Tuesday, December 13, 2016

DEMOCRAT THROWS HAT IN RING TO CHALLENGE DE BLASIO; MORE TO FOLLOW?

Former Council-member Sal Albenese is going to make his third bid for mayor in 2017. A field might be starting to develop to challenge Bill de Blasio in the Democratic primary next year.

The Queens newspapers are writing about state Senator Tony Avella contemplating his second attempt for the top spot in the city. Avella's flip over to the charter school side and joining Jeff Klein's Independent Democratic Conference makes him suspect but it is telling that Democrats think de Blasio is worth challenging.

Avella is quoted in the Times Ledger paper via the NY Post saying, "“The mayor’s close staff are very arrogant and not responsive,” he said “I personally believe we have an absentee mayor.”

Then this from his spokesperson:

“It’s no secret that Senator Avella (and most of Queens) is not happy with the current mayoral administration and their policies,” a spokesman for Avella said “There’s also been a growing wave of encouragement from Queens expressing their desire for Senator Avella to enter the primary field which the senator is recognizing.”

Anyone else considering jumping in?

7 comments:

TeachmyclassMrMayor(andyoutooMrMulgrew) said...

Councilman Albanese as mayor? Awesome, nothing like having the Bryant principal, who has spent time under the protection of the the Councilman's sister (a former WCB principal & a Tweedie under Klein) getting even more powerful friends.

James Eterno said...

I didn't say the field was very good. Anyway, I believe Rose de Pinto has long since retired. I remember meeting with her on a few occasions at Jamaica. She clearly didn't get along too well with Jamaica's principal at the time and used to let him know that.

Tweed needs to be cleared out for us to have a real chance.

reality-based educator said...

Not yet an indication of more Dems to come. Albanese has nothing else to do and he's no serious challenge. Now if Stringer, Diaz Jr. or Jeffries jump in, well, that is an indication...

Latest poll has de Blasio over 50% for first time in a while, but still underwater on the "Deserves Re-Election/Doesn't Deserve Re-Election" question.

No slam dunk for anybody who chooses to take on a sitting mayor in a Dem primary, that's for sure. But no slam dunk for the mayor either.

That said, pay attention to any leaks around the Preet investigations into de Blasio and the Campaign For One NY. If it looks like Offinger or Wolfe (or both) are going to get indicted, then we might see some serious challengers in a primary. (Probably not Jeffries, though - he will stay in D.C. now that he has been given a leadership position in the House Dem caucus.)

And of course if de Blasio himself is indicted, it's going to be a very crowded pool very quickly.

If I had to wager, I'd say de Blasio is not indicted but there's a decent possibility that one or more of his top aides at CONY get it a la Percoco/Kaloyeros, especially with Preet sticking around.

We'll see.

TeachmyclassMrMayor(andyoutooMrMulgrew) said...

She has retired, but old Tweedies don't retire, they double dip as consultants. Those folks still have influence. Just like Ms de Pinto's successor at WCB, Bernadette Kriftcher. Just like someone has to be protecting the new Townsend Harris principal and the proven predator at John Bowne HS.

Anonymous said...

A group of kids — one as young as 8 years old — beat up and robbed a man in Brooklyn, cops said Tuesday.

The four children approached the 30-year-old man about 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 25 on Willoughby St. in Fort Greene and demanded his cellphone, cops said.

The suspects — three of whom are described as being between 12 and 14 years old — then punched the victim and threw him to the ground before stealing his laptop and phones.

Anonymous said...

Right now we all need diblasio and cuomo to fend off the betsy devos i wanna make education great again by giving vouchers to everyone to study their religion so we really need diblasio and we really really need cuomo to get our backs as the education policies will be transferred to the states.

Anonymous said...

You want Andrew Cuomo to have your back? Are you mad?