A Look at The Incumbents of NY

From The Gotham Gazette:

As job security fades for most New Yorkers, it has remained for members of the New York State Legislature. Once elected, they keep an almost legendary hold on their posts. Re-election rates have been said to reach 98 percent and likened to members of the North Korean government. Members of the legislature have won re-election after being indicted, arrested and caught in various compromising positions.

No one will know for sure until polls close on Nov. 4, but that could change in 2008. The combination of term limits in New York City, the resignation of longtime Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and a sense by some Democrats that they could finally capture the Senate -- and with it control over state government -- has upset the traditional political calculus. In fact, many observers attribute Bruno's decision to leave the Senate at least partly as an indication that he too saw the arithmetic on the wall.

In the months running up the September 9 primary and then on to the Nov. 4 general election, Gotham Gazette will provide in-depth coverage of many of the competitive races in New York City. (The first of articles on an individual race -- this one covering the primary contest in Manhattan's 72nd Assembly District -- appears today.)

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A Black President From 1933

A Word from Vaughn:

As a youngster growing up in Cambridge, Massachussets, in an era forgotten by historians, I actually watched this movie, featuring an all-black cast - which, by the way, was made back in the days when OUR MUSIC was called "RACE RECORDS" aka/'BLACK SWAN RECORDS" on 78 RPM.Many of my white, and black friends, who were living in the neighborhood, who'd also seen the movie got quite a kick out of this film's absurd postulation and optimism, but, as I said then, to them and any who would listen, "In MY LIFETIME WE WILL HAVE A BLACK MAN ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA".Now, that got more than a few laughs, and derisive, vulgar expletives. But, as Sarah Vaughan once sang, "They all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round... but HA, HA HA, who's GOT THE LAST LAUGH NOW?"

A Block Party To Be Remembered!

RealTalk with Vaughn: Now HERE'S A LESSON in why "power corrupts" as the adage goes - there's some collusion going on between certain parties involved, either directly, or indirectly, in the ATLANTIC YARDS development project over in Brooklyn, and "Cousin Brucie" Ratner knows how to buy/sell a slave or two, so here's what its going to come down to, as I see it, the FEDERALISTAS are going to be asked to investigate and that's when the Dollars For Support Scandal will become public - ooh, we'll have a CONTEST guessing which individual/organization will be the FIRST TO COOPERATE WITH FEDERAL AUTHORITIES aka/ "snitching", and, FIRST to assure the public, in a media format, that they are "Innocent of all charges", and so forth Check out this blog posting from the Atlantic Yards Report:

Permits for block parties in the city must be acquired 60 days ahead of time, so let's assume that the Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement BLOCK PARTY! was scheduled well before the Supreme Court decision Monday not to accept the AY eminent domain appeal. Still, the event was not announced until late Monday afternoon.

That's curious. Stranger still, and brutally weird, is the location of the party: Pacific Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues in the AY footprint, opposite the under-demolition Ward Bakery, where a stop-work order exists and where the handful of residents left are, as far as I know, plaintiffs in the eminent domain case or their relatives. As Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn comments, "Call us crazy but we thought block parties were thrown by PEOPLE LIVING ON THE BLOCK."

In other words, the "community" celebration is on a block scheduled for Phase 2 of the project, without start date or deadline, threatened by "condemnation blight." (And, as I've been reminded, the block will be demapped for the project, so it won't exist.) An email informs us that the organizer is Delia Hunley-Adossa, who also MC'd the strained "Brooklyn Day" rally.

Illegal Practices in The Justice Dept? Say it Ain't So!

RealTalk by Vaughn: So "As the World Turns" isn't merely a soap opera on television, if we are to believe the tenor of this NYTimes Article which, by the way, argues the point for many who believed that the BUSH ADMINISTRATION was "ideologically selective" in its appointments and hiring of attorneys for the, purportedly, unbiased JUSTICE DEPARTMENT - anybody seen Alberto Gonzalez, lately???

Justice Department officials over the last six years illegally used “political or ideological” factors to hire new lawyers into an elite recruitment program, tapping law school graduates with conservative credentials over those with liberal-sounding resumes, a new report found Tuesday.

The blistering report, prepared by the Justice Department’s inspector general, is the first in what will be a series of investigations growing out of last year’s scandal over the firings of nine United States attorneys. It appeared to confirm for the first time in an official examination many of the allegations from critics who charged that the Justice Department had become overly politicized during the Bush administration.

“Many qualified candidates” were rejected for the department’s honors program because of what was perceived as a liberal bias, the report found. Those practices, the report concluded, “constituted misconduct and also violated the department’s policies and civil service law that prohibit discrimination in hiring based on political or ideological affiliations.”

Read more from the NYTimes...

Tune Up Your Ideology

From Columbia University's 'Modern Time':

There are a number of things involved in making a good, useful ideology. First, and most important, it needs to be personal. The only kind of ideology that will work is one that you yourself have analyzed and accepted. If you buy into someone else’s ideology, especially one of the big “isms,” you will have lost control of your ideology and disaster is imminent. That’s not to say that lot of folks cannot share the same (for all practical purposes) ideology — of course they can. But they must all individually accept it, after some thought.

The second most important criterion is that your ideology needs frequent reality checks, and is tweaked whenever the ideas don’t seem to match reality. That doesn’t mean it needs to change every time the wind blows, but when some event happens that you can’t explain, it’s time to do a little reevaluation.

The third important factor is that your ideology must be founded upon some real thinking that you have done. It’s a good excuse to read some books and to put your head back, close your eyes and cogitate. Brewing an ideology will take some time. There’s no short cut, but your efforts will be worth your while in the future.

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Bankruptcy as an OPTION!!!

RealTalk from Vaughn:
As the continuous struggle for New York City land development projects become more and more a battle waged between union vs. non-union employers and employees, particularly on the issues of the effect of union vs. non-union wage and labor standards on the cost to developers within the market place known as "affordable housing", many of the smaller minority contractors are being negatively effected to the extent that bankruptcy becomes their only option.The Crain's article below describes the situation:

The number of corporate bankruptcy filings in New York more than tripled in the first five months of the year as the teetering national and local economies thrust many businesses to the brink of collapse.

Through May, Chapter 11 filings at federal bankruptcy courts in the city totaled 335, up from 104 in the same period a year earlier. The increase was due to a nearly fivefold rise in filings at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to 288, from 60.

Already, filings in that court, which includes Manhattan and the Bronx, surpass the 231 filings made there in all of 2007.

With the economy showing little sign of improving, filings will continue to rise.

