When Campaign Consultants Svengali the Pols and the Press
The Pols
New York Campaigns have become all about political consultants making money and developing a dependency relationship with the city and state's elected officials to make millions as lobbyists. Even the press who uses the consultants as news sources encourages the dependency relationship by never writing about the conflict of interests of the political consultant who also operates as a lobbyists. Not that they have to do any research to do that kind of story. Most of the corruption stories in the city have involved political consultants, from the pension scandal to the Senator Kurger investigation.
The Press
Today Story By the Daily News's reporter Celeste Katz if it was not giving to her by political consultants it was written in their mindset. Her story was about Thompson not having enough money to run again for mayor. Consultants who are most concerned about how much they will earn always ask a candidate how much can you raise. A reporter job should be to ask the mayoral candidates how they are going to turn New York's shrinking economy to save the job of 6000 teachers or stop the closing of 20 fire houses. A report job is not to report that a pol is against teacher cuts but to explain how the pol will raise the money or grow the economy to stop them.
From the Daily News: Thompson Behind in Fund Rasing
"Weiner - who famously took a pass on a 2009 run against Bloomberg - now has about $4.8million in the bank. Quinn has more than $3 million. Stringer has more than $1 million. Liu started fund-raising late, but was able to rake in more than half a million in a matter of weeks. De Blasio has less, but that's because he's done some spending. . . In 2009, Thompson was the controller. Nearly half his money was raised outside the city. Now that he's out of politics, he may be less interesting to donors. . . he can raise that kind of money that quickly," said one campaign expert. "Thompson may have cost himself a shot by waiting."
In 2009 Thompson was outspent 10 to 1 and came within 5% of winning. The question not asked in Katz's article is how much of Thompson money was due to the pay to play pension funds that he controlled as City Comptroller. That is why he got so much outside the city money. All Katz would have to do was read former Daily News reporter ADAM LISBERG story in 2009 Pension middlemen gave $158K to Bill Thompson's campaigns and got $2.2B in city business. The other question not asked was why did De Blasio spend money now. Was it connected to his legal problems with the WFP?
Press Allows Pols to Spin Themselves Instead of Asking Them What They Will Cut or How They Will Bring More Jobs into the City for the 9% Unemployed
From the Daily News: Candidates Spin Image
"Grossly oversimplified: You could have Weiner, the left-leaning political YouTube hero; de Blasio, the community organizer; Liu, the fresh face who might make history as head of an updated rainbow coalition; Quinn, the pragmatic, centrist lawmaker who knows how City Hall works, and Stringer, who spent years in Albany and highlights how city government's failings hurt citizens." Bill Thompson may have tough time in 2013 mayoral race after admirable loss to Mayor Bloomberg (NYDN) * Park Slope tenants, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio team up to force building repairs (NYDN) * City Controller John Liu's big exposé on mammogram delays turns out to be years out of date (NYDN) * Liu casts eye on exploding co-op assessments (NYP) * Comptroller report rips city's Downtown Brooklyn development corp.
Park Slope tenants, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio team up to force building repairs (NYDN)
Today Is Housing Day in the 2013 Mayor's Race
NYC Tenants Sue Banks To Force Repairs At Foreclosed Apartment Buildings City Council Speaker Christine Quinn insisted that the banks must take responsibility for the buildings, saying that officials will “hold the banks accountable.”(WCBSTV)
Liu casts eye on exploding co-op assessments (NYP)
Bloomberg $$$ Help to Fund the GOP Takeover of the Senate Has Not Benefited the City So Far
Unlikely to get teacher seniority changes through Assembly, mayor moves ahead with plans for 4,100 layoffs.
The Post questions Mayor Bloomberg’s budget priorities, urging him to focus and perhaps deploy some of his considerable personal wealth to convince Albany to get moving on things like mandate relief.
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de Blasio Takes A Hard Shot At Kelly
Public Advocate Urges NYPD to Address Ticket-Fixing Scandal
Feds Want Huntley to Rat on A Mess of Pols
Fed probers demand Qns. pol's pork files Federal probers are focusing on Queens Senator Shirley Huntley under investigation for steering hundreds of thousands of public dollars to not-for-profit groups with ties to her family and friends. The probes focus on fraudulent distribution of member-item monies, the aborted Aqueduct/AEG casino contract in 2010 involving then-Gov. David Paterson and then-Senate Democratic leaders John Sampson of Brooklyn and Malcolm Smith of Queens, and, of course, charges of individual bribe taking by lawmakers like those brought in March by federal prosecutors against Sen. Carl Kruger.(NYP)
Barack Obama Shares Details Of The Killing Of Osama bin Laden On 60 Minutes * O: Raid 'longest 40 minutes of my life'(NYP) * Obama: Safety of Navy SEALs was my main concern in mission to kill Osama Bin Laden (NYDN)
Tense Aftermath: Train Derailments Becomes Terrorism
A Bleak Life, Cut Short, Harrowing From the Start Four people have been charged in a 4-year-old girl’s death, including two child welfare workers, and a Brooklyn grand jury is investigating a city agency’s failures. (NYT) * Short, Bleak Life of Marchella Pierce, Emaciated 4-Year-Old (NYT)
Who is destroying the fashion center? (CrainsNY)
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Who Wants To Be Part Owner of An Empty Stadium?
