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By Hunter Walker 2/13 1:05pm

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Carolyn Maloney

Carolyn Maloney: ‘Right Now, We’re Marching Towards Sequestration’

New York City Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney was quite pleased with President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address last night, but she’s not optimistic about Congress heeding the president’s call to to avoid the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts known as the “sequester” that are scheduled to go into effect March 1.

“I love his speech he came out swinging,” Ms. Maloney told Politicker about the president’s speech last night.  Read More

By Colin Campbell 2/12 9:47pm

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(Photo: Getty)

Obama Proposes $9.00 Minimum Wage

Step aside Governor Andrew Cuomo, President Barack Obama has one-upped your minimum wage proposal.

In his State of the Union speech tonight, Mr. Obama unveiled a number of initiatives, including a new national minimum wage rate of $9.00 an hour, raised from the previous minimum of $7.25.

“We know our economy is stronger when we reward an honest day’s work with honest wages,” Mr. Obama says in his prepared remarks. Read More

By Hunter Walker 2/06 3:05pm

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Bill Thompson (Photo: Getty)

Bill Thompson Accuses Housing Authority of Playing ‘Monopoly With Financiers’

Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson is up in arms about the New York City Housing Authority’s plan to lease unused space and playgrounds in public housing complexes to developers of luxury housing. In a statement released this afternoon, Mr. Thompson described the plan as a “wrongheaded move” that goes against the purpose of NYCHA.

“NYCHA was created to provide housing to low and moderate income New Yorkers, not to play Monopoly with financiers so they can build more high priced apartments in the city,” Mr. Thompson said. “Furthermore, this wrongheaded move comes at a time when more and more poor and working families are being priced out of the City.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 1/12 2:25pm

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Charlie Rangel (Photo: Getty)

Charlie Rangel Discusses the Debt Ceiling Debate and $1 Trillion Coin

Congressman Charlie Rangel sat down with a small group of reporters yesterday for a wide-ranging discussion at his office. One of the main topics was the brewing battle over the debt ceiling and Politicker asked the congressman for his take on the idea President Barack Obama can avoid a fight with congressional Republicans who won’t raise the debt cap by having the Treasury Department mint a $1 trillion coin.

“I’m working on the design, one for the president and one for me,” Mr. Rangel said with a smile.

We wondered whether that meant he wanted to see his portrait depicted on the coin.

“No, I want one of the coins,” the congressman responded as the assembled reporters laughed. “The president gets one, he puts it in the treasury. I get one, I keep it. Makes sense to me.”

Earlier in the conversation, Mr. Rangel criticized Republicans who have said they will not vote to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts because he said they are solely focused on slashing “so-called entitlements” that are social programs for “vulnerable” portions of the population. Read More

By Colin Campbell 1/04 9:43am

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(Photo: Getty)

Mayor Bloomberg Criticizes Pork in Sandy Relief Package

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who previously declined to slam House Speaker John Boehner over Congress’ stalled Hurricane Sandy aid, took his argument to the next level this morning and suggested federal lawmakers are partially to blame for the delay in the vote on the package because they insert “things that are totally extraneous” into bills such as this. Although Mr. Bloomberg didn’t specify the extraneous problem items, the legislation has been criticized by Republicans like Rep. Paul Ryan for being “packed with funding for unrelated items, such as commercial fisheries in American Samoa and roof repair of museums in Washington, D.C.”

“There’s this ‘Christmas Tree effect’ where legislators put in their favorite bills and tack them onto something. The [Obama] administration does that, that’s why you have an omnibus bill–to force everybody to vote for things that would never stand up in the light of day if they were individual,” Mr. Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show with John Gambling. “I’m sympathetic. Yelling and screaming at [Mr. Boehner] is just not my style. It may be effective, it may not be. Everybody’s got to make their own decisions. I think the legislative leaders who criticize and those in the Legislature should stop and think, they do exactly the same thing in terms of ladling on things that are totally extraneous but it’s the only way they get them through.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 12/27/12 6:40pm

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Bill Thompson (Photo: Getty)

Bill Thompson Blasts Mayor Bloomberg and His ‘Partner’ Christine Quinn for a ‘Bewildering’ Budget

Mayoral candidate and former comptroller Bill Thompson had harsh words for Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn after a report from the Independent Budget Office highlighted issues with the city budget. The report noted “while projected budget gaps may currently appear modest—certainly when compared with gaps faced in some recent years—the next Mayor and City Council are likely to face significant budget challenges,” a situation Mr. Thompson described as Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Quinn rather literally passing the buck.

“Today’s Independent Budget Office report once again confirms that Mayor Bloomberg and his partner in the budget, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, continue to kick the fiscal can down the road and push tough economic decisions into the next mayor’s term,” said Mr. Thompson in his statement. Read More

By Colin Campbell 12/02/12 7:28pm

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(Photo: Getty)

Obama Campaign Still Asking for Contributions

In what he called “my last election,” President Barack Obama scored a hard-fought but comfortable victory over Mitt Romney last month, but that doesn’t mean his email list will no longer be hit up for campaign cash. To wit, Mr. Obama’s electoral operation, Obama for America, is asking their supporters to contribute after filling out a form backing his plan to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

“Thanks for sharing your story. The next chapter begins today. Stand with President Obama for the next four years,” a subsequent contribution form declares. Read More

By Hunter Walker 11/28/12 4:51pm

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Mayor Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

Mayor Bloomberg Is ‘as Optimistic as You Could Be’ New York Will Get Enough Federal Sandy Aid

WASHINGTON — Yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg sounded quite skeptical the city would get the billions of dollars in federal aid he is requesting after Hurricane Sandy when he sarcastically joked that he was as “optimistic” about the prospect of getting the funds as he had been about getting the West Side stadium he unsuccessfully pushed for. At the press conference after his series of meetings with lawmakers and officials in Washington today he sounded far more confident, so Politicker asked whether he was now more genuinely optimistic his request for aid would be fulfilled

“I’m always genuinely optimistic, although I will say we’re unlikely to get the stadium on the West Side,” Mr. Bloomberg said with a laugh. “I walked away this morning as optimistic as you could be. Nothing is ever done until it’s done. There is always a possibility of other things occurring during the process…but from both Republicans and Democrats in both houses, we got very optimistic buzz, if you will.” Read More

By Colin Campbell 11/07/12 9:20am

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(Photo: Getty)

Bloomberg’s Super PAC Narrowly Misses Most Congressional Targets

Late in this year’s election cycle, Mayor Michael Bloomberg suddenly announced the creation of a “super PAC,” Independence USA, through which the billionaire mayor could funnel unlimited sums of cash to candidates who support his political agenda of gun control, gay marriage and education reform. Looking at the federal races Mr. Bloomberg aimed to influence through the new political action committee, however, a majority of his candidates narrowly lost last night.

For example, in western Connecticut, moderate Republican Andrew Roraback suffered a 48%-to-52% loss to Democrat Elizabeth Esty, despite Mr. Bloomberg spending more than a million dollars on Mr. Roraback’s behalf. Similarly, in another suburban seat, Mr. Bloomberg dropped roughly a million dollars boosting GOP Rep. Bob Dold in Illinois, only to see him lose by less than 1%. And, down in Florida, he spent more than $2 million in an attempt to vanquish Republican Congressman Dan Webster, but the incumbent still beat back a strong challenge from Val Demings, 52% to 48%. Read More