“There has to be some turnaround in the credit market before you’ll see a turnaround in bankruptcies,” says Marlene Rabinowitz, chairwoman of the bankruptcy and financial reorganization group of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants and a partner at BDO Seidman.

The jump in filings probably understates the magnitude of the problem. That’s because many small business owners, daunted by the costs associated with filing for bankruptcy, are choosing to settle with creditors out of court or to simply walk away from their companies.

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Just How Serious Is The Mortgage Crisis?

From Crain's NY:

The 60-day delinquency rate for New York City rose across all five boroughs, as the percentage of borrowers delinquent on their mortgages nearly doubled in the first quarter.

The percentage of borrowers in the New York City area delinquent on their mortgages almost doubled in the first quarter to 2.7% compared with the year earlier figure, according to a report by TransUnion.com, a credit and information management firm.

The 60-day delinquency rate, typically a benchmark indicating the health of loans, climbed in all five boroughs, with the steepest hike, 92%, in Queens. Southeast Queens has been the epicenter of the city’s foreclosure crisis.

Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx all had delinquency rates greater than the national average of 3.2%. At 2.6%, New York state had the 28th highest delinquency rate in the country.

“When you’re two months behind on a house payment, it’s really difficult to get the funds together to catch up,” says Keith Carson, a senior consultant in TransUnion's financial services group. “For most people, by the time they get to 60 days past due they’re in significant financial distress.”

The first quarter marked the seventh consecutive quarterly increase in delinquencies, the report said. They are at their highest since TransUnion started collecting data in 1992.

And they’re expected to keep on rising. The national delinquency rate is expected to reach 4% by the end of the year before starting to decline in 2009, the report says.

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Feeling the Pinch in NYC Rents

From Crain's NY:

Landlords that don't charge tenants for heat can hike rents 4.5% for a one-year lease and 8.5% for a two year lease; the hikes are 0.5% less for tenants who do pay heat.

June 20. 2008 9:27AM

Landlords who don't charge their tenants for heating can hike the rents 4.5% on a one-year lease and 8.5% on a two-year lease.

Tenants who pay for heat could see increases of 4% on one-year leases and 8% on two-year leases.

A spokesman for the landlords says the hike approved Thursday is higher than last year but falls short of covering the rise in fuel costs. A tenants' group has said the increases are too steep.

Labor Unions Showing Support for St. Vincent's

From The Villager:

Labor union representatives and community leaders from Chelsea and Chinatown spoke out in support of the revised St. Vincent’s/Rudin redevelopment plan at a June 10 Community Board 2 forum. But preservation advocates and close neighbors remained adamantly against the project.

The C.B. 2 forum followed a previous Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing on the scaled-down plan for a new 299-foot-tall hospital on the St. Vincent’s O’Toole Building site on the west side of Seventh Ave. and a residential project that would adapt four of the eight existing hospital buildings and add a 235-foot-tall residential tower on the avenue’s east side.

“Nine times out of 10, I’m against development, but this is a unique situation,” said Miguel Acevedo, a member of Community Board 4, speaking only for residents of the Robert Fulton Houses in Chelsea. “This hospital has done so much for underprivileged kids in Chelsea,” Acevedo told the Community Board 2 Omnibus St. Vincent’s Committee forum.

Jimmy Pelsey, another C.B. 4 member, submitted a letter as president of the Robert Fulton Tenants Association saying he was happy to support the revised redevelopment plan because St. Vincent’s is the nearest facility for thousands of city housing project tenants in Chelsea.

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No Re-Election for Bruno!

From the Daily News Blog:

It's confirmed. A high-ranking Senate staffer said:

"He will not run for re-election. It's still open as to whether he will serve out the term until Dec. 31 or leave early."

UPDATE: Another GOP Senate source tells DN Capitol Bureau Ken Lovett that Bruno will definitely remain in the Senate through the end of the year because if he leaves, the chamber will be tied. The fate of his leadership, however, remains unclear.

This source told Lovett that Bruno decided to break the news to his members today because it's the last day of session and he wanted to inform them of his decision when they were all together.

Bruno, who has served in the Senate since 1976 and has been leader since early 1995, when he took power from Ralph Marino in a coup with then-newly-minted Gov. George Pataki's support, has been coy of late about whether he would run this fall.

Read more...

Wages or Affordable Housing: Pick One!

If wages prevail, affordable housing won’t...

From Bernard Carr of The Buffalo News:

A perfect storm is gathering, threatening to sink the development of affordable housing.

It involves a conflict between two positive objectives — more affordable housing and higher construction wages. The conflict is embedded in the Industrial Development Agency legislation now being discussed in Albany, which would require prevailing wages on affordable housing built with IDA financing. Prevailing wages are set by government- issued schedules that largely correspond with union rates.

The fundamental issue is: Should developers of affordable housing who receive government subsidies be required to pay prevailing wages to construction workers, thus significantly increasing the cost of building?

Gaining higher wages is an understandable goal of organized labor. But the money has to come from somewhere, and funding sources for affordable housing are scarce.

The residents of new affordable housing cannot afford higher rents or purchase prices, and the pie for affordable housing is, by any measure, already too small. Take a larger slice out — for wages or any other purpose — and the pie shrinks even further. A smaller pie translates inevitably into less affordable housing. The fewer affordable units that get built, the longer the wait for working families, the poor, the elderly, people with special needs and the homeless to find decent housing.

For more than 30 years, the affordable housing industry has rebuilt communities by providing high-quality, low-cost housing for tens of thousands of low and moderate income residents. Construction workers earn good wages. Non-union skilled trades, such as plumbers and electricians, can earn in excess of $58,000 annually, while laborers can earn $40,000 and more. These jobs represent important opportunities for workers who live in the communities in which the housing is built.

Prevailing wages would push labor costs up to union scale, to between $100,000 to $125,000, and the jobs would likely go to workers who live outside these neighborhoods. Of course, this assumes that more taxpayer dollars will be available to make up the difference. Otherwise, the result will be fewer or no jobs for anyone, since the projects would be scaled back or not built at all.

Affordable housing often leads the way for further economic development, creating well-paying jobs and opportunities for local residents and minority-and women-owned firms. Impose prevailing wages and these promising businesses could well be forced to close, while the neighborhood jobs that they could create would never materialize.

Mandating prevailing wages would capsize housing policy, decreasing production, eliminating jobs and forfeiting hope. This perfect storm is not inevitable, unless we make it so. Prevailing wage legislation is bad for housing, bad for neighborhoods and bad for New York.

Bernard Carr is executive director of theNew York State Association for AffordableHousing.

