The Council speaker race : Where are the reforms ?

The Editorial Board of The New York Times finally weighs in on some of the controversies surrounding the Council speaker race, admonishing mayor-elect Bill de Blasio's strong-arming the Council to select Melissa Mark-Viverito as the next speaker.  "The mayoral meddling in Council business was unsurprising but unseemly," The NYTimes Editorial Board wrote, adding, "especially from someone who used to accuse Speaker Christine Quinn of being too close to Mayor Michael Bloomberg."  (Mr. de Blasio Picks His Speaker * The New York Times) But The NYTimes Editorial Board stopped short of noting the campaign finance investigation and the possible ethics investigation involving one of Ms. Mark-Viverito's lobbyists, Scott Levenson.  Further, the Editorial Board seemed to be resigned to accepting Ms. Mark-Viverito's speakership without demanding any reforms to end the backroom deals that traditionally shape the selection of the Council speaker.  There are nine more days before the City Council meets to select its next speaker.  Before then, let's hope that The NYTimes Editorial Board strengthens its demands for reforming how the Council speaker is selected, so that the corruptive influence of money and lobbyists can be eliminated, irrespective of whether County bosses and lobbyists from either the right or the left are the ones trying to game the system.   In an editorial by Robert George published in The New York Post, the mayor-elect was again called a hypocrite for criticising the outgoing Council speaker for subjugating herself and the will of the Council to Mayor Bloomberg.  "The man who overtook current Speaker Chris Quinn in the Democratic mayoral primary largely by suggesting she was Mayor Bloomberg's toady will soon be a mayor himself - with his own self-chosen go-fer serving as speaker."  (Bill de Blasio's council coup * The New York Post)   Like The NYTimes, The NYPost didn't call for reforms to end the backroom deals in the Council speaker race.  Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ms. Mark-Viverito's rival for speaker, Councilmember Daniel Garodnick, was trying to woo some of Ms. Mark-Viverito's supporters, noting that "political maneuvering has been going on for months," but The WSJ report also stopped short of calling for reforms to end the backroom deals that determine the speakership.  (All-Out Bid To Change Speaker Vote * The Wall Street Journal)   A separate column by Fred Dicker published in The NYPost reported that Gov.Andrew Cuomo was said to be opposing Ms. Mark-Viverito's speakership. "The governor, who wants to run for president, doesn't want to see the city turned into a People's Republic of New York at the same time he's trying to make the state at least look like it's business friendly," an anonymous political observer told Mr. Dicker.  ( Cuomo pushing to block de Blasio speaker pick Mark-Viverito * The New York Post) WHERE IS THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ? After weeks of taking a leading position on examining the clear campaign finance violations and possible ethics violations, The Daily News has since become quiet.  (No to Mark-Viverito * The New York Daily News )(Keep the bums out * The New York Daily News)   Reportedly, some of Ms. Mark-Viverito's supporters are unions, but outgoing Speaker Quinn also had union support.  It's not about who supports speaker candidates :  What prevents speaker candidates from conducting their leadership campaigns with transparency, compliance with regulations, and with integrity ?  How can we restore faith in the Council speaker, if the candidates seeking to succeed Speaker Quinn play by the same rules of the broken political system as did she ?  (Lobbyists Turn Out for Mark-Viverito's Swearing-In Ceremony * Politicker) Now that Democrats are at war with one another over a blatant power grab in the Council speaker race, can someone with some authority call for reforms to end the backroom deals and the corruptive influence of money and lobbyists in politics, especially in the Council speaker race ?  If the good government groups are silent and the political reporters and the Editorial Board of The NYTimesabdicate their responsibility, can we count on the editors of The Daily News to be our public advocate ? CLASH OF THE TITANS WATCH :  New York City Council Speaker Race : Clash of the Titans (VIDEO) The Shifting Balance of Power in NYC Politics ; On One Side Are County Party Bosses and Big Business, On Other Side Are Lobbyists And Special Interests Both Sides Play By The Same Playbook Of The Broken Political System : Flouting Or Even Breaking The Rules : Both Sides Exploit Citizens United ; The Kraken Bears Down On Democracy But where are the reforms to end the cynical trap of corruption ? Read more :  Exploiting NYC, NYS Campaign Finance Law Loopholes Rather than reacting with resignation that the Council speaker can only get picked by making backroom deals, using lobbyists that trigger campaign finance investigations, possibly violating ethics rules, and inspiring shaming editorials from the city's leading newspapers, what can progressive reformers demand in this stead ? All these newly-converted "progressives," but nobody's coming forward to propose a truly progressive reform agenda to fight the corruption of backroom deals ?

