Hank Sheinkopf, an advisor to Bill Thompson, predicts that the growing grassroots movement against Christine Quinn, and her political doctrine of corruption and neoliberalism, will fail. What do you think ?
Democratic Party political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said that he thinks most of the protesters’ arguments against Christine Quinn are bogus.
Among the lone few truly real Progressive voices in New York City, one person spoke up to question the outrageous statements by Mr. Sheinkopf. Gerson Borrero took to Twitter to express his dissent to Mr. Sheinkopf's lack of any political ethics.
Despite the ongoing protests, political insiders say the [growing grassroots] movement [against Christine Quinn] probably won’t gain enough traction to affect the November mayoral primary.
“There’s always unusual things that occur in every mayoral election, and this is the first unusual thing that’s occurring here,” said Democratic Party political consultant Hank Sheinkopf, who added that he thinks most of the protesters’ arguments are bogus.
“The speaker makes deals,” he said. “That’s the nature of legislative government. Her job is to make deals.”
Sheinkopf, who is serving as an advisor to mayoral candidate Bill Thompson, also downplayed Quinn’s status as the Democratic front-runner. A recent poll has her far ahead of the pack, with 35 percent of likely voters pulling the lever for her as compared with 11 percent for Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and 10 percent for Thompson.
Have we reached a low point in New York City politics, where campaign consultants cannot attach the most corrupt mayoral candidate for fear of exposing the shared, underlying political corruption that exists amongst all of the mayoral candidates ?
The Community Safety Act is a first step toward ending discriminatory practices like stop-and-frisk. The NYCLU and our partners in Communities United for Police Reform are working to pass the Community Safety Act, a series of civil rights bills currently before the City Council. The legislation will create a real ban on racial profiling, protect
New Yorkers from unlawful searches, and require that police officers identify themselves and explain their actions when they stop people.
The American soft-drink industry, fighting Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's restrictions on sugary drink sizes, is courting a lawmaker who could eventually have the influence to overturn the rules: Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker and a leading mayoral candidate.
Executives from the Coca-Cola Company donated nearly $10,000 this month to Ms. Quinn's campaign, public records show, days before industry lawyers argued against the mayor's plan in State Supreme Court.
The industry, fearful that New York City's first-in-the-nation limits will erode profits and spawn copycat policies around the country, is hopeful that Mr. Bloomberg's plan can be undone by legislative or executive action once City Hall changes hands at the end of this year.
No other mayoral candidate appeared to benefit from the beverage industry's largess, although several of Ms. Quinn's rivals, including Comptroller John C. Liu and one of his predecessors, William C. Thompson Jr., have been outspoken in their criticism of the drink restrictions.
The Coke executives' campaign contributions represented a noticeable sum for Ms. Quinn, who has expressed unease with the soda limits, which would restrict sales of sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces.
She has suggested that the measure is punitive and will not necessarily be effective at limiting calorie intake, as Mr. Bloomberg has argued. Still, Ms. Quinn, an ally of his, declined to take up legislation to overturn the restrictions, which were approved by the Board of Health last fall and are set to take effect in March.
A spokesman for Ms. Quinn's campaign declined to comment on Friday on the contribution.
The soft-drink industry, which has given millions of dollars to politicians as it fights taxes and restrictions on its products, has aggressively courted New York lawmakers since Mr. Bloomberg unveiled his proposal last spring.
This month, the political arm of Coca-Cola contributed $1,000 to the campaign of Councilwoman Letitia James, a candidate for city public advocate who emerged as a leading opponent of the mayor's plan, records show. In November, Melissa Mark-Viverito, another councilwoman who criticized the mayor's plan, received $75 from a marketing official at PepsiCo.
The contributions to Ms. Quinn, which totaled $9,750 and ranged from $500 to $1,500 apiece, came from 16 high-ranking Coca-Cola employees, some based at the company's Atlanta headquarters, including Clyde C. Tuggle, the senior chief public affairs and communications officer, and Sonya Soutus, a senior vice president for public affairs.
"We support candidates that promote fair policies that enrich the communities and marketplaces where Coca-Cola employees live and work," Gary McElyea, a spokesman for Coca-Cola, said by e-mail.
Officials at Pepsi also contributed $175 each to the campaigns of Daniel R. Garodnick, a councilman, and Reshma Saujani, who is running for public advocate, in the last four months. A manager for Coca-Cola in the Bronx gave $175 to the Council campaign of Robert H. Waterman, a Brooklyn pastor.
