NYC 2013: The Search for a Post-Bloomberg Mayor

2013 NYC MAYORAL

• Union Contract Battle May Be On Horizon For Next Mayor (By: Courtney Gross, NY1) "It is not likely that there is going to be extra money to do that and I think most of the unions understand that," Bloomberg said. "No adminstration is going to have the money to give pay in the past."
• Irish Americans Christine Quinn and Ray Kelly lead race for mayor of New York (By HILDA HIGGINS, Irish Central) Kelly, a registered independent, showed a lot of support from GOP voters with 82 to 84 percent support in the survey but trails with Democrats by margins of 51 to 55 points.
• May 10, 2012 - Dems Top Kelly Big Time In New York City Mayoral Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Voters Like Kelly As Top Cop, Not As Mayor (Quinnipiac) City Council Speaker Christine Quinn tops Kelly 48 - 33 percent; Former City Comptroller and 2009 Democratic candidate William Thompson leads Kelly 46 - 34 percent; Public Advocate Bill de Blasio beats Kelly 46 - 34 percent.   

• Republican chairs: Kelly hasn't started yet, and the Democrats aren't exactly running away with it (Briefing: Ray Kelly. Azi Paybarah, By Azi Paybarah, Capital New York) "To be polling under 50 percent," Isaacs said of the Democrats, "I think that sends red flags out and I think it firmly supports our contention that this will be a competitive race."
• G.O.P. chairs shift, bluntly, from Ray Kelly to John Catsimatidis (By Dana Rubinstein, Capital New York) "John Catsimatidis is again very high on everyone’s radar, as he has himself has said, he’s in the bullpen," said Isaacs. "And he’s indicated that if Commissioner Kelly does not run, then he’s inclined to do so, and we will be blessed as a party and as citizens of this city to have someone like John Catsimatidis as our mayor." Ragusa said Catsimatidis is "the type of person that I think we need at City Hall." Savino described former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion approvingly as "a conservative Democrat, and he, much like many other people, do not or cannot see the city of New York taking a step back to what it was pre-Rudy Giuliani,” said Savino.
• Dems betray the NYPD (By MICHAEL GOODWIN, NY Post) To hear the mob, you’d never know the NYPD has driven crime to historic lows and kept the city safe from another terrorist attack. Instead, its accusers — all Democrats — paint it as an army of jackbooted thugs trampling civil rights. They have no facts, only prejudices. And maybe the goal of preventing Kelly from running for mayor.

Mike Bloomberg at a June 2009 Independence Party Spring Chair Reception

Bloomberg: Independence at the Heart of Innovation

BLOOMBERG
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Calls For Independent Thought At Franklin And Marshall 2012 Commencement (Huffington Post) But independence lies at the heart of innovation, progress and pride. So the next time someone tells you why something can’t be done, or why something is the best idea or the worst idea, remember Ben Franklin and his spirit of independence.

2012: Who Has a Better Chance?

2012

• The Choice Ahead (By JIM MCTAGUE, Barron's Cover) The election, however, is not until November 2012, and it would be naïve to write off a skilled campaigner like President Obama -- and we haven't. Independent voters will determine the outcome of the election. This electorate's current gloomy mood could swing to cheer if our trial-and-error president's luck changes and the languid economy's pulse strengthens. 

• Bloomy for Prez? - Mayor plainly eyeing a run (John Podhoretz, NY Post) Meanwhile, independents dislike everybody. And that’s where Bloomberg might come in. Perot, another billionaire businessman with mythical technocratic prowess, rode a wave of independent disaffection to a historic 19 percent of the vote in 1992. Bloomberg has similarly unlimited resources — and he would come at the race from a stronger position as a man with real governing experience.

Bill King: Party System Blocking Meaningful Change

ECONOMIC CRISIS

• King: Party system blocking meaningful change (By BILL KING, Houston Chronicle) To get any meaningful change in the current system, we are going to have to return to the Founders' view of political parties and start thinking differently about them. Instead of being proud to be associated with a political party, it should be an embarrassment. After this week's debacle with the so-called supercommittee, that sentiment should not be much of a stretch.
• Community Impact of Supercommittee Failure (by Yanick Rice Lamb, Special to the AFRO) Among independent voters surveyed, seven in 10 favor cuts in domestic spending and increases in taxes on corporations and wealthy people. About six in 10 of all respondents are against reductions in defense spending.

