Bill de Blasio for President!

[cali]

OK, not really. At least not for 2016: He's running for mayor of NYC, but he's a real Progressive running for Mayor in the largest city in the country; the flagship city of the nation, and he's talking A LOT about economic issues and racial justice issues. He has a proven track record as a Progressive.

Forget Weiner: There’s a real progressive for NYC Mayor-

<huge snip>

People are talking lately about how Democrats have become one big happy family on social issues – gay rights, women’s rights, even to some extent abortion, even guns at least in the blue states — but we’re divided on economic issues. Do you see that party split: great on cultural issues, but on economic issues, a lot of Democrats have become more like Republicans?

I couldn’t agree with your analysis more. It is a glorious thing, in New York and to some extent the country, that we have moved so profoundly forward, particularly on gay rights, less so on choice and guns, although here, in the city, we’re fantastic on both. In the city of New York there’s a consensus that was not true not so long ago. On economics, though, we have the farthest thing from it. Sharp, sharp divisions. Twenty years of governments in this city that were explicitly not interested in reaching people in need, dealing with the growing crisis of reduced wages and benefits or lack of affordable housing.

This election, post economic crisis, post-Occupy, post-2012, where Obama wins partly by going after Bain Capital: economic issues matter in a way social and cultural issues don’t here. This is an election about economic fairness. There is not a consensus in this town about that issue. Bloomberg’s presence looms large and negatively. But even among Democrats: It’s clear Quinn wants to continue the Bloomberg legacy. It’s clear Thompson is trying to set himself up as a moderate. I’ve proposed a tax on the wealthy for preschool and after-school programs; Quinn and Thompson opposed that, as did Bloomberg. Quinn and Thompson are both very close to the real estate industry. I think people want a very different approach. They want to see the city respond to their suffering. I think this is the faultline of this election, I think the debate for years to come will be around economic fairness, and so far the lack of city responses to the challenges. And I think that’s gonna change our politics profoundly.

I think what is being missed in the whole discussion in this election — when we finally get back to discussing issues rather than one couple — is everywhere I go I find people on the street disgusted. There is a rawness, an anger in the city I have not seen since I started working in New York public life in 1989. There is a sense of dislocation, a sense of options becoming more and more limited, and what people are saying to me is the decline of wages and benefits, the decline of the middle class, the huge increase of housing costs, it’s all happening so quickly, and they see no response. Now, we don’t see a response in Washington…

<snip>

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/26/forget_weiner_theres_a_real_progressive_for_nyc_mayor/

<snip>

De Blasio’s campaign is a test of just how liberal New York Democrats really are. The key question isn’t about the big cultural political issues—abortion, gay rights, gun control. The city is solidly in favor of all of them, and so are its Democratic mayoral candidates. The new, unsettled battleground is economic liberalism. His campaign is easily the most intellectually coherent and focused when it comes to inequality. Everything from his proposal for beefing up bus service to his plan for restructuring development subsidies extends from his central premise: that New York has become dangerously split between rich and poor, and the ­disparities in government priorities and services need to be closed. De Blasio sound-bites his view of the problem—­predictably—as “a tale of two cities,” but his platform offers the most thorough liberal critique of what’s happened to New York in the Bloomberg years.

<snip>

http://nymag.com/news/politics/citypolitic/bill-de-blasio-2013-7/index1.html

[cali]

1. aargh. Maybe if I put Weiner in the title there would be some interest

this is a REAL progressive running for Mayor in the largest city in the country and he has a chance. He's advocating progressive economic policies. If he's elected, this is a big deal.

[Egalitarian Thug]

2. K&R I wish him luck. n/t

[cali]

3. If I'm posting a lot about him- and I am- it's because

it's encouraging to see a real Progressive who could possibly win and bring to the forefront progressive solutions to pervasive problems.

I really want to see that.

[Egalitarian Thug]

6. Maybe this time there are enough people on the bottom that will vote.

Traditionally, NYC goes with whomever they're told to vote for by the Big Money Boys.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Just Curious...

...I'm not attuned to NYC politics. What's the rap on Christine Quinn? I'm for any progressive who can win...and Weiner was never one. TIA...

[cali]

5. She's no progressive on economic issues that's for sure

aligned with Bloomberg.

[allin99]

7. A bit about Christine Quinn....

Last edited Thu Aug 1, 2013, 12:40 PM - Edit history (1)

Here are a few things that people object to and the type of politician she is... (i posted this a little while ago in the NY forum)

She blocked the paid sick leave act for 3 years, (until she ran for mayor, then all the sudden she voted for it)

She didn’t lift a finger when a number of NYC hospitals went bankrupt and were closed, namely St. Vincent’s and another hospital in uptown. Surprise surprise, St. Vincent’s was sold to make way for luxury housing and a promised “walk in emergency center” to be opened in 2014 (phht, it’ll prolly be a CVS walk-in clinic ).

She lobbied for Bloomberg to get a third term AFTER NY’ers had a separate vote for term limits TWICE and we voted FOR term limits. They overruled the will of the people in a meeting.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/council-to-debate-term-limits-change/

She has been Bloomberg’s water carrier for his last term so that he can help her get elected, which is why people call her Bloomberg 2.0. Which would be bad enough except she doesn’t have any of his GOOD qualities. Of all the *good* things that Bloomberg has done, and he has done quite a few, there is no way she could have managed any of those things (the bike lanes, health initiatives, etc) b/c she is not a visionary and her only agenda is the Mayor’s mansion. So all we get is the sellout of NYC.