City's 'Gifted' Programs Lack Diversity

From the NY Times:

When New York City set a uniform threshold for admission to public school gifted programs last fall, it was a crucial step in a prolonged effort to equalize access to programs that critics complained were dominated by white middle-class children whose parents knew how to navigate the system.

The move was controversial, with experts warning that standardized tests given to young children were heavily influenced by their upbringing and preschool education, and therefore biased toward the affluent.

Now, an analysis by The New York Times shows that under the new policy, children from the city’s poorest districts were offered a smaller percentage than last year of the entry-grade gifted slots in elementary schools. Children in the city’s wealthiest districts captured a greater share of the slots.

The disparity is so stark that some gifted programs opened by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in an effort to increase opportunities in poor and predominantly minority districts will not fill new classes next year. In three districts, there were too few qualifiers to fill a single class.

Read more...

The Misadventures of Senator John McSame: Vol. 3

Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama have both long advocated closing the Guantánamo detention center but have disagreed on the rights of prisoners there.

Mr. McCain said here Thursday morning that he had not had time to read the decision but that “it obviously concerns me,” adding, “These are unlawful combatants; they’re not American citizens.”

Read more from the NY Times...

Last Minute Bail-Out for OTB

From The Observer:

David Paterson announced that the state will take over the city's unprofitable Off-Track Betting operation, and confirmed reports that State Senator John Sabini will leave his seat to become the head of the state's Racing and Wagering Board.

“We have a looming crisis right here in New York City,” Paterson said. “Because of a dysfunctional statutory system, the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation is unable to continue its disbursements to the city, the state and the racing industry."

O.T.B. will continue to exist, as is, for the next 90 days, after which it will become a new public benefit corporation controlled by the state, Paterson explained. Had the state not stepped in, O.T.B.--which employs roughly 1,500 people--would have been dissolved on Sunday.

Although he shied away from revealing the financial details of the transfer, Paterson did say that “appropriate legislative reforms” will be passed to allow O.T.B. to pay off its outstanding obligations. He mentioned the consolidation of betting systems and internet services across all the state O.T.B.s as possible avenues for reform. O.T.B. will also likely move out of its current office on 42nd Street to the less pricey Aqueduct, saving the corporation $5 million.

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Do We Really Need the Political Machine?

From Dalton Conley of Newsday:

New York City local politics is broken. And I'm not just saying that because I lost in my race to be one of my neighborhood's party representatives. The more I found out about the particular post and the overall structure of the party system, the less I wanted to win.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg argues that party-based elections limit political participation of a wider range of citizens whose voices are squelched by party regulars. As an alternative, the mayor is pushing a plan for non-partisan city-wide elections.

Mayor Bloomberg is right in saying that the current process is overly exclusionary, but his solution is wrong. His plan for mayoral elections is sort of like shaving off the top bit of a huge iceberg and declaring the problem solved-full steam ahead!

But parties are not the real problem, nor is the mayoral general election; machine politics are. If we really want to fix New York politics, then we need to do two things: Make it easier to get on the ballot and streamline the complexity of the political system.

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Fierce Political Job Competition...Zero Salary!

From the NY Times:

The job carries no salary and no physical office, but the battle is fierce nonetheless over who will be the two district leaders for the Democratic Party on the Lower East Side. The central issue in the election, which will be held Tuesday, is housing.

On one side of the race, in a sector of the 62d Assembly District, are the two incumbents: John Fratta, who has been a Democratic leader in the district since 1987, and Alice Cancel, who has served since 1990. Their challengers are Victor Papa, the director of Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, a nonprofit housing group, and Norma Ramirez, an office administrator for the nursing department at Gouverneur Hospital.

Mr. Fratta wondered if his actions at the Southbridge Towers, a Mitchell-Lama housing project where he and Mr. Papa both serve on the board of directors, may have spurred Mr. Papa to oppose him. ''I was part of a majority of board members who voted him out as president, and I guess he is mad with me,'' Mr. Fratta said.

Mr. Papa angrily denied that assertion, saying his decision to run was made before his ouster as president in May.

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Senator McCain and the Keating Case

From the NY Times:

In late 1989, Senator John McCain went home to Arizona to fight for his political life.

It was at the height of the savings and loan scandal, and his dealings with Charles Keating, an Arizona high-flier whose failed thrift was a $2 billion debacle for taxpayers, were dominating the news in his home state.

Mr. McCain faced a hail of hostile questions, even at the Mesa Rotary Club in bedrock Republican territory. After one of the club's elders rose to defend him and say he still believed in him, the senator mordantly observed, ''The fact that my supporters even feel they need to say these things is evidence of how serious the situation is.''

''It was certainly the most difficult experience in my political life,'' he now says about this tumultuous time. During a 14-month Senate ethics investigation that ended with his exoneration, he and four other senators stood accused of exerting improper influence by meeting with federal bank regulators on behalf of Mr. Keating, who had contributed $1.5 million to the political causes and campaigns of the senators, including $112,000 to Mr. McCain.

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Forum: "Justice: Before and After The Bars"

Assemblyman Keith Wright and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., New York Alumnae Chapter are having the fourth and final forum on law enforcement as it is implemented in communities of color. This forum is entitled "Justice: Before And after The Bars" and will be held on Thursday, June 19, 2008 at the State Office Building from 6:30- 9:00 PM. The focus of this forum will be programs that offer preventative services, alternatives to incarceration, and programs that provide services after incarceration. In addition to the panelists, we will have other programs describe their services.

Many of these programs enlist volunteers and will advise the audience how it can become involved in making a difference. We will also provide a list of resources in the community. We hope that you will attend this very important forum and ask your questions and comments to what will be a lively discussion. A flyer about the event is attached. For further information please call the New York Alumnae Chapter at (212) 969-0434.

What was that about Obama's 'Baby Mama'?

From AOL News:

Fox News Channel referred to Michelle Obama as "Obama's baby mama" in a graphic on Wednesday, the latest in a trio of references to the Democratic presidential campaign that have given fuel to network critics.

The graphic "Outraged liberals: Stop picking on Obama's baby mama" was flashed during an interview with conservative columnist Michelle Malkin about whether Barack Obama's wife has been the target of unfair criticism.

In the past two weeks, Fox anchor E.D. Hill has apologized for referring to an affectionate onstage fist bump shared by the couple as a "terrorist fist jab," and Fox contributor Liz Trotta said she was sorry for joking about an Obama assassination.

The incidents are further indications of how closely the endless cable campaign chatter is being watched this year. Hillary Clinton's campaign was angered by what it described as the pro-Obama tilt of some MSNBC commentators. Amid protests, MSNBC's Chris Matthews said he was wrong this winter to say Clinton was a candidate because "her husband messed around." And MSNBC reporter David Shuster was suspended for two weeks for saying Clinton's campaign had "pimped out" daughter Chelsea by having her make political phone calls.

