NYC FOCUS: Defeating Bloomberg and the Bloomberg 29

This is repeated from November. Now that 2009 has begun, it is time to focus on this year's elections with some considerable attention.

Those who have followed the Bloomberg Putsch, wherein Bloomberg and 29 members of the City Council, chose to overturn the vote of the people on term limits (which remain popular), know there is considerable anger at their actions. It isn't even about term limits (which I used to oppose, though now am leaning the other way since the Bloomberg Putsch), it is about an arrogant power grab by politicians against the will of the people.

Why do these people think they are our saviors during this economic collapse? They are so convinced of their powers to save us that they decided to sweep away the VOTER'S choice to impose term limits upon them and they voted themselves third terms. They are willing to say "screw you" to the very voters who elected them just to hold onto power. And their excuse is that no one, NO ONE in the entire city can save us from the economic collapse but them.

What unmitigated crap! What egotistical nonsense. This is the kind of dictatorial, anti-democratic bullshit I expect from Bush/McCain Republicans.

These people were IN OFFICE when the collapse came. They didn't do anything to prepare for it. They didn't do anything to warn us about it. They haven't done anything to help us.

In fact, Bloomberg supported the very national Republicans who got us into this mess with his donations (e.g. largest donor to Tom DeLay's PAC).

And yet these people think they, AND ONLY THEY, can save us.

I was opposed to term limits (though these actions by the Surrender Monkeys is convincing me otherwise!). But I AM for our elected politicians respecting us as voters and that is precisely what Bloomberg, Quinn, Yassky, Recchia and the others failed to do. We elect them and our taxes pay them, yet they treat us like dirt. And they expect us to see them as our saviors.

This election was about CHANGE, folks. Not keeping the same politicians who got us into this mess in power beyond their allotted terms. This election was all about the will of the people, not the dictatorial demands of politicians.

Recently, I came across a Facebook site dedicated to defeating Tsar Bloomberg and the Bloomberg 29 (his trained surrender monkeys). So far it is just a sattement of purpose and a list of possible challengers to the 29 City Council members who voted to overturn the will of the people on term limits.

Here is their statement of purpose:

On October 23, 2008 the New York City Council passed Mayor Bloomberg's proposal that extended term limits from 2 terms to 3 terms for the Mayor, City Council, and other city officials without a voter referendum even though New Yorkers voted in 1993 and 1996 to keep term limits at 2 terms. The final vote was 29 YES and 22 NO.

According to a Quinnipiac poll, 89% of New Yorkers believe that the issue of term limits should be decided by voters in a referendum, not by an act by the City Council.

This was not an issue about whether you supported term limits or not. This was not an issue about whether you believed Mayor Bloomberg was a good mayor or not. This was an issue about whether the New York City Council had the right to overturn the will of the people.

Mayor Bloomberg deserves blame for bringing about this undemocratic proposal, but the City Council Speaker Christine Quinn along with the 28 City Council members are to blame for advocating and enabling this undemocratic proposal. Mayor Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and every City Council member who voted YES to the Mayor's proposal are unfit to continue serving the people of New York for overturning the will of the people.

This group will be used as a tool to identify and campaign for primary opponents of all 29 City Council members who voted YES to the Mayor's undemocratic term limits proposal. There will be a heavy focus on unseating City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

The site has a list of known and suspected primary challengers to these city council members. So far, the most likely challenger to Tsar Bloomberg himself is Anthony Weiner. My prediction is Weiner will team up with the Working Families Party and put on an excellent challenger to Tsar Bloomberg, but that remains to be seen.

I also want to mention there are two other races that I, at least, want to see a good push on. The defeat of Angry Clown Marty Markowitz (developer lackey and one of the four main people pretty much openly bribed by Bloomberg), and Norman Siegel for Public Advocate, since Siegel has been effectively our public advocate for 30 years (since the Civil Rights era).

As to the city council challenges, here is a video of some of them giving a statement on term limits (I got this from Maria Passannate Derr's website):



I want to highlight a few of the potential races for the 2009 primary (PARTAIL list from the Facebook site):

Lead Surrender Monkey Christine Quinn (Manhattan) Council District 3
PRIMARY OPPONENT(s):
Maria Passannante Derr http://www.mariaforcouncil09.com/
Yetta Kurland http://yettakurland.com/

Simcha Felder (Brooklyn) Council District 44
Fleder was one of the four main people pretty much openly bribed by Bloomberg in the OTHER Slushgate scandal.
PRIMARY OPPONENT(s):
Joe Lazar http://friendsofjoelazar.com/
David Greenfield(?)

Alan Gerson (Manhattan) Council District 1
PRIMARY OPPONENT(s):
Margaret Chin http://www.margaretchin.com/
[EDITOR'S NOTE: may be complicated if Rocky Chin also runs. Rocky is better than Margaret (and would be my choice), but Gerson will benefit from a double Chin on the ballot...]

Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. (Brooklyn) Council District 47
I want to note that Recchia is among the worst City Council members. He is being investigated for some of the Slushgate earmarks he made. He supported an unqualified, homophobic man who had never practiced law in his life for a judgeship as part of a backroom political deal. He was also was another one of the four main people pretty much openly bribed by Bloomberg in the OTHER Slushgate scandal. And that is just a sampling of the antics of this Vito Lopez lackey.
PRIMARY OPPONENT(s):
Todd Dobrin http://dobrin2009.com/ (website expired? A sign he isn't running?)
John Lisyanskiy http://www.johnforcouncil.com/
[Note, Gotlieb is unlikely to be running since he was Recchia's personally picked successor. But I have heard another name thrown about for this race: Mark Treyger. But I have no confirmation of his running]

James Sanders (Queens) Council District 31
PRIMARY OPPONENT(s):
Marquez Claxton http://marquezclaxton.com/
[NOTE: This seems to be the real site: http://vote4claxton.wordpress.com ]
Jacques M Leandre http://www.votejacques.com/
Frederick A. Lewis II http://lewisforcouncil2009.com/
Michael Duncan (?)
Jerwaine Gorman (?)

Helen Sears (Queens) Council District 25
[Among the most vulnerable of the Surrender Monkeys?]
PRIMARY OPPONENT(s):
Daniel Dromm http://danieldromm.com/
Mujib Rahman http://votemujibrahman.com/
Alfonso Quiroz
Stanley Kalathara (?)

Peter Vallone Jr. (Queens) Council District 22
Vallone is was yet another one of the four main people pretty much openly bribed by Bloomberg in the OTHER Slushgate scandal.
PRIMARY OPPONENT(s):
Costa Constantinides (trying to track down a website)
[Note: I have met Costa. He's a good guy who has been doing good work on the steering committee of the Democratic Lawyers Council working on voting rights]

Albert Vann (Brooklyn) Council District 36
[More about Vann here]
PRIMARY OPPONENT(s):
Mark Winston Griffith http://mwgriffith.com/
David Grinage http://friendsofdavidgrinage.com/
Saquan Jones http://www.saquanjones.com/
Robert Cornegy Jr. (?)
Robert Waterman (?)

David Yassky (Brooklyn) Council District 33
PRIMARY OPPONENT(s):
Ken Baer http://kenbaerforthecommunities.com/
Jo Anne Simon http://www.joanneforcouncil.com [Probable frontrunner]
Ken Diamondstone http://www.KenDiamondstone.com

I would also like to call attention to Darlene Mealy (Brooklyn) Council District 41. From what I have heard, she was so bullied by the Bloomberg/Quinn thugs that she actually threw up twice before the vote. Given the number of fights we are facing in 2009, I am willing to give her a break.