A version of this article appeared in print on January 26, 2013, on page A17 of the New York edition with the headline: Quinn, Cool to Soda Ban, Gets Donations From Coke.
This is a political parody slideshow that was composed with editorial criticism and satire.
Christine Quinn has transformed into the worst about neoliberalism.
Speaker Quinn has embraced a culture that can only be described as "pay to play." She accepted $30,000 in campaign donations from the owners of Rudin Management Company before the City Council approved the zone-busting Rudin luxury condo conversion plan for St. Vincent's Hospital. Speaker Quinn supports hospital closings, so that billionaire real estate developers can capitalise and profit off of the assets of public charities. To that end, Speaker Quinn has curried favour with Brad Hoylman, Kathy Wilde, and the Partnership for New York, of which Rudin Management Company is a member. Speaker Quinn has supported all of Mayor Bloomberg's most controversial initiatives, from mayoral control of the school system, to the outsourcing of top education posts to business CEO's with no education credentials. Speaker Quinn also supports the racist NYPD commish Ray Kelly, which puts Speaker Quinn at odds with various minority communities in New York City.
This is a political parody slideshow that was composed with editorial criticism and satire.
From DNAinfo : Chelsea Market Agreement Leaves Food Concourse at Risk, Opponents Say
Jamestown Properties, the owner of Chelsea Market, is under no obligation to "keep the historic building's food concourse" after its zone-busting expansion deal was approved by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, reported DNAinfo.
Speaker Quinn had sold the zone-busting deal for Chelsea Market with a sketchy bait-and-switch "promise" that the food business located in the concourse of Chelsea Market would be "protected."
But now comes DNAinfo to report that Speaker Quinn's deal to protect the food businesses was all made up. According to Speaker Quinn's signing statement, "The Council’s action permanently protects 75 percent of the current total interior ground-floor concourse retail space for food-related uses." But DNAinfo now reports that there is no legally-binding protection that exists that matches Speaker Quinn's promise.
The protections for the food businesses in the concourse that Speaker Quinn "brokered" was all fake. What remains surprising is how anybody can claim to be "shocked," when Speaker Quinn has a track record for many years now of never standing up for anything that is important to the community ? When are folks going to "see the light" that Speaker Quinn represents all that is bad about neoliberalism ?
During a peaceful and legal protest against the mayoral campaign of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, NYPD officers used physical force to attempt to move protesters off of a wide public sidewalk and onto the other side of the street. When we refused and maintained our right to free assembly, they used the bodies to block us from distributing leaflets.
Are the NYPD blocking anti-Quinn protesters again, because she has agreed to retain Ray Kelly as Police Commissioner ?
Speaker Quinn has become emboldened ever since she overturned term limits, got away with using millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars in an illegal slush fund, weakened the campaign finance laws, and used major real estate projects to extract campaign donations from developers in a system that many describe as a "pay-to-play" culture. Now, she is using the NYPD as her own private army. The impression that Mayor Mike Bloomberg has influenced her is an understatement.
Because of her record of corruption, activists are basically waiting for Speaker Quinn to be caught in more scandals, before the mayoral election this year.
The protest last night took place at a "housing debate" in Brooklyn.
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn thinks that corporations are people, too, and that they deserve to be counted as member organizations in order to allow corporations to use corporate money to influence the outcome of elections.
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn achieved a life-long dream to weaken campaign finance laws yesterday. A new bill, which was passed with almost unanimous support through the New York City Council, was nominally promised to help unions, but the dark side of the bill is a backdoor loophole that exempts corporations from disclosing election-related communications with their employees, stockholders, directors, and other stakeholders about activities that corporations undertake to endorse and support corrupt candidates.
"City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, facing accusations that legislation she championed opened a 'gaping loophole' in New York City's campaign-finance system, backed off her proposal and oversaw the passage of a watered-down bill Wednesday that reduced the reporting requirements for unions, corporations and advocacy groups." (Council Eases Finance Rules * The Wall Street Journal)
New York's vendors face $1,000 fines for minor infractions. But City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has the power to help make things right - but she does not. Why ?
In 2006, the Bloomberg administration quadrupled penalties on licensed street vendors, from a maximum of $250 to a maxiumum of $1,000 per ticket. After filing two lawsuits which were successful but only temporary, the Street Vendor Project turned to City Council for permanent relief. In November 2010, Council Member Stephen Levin introduced two bills to lessen the fines. Intro 434 lowers the maximum fines from $1,000 to $250. Intro 435 makes sure that fines escalate only on vendors who repeatedly commit the same infraction.
