Last Thursday evening, the New York City Council shat on democracy’s face. I am mad. I am real angry. I am angry enough to run for public office again. I am pissed. I am steaming. I am so pissed and steaming that I have to make this announcement: I have activated a twelve-member formal exploratory committee to consider a run for the council next year. We must throw these bums out. I am willing to lay my body in front of the oncoming train, once my committee deems victory as feasible.
I understand that my announcement here is an upgrade on my earlier position, whereby I have been semi-quietly contemplating another run for public office. I had the year 2014 as being the latest possible year for any run. After that year I was willing to go into retirement like Maurice Gumbs. I was even willing to wait out the 2010 census, and the resultant redistricting process, but I am now ready to move my schedule forward, more so since I was keeping my eye on next year’s council races anyway. We need new leadership in the council. We need people who are willing to fight for the public interest, not only for their self-interest. We need members with spines. We need members with backbones. We need change. We now have the executive and legislative branches of this city morphed into one: “the Bloomberg branch”. This is not constitutional. This is adverse to the spirit of the city charter.
In a 29 to 22 vote, council members extended term-limits from two 4-year terms to three. At least all 51 members were brave enough to show up and vote; but that’s no consolation for what the majority did with their cowardly and self-serving acts. Especially after the voters of this great city twice expressed through referendum, that they wanted a two term limit on all city officials (except for the District Attorneys of each borough).
For the first time in my 35 years of living in NYC, I testified before a city council committee at a public hearing. I was too angry to express myself as clearly as I would have liked on this term-limits issue; but State Senator Eric Adams sure did. In finally meeting the confectious Liz Benjamin (Daily News), she told me that my comparison/point about Zimbabwe was noted. I will have to do another column on this issue to clarify the many points I bailed out on. I didn’t even use up my two minute time- allotment.
At the public hearing, Chairman Simcha Felder did a very good job under the highly-charged circumstances. He was sensitive to the opponents of the bill, given that he was somewhat handcuffed by the speedy hearings -possibly mandated by both the mayor and speaker of the council. He did give both Charles Barron and Tish James lots of leeway to express themselves, and they both made good use of their extra-time. Both were eloquent antagonists to this bill, but I got the sense that they both knew this was an exercise in futility: the fix was in from jump street.
This bill was destined to pass even if Bloomberg had to become the biggest “John” in the council’s history. In the end he made 29 members into whores. Mayor Michael Bloomberg should be arrested for conspiracy, and for committing multiple crimes. He oversees a criminal empire/enterprise. He has been involved in murder, kidnapping, hijack, theft, and soliciting the services of prostitutes, amongst other atrocities. He slaughtered the ideals of democracy with this bill. He killed the spirit of most NYC voters with this debacle. He hijacked the city charter.
The 29 members who voted “yes” to this bill should all be charged with public indecency, prostitution, aiding and abetting a criminal enterprise, conspiracy, and the receiving of stolen property. You see: the “two-term” limits belonged to the majority of voters in this great city; not the mayor, speaker and/or members of the council. It was stolen from the voters. Democracy was first mugged, and then later hijacked. They killed the people’s will. They have destroyed the spirit of many a voter. This was wrong. This was probably the worst piece of legislation passed in the 383 year history of this body.
At the public hearings, Senator Eric Adams gave an impassioned presentation that earned him a new and higher respect from me. It is obvious that this man has intellectual capabilities far beyond what he had been given credit for. Plus he is a gifted orator, and his delivery on this issue was nothing short of superb. Adams should run for Mayor or for the office of the Brooklyn Borough President in the upcoming year, since he won’t have to give up his seat in the senate. I would support him in a heartbeat, as would many others.
Comptroller Billy Thompson, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, State Senator Kevin Parker, Assembly members Hakeem Jeffries and Ruben Diaz; community and political activists Leonora Fulani, Dan Jacoby and Wellington Sharpe; all gave outstanding testimony against the bill to amend the term limits law: all to no avail. The fix was in since this bill first arrived. The speed in which they delivered this bill for Bloomberg makes that obvious. There were no public hearings in all of the five boroughs; and from submittal, to committee, to hearings, to final passage: this was a modern day speed record for this body.
Mayor Bloomberg, Speaker Christine Quinn and all the members who voted for this insult, have no idea as to how badly they damaged the ideals of democracy with this vote. They will all pay big prices for this. They have no clue as to the extent to which they have pissed off the public. Let me predict right here and now, that all of Bloomberg’s money will fail to get him re-elected next year. WATCH.
