The Fix Is In
Even the losers are winners in Gotham's upside-down political game.
Witness Freddy Ferrer's gracious comments in El Diario about how we media hacks did him in. We did! That's not stopping him, though, from continuing to raise funds for an election he's already lost. And that's only the tip of the get-paid iceberg. Our whacky Councilmanics, who paid for their essentially uncontested races with Campaign Finance Board (read: taxpayer) cheddar, now get to elect their own boss. Whoever they elect will lead the brave fight against the term limits voters voted for-twice.
Why get off the gravy train? Win, lose or draw, it's a good time to be in local politics.
Why is Freddy still shaking the tin cup? Simple-every time someone takes pity and drops him a quarter, the city forks over $1.50, and it will keep doing so until Dec. 31. Knowing this ahead of time, Freddy racked up $700,000 in campaign debt while running the worst mayoral campaign in history. (Why not, when we're footing the bill?) All he has to do is come up with $100k over the next month and he'll be in the clear. Donors are lining up to help keep him out of the poorhouse.
Why would someone contribute to Freddy, now the official loser, not just a likely loser? It could be the real sympathy vote; it could be a way of making friends with Ferrer's good buddy and the would-be kingmaker of the Bronx, Roberto Ramirez. (More next week?)
It's only sad saps like Ferrer who have to spend the holidays running around after their dough, though. Incumbents have already cashed-in. In the general election, they got $1,478,386 from the CFB to defend their seats. The 14 challengers who actually got money from the program got a measly $888,259. And home is where those challengers went. Not one incumbent in the program lost. Then again, do they ever? Councilmanics are about as likely to be murdered as they are to be voted out of office. (One Councilmanic, James Davis, was shot and killed in City Hall in 2003. This year, Allan Jennings was the one Councilmanic to lose his seat; this came only after he was barred from the matching-funds program, had two liens slapped against his home and suffered through a sexual-harassment trial conducted by leak-prone colleagues.)
After Mike got away with that suspiciously timed terror alert hours before the Apollo debate, Freddy, according to El Diario, said, "I knew that this was finished." Maybe Freddy thought that going ahead and blowing more than half a mill on a no-hope bid was the perfect way to get back at all those media hacks, disloyal unionists, Democrats for Bloomberg and other ungrateful New Yorkers.
Speaking of the press, the Post, Daily News and the Times led the Bloomberg spin machine.
Remember the front-page story about Bloomberg campaign workers posing as Bloomberg supporters at a campaign event in Harlem? No, you don't. Remember the front-page stories about the error on Freddy's blog? Us too.
More importantly, political reporters gave barely a passing glance to Mike's romance with the unions. Each week through the election saw a dignified, straight-faced press conference about a new municipal contract that would give union members a raise and save taxpayers money-all to be paid for by "innovative, creative productivity enhancements." And magic. The press said nothing.
One contract a week for more than a month was announced, with each union getting about a 17 percent raise, retroactive to when the last contract expired years ago. One of those contracts was so overdue that it had already expired when it was agreed upon. Imagine saving money on milk that's already gone bad. Now that's saving.
Who needs stories when you got pictures? The New York Times Sunday Magazine photographed Mike and Freddy during their epic showdown, since nothing speaks to readers like big black-and-white pictures in a magazine. Mike was in a suit, jacket buttoned, hands folded, camera up close, looking mayoral. Freddy had his white shirt untucked, sleeves rolled up past his wrist, arms at his side. He looked unemployed. The shirt was actually a traditional Puerto Rican guayabera, but how many Times readers knew?
Freddy's people later told reporters he had been photographed all day in a business suit, looking mayoral. He'd changed into something more comfortable for a parade later that day at the studio, when the photographer was still there. We detect conservative media bias.
There is no end to desire, nor consistency.
Voters voted in 1993 and 1996 to create limits on the number of years a public servant can serve the public in one office. Now voters put into office the lawmakers that will undo those referendums.
Councilmanics want to extend the number of four-year terms they can serve. And they want the change to go into effect now. Right now. For them. If you listen to them, this is really for us.
Six of the seven people who want to be the next City Council Speaker agree with extending term limits. The other said he's "open" to more discussions on the matter. Yeah, discussions are on whether to extend it now and get rid of it later, or to get rid of term limits now. For us.
Those same term-limit-extending public servants also want to tweak the same Campaign Finance Program that gave incumbents their general election loot. They're afraid another Bloomberg will fund his own campaign so, naturally, they want more CFB money.
Longer terms, more tax dollars paying for their re-elections: The only thing missing is a pay raise. The starting salary for the part-time position is $90,000. But they'll have plenty of time to get to that in the next four years. Or the next four. Or the next?