people off with your snowplow choices.
While Massey, who'll be running as a Republican, is just the first potential de Blasio opponent to enter the 2017 race, there's a big slate of people who have been rumored to have interest in the election. So keep an eye out to see if Massey is the first of many people to declare, and then be sure to see who Governor Cuomo endorses at a rally in front of de Blasio's Park Slope home.
