Sunday, November 06, 2005
Ferrer for Mayor of New York City
Back in March I wrote a post called "An Unendorsement For Fernando Ferrer."
The "unendorsement" was because of Ferrer's backpedaling on the ramifications of the Amadou Diallo killing in February 1999. Basically, Diallo was killed in a hail of bullets launched by a (since disbanded) NYPD Special Projects Unit, after reaching for his wallet in a dark alley near his home. Diallo was black, and 19 out of 41 shots struck the innocent man and killed him.
But I wrote that before the Democrat primary for Mayor this year. And...to tell the truth...I couldn't find another candidate that I liked more than Ferrer so not only did I not blog about the race again...I also refrained from voting (however...I did return to the March post in September and add a disclaimer).
But it's about time that New York City - a liberal, Democrat city - got itself a liberal, Democrat mayor.
Ferrer's a Democrat...though not much of a liberal...no matter what the media tells you.
Democrats that support Bloomberg ask me why I would support Ferrer but it's easier for me to list some reasons why I couldn't possibly support the billionaire financial news baron:
RNC in NYC, motions against protests at Central Park, the rise in "ghost" police brutality incidents (that don't get as much notice in the press as in Ghouliani Time), millions and millions spent on campaigning, the losing Olympics bid (New York City, the number one sports city in the world - GO KNICKS! - isn't gonna miss that traffic nightmare), the losing West Side stadium bid for the Jets, the rising subway fares (more Pataki's fault...but Bloomberg appointed MTA members as well) and the emptiness that still exists where the WTC once stood (Pataki's fault, too).
For some reason, Democrats forget that NYC is a predominately liberal city.
It probably traces back to Mayor Dinkins' loss to Ghouliani in 93.
But that was a close race. And Dinkins only lost because he lost badly in Staten Island, whose voters turned out in higher-than-usual numbers because they were also voting on secession (which, unfortunately didn't pass).
I firmly believe that if a real, honest-to-goodness, liberal Democrat ran for Mayor of New York City then it would be a cakewalk (the March Ferrer post gets more into this).
But all we got is Ferrer.
On Tuesday I'll be pulling the lever for Fernando Ferrer without any reservations.
And...just maybe...like Steve Gilliard wrote a few days ago, "If the unions can pump up turnout, this race could be a surprise" and "a lot of people could look very stupid."
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