The past two years, SVP has had countless meetings with council members, chambers of commerce, and community board members. We wrote boatloads of letters. We gathered thousands of signatures. We made videos. We got a ton of press. Eventually, in April 2012, the City Council Consumer Affairs Committee held a public hearing on Intros 434, 435, and several other vendor bills. Hundreds of vendors turned out to show their support. Many immigrants’ rights and other organizations testified in favor. The University of Wisconsin even published a study showing that reducing fines would increase revenue to the city’s coffers. Yes, lowering fines would increase revenues, because vendors could actually pay them!
And yet, more then six months later, the bills have not received a vote. Why not? Christine Quinn, the Council Speaker, controls whether a vote is called. She is a supporter of easing burdensome regulations on small businesses. She has indicated that her office is “looking into“ whether to lower the fines. Yet, like with other bills, she seems to be dragging her feet. To help give her a push (and show that vendors are highly visible in the public realm and therefore powerful), SVP is posting hundreds of signs on vending carts all over the city.
Support vendors? PLEASE HELP by visiting the Street Vendor Project page and take action now.
Christine Quinn's BOE Conflict of Interests : Her Campaign Team Wants To Change Elections Midstream, At Any Cost, To Win The Democratic Primary -- Even If The Board of Elections Has To Flush Democracy Down The Toilet (Again)
Each of the commissioners that sit and make policy at the Board of Elections must be approved by the city council after having been nominated by the GOP and Democratic party leaders. Last month, the council reappointed another commissioner Maria R. Guastella after the long election day lines scandal, the slow vote count scandals and the fact that the board has not had an executive director in the last two years, since the last one left in a ballot tampering scandal.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's conflict is that her campaign team wants a fast primary, meaning June. They feel that with Quinn way ahead in the polls the faster the election, the better chance she has of winning. That is why many of her appointed commissioner on the Board of Elections have been pushing for a June primary under the excuse that a September primary would not give the BOE time to count the voters for a run-off. Can you imagine that after spending $100 million on new machines the Board of Elections still cannot count the same ballots it used to do with the 1950's built voting machines ?
Christine Quinn has refused to meet with her constituents about the big dig project in her district, which is for the dangerous pipeline carrying fracked gas. Residents have engaged in civil disobedience, lying on the ground in front of the back hoes to prevent the digging. If a catastrophic explosion takes place in NYC as it has in other areas, we don't even have a hospital on the entire lower west side of Manhattan. It's a perfect storm.
Here's an excerpt from the article in today's Village Voice :
"We have 15,000 to 17,000 people living in a square mile. The human damage and the real property damage if this thing were to explode would be almost incalculable. It's not just the crater: the heat radiates out along the surface of the ground, and these explosions are so hot that if you try to bring emergency vehicles out to the area, those vehicles would melt. Running this pipeline under the city would be like putting a small-grade neutron bomb beneath the streets."
Confronting the President of Magical Thinking : A Vocation of Agony
Barack Obama and his family, the vice president and his family, other government officials, and their supporters celebrated the president's second inauguration today, which coïncided with the federal holiday commemorating the life and accomplishments of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
LGBT Americans were jubilant, because the president said some aspirational words in the second half of his inaugural address.
"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal, as well."
Immediately, the president's supporters acted in lock-step to express support for this expression of a longing for equality.
Corey Johnson is an up-and-coming LGBT politician, who is patterning himself after New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's doctrine of putting politically-expedient identity politics before having to deliver any government reforms. Note how the president failed to say the words lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered in "LGBT," but already the president's supporters were having to say the words that the president found unspeakable.
It appears that Mr. Johnson's excitement could be being based not so much on the president's promise of legal reforms that would result in LGBT equality, but, rather, on political party discipline that calls for a self-motivated unity in messaging to sway Progressive voters into believing that the Democratic Party was on their side.
But for the incomplete messaging that the president's words offer, there is no plan attached to how the president plans to "complete" our "journey."
On Facebook, some LGBT activists picked up on the incomplete messaging in the president's rhetoric, because they had noticed a pattern in his prior speeches.
Some LGBT activists were already picking up how President Obama was unable to utter the words lesbian, bisexual, and transgender.
To the president's army of speech writers, did those words lack any dignity and respect, and, therefore, did not need to be mentioned ?
