New York Democrats: Can We Elect a Mayor?

New York City is one of the most Democratic cities in the country. We haven’t elected a mayor in more than 12 years and we might make it 16 years if things continue as is.

None of the four major candidates for mayor show much promise for more than infighting and grand standing. The front runner going into the primary was former Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer. Ferrer got himself into hot water among the city’s race-baiting black activists when he admitted to a gathering of police officials that the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo was not a crime. Most of the city has known that for more than six years, but the Al Sharptons of the world screamed for the cops’ blood back then and Ferrer was obliged to scream along with them.

This is the chickens coming home to roost for Ferrer. He ran a race-bating campaign four years ago that tried to get Blacks and Hispancis to vote against White candidates and it ended up backfiring on him. He was a sore loser and would not campaign on behalf of the Democratic nominee, Mark Green. Mark Green did a lot of his own undoing, but Ferrer and Al Sharpton should not be forgiven by New York City voters for turning on their own political party in the name of racial politics. To them, Mark Green had not genuflected far enough and they had no problem undermining his campaign.

Bloomberg took advantage of the Democrats’ division. He was helped by his own billions and by Rudolph Giuliani’s endorsement and post-September 11th popularity. Bloomberg has been a much better mayor than I ever thought he would be. He has a lot of the down-to-Earth qualities that New Yorker’s like but without Giuliani’s vindictive nuttiness.

However, Bloomberg has done things that have made me unable to vote for him: he brought the Republican National Convention to New York City and has overseen outrageous and un-American police conduct against protesters and bicycle riders. He has proposed and championed one of the biggest acts of corporate welfare in his West Side stadium plan that will spend $600 million in taxpayers’ money to give a sports complex to a millionaire.

I can’t vote for Bloomberg, but I can’t vote for a race-baiter like Ferrer or C. Virginia Fields either. If those are my choices, I’ll vote for a protest candidate like Christopher X. Brodeur.