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Gov. Paterson's Reforms

From the Times Union:

Gov. David Paterson today proposed a broad election reform package that would significantly cut contribution limits including those for soft money, add a 5th member to the evenly split Board of Elections, identify money bundlers, increase penalties by as much as twentyfold, close some corporate loopholes and add a millionaires provision to level the playing field when rich candidates enter a race.

Paterson’s proposal is only the first step for the governor, who said he intends to put forward a plan for public financing of campaigns, but not just yet. Paterson said government finances are too tight now to suggest spending money underwriting political campaigns.

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LETTER TO BARACK OBAMA

From Rep.Geoff Davis (R. Ky.)

Better Know A Delegate!

Ever wonder exactly who makes up the democratic delegation in NY state. Well, wonder no further!

Summary

The New York delegation to the Democratic National Convention (August 25-28 in Denver) comprises the following:

151 District-Level Delegates
51 At-Large Delegates
30 Party Leaders/Elected Officials
19 Democratic National Committee members*
25 Members of Congress*
1 Democratic Governor
2 Distinguished Party Leader
4 At-Large Unpledged
(39 District-Level and At-Large Alternates)

281 Total Voting Delegates
320 Total Delegation Size (including Alternates)

Read more about these numbers...

If the Price is Right...

Landowner Who Balked Gives In to Columbia

From the NY Times:

A business owner who had pledged not to sell her property to make way for Columbia University’s expansion has reached a deal with the university, Columbia officials said on Tuesday.

The agreement with the owner, Anne Z. Whitman, leaves only two property owners who have not settled with Columbia, which is embarking on a $7 billion expansion, the largest in its history.

The university plans to demolish all but three buildings on 17 acres of waterfront property bounded roughly on the north and south by 133rd and 125th Streets and on the east and west by Broadway and Riverside Drive.

As part of the settlement, Ms. Whitman, the owner of Hudson North American, a moving and storage company on Broadway between 129th and 130th Streets, will exchange her building — which will be among those torn down — for property on Audubon Avenue in Washington Heights, near the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, the university said in a statement.

Read more...

Anatomy of a Bloomberg Administration

From the Village Voice:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's most remarkable political achievement was winning half of the black vote and a third of the Hispanic vote in 2005 as a white Republican running against Fernando Ferrer, the first Latino ever nominated by a major party for any citywide office.

Nothing like it had ever happened before in a town where race and party are as linked as Bloomberg and bucks, and the mayor spent millions chasing what the media kept calling "minorities"—though, for the first time in that election, whites were less than half of the city electorate. As Congressman Charlie Rangel put it the day after the election, Bloomberg "breaks all the rules" and "appears to be able to appeal to people regardless of their color."

Read more...

Mortgage Delinquencies Soaring in NYC

From Crain's NY:

The percentage of borrowers in the New York City area delinquent on their mortgages almost doubled in the first quarter to 2.7% compared with the year earlier figure, according to a report by TransUnion.com, a credit and information management firm.

The 60-day delinquency rate, typically a benchmark indicating the health of loans, climbed in all five boroughs, with the steepest hike, 92%, in Queens. Southeast Queens has been the epicenter of the city’s foreclosure crisis.

Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx all had delinquency rates greater than the national average of 3.2%. At 2.6%, New York state had the 28th highest delinquency rate in the country.


Read more...

The Misadventures of McSame: The Iraq Saga

From Newsweek:
Avoiding casualties in Iraq is more important than bringing troops home, Republican John McCain said Wednesday, feeding an outcry from Democrats who quickly declared him to be out of touch with the public and the needs of the military.

Appearing on NBC's "Today Show," McCain was asked if he has a better estimate for when U.S. troops could leave Iraq.

"No, but that's not too important," McCain said. "What's important is casualties in Iraq.

Read more...

The Misadventures of John McSame: Katrina

McCain claims he "supported every investigation" into the government's role regarding the hurricane, when in fact he twice voted against an independent commission.

Read more from Newsweek...

Financial Reshuffling for Rivera's Annual Bronx County Dinner

At the Bronx Democratic County Dinner on June 24, for the first time, checks for the annual event should be made out to “Friends of Assemblyman Jose Rivera," not to the county organization. (Rivera is also the county leader).

“This is an interesting year,” said Rivera when I spoke to him about it. “We’re still raising money for the organization, but we’re doing it through the trustees. So, it’s like a joint dinner event with Friends of Jose Rivera.”

He went on, “We just don’t want to tie down the whole operation for one massive fund-raiser. It requires a lot of volunteers. This way, it doesn’t.”

I asked if the decision was related to David Paterson’s proposed changes to the state campaign finance rules, or if it is related to the political future of his son, City Councilman Jose Rivera, who is expected to enter the borough presidency race next year.

“Absolutely not," he told me. "But you know, it doesn’t hurt to keep in mind that we got to get ready for the future.

"I don’t know," Rivera went on. "I don’t have all the answers. A change is coming. It doesn’t hurt for us to begin to prepare for the day when the usual way of raising money is no longer there.”

Andrew Cuomo will keynote the event.

Source: New York Observer

McCain for Wiretapping!

A top adviser to Senator John McCain says Mr. McCain believes that President Bush's program of wiretapping without warrants was lawful, a position that appears to bring him into closer alignment with the sweeping theories of executive authority pushed by the Bush administration legal team.

In a letter posted online by National Review this week, the adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said Mr. McCain believed that the Constitution gave Mr. Bush the power to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor Americans' international phone calls and e-mail without warrants, despite a 1978 federal statute that required court oversight of surveillance...

From The Huffington Post...

'Overstating' Iraq?

WASHINGTON — A long-delayed Senate committee report endorsed by Democrats and some Republicans concluded that President Bush and his aides built the public case for war against Iraq by exaggerating available intelligence and by ignoring disagreements among spy agencies about Iraq’s weapons programs and Saddam Hussein’s links to Al Qaeda.

The report was released Thursday after years of partisan squabbling, and it represented the close of five years of investigations by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence into the use, abuse and faulty assessments of intelligence leading to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

The report was released Thursday after years of partisan squabbling, and it represented the close of five years of investigations by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence into the use, abuse and faulty assessments of intelligence leading to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Read more from the New York Times...

Say What: Burning BUSH!!!

The Truth About the War

It took just a few months after the United States’ invasion of Iraq for the world to find out that Saddam Hussein had long abandoned his nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs. He was not training terrorists or colluding with Al Qaeda. The only real threat he posed was to his own countrymen.