In his speech during his second inaugural ceremonies, President Obama seemed to be channeling the "great communicator," who, we may all remember, was notable for his failure to uttered the word "AIDS" until after thousands of people had died.
Many of the president's supporters have made a choice to be excited for the president's re-election. But ...
"By the time President Reagan had delivered his first speech on the epidemic, of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with the disease; 20,849 had died," Randy Shilts once wrote. Along a similar vein, when will President Obama say all the words in LGBT ?
So many people want to believe in the hope, change, and love that the president so skillfully articulates in his scripted speeches. We are supposed to want to believe in the magical thinking that the president really is on our side, because doesn't he, after all, say so many nice things that he knows that we want to hear ?
While President Obama's lack of clear communication during this inaugural address may not lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of our "gay brothers and sisters," he nonetheless sets the tone for that which the American people become familiar : either feelings of shame and embarrassment that prevent a president from mentioning lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered Americans, or feelings of equality and respect by dignifying and acknowledging the journeys still being made by lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered Americans.
Some activists on Facebook took a more diplomatic, but forward-looking approach to the editing of the president's words : by using the occasion of the president's rhetoric to build forward momentum on the social movement for LGBT equality in the United States.
The hopes and actions of LGBT Americans and their allies are to fulfill on our shared dream for equality.
But LGBT activists and allies already exchange amongst ourselves the vision and prayers for equality.
For all the president's rhetoric, we already seem to have, at first blush, the president's love and affinity for our community, at least that which could be expressed in his own way. What we need now is action.
The longer LGBT Americans have to wait for full federal recognition of their equal rights, the more that members of our community remain fully exposed to legally-permitted forms of discrimination in broad areas of their life, including in the workplace.
The skepticism within the LGBT community about President Obama's commitment to true LGBT equality stems from some major examples of actions that the president refuses to take, which contradicts his rhetoric.
For example, the president refuses to sign the Federal Contractor's Employment Protections Executive Order. National LGBT civil rights groups, such as GetEQUAL, have been mounting a multi-prong campaign to pressure the president to sign the executive order, but the president refuses.
President Obama embarrassed both his administration and the Democratic Party by once having said that while he was nominally committed to the idea that all Americans shared the same civil rights, he still had to "evolve" on marriage equality. It was as if President Obama was admitting that his thoughts on civil rights resembled that of someone a little bit ignorant and a little bit intolerant, like former commissioner Bull Connor, who once, among other depraved acts of discrimination, ordered the opening up of firehoses on African American civil rights activists.
Surely, President Obama was not seriously putting himself into the same league as Bull Connor, but why was the president torturing hisself by proclaiming in speech his support for LGBT equality that could not be matched by his actions ?
And lest we neglect to mention how so many people conveniently seem to forget to remember how it took a national campaign of civil disobedience, among other actions, for national Democratic Party legislators to repeal the military's discriminatory policy known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The president's political operatives love to mention how the president "repealed" DADT, but they overlook what it took to get a bill introduced in and voted by Congress.
And if the constant push and pull amongst LGBT activists and civil rights groups to define a winning national strategy to deliver a full federal equality bill through Congress wasn't enough, activists must contend with the political trappings of trying to challenge a president who says all the right things and knows how to manipulate support for his administration. And then there are the other unknown, but nonetheless predictable, obstacles for LGBT activists as they set out to challenge power holders, who fail to act to end de jure and de fact discrimination.
While community organising and activism has evolved since the 1960's with the advent of online tools and other empowering platforms of the Internet like Facebook, YouTube, and blogging, every now and then activists must overcome the occasional opening up of digital firehoses.
Although public commentary describes the United States as "post-racial", racism continues to exert a very real and pervasive influence on institutional policies and processes, interpersonal interactions, neighborhood infrastructure, socioeconomic opportunities, media imagery, and more. RISE is a project designed to illuminate some of the ways in which racism operates in this country.
No seas grosera : le dio un ataque a Christine Quinn cuando una periodista usó la palabra, "señora." Tienes que llamar a ella la presidenta del consejo municipal. Christine Quinn atacó a una periodista y la hizo llorar el miercoles pasado. La controversia comenzó cuando la periodista, Erin Einhorn, dijo a Quinn : "señora."
Cuando se enojó, Christine Quinn dijo at la periodista : "Es mi conferencia de prensa, y yo te digo cuales palabras a utilizar."
Quinn admitió mas tarde de ser grosera. Quinn se disculpó por tener un ataque sin sentido.