BLOOMBERG
Bloomberg pivots to slamming D.C. (By: Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman, Politico) “My suspicion is he hasn’t quite figured out what his next act is, but the one thing he knows he wants is to stay relevant and continue cultivating his brand as the independent, sane, grown-up voice in American politics,” said Democratic strategist Dan Gerstein, a veteran of Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman’s independent 2006 campaign. “This plays into his sweet spot: It’s the intersection of independence, adult leadership, and finance and economics.”

2012
Is the Stage Set For a Third-Party Presidential Candidate? (By Amy Bingham, ABC News) “We are not a third party,” said Elliot Ackerman, the group’s chief operating officer. “The country has enough special interests and goofy ideologies out there. We are a second way to nominate our leaders.” By gathering enough petition signatures, the group has already secured a spot on the ballot in nine states. Ackerman said that number will jump to 28 by the end of the year and before November 2012, he said the group will have secured the remaining 22 states.

Mayor Bloomberg Criticizes Washington for Failure of Super Committee

BLOOMBERG

• Shame On Us, Washington (By Ron Fournier, National Journal) New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, blamed Obama and lawmakers in both parties for the failure of the so-called super committee to reach a deficit deal, calling the stalemate a "damning indictment of Washington's inability to govern this country."
• Cuomo says Bloomberg's criticism of Obama 'misses the point' (By Azi Paybarah, Capital New York) But unlike Bloomberg, an independent who periodically blames both parties in Washington for federal-government dysfunction, the Democratic governor said that it wasn't Obama's fault that Washington lawmakers didn't come up with a plan.
• Bloomberg Blasts Obama, Congress Over Deficit Deal Standstill (By: Josh Robin, NY1 Staten Island) "Washington's inability to get its fiscal house in order and work in a bipartisan fashion to create jobs represents a fundamental failure of government that has bred frustration and anger among the people and prolonged the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression," Cuomo said.

The Removal at Zuccotti Park

OCCUPY WALL STREET
Whose Police? (Posted by Philip Gourevitch, The New Yorker) The N.Y.P.D. descended on the park with deafening military-grade LRAD noise canons and several stadiums’ worth of blinding Klieg lights, and while they worked, they drove journalists steadily back further and further from their area of operations.

Non-partisan elections, we have 'em!

Hi all,

Thanks Nancy for inviting me on to contribute. First an introduction. I'm Randy Miller and my first and only visit to NY was last January for the CUIP national conference. I live in Syracuse, Utah (I hear New York has a Syracuse too) and I am active in trying to consolidate the independent movement out in these parts.

So, yes, we have non-partisan municpal elections here in Utah. For city offices, council, mayor, chief of police etc., those positions are non-partisan and it works well I think. The net effect is that there is an outreach to the community. The parties still organize their meet the candidate nights, but so do other organizations and undecided citizens. I've been plenty active in partisanship in years past, but not too involved in politics until the last few years. Consequently, I have been double blind to how good we have it to enjoy a non-partisan system for a portion of our public offices.

Part II, corruption
I have had an interesting exchange that has been buried in the comment pile regarding a corruption investigation for a, let's say a large sum, of Bloomberg's money. And there has been an allegation that the Independence Party of New York City is or may be involved in some sort of corruption in connection with the missing money. As a non-New Yorker, let me make a couple of observations:

1. The money is flowing the wrong way for this to be a corruption issue. As I understand it, Mayor Bloomberg spent North of $100 million in his last campaign (which was extreme overkill, but I'll get into that another time) and the amount involved in this alleged corruption is less than 1% of that entire campaign expense. 2. I see from the stands that the Independence Party of New York City does not have the numbers that the Big 2 have. So it is puzzling to me what big carrot IPNYC has to dangle in front of Bloomberg in exchange for dollars.

And if it was such a big game changer, for heaven's sake, the guy was stingy, he doled out less than 1% to the outfit that 'fixed' things for him (allegedly). The justice system has a way of ferreting out the truth. If IPNYC is swimming in Bloomberg Bucks, I think I can reasonably assume that CUIP will stop hitting me up for fundraising. But I am also fair-minded, so if anyone out there has some good quality contrasting journalism, please send it my way.