It has taken five years to finally come to a reckoning over how much the Bush administration knowingly twisted and hyped intelligence to justify that invasion. On Thursday — after years of Republican stonewalling — a report by the Senate Intelligence Committee gave us as good a set of answers as we’re likely to get.

The report shows clearly that President Bush should have known that important claims he made about Iraq did not conform with intelligence reports. In other cases, he could have learned the truth if he had asked better questions or encouraged more honest answers.

Read more from The New York Times...

What's Next For the Puerto Rican Day Parade?

After last year’s mighty, star-studded 50th Puerto Rican Day Parade, how could organizers possibly throw an even bigger fiesta this Sunday?

Easy answer: Who cares?

“We won’t be able to compare it to the 50th anniversary celebration,” says one of the parade leaders, María Román. “But no one should doubt that it will be a tremendous, spectacular parade.”

President of the parade Madelyn Lugo says that as initial arrangements were being made, “we thought that this year the parade was going to be smaller.”

However, a colossal crowd can always be expected and, though Ricky Martin, J.Lo and Marc Anthony are not expected to show up, there will be no shortage of stars at the annual display of Boricua pride along Fifth Ave.

One of the city’s biggest media personalities, brash radio talk-show host Luis Jiménez, is certain to be an attraction as the parade’s national padrino, or godfather.

Read more from the NY Daily News...

Hillary Clinton: Losing vs Quitting

'She Could Accept Losing. She Could Not Accept Quitting' by Anne E. Kornblut and Dan Balz

In a campaign of near-deaths and premature obituaries, the night of May 6 will be remembered inside Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign as the moment it really ended.

The staff had settled into the war room at the campaign's Arlington headquarters. Mexican food, as always, had been ordered. The candidate was in Indianapolis. All anticipated another good night in a campaign that had put together an impressive streak of big-state primary victories in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania over the previous two months.

But whatever slim hopes Clinton had for an improbable comeback died with the disappointing results in the last two big primaries of the campaign -- a narrower-than-hoped-for victory in Indiana and a double-digit loss in North Carolina -- and the commentary that accompanied them. When NBC's Tim Russert flatly declared the Democratic race over around midnight, one adviser recalled, "the air came out of the room."

Read more from The Washington Post...

How Much For A Third Term, Bloomie?

Mayor Bloomberg is gauging public support for his running for a third term.

Here we go again?

Two months ago, when a mayoral confidante told The Post that Bloomberg was interested in a third term, Hizzoner violently denied it.

Now it's reported that Mayor Mike is polling the possibility of doing away with term limits - which would at least theoretically open the way for him to seek a third term.

To which we say: Go for it, Mike.

True, that very same poll suggests a referendum lifting limits would face dismal prospects.

And, true, mayoral aides and others have been seeding stories about Bloomberg's future prospects for months and months now.

President? Vice president? Governor? Purchaser of The New York Times? Mayor (again)?

Read more from the NYPost...

And the Veepstakes Winner Is...

In clinching the Democratic Presidential nomination, Barack Obama is now the leader of his party.

The first test of his leadership as a potential President will be his response to the extraordinary campaign already underway to bully him into choosing Hillary Clinton as his running mate.

Mrs. Clinton's tenacity in the primaries deserves credit, and she has earned the respect that Mr. Obama's remarks on Tuesday night gave her. But as he prepares for November, and perhaps for January, he has earned the right to choose a Vice Presidential nominee with whom he's comfortable, and on his own timetable. On that score, we were glad to see him name a vetting team yesterday and to appear in no rush to make a selection.

The same restraint can't be said of Mrs. Clinton, whose own remarks on Tuesday were notably ungracious to the victor. The occasion called at least for an enthusiastic show of support, if not a formal concession speech. Yet Mrs. Clinton chose to vie for the spotlight, touting her own campaign achievements and all but inciting her supporters to pressure Mr. Obama to make her veep.

Read more from the Wall Street Journal...

All Around The Globe!

History Being Made Before Our Very Eyes

Shattering Barriers, Obama Makes His Claim

From MSNBC.com:

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois claimed the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday night, NBC News projected based on its tally of convention delegates.

By doing so, he shattered a barrier more than two centuries old to become the first black candidate ever nominated by a major political party for the nation’s highest office.

“After 54 hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end,” Obama told cheering supporters in a victory celebration in St. Paul, Minn., at the site of the convention that will nominate his Republican opponent in the fall, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

“Tonight, I can stand here before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for the president of the United States of America.”

Obama, 46, of Illinois, hailed his Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, for having “made history in this campaign, not just because she is a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she’s a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight.”

Read more...

Obama Finally Clinches the Nomination

From CNN.com:

In what he called a "defining moment for our nation," Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday became the first African-American to head the ticket of a major political party.

Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday told supporters he will be the Democratic nominee.

Obama's steady stream of superdelegate endorsements, combined with the delegates he received from Tuesday's primaries, put him past the 2,118 threshold, CNN projects.

"Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another -- a journey that will bring a new and better day to America," he said.

"Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States."

Obama's rally was at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota -- the same arena which will house the 2008 Republican National Convention in September.

Speaking in New York, Sen. Hillary Clinton, congratulated Obama for his campaign, but she did not concede the race nor discuss the possibility of running as vice president.

Read more...

A Paradigm For Tenant/Landlord Struggles

P.A.’L.A.N.T.E was formed as a result of a group of tenants getting together to address their housing code violations and illegal rents in rent stabilized buildings. The word P.A.'L.A.N.T.E. is an acronym that stands for People Against Landlord Abuse & Tenant Exploitation. The word itself comes from Spanish vernacular pa'lante which means "moving forward".

After 15 months of housing court battles they finally managed to get the repairs they desperately fought for thanks tenant unity and the support of their local political representatives. The month-to-month struggle continues as they publicly address tenant exploitation in rent-stabilized buildings. They are now offering help to tenants wherever they may be in New York. They want to defend those that cannot defend themselves. Check out the website for a detailed timeline of their journey. They offer an example of what happens when tenants unite and educate themselves on their rights.

A Presidential Race Like No Other

Battleground States
Demographics and mood of voters may reshape the electoral map

by Joyce Jones for Black Enterprise

This year’s presidential election promises to be wildly different from those in years past. The nation will most likely witness the history-making campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, who hopes to become America’s first black president. And then there’s Sen. John McCain, who because of his maverick disposition and willingness to work with the other side on bipartisan legislation, has been dubbed by some as Republican in name only.