99 Pickets Launches Working Group To Confront Christine Quinn Over Paid Sick Days
83% of New Yorkers support a Paid Sick Leave bill mandating that employers provide a small number of paid sick days to their workers. Though Mayor Michael Bloomberg would likely veto such a bill, support on the City Council is deep—there are enough votes to override his veto.
That’s great news for the workers of New York. Unfortunately, the Speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, doesn’t personally support the bill. And rather than simply voting against it, she’s using her power as speaker to stop the City Council from even voting on it.
Quinn is harming millions of workers, simply to please her allies in the 1%. It’s time to put a stop to this. It’s time to hold Christine Quinn accountable.
99 Pickets is planning a campaign of creative direct action, to highlight Quinn’s embrace of the 1% and rejection of the democratic process. If you’re interested in getting involved, please use the form below to sign up.
Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez demanded a vote on the paid sick days bill, which was introduced almost three years ago and has a veto-proof majority of sponsors in the City Council (37 out of 51). But New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn blocks a vote, because Speaker Quinn receives support from pro-business lobbyists Emily Giske and Kathryn Wylde.
Is Pfizer executive Sally Susman, who has reached her cap of in-kind campaign contributions to Christine Quinn's undeclared mayoral campaign, deliberately trying to exceed campaign finance restrictions ? What kind of shady campaign finance chair is running Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign ? (See : Christine Quinn and Sally Susman Omit Campaign Finance Disclosures)
Ms. Susman is a major bundler for President Barack Obama, and Ms. Susman attended Speaker Quinn's wedding last year.
Speaker Quinn has had a history of questionable campaign finance ethics. Remember how Maura Keaney has had several questions raise about her campaign work on behalf of Speaker Quinn, including getting busted one time, which resulted in fines imposed on Ms. Keaney ?
How long before Speaker Quinn's questionable fundraising activities become radioactive to her bundlers, and, by extension, to other politicians connected to those bundlers ?
Can the bus drivers and matrons, who are strike, count on New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to stand up for ATU 1181 union members ? Or will Speaker Quinn, as usual, kiss up to Mayor Bloomberg, as he tries to bust yet another union ? Let's see what The New York Daily News is reporting : "Fellow mayoral wanna-be City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is straddling the fence."
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, an undeclared candidate for mayor, was booed at the Rev. Al Sharpton's Martin Luther King Jr. forum, after she had suggested that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly should stay on as mayor, reported the news Web site DNAinfo.
More and more, people are standing up and speaking out against Christine Quinn. We each have our own reasons. But the more that we find the courage to stand up, the more that other people will join us, until our individual voices become a rising chorus. We demand reforms, and we won't accept anything less.
Last Tuesday, over one dozen protesters gathered outside the New School on West 11th Street in a demonstration against New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
Josh Isay, one of Speaker Quinn's campaign consultants, tried to walk into the New School without drawing attention to himself, but many of the protesters knew who he was. Above, Mr. Isay was photographed hustling inside to the education form whilst clutching his cup of coffee ; in the background is the community organiser, Donny Moss.
Speaker Quinn is running an unannounced campaign for mayor this year, and activists across New York City are protesting her horrible record on term limits, the use of slush funds, her blockage of the paid sick leave bill, the closing of so many hospitals in New York City including St. Vincent's, and her support to fully-fund the NYPD's practice of using stop-and-frisk.
After The New York Times published rumours that Mayor Michael Bloomberg was seeking a "worthy heir," Donny Moss posted the following activist's response on Facebook :
"This is the third time that The NY Times has reported on Bloomberg's outreach to other potential Mayoral candidates. Bloomberg knows that none of these candidates is interested. He is merely attempting to distance himself from Quinn (his chosen successor) b/c their close relationship will be a detriment to her in the Democratic primary?"
Hello all of America. Hello Mister president. We are Anonymous. Dear Mister president, We would like to ask you, are you happy with what you have allowed the United States to become? The entire country a war machine, people rising in protest against you, and the city governments allowing the brutal beatings and arresting of citizens across America. By allowing this to happen you are a disgrace to the office of presidency. You mister president, you need ought rightfully to set your political career aside and focus on the city streets of your own country. So far you have done nothing about the thousands of people arrested in the streets for exorcising their first amendment rights. Stop and listen to the people you took an oath to uphold, stop treating the people of America like terrorists with the building of FEMA camps to imprison all who stand up against political control. You Mister President are a failure to America.