Scott Levenson NY-CLASS ABQ WFP Timeline to Benefit Bill de Blasio ?

When did Scott Levenson decide to launch an attack on Christine Quinn that would benefit Bill de Blasio ?

• 2008 : Christine Quinn overturned term limits, upsetting the progressive sensibilities of her constituency.
• 2009 : Civil rights attorney Yetta Kurland nearly defeated Christine Quinn in the Democratic Party primary for third City Council district.
• 2009 : Bill de Blasio's campaign used political consulting firm Data & Field Services, which operated out of the same office of the labor-backed Working Families Party. Scrutiny into whether the firm was undercharging WFP-backed candidates for campaign services led to a federal investigation (which eventually cleared the party) and a lawsuit that led to the consulting firm's dissolution under a settlement (City & State).
• 2010 : St. Vincent's Hospital is closed, touching off a new round of grassroots organising against Christine Quinn.
• 2011 : Billionaire derivatives trader George Soros funneled $400,000 to the Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending, or CAPS, an entity launched by Bill de Blasio, through Soros's nonprofit entity, the Open Society Institute (City & State).
• 2011 : NYCLASS stops using The Parkside Group for political operative consulting services and, in their place, NYCLASS hires The Advance Group.
• 2011 : Bill de Blasio's close ties to municipal unions and the Working Families Party didn't dissuaded real estate developers from corrupting de Blasio's alleged progressive roots (Queens Crap).
• 2011 : Scott Levenson has close ties to the Working Families Party (City & State)
• 2013 : The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) launches a Super PAC (NYTimes).
• 2013 : Scott Levenson and The Advance Group manage the independent expenditures for several groups (Crain's Insider).
• 2013 : The prominent Manhattan political consulting firm, the Advance Group, appears to have worked both sides of two City Council races in Brooklyn last month. The practice is legal but some political insiders view it as a conflict of interest. (Firm sent mailers touting its clients' opponents * Crains Insider)
• 2013 : Organized labor group plots big election spending (Crain's Insider).
• 2013 : A super PAC formed by the powerful city teachers' union paid more than $370,000 to an apparently fictitious political consulting firm, which was actually the well-known New York firm the Advance Group, records and interviews show (Crain's Insider).
• 2013 : Top Bill de Blasio supporters funded the NYCLASS #ABQ campaign (Crain's Insider).
• 2013 : Nearly a third of the $1.1 million spent on a highly publicized campaign to defeat mayoral frontrunner Christine Quinn came from donations above the legal limits imposed by the New York election law, records and interviews show. (Anti-Quinn group got $320K above legal limit * Crain's Insider)
• 2013 : Bill de Blasio and key allies illegally operated a Super PAC that spent more than $1 million attacking Christine Quinn in the Democratic primary race for mayor. (Bill de Blasio accused of coordinating with anti-Quinn Super PAC * The New York Post)
• 2013 : Communication Workers of America, District 1 endorses Bill de Blasio (Bill de Blasio picks up endorsement of Communications Workers of America * The New York Daily News) ; Communication Workers of America Local 1180 was a client of The Advance Group (Bill Would Bar Political Consultants From Also Lobbying * The New York Daily News)
• 2013 : Special prosecutor Roger Adler told The New York Daily News that he expects to convene a grand jury shortly after Veterans Day as part of his probe into allegations that the Working Families Party illegally gave candidates below-cost campaign-related services in 2009. (Grand jury will eye Working Families Party leaders : Special prosecutor * The New York Daily News)
• 2013 : Who is paying The Advance Group for Their Assistance To Melissa Mark-Viverito in Speaker's Race ? (Politicker)
• One of Bill de Blasio's most supportive union backers helped bankroll a campaign opposing one-time front-runner Christine Quinn during the mayoral primary, according to union and campaign finance records. (How A Pro-de Blasio Union Funded An Anti-Quinn Group * Capital New York)
• 2013 : To reward NY-CLASS for apparently coordinating their work, the de Blasio campaign will help to replenish the super PAC's funds with a special fundraiser featuring Mr. de Blasio himself. (Crains Insider)

2013-09-30 NYCLASS - NYC Lobbyist Client Search Result by Connaissable

The Radicalism of Bill de Blasio

ACORN, for example, represents an interesting point of connection between Obama’s radical past and de Blasio. ACORN exercised substantial de facto control over the leftist New Party. Former ACORN head Bertha Lewis has close ties to de Blasio and has predicted a comeback for ACORN’s successor group under a de Blasio administration. Patrick Gaspard, a former New Party staffer with close ties to ACORN is not only a former Obama White House Political Director, but is one of de Blasio’s closest friends, and played a central role in shaping de Blasio’s campaign for the Democratic mayoral nomination. ("The Radicalism of Bill de Blasio" By Stanley Kurtz, National Review)

How committed is Bill de Blasio to adopting progressive reforms ?

