For a man who currently stands a snowflake's chance in hell of scoring the spot in Gracie Mansion (although ANYTHING can happen), John Liu seems like a pretty cool dude, bro. In most assessments of last night's debate, Liu was largely pushed aside, a well-coiffed accessory to the main attractions of Sassy Weiner, Floundering Quinn and Clear Winner de Blasio ("John Liu? You just kept wondering why he was even there," wrote the Daily News' Mike Lupica.)
But Liu, footnote that he is, also seems to have an undercover cool streak, one that perhaps he's tried to conceal under Hair Gel and Power Suits and Firm Handshakes. For starters, we learned over the weekend that Liu is a former skater—and, based on a dimly-lit video, still very much a skater, having made off with a TPM reporter's wheels at Saturday's They Might Be Giants concert in Prospect Park.
And now, in what appears less like a ploy to win over the kids and more like a shrewd economic move that would earn the state some needed green, Liu has proposed the city legalize marijuana. NYC has a $1.65 billion marijuana market, according to a report he commissioned in his capacity as city comptroller. With a 20 percent excise tax, on top of the 8.875 city sales tax, the city could yield up to $400 million in additional annual revenue. He added also that it would save $31 million a year in law enforcement and court costs.
"It is economically and socially just to tax it," Liu told the AP yesterday. "We can eliminate some of the criminal nature that surrounds the drug and obtain revenue from it."
And with that extra money, Liu has called for reduced tuition at CUNY for city residents. For what it's worth, Liu's fellow long-shot mayoral hopeful Sal Alabanese has also called for legalization of marijuana. But can Alabanese skateboard? I don't think so.
