Here’s Phil DePaolo on Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz’s endorsement of Bloomberg:

Marty Markowitz received $900,000 in slush from Mayor Bloomberg to fund concerts that had already received discretionary funds from the City Council. When Mayor Bloomberg and Markowitz overturned Term Limits, Debra Kresh-Garcia, a close ally of Markowitz filed general objections to Marty’s only challenger Eugene Myrick’s petitions.

Kresh-Garcia is the director of Markowitz’s annual Seaside Summer Concert Series who was funded with Mayor Bloomberg’s slush fund. Just think what $900,000 could do for our schools that have faced cuts for years. Senior services, maybe some more bodies at the D.O.B to oversee the blight created by Marty Markowitz and Mayor Bloomberg.

Bloombucks are a drug Marty can’t get off of! Lets cut off his supplier.

- Phil

* “I found it comical and almost a little tragic that Mike Bloomberg did an op-ed talking about parking and about tickets today, when he’s the one who has really helped to create the major increase in parking fines and penalties across the city of New York. It’s almost like the mugger who beat you up and takes your money, and then is kind enough to take you to the emergency room afterward. That’s exactly what he’s done.” — Mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson responding to Bloomberg’s post editorial about possible plans for parking reform in the City Room.

* Bloomberg isn’t ignoring all fellow GOP candidates running in November. The mayor has endorsed Republican Bob Capano who is running against popular Democratic Councilmember Vincent Gentile in the 43rd District. The Post reports the endorsement is likely the result of Gentile’s criticism of “Bloomberg for raising property taxes and being out of touch with the needs of outer borough homeowners” and using a previously published photo of Bloomberg’s ritzy mansion in a mailer to get his point across.

* Haven’t had enough of Joyce Purnick talking about Mayor Bloomberg? You can see her tonight with former Mayor Ed Koch at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan.

* Gotham Schools reports that Mayor Bloomberg would like to lift the cap on charter schools. Bloomberg unsuccessfully lobbied to lift the cap in 2005.

* Some advice for Thompson from Teachable Moment.

In the 2005 mayoral race, Barack Obama, then a senator from Illinois, endorsed Democratic challenger Freddy Ferrer and campaigned with him before election day. Will he do the same for this year’s Democratic challenger Bill Thompson? Elizabeth Benjamin reports in The Daily News that the President may sit this one out:

The negotiations over an endorsement are ongoing.

Still, the White House made it clear the President doesn’t want to get involved unless the controller can make the race “competitive,” the Democrat close to Thompson said.
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A Times reader reminds the newspaper how much voters care about the term limits issue.

Via The New York Times:

To the Editor:

Re “For New York City Comptroller” (editorial, Aug. 24):

I wish that your editorial endorsing City Councilman David Yassky for comptroller had told us how he voted on term limits. This is an important issue to many of your city readers.

Twice we voted for term limits, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg supported them as well. Now he claims that he is indispensable, and the craven members of the City Council, with a few exceptions, have agreed.

Your endorsements should clearly state whether the candidate voted to disregard our wishes regarding term limits and whether the candidate accepted contributions from real estate developers.

Naomi Z. Katcher
New York, Aug. 24, 2009

The Manhattan Chapter of the WFP unanimously voted to recommend endorsing Ydannis Rodriguez CD 10 candidate for City Council. The WFP NYCCC voted today and Ydannis Rodriguez won the endorsement.

John Scott, Downtown Club Chair of the Working Families Party, wrote to say:

I heard Ydanis say this.

“I’m not speaking just as a candidate for office in 2009, or as just a community activist,” said Ydanis Rodriguez, a candidate for a City Council in 2009 representing Washington Heights, in a prepared statement. “But as a social studies teacher, I teach young people about democracy. And the basic value of democracy is that the will of the people is that’s most important. And the people have spoken twice that they want term limits.”

It never should have been as close as it was, but the WFP in a narrow vote, decided to endorse Bill Thompson. Bloomberg’s operatives hovered over the meeting urging a no-endorsement, furiously phone-calling and putting on the pressure. Union leaders, notably 32b-j, which endorsed Bloomberg, and the UFT, which is still playing coy, will regret going into the tank for the mega-buck megalomaniac. But let’s be happy tonight that the WFP did the right thing. Here’s the message from the WFP director.
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So many rumors are flying around about the WFP going into the tank for Michael Bloomberg that we’re worried there may be something to them. Because unions who comprise a major source of financial support for the WFP have their members to consider, and because spirited opposition to a third term may make contract negotiations with the mayor more difficult, there are realpolitik considerations to take into account. We understand them.

