BDB's priority is going after the governor

From the Daily News:

Mayor de Blasio’s attack on Gov. Cuomo last week regarding his handling of the fractured state Senate Democrats is considered a first salvo designed to damage the governor as he heads into his own election year, some close to Hizzoner say.

De Blasio has spoken out against Cuomo over the years, most notably accusing the governor in 2015 of governing by “vendetta.”

But safely reelected to a second and final term, de Blasio is said to be ready to speak out more frequently and forcefully against a governor who has tortured him politically.

“The roles are reversed this time,” said a source close to City Hall. “He gets to enact revenge on Cuomo and is a good progressive. He can damage him as governor and kill his presidential chances.”

But by doing so, de Blasio risks his already tenuous dealings with Albany heading into the new legislative session, something some close to City Hall say he recognizes.

The Senate Republicans already despise him, the governor is not far behind, and legislative Democrats have been critical as well.

Bill's new definition of "progressive"

From the NY Post:

Either Mayor de Blasio thinks Republicans are progressives — or he’s one lousy liar.

To answer charges he was selling City Hall access (at least) for donations to his shady Campaign for One New York, de Blasio said on NY1 last month, “We sought donations from people who had historically given to . . . progressive causes.”

Oops: Turns out, “more than a dozen” CONY givers had funneled hefty sums to conservative groups and candidates, like Donald Trump and Chris Christie, Politico New York reported Tuesday.

Stanley Chera’s real-estate firm, Crown Acquisitions, forked over $20,000 to CONY in 2015. Yet Chera also gave $30,000 to super PACs backing Christie and $50,000 to Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee. Chera’s now on Trump’s transition team. Is he a “progressive”?

Developer George Klein sent $50,000 to CONY. Yet he also pumped $216,600 to the RNC and $125,000 to a group backing Jeb Bush — who bashed de Blasio’s pre-K expansion, the original raison d’être for CONY.

Businessman John Catsimatidis ponied up $20,000 for CONY — the year after running for mayor in the GOP primary.

Fauxgressive shelter alternative for Maspeth sounds ridiculous

From the Queens Tribune:

The homeless shelter, which DHS plans to open in 60 days, would lodge 110 families or 220 people. The shelter would be restricted to people over 18, so if there is a parent with a child it would have to be an adult child. In the meeting, the DHS stated that the residents would be homeless people whose last address was within the confines of Community Board 5.

[CB5 Chairman Vincent] Arcuri mentioned that the DHS said there is a model that would incorporate senior housing and a homeless shelter. If the community can find a place where the DHS can put that model, the residency would be dropped down to 35 families or 70 people, if combined.

Ok so we already know that the first part is a lie. Now how about the second part? Is there a need to shelter 110 families or only 35? Why the hell would we want our grandparents housed alongside drug addicts and mentally unstable people?

More fauxgressive B.S. from Lincoln Restler and the de Blasio administration.

Nothing says "progressive" like a 5th Avenue fundraiser

From the Observer:

A slew of progressive pols will hold a fundraiser next week for Rebecca Lynch, a top candidate to replace Mark Weprin in the City Council.

Bronx State Senator Gustavo Rivera, Queens Assemblywoman Nily Rozic and four council members–Corey Johnson of Manhattan, Ritchie Torres of the Bronx, Brad Lander of Brooklyn and Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens–are set to fundraise for Ms. Lynch at the swanky Plaza Hotel, according to a Facebook invitation. The August 12 fundraiser is asking for donations between $75 and $300. Renee Cafaro, a Democratic consultant, is also co-hosting the event.

“Rebecca is thrilled to have the support of a longtime progressive activist who has held fundraisers for leading candidates throughout the country like Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Comptroller Scott Stringer, Assemblywoman Nily Rozic and others,” said Sally Frank, Ms. Lynch’s campaign manager, referring to Ms. Cafaro.

The four council members are part of the Progressive Caucus, a bloc of 19 liberal council members that has a great deal of clout in the body. The liberals endorsed Ms. Lynch, a former City Hall staffer and Democratic district leader, last Friday.

de Blasio is no progressive

From the Daily News:

The Campaign for One New York buys television advertisements; coordinates grassroots organizing campaigns; and employs and coordinates with allies of the mayor, including former staffers.