And that’s just a smidgeon of her type of politics.

On a pesonal level she is a hot mess, which one can witness on a regular basis. She spins this being a “pushy broad, but she can actually be quite nasty and is rarely, if ever, composed.

"in private, friends and colleagues say, another Ms. Quinn can emerge: controlling, temperamental and surprisingly volatile, with a habit of hair-trigger eruptions of unchecked, face-to-face wrath."

Her staff added soundproofing to her office. They also ask each other "Did she throw up on you today?"

A former donor says one time, "She screamed at me for 10 minutes, uninterrupted, and used the ‘F’-word at least 20 times. I was just so startled, I didn’t know what to do."

One ex-city official describes it as "old-fashioned screaming, in a way that you just don’t hear that much."

She is also the most unserious politician you could ever lay eyes on, and not in a fun way. I call her the clown cuz that’s exactly what she acts like.

She sticks up for gay rights. Other than that she has not a single good quality and many poor ones.

[KharmaTrain]

8. Thank You...

...I wondered why she was behind Weiner in earlier polls. I know she is Lesbian but not about the specifics of her political past. I expect whomever takes over after Bloomberg will have to clean up a lot of his messes that have been hidden...

[allin99]

9. Here's a piece Daily News wrote about her (and weiner) the other day, lol...

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/pols-unfit-lead-new-york-article-1.1410270

i highlight their comments on both weiner AND quinn b/c they both share one major problem that to me makes them unacceptable to be Mayor. The idea that i would have to even hear either of the people's names on a regular basis makes me want to *retch*. You can see what i wrote above is not just my personal assessement, it is the unfortunately reality that is Christine Quinn.

New York Daily News:Two Pols Unfit to Lead New York

Mayor of New York has been called the second toughest job in America. It is a role for a mature adult. Remarkably, the two leading candidates in the Democratic primary lack that fundamental quality. If New Yorkers do not wake up soon, they risk sleep-walking into a Democratic runoff election between two politicians unfit to lead.

Anthony Weiner, a disgraced former congressman with no legislative record of distinction. While in Washington, he managed to alienate most all of his colleagues. His is not the sort of personality that will build consensus across New York’s diverse population.

And, of course, we have now learned that even after he resigned his office for sending lewd pictures to women, he continued to send inappropriate messages to women other than his wife.

Mayors must learn on the job. This man-boy does not. He has tried to cast his campaign as a journey of forgiveness and redemption, but that is not the point. Weiner is stuck emotionally in adolescence and needs help. He is transparently unqualified to hold the office he seeks.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn throws tantrums worthy of a spoiled child, hardly a confidence-inspiring profile. She has denied funding to worthy community programs to punish political enemies, and she has authorized allocating city tax dollars to fictitious programs so the money could be doled out later for political gain.

She violated the will of New Yorkers with impunity when she ignored two citywide referendums and engineered the repeal of term limits for municipal elected officials. And this year, she published a memoir which does nothing to suggest she has the wisdom and maturity of a leader. Her self-indulgent behavior makes clear she sees power as a tool for her own advancement, not for helping New Yorkers.

...Weiner and Quinn are ahead in the polls because they have name recognition and money. But surely New Yorkers are discerning enough to understand that a man whose name is known because he behaves like a creep and a woman whose claim to fame is that she wields power like a brat are not famous for reasons that make them good choices to be mayor.

(oh, and I might as well just mention right now, Bill deBlasio is the only candidate with a post bachelor degree).

[cali]

10. she's awful. and because she's gay is no reason to think she's progressive

[chimpymustgo]

11. Harry Belafonte endorses Public Advocate Bill de Blasio for mayor

I was behind Thompson, but giving De Blasio a new look.

~~~~~~~~~~~


Legendary entertainer and human rights activist Harry Belafonte has decided to endorse Public Advocate Bill de Blasio for mayor, the Daily News has learned.

Belafonte, a Harlem native, based the decision largely on de Blasio’s outspoken support of legislation that would expand the ability to sue over racial profiling by NYPD officers.

The endorsement of the iconic African-American actor and singer is a setback to the only black candidate in the race, former Controller William Thompson, who has been working to energize black voters to support his candidacy.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/harry-belafonte-endorses-public-advocate-bill-de-blasio-mayor-article-1.1412254#ixzz2ajQI3L5g

[cali]

14. oh, I'm so glad to hear that you're giving him another look.

I think Thompson is wishy washy and he hasn't made a stand on economic justice or as much of a stand on racial justice issues. Thompson does not support the racial profiling law. de Blasio is far more Progressive and has a track record that reflects that. So do his endorsements, of which Belafonte and Rep. Yvette Clark are the latest.

[LWolf]

12. "The new, unsettled battleground is economic liberalism."

This part is of interest to me. I agree that the party is split on economic issues, and too many Democrats have become more like Republicans on economics.

It's just that, technically, economic liberalism is what Republicans, and the "new" Democratic neo-liberals, like. Economic liberalism is laissez faire capitalism. Where as economic progressivism is about reducing inequalities.

I see that's what De Blasio is talking about: reducing inequalities.

It's a great place to start. I hope Democrats in New York get behind him.

[cali]

13. It is a great place to start

the contrast with Quinn, particularly is stark.