This time last year, Republicans were urging their conservative soul mate, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, to enter the race, while Sen. Hillary Clinton was feeling what could only be described as “inevitable.” Throughout the nominating process, however, there have often been discussions about whether either Obama or McCain can keep a tight reign on his party’s faithful.

Political pundits wonder: Will Clinton supporters vote for Obama? Will true-blue conservatives stay home, or hold their noses and help lead McCain to victory? What about independents? As Republicans and Democrats begin to focus more attention on the general election, voters can expect each party to try to redefine the campaign map in an attempt to gain a majority of the 538 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.

Read more...

Obama and Milestones of Social Change

Trickle Down: Pivotal moments and social change
By Brian Gilmore for Ebony/Jet Online

And then there were three. Montana. South Dakota. Puerto Rico. Three more primaries for the Democrats, and then Barack Obama, of Chicago, Illinois, will likely be the nominee of the Democratic Party for President of the United States. History will be made. The earth might shift.

There are other moments in America’s social and cultural history that are the equivalent of an earthquake when it comes to changing racial perceptions. These are the moments that change people, make them search their soul, cause them to change the way they judge people who they do not know, and have never even considered. It is how we got to where we are now. Here’s a few:

1947. Jackie Robinson breaks baseball’s color line.

1956. Rhythm and blues gives birth to “rock and roll.”

1976. The television mini-series “Roots.”1984. The Cosby Show.

And now, possibly: 2009. Barack Obama – first Black President.

Read More...

Analyzing "Big Upsets" in American History

Wag the Blog: The Biggest Upset Ever?
By Chris Cillizza for the Washington Post

Is Obama's seeming triumph over Clinton "one of the biggest upsets" in modern political campaigns or is it the biggest?

The facts are thus: Clinton came into the nomination fight heavily favored to be the nominee. Not only did she have the backing of the most potential political machine in the country -- due in large part to her husband's eight years in the White House -- but she had also built a vaunted fundraising operation of her own and surrounded herself with some of the best and brightest aides in Democratic politics.

Obama, on the other hand, had served for two years in the U.S. Senate after doing a stint in the Illinois state Senate. He has toured the country for Democratic candidates during the 2006 election cycle and had begun to build a national organization through his Hopefund political action committee. (In fact, Obama often referred to himself as a "skinny kid with a funny name."

Read more...

The Most Influential Women in NYC Business

Crain's New York has just released the list of the Top 100 Influential Women in New York City Business. Check to see if your pick made the list...

No Mercy On White-Collar Kickback Scheme

Lawyer Weiss gets 30 months for kickback scheme

(AP) - Prominent attorney Melvyn Weiss was sentenced Monday to 30 months in prison after authorities accused him of helping orchestrate a lucrative lawsuit kickback scheme targeting some of the largest corporations in the nation.U.S. District Judge John F. Walter also ordered Mr. Weiss, 72, to pay $9.7 million in forfeitures and $250,000 in fines.Mr. Weiss pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge in April as part of an agreement with prosecutors.In a prepared, handwritten statement read before sentencing, Mr. Weiss apologized for his ''wrongful conduct'' and described the case as a fall from grace.''I promise you my contrition is profound and genuine,'' said Mr. Weiss, the co-founder of the New York law firm once known as Milberg Weiss.Prosecutors had sought the maximum 33-month sentence. Mr. Weiss and his attorneys asked for a reduced prison term, citing his age and contributions inside and outside courtrooms.

Read more from Crain's New York...

Maybe It's time to Quit!

NY cigarette tax climbs to nation's highest

AP) - New Yorkers start paying the highest cigarette taxes in the nation Tuesday with the latest $1.25 spike per pack that officials expect to bring in $265 million a year.

Convenience stores across the state and the smokers who will be paying the price are angry about the change, but health officials hail the tax increase as a success. Cigarette taxes will raise a total of $1.3 billion for the state budget in fiscal year 2008-09, including the new tax.

''Isn't that something -- to say that I'm excited about a tax increase? But I am,'' said Dr. Richard Daines, the New York health commissioner. ''This is a public health victory. We know one of the really effective tools to get people off of their nicotine addiction is to the raise the price.''

Read more from Crain's NY...

New Tunes for the Clinton Campaign

Coda for the Clintons
By Eugene Robinson for the Washington Post

Crank up your iPods, everyone. Herewith, a musical guide to the endgame of the epic contest for the Democratic nomination:

Begin with "No More Drama" by Mary J. Blige. The hip-hop diva was singing about personal struggles, but her show-stopping anthem couldn't be more relevant to the nomination battle. There are many Democratic Party grandees who should download this tune immediately, chief among them Harold Ickes.

It was Ickes, after all, who pitched a fit Saturday when the party's Rules and Bylaws Committee made a valiant and mostly successful attempt to fairly enforce rules that Ickes helped write. Dramatically, he announced that Hillary Clinton "reserves the right" to fight all the way to the credentials committee meeting in late July over a compromise on Michigan's delegates that already gives Clinton more than she deserves.

Read more...

The Case for Clinton

The obituary for the political career of Bill and Hillary Clinton has been written so many times that we've learned not to rush into it. Let us just say that while he has spoken out of turn from time to time, she has run a campaign that is a credit to her political reputation and to the state she represents in the Senate. On a number of issues, Mrs. Clinton has made arguments against Senator Obama that are likely to be taken up successfully by the Republicans in the fall campaign, beginning with her rebuff to his eagerness to sit down with President Ahmadinejad, a point marked by Senator McCain yesterday. She also opposed Mr. Obama's vow to raise payroll taxes. She has pressed the issue of Mr. Obama's association with a former Weatherman radical, William Ayers.

Read more from The New York Sun

Gov. Paterson Gets Tough on Guns

Gov. Paterson pushes tougher gun laws at rally
BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM of NYDailyNews

Declaring that gun violence has reached an alarming level, elected officials and local community leaders held an emergency summit Sunday in Harlem, where a bloody Memorial Day weekend saw 10 people shot.

Enacting tough federal gun laws, opening more youth centers across the city and reversing unemployment rates were all considered at yesterday's summit.

"More and more, we as state officials have to speak to the families of young gun victims who are senselessly and mercilessly killed before they have a chance to live their lives," said Gov. Paterson, who joined politicians, law enforcement authorities and community leaders

Paterson recommended enacting legislation that would make the psychiatric records of potential gun owners more accessible to dealers while also making it easier for police departments to work with gun shops.

"I wanted to come here today to send a message that government is listening and government is acting," Paterson said.