I'll see you all on the CUIP conference call tomorrow evening.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 8/12/09

Independent Voters

• NOTE: Without much fanfare, the WaPo introduced a new blog just about around a year ago. Funny, this is the first mention of "independent voters"...in an article about Sarah Palin's "downright evil" comment about President Obama's healthcare plan. Sarah Palin Calls for...Restraint? (Stephen Stromberg, Washington Post/Post Partisan)
• IMHO Marc Ambinder is one of the more anti-independent pundits around. However, he does write about independents, even if his understanding of independent voters is based on partisan conservatism. How Conservatives Are Blowing Their Chance (The Atlantic/Politics, Marc Ambinder)
• Is corruption a problem? (By WALLY EDGE, NJ Politicker) More than nine out of then (93%) of New Jerseyans say government corruption is a "somewhat serious" or "very serious" problem and 65% of voters say the recent wave of corruption arrests embarrasses them as New Jersey residents.
• N.J. Voters Say Corruption Major Issue, Poll Finds (By Stacie Servetah, Bloomberg) Voters say 50 percent to 15 percent, with 34 percent undecided, that they associate Democrats more than Republicans with political corruption in New Jersey. Independent voters blame Democrats 56 percent to 9 percent, while 28 percent of Democrats blame their own party, the poll found.
• Poll finds Corzine closing on Christie in governor's race (New Jersey News Room) In the two-way face-off, Corzine leads 83-10 percent among Democratic likely voters, compared to 76-19 percent in July. Christie leads 89-7 percent among Republicans and 64-29 percent among independent voters, both unchanged.
• Garden State Gubernatorial: Three reasons that Republican Chris Christie can win in New Jersey. (By Jennifer Marsico, National Review Online)
• Playing It Safe (By Charlie Cook, National Journal via Government Executive) The public's go-slower attitude is coming through not just in surveys but also in focus groups, such as one that Democratic pollster Peter Hart conducted in Towson, Md., recently for the Annenberg Public Policy Center. Columnist Mark Shields, who watched that focus group of a dozen independent voters from behind the glass, notes, "Even those who are rooting for Obama think that he is moving too fast. They feel the nation needs a time-out. They urge him to slow down." Shields quoted one participant as saying, "I hope he has learned that everything does not work at the speed of light," and another as advising that the president "needs to develop a bit of patience."

BLOOMBERG 09

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, registered as unaffiliated, is running as an independent for a third term on the Independence Party line in November. PS -- Mike twittered today! http://twitter.com/mikebloomberg

• Indys Defend Bloomberg As One Of Their Own (NY Daily News/Daily Politics/Liz Benjami)
• Working The Jewish Vote For Bloomberg ‘09 - Mark Botnick: Mayor’s liaison grew up in political family. (by Adam Dickter, The Jewish Week) At 24, Mark Botnick is in charge of outreach to the Jewish community for Mike Bloomberg’s third mayoral campaign. The Yonkers native, an alumnus of Westchester Day School and Westchester Hebrew High School, worked on Bloomberg’s last campaign while still at Queens College and afterward went to work at the city’s Community Assistance Unit until this year. A Democrat, he lives on the Upper West Side.
• Special Election: NY Democrats Go With Rookie (By Emily Cadei, CQ Politics)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

OPEN PRIMARIES
Open primaries another path to moderation? (Contra Costa Times) "The next thing is open primaries," Schwarzenegger told a crowd during a late October rally in San Diego. "That's how we have to walk down that road and create the real change."

ELECTION ANALYSIS

• Analysis: What does NM's Democrat shift mean? (Silver City Sun News) Nearly three-fifths of independent voters backed Obama in the presidential race and Democrat Tom Udall for the U.S. Senate.
• Prop 8 Myths (FiveThirtyEight.com) At the end of the day, Prop 8's passage was more a generational matter than a racial one. If nobody over the age of 65 had voted, Prop 8 would have failed by a point or two.
• Obama The Uniter - Three ways Barack Obama can quickly prove his bipartisanship. (Forbes)
• Don’t Exaggerate Election Impact in Dixie -- "The Deep South white vote for Obama was generally not too different than that in Alabama, where nearly nine out of ten whites turned out for McCain." (A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford)
• Editorial: A generations influence can be felt through votes (Baylor University/The Lariat Online) An analysis from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reported, "Without a doubt, the overwhelming backing of younger voters was a critical factor in Obama's victory."
• Have We Witnessed a Revolution? (RealClearPolitics) The electoral evidence at least suggests that something big is happening to America's ideological moorings