Look, ma - no fans! Mets come up empty even on her special day
Living Wage Bill Up Again
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| Kingsbridge Armory |
New Push for Union Wages Facing pressure from organized labor, key legislators and real-estate executives are signaling a new openness to an idea they have long resisted: a law requiring union wages for construction of apartment buildings. (WSJ) * Advocates for a living wage bill in NYC have set their sights on seven fence-sitting Council members. * Living Wage: EDC report says it’ll kill NY’s economy* Living Wage Study Says Policy Costs Jobs (Gotham Gazette)
Dirty job: charter teachers janitors (NYP)* Brooklyn Teachers Joined at the Hip, and, to Some Pupils, by a Hyphen (NYT)
Thanks for the Money and Jobs Florida
U.S. Plans Aid for Northeast Rail Service(WSJ)
NY snags $354.4M in high-speed rail funding (Gannett Albany)
46 Drivers Charged With Felonies In State-Wide Safety Check(Huff Post)
An investigation by the state DMV using facial recognition software led to the arrest of 46 commercial drivers, some of whom were MTA employees.
Without Rockerfeller Building SUNY and Prisons Upstate Would Be Even More of An Economic Wasteland
Buffalo Pins Hope for Revival on University Expansion (NYT)
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NYP Copycats Story On the Internet All Weekend
The Story About Hasidic Paper in Williamsburg Photoshop Hillary Out of A Picture of the Presidents Security Team Watching the Seals Wack Bin Laden That Broke on the Internet This Weekend Gets Picked Up By The Post Hillary 'vanishes' (NYP) * Hasidic Jewish newspaper that won't publish photos of women edits Hillary Clinton out of situation room photo (Time Magazine) * Hasidic Newspaper Apologizes for Deleting Hillary Clinton (Fishbowl) * Hiding Hillary: Doctored photo in Jewish newspaper “presents religious Judiasm as ridiculous in the eyes of the world.” [Adam Dickter] * Hasidic Newspaper Photoshops Hillary Clinton Out of Situation Room Photo (Forward)
Tour Bus Driver Charged in Pedestrian Death on West Side (NYT) * Bus driver with license suspended 16 times is busted after chase (NYDN) * Tour Bus Driver Charged With DWI, Manslaughter (NY1) * Driver drunk when he killed walker - cops (NYDN) * Bus' booze clues Cops: Vodka jug in death vehicle (NYP)
Law and Order
Accused 'rape cop' Kenneth Moreno testifies he didn't attack drunken woman
Privacy Disappears at a Trial About Rape (NYT) *NYPD cop denies raping drunk woman, tried to 'help her' by singing Bon Jovi lyrics Cop Kenneth Moreno denies assault, says he sang "Livin' on a Prayer" to try to comfort his accuser. (NYDN) * Franklin Mata says officer Kenneth Moreno 'wouldn't do something like that'(NYP) * Woman throws sulfuric acid on 59-year-old Brooklyn man, burning him and herself; motive unknown(NYDN) * Woman Arrested In NYC Acid Attack (Fox 5)* Widower sues after stalker's grisly murder of his wife(NYDN) * Husband sues NYPD for brutal wife slaying (NYP) * Residents rattled as bomb scare in Bronx is second of weekend(NYDN) * Bomb Squad Searches Car Outside Bronx Hospital (NBC) * Man, Boy Injured In Brooklyn Shooting (NYDN) * Police Seek Suspect In Armed Robbery At Manhattan CVS (WCBS) * Woman files $5M suit over groping incident (SI Advance) * Deadly blaze sparks 250G settlement (SI advance) * Staten Island's Most Wanted: Stabbing suspect remains in DA's crosshairs | SILive.com * 'Vinny Gorgeous' was a killer who 'ruthlessly' rose through Bonanno ranks: feds (NYP)
NYSE Euronext exec says better synergies, fewer cuts from Deutsche Borse deal (NYP)
Steinbrenner helped FBI with national security prior to pardon (NYP)