I am going to do two more columns on this issue: in one of them I will explain this prediction even further. All he had to do was bring this to another referendum next spring; and you know what: he had a damn good chance of prevailing through plebiscite. Arrogance is a bitch isn’t it. As I implied at the hearings, this could have been taken to the market place of ideas; there the voters could have bought his extension-argument.
Hakeem Jeffries will go places in politics no doubt. He also gave a sterling presentation. It made me proud. I remember when I first supported Hakeem -when very few political activists did- way back in the days when he first showed up: green, a lil naïve (lol), unduly optimistic, but highly educated. Even then, many of us from the “Old School” (including Maurice Gumbs) recognized his potential.
Council members Bill DiBlasio, Tish James, Tony Avella, David Weprin, John Liu, Charles Barron, and the lovely Melissa Mark-Viverito, all worked hard to turn back this bill. All should be commended for their efforts; so too should Norman Siegel and Henry Stern; amongst many many others, who were willing to openly stand up to have the people’s votes and voices respected.
Activists came from far and wide during the many demonstrations at City Hall, and there were others who aided the effort(s) from behind the scenes, with their encouragement, advice and support. I am only going to list a few here, but there were many many others. It’s just that I have to drop some of these names for posterity: Ydannis Rodriguez, Carlos Bristol, Terry Hinds, Marquez Claxton (100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care), Debbie Rose, Corey Bearak, Wendy Washington, Darryl Smart, Michael Bouldin, Francisco Hall, Geoffrey Davis, Saquan Jones, Richard Taylor and Gary Tildzer.
Congressman Anthony Weiner was an excellent spokesperson for the people’s will. He is now on my short list of possible mayoral candidates to support. Anthony is feisty and brilliant. He too, was another articulate spokesperson for the people’s will. Many of us in the activist community are committed to defeating the power-drunk leprechaun: Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Next year you will see many of us in war paint, if/ and/ or when “Senor Caesar” tries to seek re-election.
Council members Gail Brewer and Eric Gioia should also be mentioned for their principled votes on this bill, and also for their explanations along the way. Others who voted the correct way (on the losing end unfortunately) are to be commended for resisting the pressure(s) that Bloomberg and Speaker Christine Quinn applied, in securing passage of this bill.
It was a bit disheartening (and embarrassing/somewhat) to watch Mathieu Eugene sit in these public hearings, as silent as a parlor mouse. To my knowledge he never asked a single question of the presenters. Maybe someone can correct me if I am wrong here. He surprisingly voted the right way on the bill however; maybe someone tipped him off to the fact that had he voted against the people’s will, I was going to announce a run against him the very next day. But it is still a long way to Tipperary: he may get that race yet.
Queens’s council member Tom White is no more than a joke. If this were a post-revolutionary court, I would have recommended that he face a firing squad. He is slovenly, inept, corrupt-looking and inarticulate. He gave the worst performance of those attending the hearings -and believe me when I say there were many horrid performances along the way. He and many others deserve awards for fibbing to the media about being undecided. Most of those who claimed to be undecided made their deals long ago.
On the other side of the tracks there were some surprises, but the vote went as expected for the most part. Darlene Mealy is intellectually-challenged. She is also a liar and a turncoat. For someone who initially spoke somewhat eloquently (surprisingly) against this bill, watching her capitulate was gut-wrenching and painful. How can someone so cute be so dumb? It’s almost as though she is as dumb as she is relatively attractive.
Larry Seabrook is a worm. He looks like a friggin weasel, and he appeared to be reading a political science textbook throughout the hearings. Tell me his mind wasn’t made up in advance off the hearings?
Leroy Comrie is a jackass. He should be ashamed to acknowledge in a public hearing, that he didn’t know much on the issues at hand (see the transcripts of 10-17). Hey Leroy; your mama is calling you man: she misses the household clown.
Al Vann is a tragic figure now. This man, who was once widely respected (in an overblown way), seems to have slept past this whole event. Mr. Van Winkle only emerged to vote yes, after insignificant verbiage about voting rights. He could have spared us the pseudo history lesson, since he obviously doesn’t understand what it all means. What can he offer us after a million years in Albany and City Hall: more failed black-leadership? He has evolved into an airhead.
Stay tuned-in folks.