In short, it works as a campaign apparatus in years when there’s no election.

The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling blew the doors off all previous attempts to limit outside money in government — and made hefty political spending by outside groups inevitable.

But it’s no small irony that the man putting the nail in the coffin of the city’s campaign finance caps is Big Bill, progressive friend of the little man.

A city run by radicals

From City Journal:

Even by the standards of New York City politics, Mark-Viverito stands on the left-wing fringe. During her first seven years on the council, she stood for, but did not recite, the Pledge of Allegiance. (Her spokesperson claimed that, having grown up in Puerto Rico, Mark-Viverito was “unfamiliar” with the one-sentence pledge.) In 2010, the future speaker circulated a petition calling for the release of Oscar López Rivera, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his leadership role in FALN, the Puerto Rican paramilitary group that bombed Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan, among other targets, in the 1970s. Mark-Viverito counts among her friends Evo Morales, the socialist president of Bolivia, whom she visited in 2008. She also participated in the protest movement to expel the U.S. Navy from Vieques in Puerto Rico, where she was arrested, along with other prominent progressives such as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Al Sharpton. Mark-Viverito’s family owns a 12-acre estate abutting the former Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, from which the Naval Forces Southern Command oversaw the controversial bombing tests. Perhaps the council speaker enjoyed sunbathing in peace.

New York City Democratic politics are largely shaped by organized labor. Almost every liberal leader in New York City—including the mayor and city council speaker—owes some measure of allegiance to the radical-leftist Working Families Party, which grew out of an alliance between labor unions and activist groups, such as the scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn), which applied the union-organizing model to public housing complexes. WFP-backed candidates (like Mark-Viverito) are usually endorsed by the city’s most powerful unions: 1199 SEIU, which represents health-care and hospital workers; 32BJ, a union for property-service workers; the Transit Workers Union Local 100; and the United Federation of Teachers, which represents New York City’s public school teachers. Mark-Viverito worked as an organizer for 1199, and the powerful union steered her to move to East Harlem to seek political office there.

The WFP runs pro-labor candidates with the goal of forcing mainstream Democrats and incumbents further left. Though it has national aspirations, the party thrives mainly in New York, where “fusion” voting rules allow candidates to seek office on multiple ballot lines. In 2010, a group of WFP-backed council members, led by Mark-Viverito and Brad Lander—who succeeded de Blasio in his Park Slope district after the future mayor became public advocate—formed the Progressive Caucus. Including Mark-Viverito as speaker, the caucus, with 18 seats, now makes up more than one-third of the 51-member council and dominates the council politically, holding all leadership posts and most key committee chairmanships. Its members are unremittingly left-wing.

The entire thing is worth a read to understand just what a bunch of loons are running city hall these days.

DeBlasio will continue to rely on the rich

From the Daily News:

Mayor de Blasio has his work cut out for him if he really wants to end New York’s “tale of two cities.” Gotham has become the American capital of a national and even international trend toward greater income inequality and declining social mobility.

There are things the new mayor can do to help, but the early signs aren’t promising that he will be able to reverse 30 years of the hollowing out of the city’s once vibrant middle class.

As the cost of living has skyrocketed while pay has stagnated except for those at the very top, New York has shifted from a place people go to make it to a place for those who already have it made, or whose families have.

And once here, the rich are indeed getting richer even as the rest of the city is barely holding on.

Between 1990 and 2010, the city’s 1% saw their median income shoot up from $452,415 to $716,625 in 2010 dollars, even as the bottom 60% hardly saw their incomes budge at all, according to a recent City University study. The trend precedes Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor who envisioned New York as a “luxury city,” and it won’t be easy for de Blasio to reverse — especially as he rolls out pricey new public-employee contracts and programs like universal pre-K that further expand the city’s dependence on its wealthiest citizens.

Rather than forge a more upwardly mobile society, New York epitomizes what Citigroup researchers have labeled a “plutonomy,” an economy and society driven largely by the investment behavior and spending of the uber-rich. This creates great demand for low-end service workers — dog-walkers, baristas and waiters — but not much for New York’s middle or aspiring middle class.

