The GOP’s secret campaign weapon: NYC’s uber-liberal new mayor Bill de Blasio

Bill de Blasio’s win in New York City’s mayoral race has put the Democrat in charge of the nation’s largest city and smack in the middle of the nation’s largest media market — giving him an unmatched platform both to pursue liberal policies and to cause all sorts of headaches for his party’s leaders in Washington.

Mr. de Blasio’s landslide victory made him a hero among liberal activists, who likened him to Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and embraced his campaign promises to raise taxes on the city’s wealthier residents and use the new pot of money to expand government programs and tackle inequality.

Republican strategists already anticipate being able to use the mayor’s stances as a wedge against Democrats running for national office, and analysts said some Democrats may indeed have to spend time defending their left flank.

“De Blasio poses interesting challenges for the Democratic Party,” said Darrell M. West, director of the Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. “He is more liberal than the typical officeholder and will attract a lot of media attention given his platform in New York City. That will inject him into many public discussions. I don’t think he will become a Ted Cruz figure for the Democratic side, but he has the potential to be a Howard Dean who seeks to rally the public towards a more progressive view of the world.”

Via: Washington Times

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A Curious Form of ‘Populism’ - Bill de Blasio and Wall Street.

First, a matter of numbers and nomenclature: Bill de Blasio, who is being hailed like Eliot Spitzer before him as the new face of American liberalism, won his race to be New York City’s next mayor with a near-record victory margin but also record low turnouts in both the primary and the general elections. There was no “populist” surge as reported in the press. De Blasio won 40 percent of the 22 percent who showed up for the Democratic party primary. And he won not only because he has a beautiful interracial family; more important, he was backed strongly by 1199, the hospital workers’ union, which has the best get-out-the-vote operation in Gotham. 

DE BLASIO HUGS HIS CHILDREN NOVEMBER 5.

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In a city of well over half a million government employees—city, state, and federal—in which the largest source of “private sector” employment is government-subsidized health care providers, as well as numerous, often government-funded, “nonprofit” organizations, de Blasio’s “populist” vote came heavily from those with a direct personal stake in the outcome.

Populism in America has been traditionally associated with self-employed farmers and miners fighting the great railroads and agricultural combines, looking to get a fair shake from government. Gotham’s “populists,” better described as “statists,” are people looking for a greater transfer of wealth from the private to the public sector. And therein lie the limits of de Blasio’s agenda.

Via: Weekly Standard

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DE BLASIO MAY BAN HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE RIDES IN NYC

In scenic Central Park, horse-drawn carriage rides have long served as an iconic attraction for many residents and visitors in the Big Apple. That era may be coming to an end, however. During his campaign for mayor, Bill De Blasio promised to endhorse-drawn carriage rides in New York City on his first day as mayor. He wants to replace them with “old-timey” electric cars.

It’s another example of animal rights activists run wild. The pending ban will destroy several, generations-old, family carriage businesses. To radical animal rights advocates and leftists like De Blasio, these businesses are nessecary collateral damage in their quest to re-order our lives.

The horses live a pampered existence, working no more than 9 hours per day under the care from trained equestrian experts, who undergo a rigorous licensing process that involves a 3 day test, 80 hours of apprenticeship, and a 6 month probationary period. 

With 5 weeks of mandatory vacation, the horses enjoy a level of workplace regulation that would put a French union worker to shame.  The stables housing these animals are lavish, granting the horses a standard of living that outperforms most human residents of NYC.  Still, nothing is good enough for the radical animal rights activists who have been scheming to abolish these stables for over a decade. 

Activists, who claim the carriage rides are unethical, base their case on the deaths of two horses in 2006 and 2007 that resulted from traffic accidents.  Nearly 300 people die every year due to traffic accidents in New York City.  Meanwhile, carriages have seen less than three horse fatalities total in the past three decades, despite giving countless thousands of rides every year.  The care and safety provided to these horses is extraordinary, yet with big money, animal rights activists have been able to blow isolated incidents way out of proportion. 

Via: Breitbart

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De Blasio vs. the market

Business leaders in the city are scratching their heads over recent remarks by Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio.

Describing how he plans to govern once he takes office next year, the mayor-elect declared flatly that he doesn’t believe in the free-market system.

At least Comrade Bill was being honest.

“Everything you heard about me is true. . . I am not a free-marketeer. . . I believe in the heavy hand of government,” de Blasio stated matter-of-factly during an hour-long presentation to some of the city’s biggest real-estate developers.