Citizens of the United States. The corporations that profit from permanent war need us to be afraid. Fear stops us from objecting to government spending on a bloated military. Fear means we will not ask unpleasant questions of those in power. Fear permits the government to operate in secret. Fear means we are willing to give up our rights and liberties for promises of security. The imposition of fear ensures that the corporations that wrecked the country cannot be challenged. Fear keeps us penned in like livestock.
And yet, Who will govern the governors? There is only one force in the nation that can be depended upon to keep the government pure and the governors honest, and that is the people themselves. We alone, if well informed, are capable of preventing the corruption of power, and of restoring the nation to its rightful course if it should go astray. We alone are the safest depository of the ultimate powers of government.
It is for this reason that our constitution was written. America, and the world at large is becoming informed and in turn preparing. Soon, We the people will no longer stand by in silent consent. This is a call to every citizen, this is a message to all of government.
Knowledge is free. We are anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.
We need a federal commission to investigate the NYPD use of brutality and other misconduct.
A few police officers hold a young student said to be from Flushing High School down on a sidewalk for unknown reasons. In this undated video, the few police officers receive backup assistance from other officers, who then begin to use excessive force against one sole young student. Police can be observed twisting the young student's limbs, and it appears that some police officers kick the young student's body.
No word, yet, from New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn about the NYPD's use of excessive force against students.
Bronx Councilmember Wants To Force Vote On Wheelchair-Accessible Taxi Legislation. Quinn Is Blocking Vote, Because It Doesn't Benefit Her Personally.
In a rare challenge to the stranglehold that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has over other Councilmembers, Bronx Councilmember Oliver Koppell is trying to force a vote on his bill to make all yellow cabs accessible to wheelchairs.
Councilmember Koppel sent a letter to the chair of the transportation committee explaining that the councilmember was invoking the "sponsor's privilege" rule to compel the committee to vote on his bill, which has 35 co-sponsors, NY1 reported.
But Speaker Quinn gatekeeps which bills are allowed to be voted by the entire City Council. "The speaker determines which pieces of legislation move forward and which ones die in committee or languish without a hearing," reported NY1.
If it does not personally benefit her, then Speaker Quinn blocks legislation, like Councilmember Koppell's bill to help people in wheelchairs.
After facing unrelenting criticism and protests, are Team Quinn close to firing Josh Isay and hiring school teacher ?
After her many shady deals in City Council, Speaker Christine Quinn has angered many different communities. Activists concerned with stop-and-frisk, animal rights, healthcare, term limits, Progressive reforms, campaign and electoral reforms, and sustainability and infrastructure issues have been working in a loose collective to vote Speaker Quinn out of office.
Speaker Quinn's current political consultant, Josh Isay, has been caught off guard by the desperation in which Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign has found itself, and he has managed to underestimate voter anger and has tripped over his own spin.
Now, after DNAinfo has published an article about the looming activism that Speaker Quinn's campaign faces, it has been announced that Speaker Quinn is hiring a campaign manager, Matt Tepper, to help her bail out her sinking political ship. Mr. Tepper is a former school teacher, and it is hoped that his presence will help Speaker Quinn relate with the working classes of New York City.
Speaker Quinn has been the leader of the City Council since 2006. But her move to the hard right since she came into office, in order to garner support from the business community, has arguably made her lose touch with reality.
In a further effort to possibly ease out Mr. Isay and to help her reconnect with the "little people," Speaker Quinn is also hiring another senior political advisor, Michael DeLoach, to help Speaker Quinn get a pulse of the city over which she has governed.
Mr. DeLoach is a former Howard Dean field organiser (pre-scream) and a former political coordinator for the union 1199.
It's only through campaign machinations that Speaker Quinn hppes to put on a façade of empathy with the issues facing real New Yorkers, because that kind of connection doesn't come naturally to her, not after so many years of practically serving as deputy mayor to Mike Bloomberg.
Judge Shira A. Scheindlin issued a major court order finding that the New York Police Department routinely make unconstitutional "street stops" outside "Clean Halls Buildings" across the Bronx and and must immediately end this unconstitutional practice, reported the citizen journalist Javier Soriano.
Judge Scheindlin found that for years the NYPD has known or should have known that its officers routinely violate constitutional rights through the Clean Halls program. Nonetheless the Department fails to adequately train officers about when they may legally make trespass stops, and that this practice “has risen to the level of deliberate indifference,” Mr. Soriano reported.