NEW YORK POLITICS/INDEPENDENCE PARTY
The Long View On Term Limits: Not About Bloomberg (Daily News/Daily Politics) Sources close to the mayor have suggested that he will run as an independent. But there has also been speculation he will seek another line - the most likely candidates, of course, being the GOP and the Independence Party, but both might present problems to him this time around.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• More on the YouTube/CNN debate: * John Edwards reached independents on health care (Forbes) * Obama is black enough, but is he anti-Clintonian enough? (Weekly Standard) * S.C. blacks don't want to see fewer candidates in the debates (NPR from SC)

• Urban League forum this week in St. Louis: * Bloomberg to address luncheon, candidates in forum tonight (St. Louis Dispatch) * The Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton Thursday on whether the black vote will be taken for granted and whether the Pope is Catholic (Columbia Tribune )

• South Carolina: * Obama hits radio waves today(Pioneer Times Journal ) * Black leaders see top-tier contest (CNN Washington Bureau)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Like independents nationally, independents in Virginia are held together bya rejection of partisan labels, not an overriding shared ideology. (Washington Post)
• 'Billary' treads with much caution, independents lean Dem (Detroit Free Press weekly roundup)
• Mississippi court says indies must register with a party to vote in primary-Dems in trouble--the result of those decisions will be to send many white independent, unaffiliated voters scurrying to register in the GOP. (Clarion Ledger)
• With polls showing both the Republican president and Democratic Congress mired in the 30 percent approval range, it's not surprising that a renewed effort has been created to break the two-party stranglehold on U.S. politics... Senate Bill 506 could be called the anti-Lieberman bill (Las Cruces Sun News Report)
• In Virginia, an unfavorable trend (Power Line )
• Could It Get Any Worse for Bush? Sure, Just Watch-Half of Virginia independents named Busher the worst president since 1960. (Blog Critics )
• BTW, Independents are not all "middle of the road"- In fact, many independents appear to be to the left of the Democratic Party, particularly when it comes to how to handle the behavior of the criminal Bush administration. Or maybe left isn’t the right word. They are more concerned about preserving democracy than the Democratic Party is. (OpEd News)
• Border Security-About two-thirds of Democrats and independents said they were not confident about the government's performance, as did about half of Republicans. (Washington Post)
• Bloomberg candidacy would help Clinton (Washington Times)
• Across the divide: How Barack Obama is shaking up old assumptions about what it means to be black and white in America. (Newsweek)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

BLOOMBERG 08

• Mike Bloomberg 101 for political reporters (Marketwatch)
• Clinton Pollster Sued Over E-Mails (AP-Casper Star Tribune)
• Bloomberg and Villaraigosa: Was That a Dress Rehearsal? (LA Downtown News)
• Bloomberg is thinking about how he could shape the political conversation for the next several years. (Hartford Courant)

OBAMA CAMPAIGN

• Clinton-Obama ticket? Key conflict: Iraq war record (Rocky Mountain News) * ''All-American'' Debate Reveals Stratified Black Constituency (Amsterdam News)
• Howard University Dem debate: Black Voters Figure Prominently (Diverse Education.com)

