By Gideon Resnick 6/19 4:01pm

Planes Trains & Automobiles

Bill Thompson and Anthony Weiner chatting at the forum.

Prospective Mayors Spar on Transportation Policy

At a Democratic mayoral forum this morning focusing on New York City’s transportation policies, the candidates often agreed on many of the issues–stated support for bike lanes, for example–but starkly disagreed when it came to several topics, including school bus contracts.

Setting up the dispute, former Comptroller Bill Thompson, the leading candidate for the teachers’ union endorsement set to be announced later this afternoon, defended pricey school bus driver contracts and provisions that protect current employees. Read More

By Jill Colvin 6/11 11:16pm

MIA

Christine Quinn posing with charter school kids outside the forum.

Thompson and de Blasio Ditch Charter School Forum Where Quinn Is Fawned

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former Comptroller Bill Thompson both pulled out of a mayoral forum hosted by charter school advocates at the last minute Tuesday–earning the ire of audience members who accused them of being too scared of crossing the powerful teachers’ union a week before their endorsement vote.

Mr. de Blasio dropped out less than an hour before he was supposed to appear on stage, and Mr. Thompson pulled his RSVP Tuesday afternoon, according to an event organizer. Read More

By Ross Barkan 6/11 12:03am

incoming

Anthony Weiner and Sal Albanese at a Staten Island mayoral forum.

The Green Party Smacks Around Anthony Weiner

Anthony Weiner took a beating on his first official stop in Staten Island Monday night.

Mr. Weiner was repeatedly hit by his rivals, including Green Party candidate Tony Gronowicz and former Councilman Sal Albanese, for an old racially-charged campaign flier, his congressional vote authorizing the Iraq War, and his allegedly “coarse” conduct during a candidates’ forum hosted by the Pleasant Plains, Prince’s Bay and Richmond Valley Civic Association. Read More

By Jill Colvin 5/29 9:11am

Ancient History

Anthony Weiner speaks at a forum in Harlem.

‘Ebenezer Weiner’ Boasts of Being on Rudy Giuliani’s Enemies List

Anthony Weiner, who usually points to his congressional record or loud advocacy efforts, went a different route in Harlem yesterday and recalled his days battling then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani from the City Council.

“Do you remember when the stairwells were bursting into flames in public housing?” Mr. Weiner asked members of the Sojourner Truth Democratic Club’s mayoral forum gathered in a back room of the La Hermosa Christian Church. Read More

By Jill Colvin 5/24 11:50am

Day 2

Anthony Weiner speaks at his first forum appearance Thursday night. (Photo: Jill Colvin)

Anthony Weiner Makes His Case to Skeptical Bronx Voters

After a frenzied meet-and-greet with commuters in Harlem, ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner made his first appearance–that we know about–at a mayoral forum last night in the Riverdale section of The Bronx, where he tried to make a case to voters about why they should consider electing him again.

“For me, it’s good to be anywhere,” Mr. Weiner told members of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club–one of the few clubs he said endorsed him back in 2005–a day after formally jumping into the race with a video posted on his campaign website. Read More

By Ross Barkan 5/07 9:03am

Neigh-Saying

Mayoral candidates clash at an animal rights forum yesterday.

Plenty of Bark and Bite at Animal Rights Mayoral Forum

The candidates for mayor of New York City made their pitch to animal lovers yesterday, and needless to say, they repeatedly professed their love for various species that don’t have a vote.

Republican John Catsimatidis–who likes to call himself “the cat man”–once begged the fire department to rescue his daughter’s cockatiel, for example. Bill Thompson claimed that he had not one, but two rescued cats. And Sal Albanese insisted his mother-in-law lived a few years longer because of a chihuahua named Joey. Read More

By Ross Barkan 4/11 9:32am

Church & State

20130410_115900

Mayoral Candidates Debate Faith, Pot and Police in the Bronx

Cops resemble “slave catchers.” Sal Albanese never smoked a joint. The Bloomberg Administration has locked the men of God out of City Hall.

These were all arguments presented at yesterday’s peculiar mayoral forum, moderated by clergymen in the Bronx.

“How do you make the city safe with the thugs who are running around from the police department undercover who are from the outer boroughs and Long Island?” Randy Credico, a comedian and long-shot mayoral candidate, boomed. “They have thousands of undercover cops that are whacked out on steroids, going around like slave catchers, this is true, like slave catchers did back in the 1860′s and 1850′s in the wake of the fugitive slave law.” Read More

By Colin Campbell 1/31 3:47pm

Academia

"Shames on Brooklyn College Support of Jew-Hatred"

Officials Rally Against ‘Antisemitic, Pro-Terrorist’ Event at Brooklyn College

The Israel-Palestine conflict once again reached New York’s political scene today as elected officials and other activists gathered to denounce Brooklyn College’s political science department for their controversial decision to sponsor a February forum calling for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.  To say the press conference was heated would be an understatement as it was chocked full of charged rhetoric including multiple references to anti-Semitism, the Holocaust and al-Qaeda.

“Let me tell you, it brings back a lot of memories,” Assemblyman Dov Hikind, the emcee of today’s denunciation, began. “I studied here towards my B.A. and got my Master’s at Brooklyn College, a lot of very fond memories. I stand here very, very disappointed, … students and the organization [are] holding a lecture next week with two viciously, viciously, anti-Israel [speakers]. And when I say ‘viciously,’ I mean they call for the destruction of the state of Israel. They think Hamas and Hezbollah are good organizations. I would assume they feel the same way about al-Qaeda. These are individuals who are extreme radicals.” Read More

By Colin Campbell 11/28/12 4:32pm

2013

Bill Thompson speaking.

New York’s Leading Mayoral Candidates Get Down to Business

Kathy Wylde, the head of the pro-business Partnership for New York City had a question for New York’s four Democratic mayoral hopefuls at the candidate forum she hosted today.

“Will the next mayor be as understanding, as visionary, as sympathetic to issues of the economy and business as Mayor Bloomberg, one of our own, has been?” Ms. Wylde said many of the city’s businesses leaders are inquiring, before elaborating, “So there is consternation about the post-Bloomberg era with regards to who is the next mayor.”

In case it wasn’t clear, this particular mayoral discussion, hosted by Crain’s New York Business, may have tilted a little bit towards the pro-business side of things. But at least one Democrat on stage, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, pushed back against the idea the business community has reason to be anxious about City Hall without Bloomberg. Read More