Where does the NYPD get the budget to pay for all the man-hours and resources it uses to keep carrying out its unconstitutional ''stop-and-frisk'' program ? From the City Budget. And who kisses each other on the cheeks, each time the City Budget is approved and passed ? Christine Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg. During Quinn's speakership, at least 3.7 million New Yorkers have been stopped and frisk. If we all believe that stop-and-frisk is unconstitutional -- and that is what this judge is telling us -- why are our elected politicians funding this program with taxpayer money ?
Christine Quinn will be speaking (campaigning) at an education event next Tuesday morning (1/15) at the New School on West 11th between 5th and 6th. If you live in on the West Side, please join us in a protest against Quinn. This is a great opportunity to educate voters about her record.
On Wednesday, January 16th, the Financial Women's Association is hosting a panel of "power women" which will feature Christine Quinn. Please join us in protesting Quinn's consistent abuse of power to advance her political career.
What: Protest Against Christine Quinn
Where: Bank of NY Mellon
101 Barclay Street (Between Greenwich & West Streets). We will be at the entrance on Murray Street.
The Bloomberg-Quinn administration have made huge budget cuts to the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. Why are our elected politicians cutting the life-saving healthcare services of our safety-net community hospitals ?
From the Demand A Hospital listserv of St. Vincent's Hospital activists :
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
All :
Action Alert
Governor Andrew Cuomo will be celebrating his birthday with a fundraiser at one of New York City's finest hotels. Join us outside the event.
Bring a cardboard or poster board sign and write across it : "To : Gov. Cuomo -- For Protecting Our Healthcare" and then give him a giant letter grade : F-
Date : Monday, January 7, 2012
Time : 6:00 pm
Place : Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, 301 Park Avenue, Manhattan
Keep In Mind That Full-Service Hospitals Are Not Yet Fully Functioning.
The VA Hospital is not yet open, and other hospitals are only partially open. During this healthcare crisis comes the State Department of Health, trying to close down Westchester Square Medical Center in the Bronx. Westchester Square is scheduled to close on March 10. Its assets will be up for auction, but it is expected that Montefiore Medical Center will purchase the hospital. If Westchester Square is absorbed by a larger hospital group, the take over may leave many community members and hospital employees rightly worried about local healthcare and jobs. Read more : http://bronx.ny1.com/content/top_stories/174922/bronx-nurses--locals-dread-closing-of-westchester-square-medical-center
Remember how many hospitals in Queens were closed within a short time of having been merged into other hospital groups. The Department of Health uses mergers as a way to shuffle hospital debts between medical centers, which lead to financial losses and eventually to hospital closings.
All of the hospitals, which were damaged by Hurricane Sandy, are not yet fully functional. Emergency rooms have been experiencing record levels of overcrowding, especially at Beth Israel, and some full-service hospitals are now reduced to offering only "urgent care," like at Coney Island Hospital.
How can Gov. Cuomo, in his right mind, think that now is the right time to keep closing hospitals ?
Hurricane Sandy is still causing a healthcare crisis all these many months later, and Gov. Cuomo is not taking this healthcare crisis seriously. Not only are our hospitals not yet restored to being fully functional, but long term illnesses are beginning to emerge. Mold is an urgent healthcare concern for Hurricane Sandy survivors. "Homes are uninhabitable with black mold taking hold, heat and sanitation are still absent in many places. Yet the government response has been glaringly absent," was how the Occupy Sandy volunteer group described the situation last month.
Compounding this healthcare crisis is that the government is using the "healthcare crisis" as an excuse to burn hurricane debris, aggravating the lungs of hurricane survivors, who must also deal with mold. Read more : http://nyc.sierraclub.org/2012/11/dont-burn-sandy-debris/
In the face of all this, there's only one grade a person can reasonably give Gov. Cuomo : F-
Join us at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Monday night.
Date : Monday, January 7, 2012
Time : 6:00 pm
Place : Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, 301 Park Avenue, Manhattan
Another person has published a letter in The New York Daily News about St. Vincent's Hospital :
Manhattan : To Voicer Joseph Human, who thinks New Yorkers can’t afford to let Mayor Bloomberg go: The mayor, who self-promoted himself on his fiscal and management skills, is leaving New York with an outstanding debt of more than $100 billion. Our surplus taxpayer dollars were used to award high-end commercial and real estate developers with grants and subsidies while St. Vincent’s Hospital and firehouses closed, massive cuts were made to essential services and our streets were intentionally jammed for bicycles and pedestrian plazas. Nikki Love
The Man Pulling The Levers, Turning The Knobs, And Flipping The Switches Behind The Curtain
Josh Isay is New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's campaign spokesman. Mr. Isay is a major political consultant in New York and Albany, with an outlet in Washington. Mr. Isay also worked as a member of Mayor Bloomberg's media and mail team in the elections of 2005 and 2009, meaning, he worked to elect Mayor Bloomberg for a controversial third term.
