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Fundraiser for Josh Skaller
There have been some posts on this site about Josh Skaller, a truly progressive candidate for City Council with a real shot at winning the seat. Here are details about a fundraiser for his campaign:
Tuesday, January 6 from 7-9pm, meet
Josh Skaller, candidate for the City Council in the 39th District
at O'Lunney's, 145 West 45th St. (btwn. 6th & Broadway)
Host Committee: Lewis Cohen, Tracey Denton, Dana Northcraft, and Jonathan Tasini, and Heather Woodfield
Josh is a recent past President of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID), one of the most admired political reform groups in the city, serves as a board member and Field Director of Democracy for NYC, and played a key role in organizing support for President-elect Obama in Brooklyn. Josh is running for one of the few "open seats" in the City Council as the current officeholder is not running for re-election. This gives us a real chance to add a strong, progressive voice to the New York City Council.
More about Josh, and how you can help, after the jump:
In the time I have known him, I have become deeply impressed by Josh's concern and advocacy for Brooklyn and all of our New York City neighborhoods. As a community and political organizer, Josh stands up for our interests every day, volunteering hours of his time and coming up with creative an innovative solutions that further the cause of taking back our city, our state, and our country. As a council member, Josh will have the power to take this activism a step further and fight for our interests inside government.
Josh plans to return our city government to its rightful owners, and has not taken ANY money from developers, PACs, or corporate interests.
The suggested donation levels are $25, $50, $100, $150, or as much as you can afford, every contribution, regardless of amount, is a welcome vote of support. If you have already donated to Josh, I urge you to consider giving again. Donations from New York City residents from $10 up to $175 will be matched by the campaign finance board 6 to 1 - this means a $25 donation is really $175, and a $175 donation is really $1,225!
If you are unable to attend, please consider making a donation at: skaller09.com
Thank you for your support; I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.
Please RSVP to: Heather Woodfield, hwoodfield@gmail.com
A few days ago, I met Brad Lander, also running in the 39th
for the City Council seat being vacated by Bill De Blasio. Mr. Lander, who is at present the Director of the Pratt Center has an exemplary record of service in the community. Mr. Skaller has been running for this seat for quite a while and past posts here have advertised his fundraisers.
While many of you may have ties to Mr. Skaller, I have none as yet. As a result, before being recruited to one candidate's fund-raiser or another, people like me need a straight-forward discussion about the merits of one candidate or the next -- which so far from these pages has been missing.
Good field overall
I know several of the candidates, including Bob Zuckerman. And I have met Brad. Unusually, I don't consider any of the candidates awful. My main complaint about Brad would be he is more tied to developer money than Josh. Josh is the most independent of any of the candidates (exclusively small donor money), most progressive and most grassroots. He is least beholden to developers. On most issues several of the candidates will be about the same. I think the main differences are going to be on where their money comes from and how beholden they are to developers. On almost every other issue I suspect they will be in agreement (mostly).
Silly
The idea that Lander and Skaller can be compared on the issue of development is silly. As someone that may not even vote for Lander, I like Zuckerman so far, I recognize that Brad Lander has been one of the smartest and most consistent leaders on the issue of sustainable development in New York City for the last twelve years at least. Lander not only has worked for Pratt as a professor and advocate, but basically founded the Fifth Avenue Committee and was responsible for ensuring that much of Park Slope below Sixth Avenue was rehabilitated in a resonsible manner, meaning in a way that kept many buildings on fifth avenue and the surrounding blocks affordable to regular people.
Aside from rhetoric, what is Skaller's experience on this issue? If you tell me he has been an activist, what does that mean? I think the voters of the 39th want a candidate that actually knows how the zoning regulations work, who knows the complex method for funding affordable housing, and who knows the complex array of social services that exist in New York City for assisting the poor and disabled, not merely someone who can chant slogans and organize a protest or three. Skaller has been an activist now for about four years, and is an IT guy by profession, that just doesn't stack up.
Careful
So far all the campaigns have avoided getting nasty, so let's not start. I seem to remember a great deal of rhetoric from Palin and McCain about Obama's experience. We see how well that worked.
In a field with several good, intelligent candidates (and Brad, Josh and Bob all fall into that category) you have to look where their funding comes from, which pretty much means who they are beholden to. Josh gets the same kind of small donors as Obama and is basing his campaign on a similar model...meaning he is beholden to no one but the voters. Bob and Brad cannot say that. Doesn't mean they are bad people, but it does show where their connections are. They are all smart. They are all nice people. They each bring good experience to the table. Denegrating any of them on the experience or intelligence issue is foolish, so please don't get started.
In Brooklyn it is generally following the money that is the real issue. My advice in this race is to do just that and see who bests represents YOU, not developers.
What Does The Fact
That Josh Skaller is an IT Professional have to do with his running for City Council? Maybe if we had MORE people in public office than lawyers we'd have a TRUE REPRESENTATION in the Council, Congress and both the State Assembly and State Senate. We need more everyday people as our Representatives.
Double Standard
What developers have funded Lander? I've looked at his list of funders on the website for the New York State Board of Elections and I don't see any developers that I recognize. Please, name some for me and enlighten me.
What I do think is nasty is how you constantly critique people for being funded by developers but show no proof, then when Skaller receives criticism, you point to Obama. What a joke. This has nothing to do with Obama and McCain. Time and again I have read you demean candidates for their lack of experience on this website, but when your candidate is questioned, you duck the question.
