Author: Rock Hackshaw

Usually, when I disagree with one of my fellow writers on Room Eight New York Politics, I would simply go to the thread of the article and express my disagreement; but I couldn’t do that last week since the thread was closed off from comments in Dominic Carter’s last column. Carter wrote an article suggesting that Bill Thompson (former Comptroller of NYC) is the potential frontrunner to become the next mayor of this city. He believes that it is Thompson’s race to lose. Dominic Carter is way off base and way too early with his analysis. I don’t even think Thompson will be a candidate when the time comes; but we shall see. 

This is the Easter weekend: the most holy in the in the Christian calendar. Holier than the Christmas celebrations even, because -if research serves me right- what now passes as the Christmas holiday, was originally a pagan holiday co-opted by Christian tradition(s). Research even goes as far as suggesting that December 25th is nowhere close to the day or season of Christ’s birth.

Many believe that Easter celebrates the period when Christ rose from the dead (for reasons nebulous to non-believers of course), and is the most important aspect of the ideology. In Christian theology, it is supposed to be symbolic of a major sacrifice made for the eternal redemption of believers. In a country like this -which claims to laud religious freedom- people are entitled to their religious beliefs. As such, protections of these beliefs are enshrined in the constitution, and have been upheld by the highest court of the land (Supreme Court) many times over, but sometimes you wonder why most people refuse to objectively analyze the things they claim to believe in.

It’s obvious that Vice-president Joe Biden has become the Yogi Berra of US politics. After all, Joe has dropped so many “verbal classics”, that today he is to US politics what Yogi is to US baseball: one of a kind. Joe Biden is obviously a man inebriated by the many excesses (and successes) of his own verbosity; and yet you can’t help but like “Uncle Joe”: he is both eccentric and “real”.   

I remember writing -a couple years aback- that Joe had destroyed whatever little chance he had of becoming the democrat’s presidential nominee, when he said that Barack Obama was “clean” (as blacks go). He said this very early in the contest; and yet, by some strange twist of fate, he ended up on the ticket as the vice-presidential nominee. What a country! What a game! As I always say: politics is the only game in town. 

Okay; so last week my employment with the city council (Darlene Mealy/41st Council district) came to an end. And no, Ms. Mealy had very little to do with that. In fact, I suspect that I could have stayed on as part time communications director, once I followed the blogging rules of the council.  I chose not to work under the blogging rules set by the council’s lawyers: that’s all. It was my choice and mine alone. They have a right to set their rules and I have a right to reject them. Many disagreed with me and that’s their prerogative. I couldn’t function with handcuffs on, it’s just not me; and I have to be true to myself.

Five summers ago, Ben Smith -pioneer blogger extraordinaire- had the hottest blogging site in NYC. As far as I can recall, he was working for the Daily Observer Newspaper back then. This blog-site (the Politicker) is still around, but is nowhere as informative or as lively as it was in 2005. Maybe it is because most political entities now have strict rules for employees who used to troll blogs on company time back then. 

Ben went on to work with the New York Daily News and created the blog-site that Liz Benjamin ably handles today. It’s where most political junkies check in daily to find out what’s going on in New York’s politics. For old-timers in this game, a day without Liz is like a day without your low-dose Cialis pills: it’s that good. But prior to this, Ben Smith hooked up with another visionary named Gur Tsabar and launched the blog-site aptly named “Room Eight New York Politics”: that was back in March of 2006. After four years it is still around; but what does the future hold for it? 

Don’t ever say that some of the female members of Brooklyn’s city council delegation are soft: they aren’t. There was a raucous public hearing last Wednesday evening at the Brooklyn Museum (near Grand Army Plaza), that was aimed at getting the general view on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed service cuts in the next fiscal year; at this event, NYC council members Darlene Mealy and Tish James -both from Brooklyn- made outstanding oral presentations which captivated the loud crowd of attendees. Throughout the procedures scores of teenagers outnumbered the elderly, in openly expressing their disenchantment with the proposed cuts by the MTA’s board members. Eventually four arrests were made amongst the spirited -but at times rowdy- youngsters; as police officers had to be called in to help maintain order. 

I should really make this title: “OF DREAMS AND DRIVES AND PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT”, since it highlights the importance of parental involvement in young children’s lives. This column deals with two black female attorneys and their two kids; and in both instances these kids were raised in single-parent households. Too often these types of situations are frowned upon; but I always caution folks not to stereotype: you will be surprised or contradicted quite often.

I know both parents involved here. They are both good friends and are also politically active. They have devoted their lives to developing their kids properly. They have also invested extraordinary amounts of time, effort, energy and money in their children’s overall development. Their combined goal has always been to maximize the potential in these kids. They both need to be commended. Maybe some organization could jointly award them the “Mother of the Year” award at some event, later this year.

I guess it was just too much for me to hope that the quality of black and Hispanic electeds will get better in a post-Obama USA. After all, there was really nothing to base that on. And after years of frustration with the quality emerging from New York, I guess I was just grasping at straws, in hope that we could elect people, who are not only intellectually developed to tackle real issues facing the polity, but also possessive of the moral character and courage to do the right thing when the right time comes.

Look, there are no perfect politicians. In fact there are no perfect human beings anywhere. If we were all perfect, we would have nothing to strive for; so hopefully we keep reaching for the good within, hoping that one day we get to become the best we can be. I know that I am not perfect, but I do strive to be a better human being every day of my adult life. I also try to learn from my mistakes and not repeat them: to me, this is basic; this is fundamental for trying to live a decent life.

Last week, I handed in my resignation to Ms. Darlene Mealy (NYC council member of the 41st District). I assume that most of you are aware that I have been working with her since December -as the part time Communications Director.  Hopefully, my last day in this role will be on the 26th of March (as per my resignation letter).

The main reasons I have chosen to go this route are what necessitate this column. I want to make it clear that this is my choice -and mine only. I was not forced to walk the plant, nor given any subtle shoves out the door. I have given her enough notice (4 weeks) so that she can hire someone to replace me without her small staff being strained, stressed and/or stretched.

In my last Vines column (see # 10-09), I told you that I had inside info, which stated that upon finding out Eliot Spitzer’s team had tagged him for the Lieutenant-governor slot, David Paterson said: “they surely haven’t vetted me for this job”. And now Paterson goes up on a local radio station and directly corroborates said info. This had been a news item on the blogs (see Elizabeth Benjamin’s blog) last week. I hereby reiterate what I wrote in a column recently, calling for mainstream media (and alternative mediums too) to do a better job vetting candidates before elections are held; this is a responsibility placed squarely on the shoulders of the fourth and fifth estates (non-identical twins). And by fifth estate, I refer to all the alternative mediums that have sprung up with all the technological advancements in communications, since the founding fathers ratified the constitution (and the fourth estate). For example: the internet, twittering, blogging, texting and the like, can now be considered the fifth estate.