ELECTORAL REFORM

• NJ: Doing away with election spoilers-IRV is the answer (NJ Times)
• DE: Victory for Open Government; Death of the Fusion ban. (Stop Taxing blog)
• NJ: Legislative override makes initiative and referendum meaningless (Asbury Park Press)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• GALLUP POLL: Hispanic Voters Prefer Clinton to Giuliani in Hypothetical Match-Up-33% of black voters are independent (Gallup)
• Independent voters powerful in 2008-note on WaPo study (UPI)
• New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is hardly the world's only independent. (Tom Blackburn, Palm Beach Post)
• Bill Plante: Election '08 still up for grabs (Daily News of Newburyport)
• Obama can't take blacks for granted, Missed chance to tell what he'd do for African Americans (Chicago Sun Times)
• Minority focus group says Clinton stands out, Pollster finds senator rated highly in debate, boosted by position on AIDS (Democrat & Chronicle)
• MT: Three big incumbents fare well in Montana poll-Clinton won in 92 bec. 26% of Repubs voted for Perot (Great Falls Tribune)
• PA: Pennsylvania Minor Parties Ask US Supreme Court to Take Ballot Access Case (Ballot Access News)
• In Spitzer/Bloomberg match-up, Spitzer only wins upstate (Brooklyn Eagle)
• Bloomberg candidacy wouldhurt Hillary (Staten Island Advance)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Edward J. Rollins, a campaign manager for Ross Perot's 1992 presidential run, writes in the Washington Post that Mike Bloomberg is no Ross Perot, and that's the good news--Perot ignored millions of volunteers...
• Nick Rivera comments on Unity 08 on The Moderate Voice, saying that third parties coalesce around issues, that the basis of a party can't be "all 'independent-thinkers' who have grown tired of the polarization in Washington"...
• The New York Times overlooks the Perot vote to point out that independents vote for partisan candidates...
• R.J. Eskow writes at Huffington Post: A lot of independents don't want "bipartisanship." They're antipartisan. ...

Conversations on Independence

"...Both major parties have major image, perception, and baggage problems - rightly so, given their track records of reneging on promises and sidestepping the hot-button problems. Is it surprising that “DEM” appears to be “Deny Election Mandates” and “GOP” now appears to be “Grab Overseas Petroleum? ..."

That's Fred Cederholm and he's been thinking. You should be thinking, too. See the Smirking Chimp, now on the Hankster sidebar!

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

For independent voters -- and many partisan Dems and Repubs -- it was a Bloomberg Week. Does the Mayor's re-registration as an "unafiliated" voter lay the groundwork for an independent run for President? Is Kevin Sheekey the mastermind of a grand scheme to capture the White House?

One thing the media doesn't want to talk about is the fact that, whether or not Mayor Bloomberg runs for the top office in the country, the way he got elected in New York City was with the support of the New York City Independence Party organization.

A sophisticated game plan put experienced independent operatives in the field to pull 60,000 votes on the IP line for his margin of victory in 2001, and another whopping 47% of the black vote out of the Democratic Party in a coalitional effort between independents and black voters in 2005. If you haven't already, read Jackie Salit's "The Bloomberg Story" - Salit was also quoted in the Boston Globe this week - the story the New York Media won't run....

• Bloomberg's America is different from Ross Perot's (CNN commentary)


• Bloomberg Sounds Like Independent Candidate (The Nation)


• Maybe Bloomberg is really running for Kingmaker (New York Times Week in Review)


• Third Party Candidates don't win in a Two Party System (Wall Street Journal)


• Bloomberg by a hair--the country is there (By David S. Broder, Washington Post)


• Lowell Weicker Jr. thinks a Bloomberg candidacy wouldn't just be a novelty (Greenwich Time)


• Bloomberg won't get voters to sign on (Michael Goodwin, Daily News)


• Cash alone won't clear 3rd-party hurdles (Indianapolis Star)

This just in for independent voters!

JACKIE SALIT on C-SPAN Saturday morning, June 23rd
Watch Jackie Salit, CUIP’s president and editor of The Neo-Independent
Topic: Bloomberg Goes Independent and the 2008 Presidential Elections
WASHINGTON JOURNAL
Saturday, June 23rd
9:30 to 10:00 am
The show is live and takes calls

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Ralph Nader thinks Bloomberg has a shot (MSNBC)
• Bloomberg cuts party ties; would voters do the same? (EDITORIAL Austin American Statesman)
• If Unity'08 Builds It, Will Bloomberg Come? (Hotline)
• MD court explains disparity for independent candidates (Daily Times )

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independent political consultant Jackie Salit says Bloomberg "would need to prove a genuine commitment to nonpartisanship" to get support from indies (Boston Globe)
• "This election will be determined by independent voters who want change, not business as usual." (LETTER: Francis Warman, Hopkinton, Concord Monitor)
• Others have tried Leaving the Two-Party Bind that ties (The Atlantic)
• What did Bloomberg and former Democratic senator David Boren of Oklahoma talk about this week?? (Concord Monitor)
• Is Kevin Sheekey the Wizard?(Newsday Spin Cycle)
• HIZZONER IN COY STORY (NY Post)

Bloomberg, Obama: Don't take independent voters for granted

Don't take independent voters for granted by Betty Ward, Concord New Hampshire Monitor