Adjusting for the cost of living here, the average paycheck in New York is one of the lowest of any major metropolitan area. Put otherwise, working New Yorkers pay a huge premium to live in the five boroughs, one that repels middle-class individuals and families who aren’t compelled to be here.

The exodus of the middle class has been ongoing for 30 years, with New York by one measure now having the second lowest share of middle-income neighborhoods of America’s 100 largest cities.As the middle class has waned, even exemplars of the celebrated creative class — musicians, artists, writers — find the going increasingly rough, and unrewarding. Laments rock icon Patti Smith: “New York has closed itself off to the young and the struggling. New York City has been taken away from you.”

Certainly some middle class jobs could be created by boosting such things as the port and logistics, resuscitating industries such as food processing and specialized household goods, and rolling out policies that encourage, rather than overregulate, smaller firms in the business-service industry.

But de Blasio’s press to bring in more tax revenue to pay for ambitious new programs, more generous social services and new contracts for city workers have the perverse effect of doubling down on Bloomberg’s bet on the wealthy.

His ambitious ramping up of green-energy policy could be the straw that breaks the back of what remains of the logistics and manufacturing industries in New York, something that has already occurred in California.

And his kowtowing to the teachers union and attempted assaults on charter schools threaten to further undermine the effectiveness of public education, something vital to middle and working class residents.

In fact, the effect of de Blasio’s policies may turn out to be more neo-Victorian than progressive. Rather than new homeowners, the city may see a greater concentration of people dependent on government largesse.

Council wants charities to give Walmart's money back

From the NY Post:

Local nonprofits that have received charitable contributions from Walmart are denouncing extraordinary demands from the City Council that they return the funds to protest the retail giant’s policies.

Even charity officials whose ideologies are in line with the far-left council said its position — which stems from concerns about Walmart’s wages and work conditions — is way out of line.

“We will not give the money back nor should we,” declared Joel Berg, executive director of the ­Coalition Against Hunger.

“Our determination of whether we ask for and take money is not how the company earned the money, it’s how they want us to spend it,” he added.

“In this case it’s on progressive values. Never has it been tied to any public-policy agenda.”

“We have had it, our constituents have had it and everyone we know in this city has had it with [Walmart],” said ringleader Daniel Dromm (D-Queens), who took ­political correctness to the extreme by calling on charities to return the company’s contributions.

Danny again, eh?

Reform pol doesn't care who gives him money

From City and State:

Another progressive whose TIE fundraising appears to be incongruous with his politics is Councilman Carlos Menchaca, who, like Johnson, was selected as a freshman by his borough colleagues to be a co-leader of their respective delegations. Menchaca ran as a reformist insurgent against Sara Gonzalez, whom he vilified as a tool of “Manhattan millionaire developers” for receiving support from Jobs for New York, the Real Estate Board’s independent expenditure arm. But soon after taking office, Menchaca accepted $1,500 in TIE funding from Taxpayers for an Affordable New York, which is essentially run and funded by the same major property owners who spearheaded Jobs for New York.

Menchaca also took $1,500 from John Ciafone, a Queens lawyer and property owner who was listed on Public Advocate Bill de Blasio’s Worst Slumlord watchlist in 2011. De Blasio returned two large contributions from Ciafone when it was revealed that he was a donor, but Menchaca is apparently untroubled by or unaware of whom he is accepting from.

John Ciafone’s wife is Gina Argento, the CEO of Broadway Stages, a large television and film production studio and sound stage company in Brooklyn and Queens. Argento and her brother Anthony Argento are prolific contributors to political campaigns, and each gave $1,500 to Menchaca’s TIE committee.

Last year the Argentos applied to have a subsidiary company, Luna Lighting, receive a license to operate as a trade waste business, which would allow the company to cart demolition and construction debris from worksites. As the Argentos have ownership interest in many industrial sites that they would like to repurpose for other commercial uses (for example, the Knockdown Center in Maspeth), owning their own demolition hauling company would provide vertical integration to their business. The city’s Business Integrity Commission issued a harsh denial of the Argentos’ application, citing a history of illegal carting by Luna Lighting, and also misrepresentation by Anthony Argento of his arrest record.

