Category Archives: City Politics

New York City Bar Association Candidate Forum (Updated)



Tonight the New York City Bar Association hosted a mayoral candidate forum.  The forum, moderated by NY1’s Errol Louis*, featured separate panels of four Republican and Independence Party candidates and four Democratic Party candidates.

This excerpt has the “Lightning Rounds” in which Errol Louis posed a series of yes/no questions to each panel.  He asked four questions of the Republican/Independence candidates and the same four, plus one additional question, to the Democratic candidates.  (It’s possible that I’ve missed a fifth question due to a recording or editing glitch, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.)  Among the notable answers, all eight candidates indicated that they are in favor of settling the Central Park Five case.

Update:  In this excerpt George McDonald criticizes Anthony Weiner and Vito Lopez, and laments the lack of voter participation as enabling improper conduct by elected officials.

*  This was the ninth mayoral forum of 2013 hosted by Errol Louis.  Be sure to watch our interview with Errol Louis discussing the enormous number of candidate forums and whether they are a productive exercise.

At the conclusion of the forum, we spoke with Bill de Blasio about civil liberties and the NYPD.  Watch it here.

East Harlem Mayoral Forum (Updated x 2)



Last night, Union Settlement Association and several other groups hosted an East Harlem Mayoral Forum.  Seven candidates participated: Sal Albanese, Adolfo Carrion, Bill de Blasio, John Liu, George McDonald, Erick Salgado and Bill Thompson.

Update:  This excerpt covers a question concerning job training, with the complete candidate answers. (George McDonald arrived during this question/answer and was not invited to answer this question.)

 

For our initial report, here are the two “lightning rounds” conducted by moderator Errol Louis.  In the first lightning round, held mid-forum, all seven candidates participated.  The second lightning round was held at the end of the forum, with four candidates remaining.  All of the questions cover substantive policy issues, and the last may be the most surprising.

Be sure to watch our post-forum conversation with Errol Louis, available here.

Also, don’t miss our lighthearted look at this forum, available here.

Finally, courtesy of the forum hosts, here is a transcript.

Errol Louis on the Plethora of Forums



Last night Errol Louis moderated his 8th mayoral candidate forum of 2013.  After the forum, hosted by Union Settlement Association and several other groups, we spoke with Errol concerning the many candidate forums and whether they are productive for candidates and for voters.

Be sure to watch our previous discussions on the multitude of forums, one with forum moderator and former mayoral candidate Tom Allon, Comptroller and mayoral candidate John Liu and candidate Sal Albanese, available here, and one with political journalist and triple forum moderator Brian Lehrer and candidate Joe Lhota, available here.

Mayoral Forum: North of 96th Street Public Health Coalition (Updated)



The North of 96th Street Public Health Coalition recently held a “Mayoral Forum on Public Health Issues in the Communities of Harlem and Northern Manhattan”.  Five candidates, Sal Albanese, Adolfo Carrion, John Liu, Erick Salgado and Bill Thompson attended, while the remaining Democratic and all of the Republican candidates declined invitations.

Continue reading Mayoral Forum: North of 96th Street Public Health Coalition (Updated)

Democratic Candidates on Union Contract Retroactive Pay



At the mayoral candidate forum hosted by DC 37, four Democratic candidates responded to a question on whether they were opposed to retroactive pay under union contracts “in principle”.  The four responding candidates were Bill de Blasio, Sal Albanese, Erick Salgado and John Liu.  Christine Quinn did not attend the forum and Bill Thompson arrived after this discussion.

Be sure to watch our earlier coverage of the DC 37 Forum here.

Republican Debate Report (Updated)



Update:

Here’s a segment with George McDonald and Joe Lhota discussing bike lanes and the Citi Bike program.  The audience was most animated and engaged on this topic, and clearly not fully in sync with either McDonald or Lhota.  The question was narrowly posed: “Are bike lanes dangerous?”