Bill de Blasio and Land Use : Liberal Mayoral Candidate Would Continue Many of Bloomberg's -- and Quinn's -- Policies

In the weeks leading up to Christine Quinn's defeat in the Democratic primary election, it came to be known that one of the slimy Rudin lobbyists responsible for influencing the City Council to approve the controversial St. Vincent's luxury condo conversion plan had already found a way to get access to Bill de Blasio, the presumptive leading mayoral candidate. Hosted on Scribd is an e-mail about the controversial lobbyist, James Capalino, that was exchanged between Donny Moss and I.

After a couple of weeks of careful consideration, I have produced a new YouTube video about this e-mail exchange.

One major reason that activists organised to vote Quinn out of office was because of how she sold out the community in favor of her campaign contributors and powerful big business interests. Real estate developers have enjoyed great influence over city government, so much so that voters have had almost no way of participating in important community decisions. For example, voters desired saving the zoning on the St. Vincent's campus for a replacement hospital, but big business interests were able to ride roughshod over voters because of their use of lobbyists and the outsized influence of campaign donations.

After the primary election, Bill de Blasio announced that he would not appear at fundraisers unless contributors could package together donations of at least $75,000. In addition to embracing lobbyists that helped Rudin privatise the former real estate of St. Vincent's, de Blasio was now embracing the out-sized influence of money in politics.

How could it be that activists, who carried the reform banner to organize and defeat Quinn in the mayoral primary, now turn the other way after de Blasio has now begun to adopt some the same tools of the broken political system as did Quinn ?

The concerns over who gets access to political candidates are serious. As some of you may know, when Andrew Cuomo was running for governor, some St. Vincent's activists approached his campaign people over the need for a hospital to replace St. Vincent's. Cuomo's campaign people told the St. Vincent's activists, "We'll see you after the election." After the election, what did Gov. Cuomo do ? Within days, he formed the Medicaid Redesign Team to continue the work of closing hospitals, and he appointed Stephen Berger to head the Brooklyn Working Group in an attempt to specifically close hospitals in Brooklyn. Similarly, some AIDS activists tried to reach out to the de Blasio campaign this year to determine if his campaign platform would include more ambitious goals to confront HIV/AIDS, but the AIDS activists were told by de Blasio's campaign people, "We'll see you after the election."

After all the community organizing, town halls, and protests in which activists have engaged to fight for a hospital to save St. Vincent's, just hearing the phrase, "We'll see you after the election," should activate a powerful recognition : that de Blasio means to make no public commitment to champion for the reforms that that many communities say they want to see brought about in the next mayoral administration.

Some activists, who participated in the movement to vote Quinn out of office, have been doing this work for over 22 years -- from the time when Quinn first arrived in the political scene in New York. It becomes too late to try to hold a politician accountable once the politician gets elected into office. Using Quinn as an example, she will have spent about 15 years in City Council spread out over 5 terms in office. During this time, in what direction has this city headed ? There was no way to hold her accountable during these 15 years, except to finally vote her out of office. That's the only way.

As challenging as it was to vote Quinn out of office, what lesson should we be drawing from this experience ? What wisdom is there to be had ? The reality is that Quinn was just a symptom of a broken political system. The root causes of the political system being broken still exist. In the last two years, our activism was influenced by important principles from the Occupy movement, and that is that inequality, corruption, and the undue influence of big business interests is what keeps our government broken and non-responsive to voters' needs. Knowing all that we know, do we wait for politicians to max out on term limits before they should be held accountable to voters, or should politicians be held accountable even before they win an election and are sworn into office ?

It all comes down to what you think, because it was you, who was made voiceless under the Bloomberg-Quinn administration. Our immediate contribution to push back against the broken political system was to vote Quinn out of office, but based on the messages that de Blasio is telegraphing to the community, voting Quinn out is not enough to bring about reforms. Now that she will soon be gone, what else do you need to do to reclaim your government ?

Please think about this, because the movement to bring about reforms is not over, yet. The movement needs you to step forward, because not everybody is fighting for reforms, and compromises are being made that may not serve your best interests. The only way for you to make sure that your best interests are being served is for you to step up and speak out. Your voice and opinion counts. Make it be heard.