Mr. Isay is also one of Sen. Charles Schumer's main political consultants and advisors. So, when we wonder : why is it that no matter who gets elected, nothing seems to change, it is because the paid political consultants are the ones who keep pushing politicians into certain agendas that make them "electable" ? Who is advising Speaker Quinn to make these backroom deals, to keep NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, in spite of the fact that we need a federal commission to investigate the NYPD ?
When all of us keep working to demand reforms from government, who are the people behind the scenes, who are saying, "No" ? We only see Christine Quinn, but do we ever know to take a look at who is Josh Isay. Josh Isay worked for Bill Rudin. When the community kept demanding a full-service hospital to replace St. Vincent's, Josh Isay was advising Christine Quinn that it was O.K. to use the community of the Lower West Side of Manhattan as pawns in their game to help Josh Isay's other clients, the Rudin Family. And when we wonder what happened to Speaker Quinn's former Progressive roots, all you have to do is to look at her political advisors. If you vote for Speaker Quinn, because you are under the impression that you are going to get the "old" Christine Quinn of 15 years ago, then I invite you to please take a look at who decides what Speaker Quinn is allowed to do.
''Stop-And-Frisk'' Violates Title III Of The Civil Rights Act ; Why Is Christine Quinn Using Taxpayer Money To Pay For State-Sponsored Forms Of Discrimination ?
Title III of the Civil Rights Act prohibits state and municipal governments from denying access to public facilities on grounds of race, color, religion, or national origin. Access can be construed to be peaceful enjoyment.
Yet, the NYPD deny access or peaceful enjoyment of public facilities, such as sidewalks, streets, and subway stations based on a person's race, color, religion, or national origin when the NYPD ''stop-and-frisk'' people of color, of a certain faith, or of a certain nationality.
Since Christine Quinn has become speaker, 3.7 million New Yorkers have been stopped-and-frisked.
Black and Latino communities continue to be the overwhelming target of these tactics. See the NYCLU Stop-And-Frisk Fact Page for more information.
Quinn's NYPD Strategy Will Cost Her Votes, Warns Joe.My.God.
LGBT blogger ''Joe.My.God.'' warns supports of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn that police issues may cost Speaker Quinn electoral support in her race to become mayor of New York City.
Republicans have longed for Kelly to run for mayor as the two other declared GOP candidates (MTA head Joe Lhota and billionaire grocer John Catsimatidis) are considered very long shots against Quinn or any other Democrat. While Quinn's alleged "secret deal" would take out her best-polling GOP opponent, keeping Ray "Stop-And-Frisk" Kelly in the top cop job will surely sour many prospective Quinn supporters, who could turn to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, one of stop-and-frisk's loudest detractors.
One will see if Josh Isay, one of Speaker Quinn's political handlers, will heed the warning from Joe.My.God. ?
''Christine Quinn is a great example of why we shouldn't just blindly vote for someone just because they are LGBT,'' wrote KT.
''Quinn has been saying for more than a year now that the next mayor should ask Kelly to stay on. Apparently, Christine is a big fan of Stop and Frisk,'' wrote band.
''This all reminds me of the ending of The Devil Wears Prada,'' wrote Joe.My.God.
The tone of the blog post and the comments was very critical of Speaker Quinn for making backroom deals, for supporting Commissioner Kelly, and for supporting stop-and-frisk.
Last night, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) pulled the plug on a vote on the $60 billion Hurricane Sandy disaster relief bill after partisan bickering over the fiscal cliff, and Gerson Borrero complained that New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has lost touch with reality.
Some New York Democrats were ''outraged'' by the insensitivity and lack of dignity by Congress towards hurricane survivors. “I have been a member of this body for 24 years and I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry,” Rep. Eliot Engel (D-Bronx, Westchester) told The New York Daily News. NY1 News editorial contributor Gerson Borrero was shocked to see that Speaker Quinn seemed to be oblivious about the lack of action on a comprehensive federal hurricane relief package.
Hello, NY just got screwed and you tweet this: “@chriscquinn: Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2013 is everything you hope for.”