Read more from the NY Daily News

"Let's Talk About Violence"

The Rev. Al Sharpton is calling for a high-profile community summit to address black-on-black violence after Harlem was rocked by a wave of shootings over Memorial Day.

"Last year alone, nearly one black child a day under the age of 17 was shot and killed in New York City. Shot mostly by other black city residents," Sharpton said.

"Shootings and violence within our community by one of our own is an outrage and an issue that we must confront as diligently and as passionately as a sensational case of police misconduct or brutality."

Four gun battles in one three-hour period in Harlem Memorial Day weekend wounded 10 people - including a 15-year-old girl hit at a barbecue. A 15-year-old boy was also shot dead after a house party on the upper West Side.

Gov. Paterson joined local community leaders in an emergency summit Sunday to discuss toughening gun laws and trying to reverse unemployment rates.

Read more from The NY Daily News

Treatment of Illegal Immigrants Under the Microscope

The Great Immigration Panic

Someday, the country will recognize the true cost of its war on illegal immigration. We don’t mean dollars, though those are being squandered by the billions. The true cost is to the national identity: the sense of who we are and what we value. It will hit us once the enforcement fever breaks, when we look at what has been done and no longer recognize the country that did it.

A nation of immigrants is holding another nation of immigrants in bondage, exploiting its labor while ignoring its suffering, condemning its lawlessness while sealing off a path to living lawfully. The evidence is all around that something pragmatic and welcoming at the American core has been eclipsed, or is slipping away.

An escalating campaign of raids in homes and workplaces has spread indiscriminate terror among millions of people who pose no threat. After the largest raid ever last month — at a meatpacking plant in Iowa — hundreds were swiftly force-fed through the legal system and sent to prison. Civil-rights lawyers complained, futilely, that workers had been steamrolled into giving up their rights, treated more as a presumptive criminal gang than as potentially exploited workers who deserved a fair hearing. The company that harnessed their desperation, like so many others, has faced no charges.

Read more from The New York Times

Building Bridges For the Democratic Party

Obama Camp Begins Delicate Task Of Wooing Clinton's Supporters
by MONICA LANGLEY of WSJ

The awkward courtship has begun between supporters of presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

With the bitter, hard-fought primary season ending Tuesday, a behind-the-scenes drama is unfolding. Amid growing speculation that Sen. Clinton may pull out as soon as Tuesday night, top Obama strategists and supporters are wooing several of Sen. Clinton's key big-money donors, political operatives and policy advisers. A Clinton spokesman said Monday that her staff is focused on winning the nomination. (See related article.)

Still, communication between the two camps is on the rise. Among the moves so far: Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a senior adviser to Sen. Obama, has talked to Clinton supporter Leon Panetta, the former congressman and President Clinton's chief of staff, about endorsing Sen. Obama once the final primary contests conclude. Obama chief strategist David Axelrod recently chatted with ex-Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, whom the Obama camp will want to bring in for help with women and Hispanics.

Read more The Wall Street Journal Online...

Iran: Key Issue for Jewish Voters

WASHINGTON -- John McCain told Washington's most powerful pro-Israel lobby that if elected president he would drastically ramp up financial pressure on Iran's rulers by targeting the country's gasoline imports and imposing sanctions against its central bank.

The Republican presidential candidate's speech Monday before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee drew a standing ovation and illustrates how Iran, more than the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, has emerged as the defining issue for candidates wooing Jewish-American voters.

Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will address the AIPAC convention Wednesday and are expected to also focus extensively on their strategies for countering the Iranian threat.

Sen. Obama criticized Sen. McCain's speech, claiming the Republican's policies would represent a continuation of the Bush administration's and ultimately weaken Israel.

Sen. McCain sought to set down a political marker with Jewish voters by pledging a hard line on Iran and a commitment to many of the policies AIPAC has been promoting. The American lobbying body has particularly pushed for an international divestment campaign from companies doing business in Iran, while also seeking more unilateral U.S. sanctions against Iranian state institutions, such as the central bank.

Read more from The Wall Street Journal Online...

Another Superdelegate Behind Obama

Clyburn Backs Obama as Democratic Race Nears End

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton end their historic Democratic presidential battle on Tuesday with two nominating contests that could help Obama clinch the nomination and push Clinton from the race.

Democrats in South Dakota and Montana cast the final votes in a grueling battle for the right to face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election, with 31 delegates to the August convention in Denver at stake.Obama is within about 40 delegates of the 2,118 he needs to capture the nomination and become the first black nominee of a major U.S. political party.

He could hit that number as soon as Tuesday night depending on how quickly he wins commitments from nearly 200 uncommitted superdelegates -- party officials who are free to back any candidate.

"There are a lot of superdelegates who are waiting for the last couple of contests but I think that they are going to be making decisions fairly quickly after that," Obama told reporters in Michigan on Monday.

Read more from the NY Times...

Follow The Money: Part II

The Campaign Fundraising Begins

While many voters find it hard to focus on the presidential campaign a year and a half before the general election in 2008, some candidates in New York City are already campaigning for contests even further in the future- the 2009 city election.

The New York City Campaign Finance Board and the New York State Board of Elections recently posted the latest campaign filing data for candidates running for office, and the donors are starting to line up behind their preferred candidates. Although only six candidates in New York City have officially declared their candidacies for citywide office (Tony Avella, James Brennan, Melinda Katz, Norman Siegel, Anthony Weiner and David Weprin), many other have begun collecting money. If the mayoral race is any indicator this is turning out to be a record setting fundraising year for candidates.

However, with new changes to the city's campaign finance laws passed in early July, many types of contributions that are now acceptable will soon be restricted or even prohibited. This creates a clear advantage for the most aggressive early fundraisers. Under the new rules, donations from limited liability corporations (LLCs) and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) will be entirely banned and donations from those "doing business" with the city will be severely restricted. But for now, candidates can accept these donations.

Read more from the Gotham Gazette...

Crane Crackdown: Racing Against the Clock

Stop-work orders soar in crackdown

The number of construction projects halted for safety violations by the New York City Department of Buildings has grown 79% since January, frustrating contractors who say the delays are costing millions of dollars.

The industry insists that safety is the No. 1 priority but that projects are being halted for minor infractions because the Buildings Department wants to appear extra-vigilant in the aftermath of several high-profile construction accidents, including a crane collapse in March that killed seven people. Thirteen construction workers have died in eight separate accidents since the beginning of the year.

Acting Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri denies that the delays are the result of any backlash but are a result of the city's building boom and more inspections. He points out that a special team was created last July to actively look for safety violations; it is responsible for 400 stop-work orders since its inception.