Furthermore, Anthony Argento was shown to have over $1 million in federal tax liens against him, as well as his business. As of April 2013 Argento owed the Internal Revenue Service more than $600,000. This information was all published by the city and is a matter of public record. One imagines that Menchaca or his staff must have done some cursory analysis of who was giving him money. Or perhaps the Argentos have papered the city with enough contributions that their questionable business practices do not raise the eyebrows of even the most progressive elected officials.
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"Today's reformer is tomorrow's hack." - Meade Esposito

Let the tweeding begin

From The Politicker:

One source said Rep. Joe Crowley, head of the Queens Democratic party, is warming to the idea of backing Mark-Viverito, in part because she would be the first Latina speaker and his congressional district is heavily Hispanic.

"It would be a feather for him," said the source, who is involved in Queens County politics, as well as the speaker's race.

Mark-Viverito often touts her early endorsement of de Blasio in the Democratic mayoral primary this year and has said she agrees with most of his political positions.

Mark-Viverito has been the target of some negative stories since entering the speaker's race, and is a polarizing candidate in her own right.

Several sources said Dickens, whose candidacy is considered a nonstarter, was the least impressive of the interviewees and did not have a firm grasp on the rules-reform package.

UPDATE: Councilman Steve Levin, a member of the bloc, said Weprin was impressive too. Levin said Weprin "exhibited a lot of passion. He was passionate. He was moving and he spoke about his experiences as a legislator and about his family."

Queens Machine at odds with union over Speaker

From Crain's:

In the rest of the country, organized labor has been on the decline for decades. But following a highly successful 2013 election season in New York City, unions here have suddenly taken a seat at the table once reserved for the city's most powerful Democratic leaders.

The local political world now has moved its attention to the campaign for city government's second-most-powerful seat, City Council speaker. The vote of the council's 51 members won't happen until January, but the behind-the-scenes process has already yielded an eyebrow-raising move that demonstrates the political and legislative gains unions are likely to make in the coming years.

A top union official who was labor's lead negotiator in the deal to pass landmark paid-sick-leave legislation this year is now the chief negotiator for the council's Progressive Caucus in the horse-trading that will determine the next speaker. Alison Hirsh, the political director of the influential building workers' union, 32BJ SEIU, is bargaining with the county Democratic bosses who control other blocs of votes in the race.

A recent negotiating snafu demonstrates the conflict between the city's old and new political forces. About three weeks ago, council members from Queens who are part of the Progressive Caucus scheduled a meeting at the Queens office of law firm Sweeney Gallo Reich & Bolz. The firm's partners run the day-to-day operations of the borough's Democratic Party, and the progressives hoped to persuade them to partner in lining up the 26 votes needed to elect a speaker.

Just hours before the meeting, the leaders of the Queens Democratic machine learned that Ms. Hirsh of 32BJ would attend in her capacity as lead negotiator, according to multiple sources. The Democratic leadership, whose executive director declined to comment, demanded that only elected officials be allowed in the room.

The Progressive Caucus refused, and the meeting was canceled, sparking tensions between the two most powerful forces in this year's speaker race. A flurry of phone calls seeking to mend the rift has ensued, according to sources.

"Folks who were used to deciding things themselves are upset," one Progressive Caucus member said. "There's someone new that's going to make decisions."

Another scandal-scarred pol trying to make a comeback

From the Daily News:

Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has become the latest disgraced politician looking to make a comeback in city politics.

Spitzer is running for city controller, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told the Daily News.

Spitzer now joins Anthony Weiner, the former congressman who tweeted away his career, as pols seeking redemption from the constituents they betrayed.

Spitzer is creating a committee that will begin circulating nominating petitions Monday in the effort to collect enough signatures by Thursday's deadline.

His entrance into the race to succeed John Liu, who is running for mayor, would shine a bright spotlight on an otherwise sleepy race.

Until now, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has been the Democratic front-runner, racking up endorsements from the city teachers union, 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, and the influential Working Families Party.

But Spitzer, who fled the governor’s mansion in 2008 after revealing his taste for prostitutes, remains popular among the progressives who dominate city politics.