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NYC-Mayor: Weiner May Bow Out

by: DavidNYC

Wed Mar 11, 2009 at 6:12 PM EDT


AP:

A leading Democrat in the New York City mayor's race says he may not run this year, after all.

Rep. Anthony Weiner, a U.S. congressman who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens, said in a letter to supporters Wednesday that the nation's economic crisis "is a time for problem solving" in Washington.

He says he'll reassess his plans in a few months.

Assuming Weiner does pass on the race, this clears the field for Comptroller Bill Thompson. I thought both would make good candidates, so as long as Thompson doesn't bail, too, I think this could be a good move. New York has an extremely late September primary, and given Bloombo's monstrous resources, Dems need to be united. This is still a very tough race, but quite a bit less so than in 2005.
DavidNYC :: NYC-Mayor: Weiner May Bow Out
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NYC-Mayor: Weiner May Bow Out | 29 comments
Saw Weiner this past weekend
at a St. Patrick's Day parade in Rockaway Beach...it's pretty much well known he isn't going to run for Mayor...because no one is going to beat Bloomberg.

Bloomberg was also at the parade and was VERY WELL received.

Bloomberg will win easily I'm afraid...probably not as big as in 2005, but he'll win.

Weiner could throw his hat in for Governor...rumor has it Cuomo may not run.  

Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens

That would be interesting.
Perhaps there is a bit of hope for the state of New York after all.
[ Parent ]
Must be nice
Having a crystal ball like that. :)
[ Parent ]
One doesn't need a crystal ball
to see Bloomberg's reelection as imminent.


Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens
[ Parent ]
Call me old-fashioned
But I just don't like predictions and opinions stated as facts.
[ Parent ]
Translation:
I don't want to lose twice in a row.
Good
I think the only way we have a shot against Boss Mike is to be unified.  
Still won't be unified
Tony Avella is still in the race and while you may say "who?" Avella may well get more attention now and pull the support of the white Jewish/European law & order Democrats, dividing the party yet again.


Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens
[ Parent ]
Is Avella a conservative Democrat?
By conservative, I don't mean relatively, like Weiner (who would be considered a liberal anywhere else), but more like Tony Seminerio or Dov Hikind.
[ Parent ]
Not as conservative as Seminerio or Weiner
but known for being fairly conservative, especially concerning immigration.  

Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens
[ Parent ]
How is he on other issues?
Really know nothing about him.  I saw the immigration thing on wikipedia and well.. not like the Mayor can do anything about it anyway.  Anything else notable about him?

I guess like Wiener I do like the fact he's from the outer boroughs and not Manhattan and might not be as Manhattan-centric as Bloomberg and quite frankly just about every mayor of NYC.

Hopefully he's eating his words and backing away from that immigration stuff.  Because if he was nominated and he continued that he'd basically throw the election away considering how emotionally resonant the issue can be and the large Latino population in the city.

Though for me I'm waiting to hear what they have to say that is Staten Island specific such as healthcare and transportation.  

NY-13, Democrat. Blog @ http://infinitefunction.wordpr...

[ Parent ]
He opposed term limits
and opposed the commuter tax...on social issues, he's pretty liberal, but that's about all I know about him.  

Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens
[ Parent ]
But the draw to him
is that he's from the outer part of an outer borough. His district is way in Northeast Queens along the LI Sound and Nassau County border. It's a suburban part of Queens where subways don't go and most people commute to other parts of Queens for work isntead of Manhattan. He brings a persepective not seem in ages. Most of the city's mayors have been from Manhattan. The only one to be from one of the other borough's in the last 50 years has been Giuliani. (Brooklyn).


Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens
[ Parent ]
Term limits
I should've said he opposed term limit EXTENSION. He famously said on the floor of the city council when it passed "You all with pay with your jobs"

Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens
[ Parent ]
Immigration
I guess a Mayor can try and kick out the illegals already there but i dont think the city council would allow that to happen. or continue happening.
[ Parent ]
Avella won't even do that
the immigration problem may lead to a Mark Green problem in the general election where Hispanics and Asians stay home (they usually vote Democrat) and allow Bloomberg to win another term.  

Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens
[ Parent ]
Avella has nothing to lose
by doing heavy outreach to them right now.  His reputation among working class whites is probably strong enough that if he pitches hard to blacks, Latinos, and liberals, it won't cost him among his base.
[ Parent ]
True
but don't forget he's up against an African-American in the primary. You don't think they're going to use his controversial comments on immigration against him?  

Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens
[ Parent ]
How controversial are his comments?
From what it seems, his main proposal is that every building must include signs in English.  Is that really that controversial?

Avella's no Tom Tancredo, is he?

[ Parent ]
Just thoughtI'd say...
..i actually had a chance to hear Tony Avella speak and talk with him.  First I'll say I really liked what he had to say.  The issues he brought up such as overdevelopment really resonate in my part of the woods.  He seemed to have a lot of support in an audience that was quite liberal.

Second on having businesses identify themselves in English.  His position isn't nativist at all but public safety.  While you could make the case that a firefighter or a police officer dispatched to a location could very well makeout a sign written in say Spanish that certainly wouldn't be the case if it was say written in Chinese.

It actually does make sense.  But is one he could be vulnerable on if miscategorized.

NY-13, Democrat. Blog @ http://infinitefunction.wordpr...

[ Parent ]
Think he might run for Governor?

That's a shame...
...I heard Weiner talk about his bid not too long ago and I really like what I heard.  Especially going after those unaccountable independent agencies.

NY-13, Democrat. Blog @ http://infinitefunction.wordpr...
Thank God
Weiner is a blowhard and a grandstander, and is exactly the opposite of the kind of Democrat we need running for Mayor.  The current MTA rescue debate is a clear demonstration why; Bill Thompson's proposed car-registration tax was at least a serious proposal, if suboptimal in several respects.  Weiner's proposal to levy tolls on the bridges on non-NYC-resident drivers only is infeasible and of questionable Constitutionality.  That it's taken until now for some NY pols like Prince of Darkness Sheldon Silver to realize that the vast majority of their consitiuents commute via transit and don't drive, and that the loudest voices like Weiner, Diaz, Thompson, and Espada are all trying to pander to drivers and letting the MTA burn along with their constituents... if Weiner was some great hope of ours for taking Gracie Mansion, then we deserve to be in opposition.
As a constitent of Weiners
I can tell you most of Weiner's constituents actually do drive.  

Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens
[ Parent ]
The better question is
Do y'all like driving, or would you prefer public transit?

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01
[ Parent ]
Depends
most people drive because taking public transit from our part of the city takes too long and also because some people think it's "beneath them" (many of Weiner's constituents are wealthy and spoiled)

taking the former point, it could take over an hour to get to Midtown from parts of Queens and Brooklyn he represents, but maybe 30-40 minutes by car, even during rush hour.

To the latter, well let's just say that's an issue Tony Avella could relate to.  

Liberty Avenue Politics - a place for politics in Southern Queens

[ Parent ]
Most? Are you sure about that?
Sure, but how many actually drive into Manhattan every day?  There are estimated to be only 85,000 car commuters into Manhattan from all of Brooklyn and Queens combined[1], and while a disproportionate number of those may live in NY-09, that's still a bare fraction of Weiner's constituency.  Mostly, this argues for finding ways of expanding, not shrinking, public transportation service, like LIRR East Side Access, the LIRR Third Track, the SE Queens subway extension (on the books since forever, but is about tenth in priority and no big political backers, therefore not being touched at all), and enhanced Regional Bus service.  Has Weiner ever said word one about these, or has he instead demagogued against every effort to provide funding for them?

[1]  http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f...

[ Parent ]
Match of the century
Weiner vs. Boehner
LOL
You're REALLY racking up the snark points quickly.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01
[ Parent ]
NYC-Mayor: Weiner May Bow Out | 29 comments

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