“Some might argue that certain safety precautions aren't really necessary, but the law is very specific in the precautions that need to be taken,” Mr. LiMandri says. “Development is very important to New York's future, but we are not going to compromise public safety.”

Read more from Crain's New York...

Cranes Under Scrutiny = Less Profit For Developers

Developers lose money in crane crack-down

Developers at five construction sites in the city are losing thousands of dollars each day they are not allowed to use large Kodiak cranes like the one that collapsed on the Upper East Side last week. Robert LiMandri, the acting buildings commissioner, issued stop-work orders for all seven of the Kodiak cranes operating in the city so each could be inspected.


All other cranes were approved to resume work Monday.Five construction sites had been using the Kodiak cranes, including 808 Columbus Ave., a mixed-used development that will feature a Whole Foods grocery store; a new W Hotel at 123 Washington St. in the financial district; a luxury residential building at 245 10th Ave.; The Laurel Condominiums at 400 E. 67th St.; and the accident site on First Avenue at East 91st Street.


Read more from Crain's...

Just Follow The Money!

Patricia Lynch Raising Money for Stringer

On the top of this invitation for Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's June 5 fund-raiser is a name I haven’t seen associated with his campaign before: Patricia Lynch.
She’s a major Albany lobbyist who most recently was charged with getting congestion pricing passed in the capitol. Lynch is also an experienced fund-raiser--last year, Bill Clinton headlined one of her events.
Stringer hasn't said what he will do in 2009, but his plans have been the object of some speculation.


From the Observer

My Math Beats Up Clinton Math...

From RenaRF of Daily Kos:

I'm sorry. I simply can't take some of what I'm hearing on cable news as they cover the Clinton win in Puerto Rico and continue to repeat Clinton campaign talking points in her "rationale" to secure the Democratic Presidential nomination.

In the past three or four hours I have heard Harold Ickes, Terry McAuliffe, and Bill Schneider (CNN political analyst) repeatedly assert that Clinton is winning the popular vote. I have further heard each refer to the 1972 Democratic nominating process, where Humphrey won the popular vote yet McGovern won the delegates, and McGovern was resoundingly shellacked by Nixon (what that has to do with anything, I don't know, but they're saying it). Yet there was only one caution, from Anderson Cooper, that Clinton's popular vote "lead" over Obama comes with substantial caveats on the part of the Clinton campaign. So I've done my own math. Up-Front Disclosures

First, it's important that I clearly spell out what I am and am NOT counting in the math I've done. I've based my calculations on two basic arguments the Clinton campaign is making:

1. That she is more electable in November;
2. That the popular vote she claims to lead is indicative of electability.

Read more on the math...

GOP unwise to call Obama inexperienced

From Politico:

Now that it’s obvious Barack Obama will be the Democratic candidate for president, GOP nominee apparent John McCain and the Republican attack machine predictably have started in on the Illinois senator as a callow youth with scant foreign policy experience and a resultant naive view of the world.
Hillary Rodham Clinton herself took that same tack (remember the 3 a.m. phone call ad?), and it clearly didn’t work. So if I were a Republican, I’d be a mite careful about such a line of attack. Clearly, the GOP’s aim is to contrast McCain’s extensive military service and 26 years in Congress and the Senate with Obama’s fewer than four years as a member of the world’s most exclusive club.
Read more...

Color, Controversy and DNA

A conversation between The Root Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nobel laureate and DNA pioneer James Watson about race and genetics, Jewish intelligence, blacks and basketball and Watson's African roots. Check out the video here.

DNA Pioneer’s Genome Blurs Race Lines

By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: December 12, 2007 - NY Times

Now, this is awkward.

James D. Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA and winner of the Nobel prize, raised a storm recently when a British newspaper quoted him saying that black Africans are not as intelligent as whites. But his own brilliant DNA seems to blur the lines.
A new analysis of Dr. Watson’s genome shows that he has 16 times the number of genes considered to be of African origin than the average white European does — about the same amount of African DNA that would show up if one great-grandparent were African, said Kari Stefansson, the chief executive of deCODE Genetics of Iceland, which did the analysis.
“This came up as a bit of a surprise,” Dr. Stefansson said in an interview, “especially as a sequel to his utterly inappropriate comments about Africans.”
After the news of Dr. Watson’s genetic ancestry was published in The Times of London on Sunday, much of the British media played the news for a lark, with headlines like “Revealed: Scientist Who Sparked Racism Row Has Black Genes” and “DNA Pioneer James Watson Is Blacker Than He Thought.”
But the news, straddling the uncertain boundary of genetic science and society, is more than a Southern gothic drama of racial identity played out on the world stage.
“The irony is bigger, and broader, than his having made derogatory comments and having an ancestral relationship with the folks he insulted,” said Kathy Hudson, the founder and director of the Genetics and Public Policy Center in Washington. As people see what happens to Dr. Watson and others as they undergo what she called the “molecular Full Monty,” the inevitable surprises might “help people make the decision about whether they want their information for themselves, and to ask, Who will I share this with?”
Dr. Stefansson’s company is one of several marketing genome scans that promise to reveal anyone’s genetic propensities for disease, origins and more, for a price. Dr. Watson had already placed his own genome information online, as has another genetics pioneer, J. Craig Venter. Dr. Stefansson said he simply ran the data through his company’s analytical system.
Dr. Stefansson said that because his company had not produced the original data, “I am reluctant, personally, to make much of the analysis.” He added, however, that “on my face, it would elicit smiles.”
The controversy began with an article in The Times of London in October that quoted Dr. Watson, who was on a book tour, as saying that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really.”
According to the article, he said that “there are many people of color who are very talented,” and he hoped people were equal, but that “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true.”
A publicity agent for Dr. Watson, Fraser Seitel, said that his client had no comment on the most recent turn of events, but noted that Dr. Watson, who is 79, “regrets very much what was attributed to him” in the original article and has repeatedly apologized for the comments while also disavowing them.
“Dr. Watson has never believed that the color of someone’s skin, or where they come from, or any other human quality gives any indication whatsoever of a person’s intelligence or potential to succeed in life,” Mr. Seitel said. While not stating explicitly that his client was misquoted in the original article, Mr. Seitel said, “he doesn’t have a recollection of it.”
George M. Church, a professor of genetics at the Harvard Medical School and the director of the Center for Computational Genetics, said he questioned the accuracy of any of the current scanning and analytical services.
Professor Church predicted that as the science of genetics advanced, fuzzy categories like race would become less important because genetic characteristics would point to factors like disease at an individual level.
Meanwhile, he said: “There are still a lot of bigots in the world. Maybe showing these things are more nuanced than they’d like it to be makes them think about it.”