Category: News and Opinion

The Sincerest Form of Flattery

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"A real discussion of Manton would be instructive; he took a party from self inflicted extremis and in two decades turned it into the ruling power in the City, while successfully transitioning it through tumultuous demographic changes. I didn’t care for the man’s politics or his tactics, but it is hard to think of him as anything but a giant. "

Gatemouth; posted on "Daily Politics" at 11:20 PM on 7/23/06

 "Can there be another Tom Manton? He brought his county organization back from the wreckage of the Manes era, managing to impose something resembling unity on a wounded organization. And he did it in the face of massive change, staying ahead of Queens’ radically changing demographics by supporting candidates from emerging ethic(sic)communities."

The Anti-CFE School Money Grab

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Those of you who read my first posts on this blog may recall reading that from 1990 to 2005 local government employment fell in New York City while soaring in the rest of the New York State, with public school employment a particular growth sector outside the City.  You may also recall that public school employment outside the city soared after the state implemented the STAR program, diverting even more of the state taxes paid by city residents away from the city’s schools, and in particular after the first ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case.  It is almost as if the school districts elsewhere were rushing to establish “facts on the ground” that could not be taken away regardless of the needs of the city’s children or the burden on its taxpayers.  Well, more recent data from the State Department of Labor shows that from June 2005 to June 2006, that process continues.

The Anti-CFE School Money Grab

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Those of you who read my first posts on this blog may recall reading that from 1990 to 2005 local government employment fell in New York City while soaring in the rest of the New York State, with public school employment a particular growth sector outside the City.  You may also recall that public school employment outside the city soared after the state implemented the STAR program, diverting even more of the state taxes paid by city residents away from the city’s schools, and in particular after the first ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case.  It is almost as if the school districts elsewhere were rushing to establish “facts on the ground” that could not be taken away regardless of the needs of the city’s children or the burden on its taxpayers.  Well, more recent data from the State Department of Labor shows that from June 2005 to June 2006, that process continues.

The Anti-CFE School Money Grab

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Those of you who read my first posts on this blog may recall reading that from 1990 to 2005 local government employment fell in New York City while soaring in the rest of the New York State, with public school employment a particular growth sector outside the City.  You may also recall that public school employment outside the city soared after the state implemented the STAR program, diverting even more of the state taxes paid by city residents away from the city’s schools, and in particular after the first ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case.  It is almost as if the school districts elsewhere were rushing to establish “facts on the ground” that could not be taken away regardless of the needs of the city’s children or the burden on its taxpayers.  Well, more recent data from the State Department of Labor shows that from June 2005 to June 2006, that process continues.

The Anti-CFE School Money Grab

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Those of you who read my first posts on this blog may recall reading that from 1990 to 2005 local government employment fell in New York City while soaring in the rest of the New York State, with public school employment a particular growth sector outside the City.  You may also recall that public school employment outside the city soared after the state implemented the STAR program, diverting even more of the state taxes paid by city residents away from the city’s schools, and in particular after the first ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case.  It is almost as if the school districts elsewhere were rushing to establish “facts on the ground” that could not be taken away regardless of the needs of the city’s children or the burden on its taxpayers.  Well, more recent data from the State Department of Labor shows that from June 2005 to June 2006, that process continues.

The Anti-CFE School Money Grab

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Those of you who read my first posts on this blog may recall reading that from 1990 to 2005 local government employment fell in New York City while soaring in the rest of the New York State, with public school employment a particular growth sector outside the City.  You may also recall that public school employment outside the city soared after the state implemented the STAR program, diverting even more of the state taxes paid by city residents away from the city’s schools, and in particular after the first ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case.  It is almost as if the school districts elsewhere were rushing to establish “facts on the ground” that could not be taken away regardless of the needs of the city’s children or the burden on its taxpayers.  Well, more recent data from the State Department of Labor shows that from June 2005 to June 2006, that process continues.

The Anti-CFE School Money Grab

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Those of you who read my first posts on this blog may recall reading that from 1990 to 2005 local government employment fell in New York City while soaring in the rest of the New York State, with public school employment a particular growth sector outside the City.  You may also recall that public school employment outside the city soared after the state implemented the STAR program, diverting even more of the state taxes paid by city residents away from the city’s schools, and in particular after the first ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case.  It is almost as if the school districts elsewhere were rushing to establish “facts on the ground” that could not be taken away regardless of the needs of the city’s children or the burden on its taxpayers.  Well, more recent data from the State Department of Labor shows that from June 2005 to June 2006, that process continues.

The Anti-CFE School Money Grab

|

Those of you who read my first posts on this blog may recall reading that from 1990 to 2005 local government employment fell in New York City while soaring in the rest of the New York State, with public school employment a particular growth sector outside the City.  You may also recall that public school employment outside the city soared after the state implemented the STAR program, diverting even more of the state taxes paid by city residents away from the city’s schools, and in particular after the first ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case.  It is almost as if the school districts elsewhere were rushing to establish “facts on the ground” that could not be taken away regardless of the needs of the city’s children or the burden on its taxpayers.  Well, more recent data from the State Department of Labor shows that from June 2005 to June 2006, that process continues.

Mike & the Con Ed Mystery

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Everyone I speak to is wondering why Mike is continuing to defend Con Edison.

My theory is that it’s all part of the Presidential campaign and the energy crisis.

Think about it – Mike can say that the other candidates can promise to cut the use of oil but he’s done it. Look how much was saved in the last week by Queens residents who didn’t run their AC, computers, stereos, TVs or lights.

Hey – it makes as much sense as the other theories about Mike can get elected President.

Happy 20th Anniversary To Roger “The Dodger” Green (Part I of II)

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About one year ago, on “The Politicker”, I called Brooklyn assembly-member Roger Green: “The Dodger”. This wasn’t done by accident, and it surely wasn’t meant to describe the contemporary legal woes from which he had pulled a Houdini-type exit. The nickname came into being because of an article about him, written many years ago in “Footnotes”-an esoteric political paper/website/blog, which has been covering Brooklyn’s political scene for more than two decades now. In that article, the editor/publisher (Maurice Gumbs) described Green as the luckiest politician in Brooklyn. He posited that anytime shit hit the fan, Roger was always lucky enough to avoid having it sticking to his suits. He further argued that Roger had an uncanny knack for extricating himself from very ticklish situations. Gumbs said that whenever the proverbial “political-bullet” was hurling straight for Roger, somehow he always managed to dodge it. Thus, I thought the nickname quite apropos.