McDonald began by holding out his Citi Bike membership card, drawing a few mild boos.  He then unequivocally stated that he’s in favor of bike lanes, pivoted to a critique of “anybody [read: Democratic mayoral candidates] who criticizes the New York City Police Department for political gain” and concluded.

Lhota began with a lengthy critique of bike lanes, noting the importance of vigorous enforcement of bike safety laws and that “bike lanes do impede commerce” before stating that he’s “not opposed to the Citi Bikes program.”  (He doesn’t state whether he supports or opposes bike lanes.)  Lhota then conflated the Citi Bikes program with the death of a bicyclist unrelated to the Citi Bikes program, stirring consternation in his audience.    Lhota  closed by criticizing a lack of coordination among city agencies in implementing the Citi Bikes, without mentioning or directly criticizing Michael Bloomberg.

(John Catsimatidis attended part of this forum, but left before this discussion.)

                                       

At a candidate forum hosted by the Republican National Lawyers Association, Joe Lhota gave a pointed criticism of the Office of Emergency Management under Mayor Bloomberg.  OEM was created during the Giuliani administration and was the focus of significant energy and attention during that administration.

While Lhota has generally spoken highly of Mayor Bloomberg, he has nonetheless offered sharp comments on a number of specific actions and agency management issues under the Bloomberg administration.

Here is what Lhota had to say:

Tour de Gracie: The Peloton Reels Quinn Back In



The mayoral race is like a long distance bicycle race, with the peloton reeling the current breakaway leader back in.   In long distance bike races, such as the Tour de France, often a single rider will break will away from the peloton, or main pack of riders, and move into a significant lead for a time.  Without the wind and friction breaking benefit of riding in the pack, the breakaway rider often tires and eventually fades back into the peloton.

In the Quinnipiac poll released this morning, the breakaway leader continues her slide back into the peloton.  Here are a few observations: Continue reading Tour de Gracie: The Peloton Reels Quinn Back In

Bob Hennelly & the 5 Amigos (Updated x 3)



Yesterday evening District Council 37 held a mayoral forum with five Democratic candidates.  We’ll be providing some extended reporting on the forum.

Update #3:  DC 37 endorsed John Liu for mayor on May 29th.  Extended excerpts of John Liu at the mayoral forum are here.

Update #2:  Excerpts showing the discussion on retroactive pay under union contracts are here.

Update:  Here are excerpts showing moderator Bob Hennelly in action.  In this forum, his campaign season premier, he joined the ranks of the 2013 campaign’s most effective moderators.  He skillfully used humor to facilitate the discussion, kept it moving while allowing time for substantive answers and interacted with a very engaged audience.  Unlike many moderators, he began with his own impassioned description of the state of the city as Mayor Bloomberg’s term comes to an end.

Our initial clip covers a question, and full answers, on a proposal to allow non-citizens to vote.  The exchange illustrates several features of last night’s forum:  host Bob Hennelly’s use of humor to effectively facilitate the discussion while keeping it moving, the candidate’s attempts, some humorous, to engage the audience, in this case with their widely varying spanish language skills, John Liu running to the left of the more measured Bills (Thompson and de Blasio) and a very engaged audience which at the start of this question objected to the questioner speaking in spanish rather than english.

de Blasio, Drivers Licenses & the Undocumented



Today New York City Public Advocate and Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio proposed having New York State issue drivers licenses, and New York City issue municipal identification, to undocumented immigrants.

We spoke with de Blasio about his proposal, it’s prospects of enactment and the lessons of Eliot Spitzer’s failed 2007 proposal to issue such drivers licenses.

Mayoral Forum Vintage Video



Well, sort of.  This two week old video is from a forum held on April 25, 2013 by the Good Government Regular Democratic Club.  The Rockaway-based club hosted four Democratic mayoral candidates, Christine Quinn, Sal Albanese, Bill Thompson and John Liu.  Each candidate appeared separately, giving a lengthy presentation and then engaging in Q&A with the audience

We’ve posted some extended video below for three of the four.  Sal Albanese video is still in process, and we’ll add it soon. Continue reading Mayoral Forum Vintage Video