The meeting occurred several weeks before the election with de Blasio way ahead in the polls and New York’s business elite hoping and praying he wasn’t as much of a leftist as he said he was on the campaign trail.

Now that de Blasio’s been elected mayor with a resounding 73 percent of the vote, his comments have become a hot topic for business people trying to digest what life will be like with Comrade Bill in charge.

Attendees of the gathering with de Blasio included Jared Kushner of Kushner Properties, Stephen Green of SL Green Realty, Douglas Durst of the Durst Organization and Jeff Blau, chief executive of the Related Companies. Scott Rechler of RXR Realty, who hosted the event at his offices, served as moderator (that is, to the extent it’s possible to moderate de Blasio).

“It was startling to hear someone in this day and age boldly proclaim he’s not a ‘free marketeer,’ ” said one person in ­attendance.

“To be fair, [de Blasio] also said he knows that the economy must grow in order to help poor people. But he did not back off his principles.”

Via: NY Post

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“I Can’t Believe” This is Happening in America

My “I Can’t Believe This is Happening to America” list is growing larger by the day. It is so vast now, I can write a book. Would my book have an audience? Judging by the eagerness with which most Americans have embraced the transformational hope and change of our country to communist utopia, the answer is no.

I can’t believe New Yorkers have elected a blatant Marxist as their mayor. I can’t believe Terry McAuliffe is the governor of Virginia. The American men who fought in the Revolutionary War must be turning in their graves knowing that the hallowed ground in Virginia they defended against the British tyranny is now run by Marxist Democrats.

I voted last Tuesday, I took with me to the precinct a piece of toilet paper I found on my last trip to Romania, a “former” communist country where the apparatchiks went underground for a while and are now resurfacing with a vengeance. Twenty-four years later, the commies have not perfected the intricate art of making toilet paper – it was covered with splinters within the layers. On the bright side, this time toilet paper was available and I did not have to fight hundreds of people in line for three hours in order to purchase one roll. I showed my strip of toilet paper to the people who were checking I.D.s asking them if this was the kind of country they wanted. Most laughed, did not realize that I carried this over 7,000 miles with me, and turned back to their duties to make sure all the low information and illegal citizens voted. Why bother? It won’t happen here, we have everything, and we live in the land of abundance – for now.

Via: Canada Free Press

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Socialist Bill De Blasio Wins New York City Mayoral Race

Democrat Bill De Blasio has defeated Republican Joe Lhota tonight in the race to be the next mayor of New York City. Despite being a liberal city, New York has not had a Democratic mayor since 1993, following eight years of Rudy Giuliani and twelve of Michael Bloomberg.

De Blasio was the likely favorite throughout the general election, after pulling a surprise upset in the Democratic primary and defeating Christine Quinn.

De Blasio’s campaign got caught in a minor squabble with Bloomberg when the incumbent mayor said DeBlasio’s been running a “racist” campaign.

Via: Mediaite.com

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Bill de Blasio’s Communist Pals

Who will train New York’s finest — Sandinistas or former Stasi? 

When the New York Times revealed that New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio had been an enthusiastic supporter of Nicaragua’s communist Sandinista regime, old arguments from the 1980s were suddenly rekindled, with renewed debate over the nature of that regime. The left once again emerged from the woodwork to insist that the Sandinistas were never bad guys (or even communists) — quite the contrary. The Times quickly published letters-to-the-editor whitewashing the Sandinistas’ tyranny, and one Times’ blogger went so far as to publish a post declaring: “Whatever their failings, the Sandinistas did not impose a repressive regime on their impoverished Central American nation. There was no mass jailing of opponents nor mass execution of opposing soldiers.”

Gee, that’s good — assuming that it’s even true. Of course, it isn’t true.

To cite just once source, the Russian-born scholar, Dr. Jamie Glazov, who came to America as a child when the KGB forced him and his pro-democracy, dissident parents into exile, is among those who beg to differ. Glazov wrote:

The Sandinistas quickly distinguished themselves as one of the worst human rights abusers in Latin America, carrying out approximately 8,000 political executions within three years of the revolution. The number of “anti-revolutionary” Nicaraguans who disappeared while in Sandinista hands numbered in the thousands. By 1983, the number of political prisoners inside the new Marxist regime’s jails was estimated at 20,000. This was the highest number of political prisoners in any nation in the hemisphere — except, of course, in Castro’s Cuba. By 1986, a vicious and violent Sandinista “resettlement program” forced some 200,000 Nicaraguans into 145 “settlements” throughout the country. This monstrous social engineering program entailed the designation of “free-fire” zones in which Sandinista government troops shot and killed any peasant of their choosing.