For that reason, supporting Bloomberg or remaining neutral in this election isn’t quite the same as Ray Harding’s sale of the Liberal Party ballot line to Rudy Giuliani for personal gain, a move that helped to destroy the party and Harding, but we think the loss of credibility the WFP will suffer for failing to oppose — and vigorously oppose — any candidate who seeks a third term will destroy the party’s credibility as well.

We’d hate to see that happen. It isn’t in the public interest. Nor is it in the interest of the unions. Here is an excerpt from The Daily Gotham, which has given up on the WFP. We hope they’re wrong.

Via The Daily Gotham: “WFP Kisses Bloomberg’s Ass”:

WFP some time back made a whole lot of noise about opposing Bloomberg’s Putsch. Then they quickly shut up about it. Maybe they quickly realized they could make more money joining Bloomberg’s trained surrender monkeys than standing up for working families.

Earlier when someone told me Bloomberg was trying to buy the WFP endorsement I said that although WFP loves to be bought, I think even they will be beyond Bloomberg’s money. Seems I was wrong. WFP first kissed corrupt Party Boss Vito Lopez’s ass and now are puckering up for Bloomberg’s posterior. Got this forwarded to me from several sources, but it was picked up by No Power Grab before I saw it:

Unfortunately, this is a well orchestrated scam. The Working Families’ Party’s New York City Coordinating Committee is set to endorse Mike Bloomberg for Mayor. The internet vote following the on-line mayoral forum will be packed by Bloomberg voters just as the City Council chamber was packed by paid Bloomberg supporters the day of the term limits vote. Internet votes are not vehicles of democracy -they are frauds.

CBID took a stand against optical scan voting machines that lacked a verifiable paper trail because of their potential to compromise elections. Internet voting is even more prone to manipulation.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg treated parents with an internet based “advisory straw poll” in connection with this year’s elections for the Community Education Councils. The Department of Education paid ($500,000) a consultant to set up a website (powertotheparents.org) and sent out a mailing to parents of NYC public school children hyping the “historic advisory straw poll” over the internet. Incredibly a credulous City Council candidate, Brad Lander, actually urged parents to participate. The election was extended, probably due to low participation, and the vote tallies never fully disclosed. The advisory straw poll did not empower parents. It only provided an illusion of participation.

WFP’s internet based mayoral forum and vote is designed to provide an illusion of participation. There is no verifiable way of knowing who votes or what the results are. The real endorsement decision will be made by the party’s New York City Coordinating Council. The registered members of the party are excluded since there is no primary.

So why will the Working Families’ Party endorse Mike Bloomberg? The leadership has been corrupted by contracts and the pursuit of political power.

Last year, the Working Families Party targeted Martin Connor in the 25th State Senate district because they cynically concluded Connor was weak and they felt that defeating him would enhance their perceived political power. Both WFP and Bloomberg backed Squadron and Bloomberg’s financial fingerprints can be seen in last year’s contributions.

This year, the Working Families’ Party assiduously avoided plugging the party housekeeping account loophole in their campaign finance reform proposals. What is important about party housekeeping accounts? Under NYS law there are individual contribution limits to candidates, but not to the housekeeping accounts of political parties, including the WFP’s. . Bloomberg bought the Bruno-era Republican State Senate with contributions of over $1.5 million to GOP housekeeping accounts. Having tasted the allure of Bloomberg’s money, the WFP has been corrupted on a policy level.

Read the rest of the story here: The Daily Gotham

(Photo Credit: albany tim)

“It has been the political career of this man to begin with hypocrisy, proceed with arrogance, and finish with contempt.”

No, that isn’t us describing Michael Bloomberg, it was Thomas Paine (1737-1809) talking about former President John Adams, whose presidency was marked by intense disputes over foreign policy.

But the great patriot could have been talking about the mayor-in-waiting. The man who sent his lawyers to the highest state court to appeal a lower court ruling that upheld same sex marriages, which cited no less an authority than Leviticus, is now everywhere, buttonholing anyone who will listen.
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