Wednesday, September 11, 2013

DeBlasio into run-off in mayor? Why UFT will be last to concede

*UPDATE: Thompson is supported by Madoff supporter - Did not return donations he said he would after Daily News expose (scroll to end)

IT'S A RUN-OFF:

MAYOR:
Bill DeBlasio
Bill Thompson
News here: watch for further UFT leadership alienation from rank and file with United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew's delusional pledge to put Thompson over the top. Might this persistent effort foster rank and file push to withdraw from COPE, especially with UFT & NYSUT's anticipated support for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's re-election in 2014?
[UPDATE: deBlasio's clearly at 40%, yet with Thompson supporters bailing, UFT & Thompson cling to wish that some 1% remaining votes, in paper ballots will skew different from all the trends (deBlasio winning every demographic and every borough. See chart below.]

PUBLIC ADVOCATE, going to run-off:
Letitia James
Daniel Squadron
--but the top four candidates were women, and perhaps the Saujami and Guerrero votes will shift to James.

BORO PRESIDENTS:
Manhattan:   [UPDATE: Brewer wins outright]
Gale Brewer
Jessica Lappin –Brewer will nail this. Lappin's base is too much of the Upper East Side

PRIMARY VICTORIES:

BIG NEWS OF THE NIGHT:
Charles Hynes, who held DA position for a generation, insulating himself from up-start opposition, via his solidifying support with community machine pols, yet plagued by many corruption reports indicated flawed, unjust convictions.

CLEAR WINNER:
Joe Lhota –the candidate for the apologists of Bloomberg, and those unfazed by inconsistent MTA bus service, regular fare hikes and legends of double books, heading a public agency (under confused combination of Albany and City Hall leadership) with no popular control. An interesting contrast indeed.

COMPTROLLER:
Scott Stringer, clearing the need for a run-off campaign.

BORO PRESIDENT:
Queens:
Melinda Katz

UPDATE: WHAT DOESN'T UFT/THOMPSON GET?

Look at these numbers. Across every borough, it is clear, deBlasio won. As you read the press, he won in every demographic. And how clueless is the Unity UFT leadership with numbers? The above deBlasio/Thomspon/Quinn vote chart of 2013 mayoral primary results is from Huffington Post is based on 99 percent of the precincts reporting. Note, as apparent by the New York Times site dating, that this 99 % reporting figure is from 5:23 pm, so this looks like recent data. The 40.3% deBlasio figure is higher than the 40.13% that the Daily News reported that the Board of Elections reported at 5:20 am. Obviously, the movement at this point is only movement up for deBlasio.
Labor will hold a labor solidarity rally Thursday for Bill deBlasio- noticeably absent will be the UFT.
In stark contrast to ally Merryl Tisch (chairwoman of Thompson's campaign), 32BJ, UFCW and RWDSU, which had all originally endorsed Thompson or Quinn, and have all endorsed deBlasio in the last 24 hours, the United Federation of Teachers is clinging to its dream of a Thompson win. He is so symbolically important to them, as the Unity faction of UFT's view of politics (in addition to their election interim --between elections--political view of politics as lobbying power, not people power) is to glom onto the powerful, no matter how bad their politics (Obama, 2012, Cuomo, 2010, Thompson, 2013 -yet not 2009, when he would have made a difference vs. Bloomberg), to attach themselves not only with endorsements, but many of us suspect, socially. The connections between the establishment Unity caucus with Thompson run deep. Notice how as the anti-teacher turns of president Obama and governor Cuomo get worse and worse, the UFT sticks with their every move, in principle, never critical of their policies, such as Race to the Top, Common Core, APPR or the King-imposed Advance teacher evaluation system.
Thus, a Thompson loss to deBlasio deeply hurts them.

UPDATE: Tainted money alert
From http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/madoff-tainted-financier-bill-thompson-campaign-article-1.1392510#commentpostform">the Daily News, July 7, 2013:

EXCLUSIVE: Bill Thompson received $4,000 from Bernie Madoff-tainted financier in current bid for mayor

Thompson’s donor, Seymour Zises, also gave in $4,950 in 2009 – which the former controller promised to donate to charity after it was revealed that Zises had invested clients’ money with Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff. But Thompson has yet to make the charitable contribution.



The last time William Thompson ran for mayor, he promised to donate thousands of dollars from his campaign war chest to charity after the Daily News discovered that one of his biggest longtime donors was linked to Bernie Madoff.
But four years later, Thompson not only hasn’t donated the money — he’s also pocketed even more campaign contributions from the Madoff-tainted financier Seymour Zises.
Zises — who was sued by victims of the Ponzi schemer for secretly investing the majority of their money with Madoff — has given more than $21,000 to Thompson’s various campaigns over the years. When The News uncovered Zises’ link to Madoff four years ago, Thompson promised to give $4,950 from his campaign coffers to charity.


That’s the amount Zises donated to Thompson’s 2009 mayoral run.
But despite the vow — given four months after the reviled Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison — Thompson has not doled out the money.
Meanwhile, two years later, Thompson — with his eyes still on City Hall — accepted the first of what would be four donations from Zises for his 2013 run.


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