Via: The American Spectator

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De Blasio Will Continue Bloomberg’s Soda Cup Fight

After his mayoral campaign sent vague signals yesterday about whether he would maintain Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s legal effort to restrict soda cup sizes at restaurants, Bill de Blasio vowed to do precisely that this afternoon.

“I think the mayor is right and I would continue the legal process. We have to, of course, look at the specifics with our own lawyers to handle the mechanics, but there’s no question I want to see this rule go through,” the front-running candidate told reporters at a rally with Chinese-American supporters.

Yesterday, Mr. de Blasio’s spokesman, Dan Levitan, told The New York Times the candidate would “review the status of the city’s litigation” if elected.

Mr. Bloomberg’s proposed ban on sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces was struck down by a lower court earlier this year, following an intense lobbying effort from the soda industry, small business owners and some elected officials. The Bloomberg administration, however, appealed the decision to the state’s highest court, which agreed to hear the appeal yesterday.

Mr. de Blasio concurred with the mayor that the ban would help combat childhood obesity in particular.

“Right now it’s hard to be a parent in New York City. I have two teenagers, I’m surviving the experience, and Chirlane and I spent a lot of time working to make sure Chiara and Dante are healthy. That means encouraging nutrition, that means encouraging exercise. But, you know, it takes a lot of energy to keep on top kids and make sure they do the right thing,” Mr. de Blasio said. “Unfortunately, as parents, it feels like every day we’re fighting an enemy and that is the growing availability of bigger and bigger sugary drinks.”

Via: Politicker

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New York CIty: Bill de Blasio defended teacher at daughter's school facing jail for Israel protest

Bill de Blasio once went to a bat for a teacher at his daughter’s school who was arrested protesting Israel’s policies in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Newly available documents from de Blasio’s years as a City Councilman show the Democratic mayoral frontrunner intervened with the Manhattan District Attorney in 2004 to help first-grade teacher Steve Quester avoid jail time after he and 15 other protesters were charged with blocking traffic and disorderly conduct during a 2003 protest.

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“I want to personally call the D.A.,” de Blasio wrote in an email to a top aide in April, 2004, the documents show.

It’s not clear if de Blasio knew about Quester’s controversial views on Israel.

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The teacher, who worked at Public School 372 where de Blasio’s daughter Chiara was a student at the time, was quoted in a 2002 Associated Press article calling suicide bombers “desperate and hopeless” and adding that “all the heartbreak flows directly from Israel's policy” of occupying the Palestinian territories.

After Quester’s arrest in 2004, de Blasio sent a letter to then-District Attorney Robert Morgenthau calling jailtime for the arrested protesters “extreme and unjust for participation in a peaceful political protest.”

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He also penned a note to the Manhattan judge overseeing the case asking for leniency.

“Mr. Quester upholds the school’s high standards each time he steps into the classroom,” de Blasio wrote in a letter to Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Robert Stolz in May, 2004. “I hope you will take his praiseworthy character and his extraordinary contributions to his community into account.”

Via: NYDN

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ACORN sowed seeds for de Blasio

The leftist group ACORN has been plotting for more than a decade to install Bill de Blasio at City Hall, a Democratic Party source has told The Post.

“Without exaggeration, ACORN’s long-range plan since 2001 was to elect de Blasio mayor,” said the Democratic insider. “De Blasio was a big ACORN project.”

The Democratic mayoral candidate has marched in lock step with ACORN, now renamed New York Communities for Change, even before he took public office in 2001.

The group backed de Blasio that year over Legal Aid Services director Steven Banks in a six-way Brooklyn City Council race, despite Banks’ reputation at the time as a one of the city’s leading champions of the poor and liberal causes.

Eight years later, ACORN was back at de Blasio’s side and, with the union-financed Working Families Party, helped him become public advocate, a perch he used to become the Democratic nominee for mayor.

A key cog in the de Blasio political machine is Bertha Lewis, the former ACORN head who also co-founded the Working Families Party.

On primary election night earlier this month, when she stood on stage t next to de Blasio, Lewis made it clear ACORN’s work had paid off.

“We’re baaaack. The right wing will have to deal with it,” she chuckled.

But Lewis scoffed that she or the organization had a “master plan” to elect de Blasio as the city’s chief executive.

Via: New York Post

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