New York City as a municipal system is complex. I want a candidate, Skaller, Lander, Zuckerman, Reilly, Hammerman, Hayer, whoever that will be, that knows how municipal government functions, who knows the difference between ACS, APS, HPD, the DOB, and DHCR.
So, the question is now presented to you, what developers have donated to Lander, and what experience does Skaller have with public policy?
Are you kidding?
Okay, without naming names (in case any are cases of mistaken identity, though I tried being careful), and only skimming over the very thing you reference, I find: (not all developers, but illustrating the range of big money interests)
Among the very top donors:
1. a construction consultant from Brooklyn
2. exec at Blue Wolf Capital Management LLC
(Plus same amount from said person's spouse)
3. Executive at Jenel Management Corp
Smaller donors, a tiny sampling:
FannieMae
Goldman Sachs Group
Artec Construction & Development I Corp
Please don't make a challenge like that unless you know what the answer will be. I can track down names, so don't insult my intelligence by claiming no developer intrests are listed. It didn't take me much effort to find the above connections for Brad Lander, and I suspect the 7 pages of names for the January listing alone would yield more big business , construction and development interests (I only checked about 10 of the listed names to find the above connections). And then there is also the June filing which I could go through and probably find more.
Are you ready to apologize? Unless you can find similar connections for Josh Skaller.
[P.S. I don't want readers to construe that I always disagree with Brad on development...my point is merely I prefer grassroots folks whose support comes mainly from small donors than those who get funding from big money interests. I don't say I never vote for or respect big money supported candidates or that Brad is anyway on par with the likes of Marty Markowitz or Vito Lopez, who are complete shills for the most corrupt developers.]
Mole- Just so we're clear,
Mole-
Just so we're clear, none of those people on that list are developers. You've taken a range of advocates for and builders of affordable housing and turned them into developers. The Blue Wolf Capital guy is the spouse of a former Pratt professor. I suggest you look up to see what that company does.
By your theory, you to look at all of the donors to get an idea of who is backing Brad and who he is "beholden" to. You will find a vast range of thoughtful, well-respected non-profit advocates working on a range of important public interests. If that's a problem for you, I'm not really sure why you'd want city government reform unless the goal is to empower those advocates.
Well
Actually many would commonly be called developers plain and simple. And, by your criteria, Bruce Ratner (who as far as I know does NOT support Brad, to be clear) would be an "advocate for and builder of affordable housing." Now there may be additional issues with him (like keeping promises, and I don't know if those I refer to fit that category or not) but Ratner spends a great deal of time advocating for and at least promising to build affordable housing. Does this make him not a developer?
Look. It may even be the people referred to are perfectly good people. I am not anti-developer. I just think they already have far more control of our politicians than they should and prefer people who are not tied to big money.
Again, we are talking about two seemingly nice and smart people. I personally prefer the one who is not beholden to, yes, developers. Trying to claim these aren't real estate developers (or, I should be clear, construction contractors in some cases) is being misleading.
As to others on Brad's list, I am sure there are indeed some "thoughtful, well-respected non-profit advocates working on a range of important public interests." As there are with Josh...and most politicians I have looked at in local politics. Seldom have I found a race where there was only one good candidate. The question is how to choose among what may be several good candidates backed by a range of interests. In my experience with campaigns across the country, the best people are those who is backed mainly by small donors and avoids tying themselves to big money interests. I see among Brad's donors some pretty big money interests giving big money. That leans me away from him. If there were no other good candidates, well, so be it. I'd vote for Brad. But there are several good candidates.
I have worked with Josh on many issues. I have talked with Josh on many issues. I have seen him as president of CBID and an organizer for DFNYC and working for various politicians I also supported. So I know him to be a good, thoughtful candidate who would make a great leader. Add to that the fact he is running a kick ass campaign working mainly with small donors, he seems ideal to me.
Advocate for Brad (or Bob) by all means. But try running down a candidate I KNOW is good, and I will call you on it.
By the way, seems like you chose to tone yourself down. That is far more likely to lead to a decent conversation.
Guilt By Association
One more thing, since I won't be near a computer for much of the rest of the day. Part of the reason I am skeptical of Skaller is because you support him. For the last two years I have come to Daily Gotham, and while I consider myself a progressive, your posts often seem like little more than bile filled invective. While other posters like Jacoby and Millstone focus on policy or events, you seem to be focused on tearing people down and calling them names. You employ every ad hominen device in the book (guilt by association, implying guilt instead of giving examples, gross double standards, etc.) and then reel in disgust when anyone is critical of you. So, if I seem reluctant to give Skaller the benefit of the doubt, its because one of his most vocal supporters, namely you, seems, well, a little unhinged and unleashed.
Really?
Follow the money...that is what I suggested. Do you even know where that comes from?
Ask Zuckerman, Reilly and Lander about what they think of me. I have so far expressed respect for each of them, though preference for Skaller. I know all of these gentlemen. And unless they are being disingenuous with me (and I do NOT accuse them of that!) I get along with them quite well. So, since I speak well of each of them, are you going to take that as a negative mark against them? I can name several other politicians I have opposed or disagreed with who will challenge your statements here as well. And consider that my disagreements with Gatemouth, Hackshaw, Savino and a slew of others publicly here on DG have always involved mutual respect.
And, of course, add to this that my response to your previous comment showed you that Lander HAS taken money from developer interests (an indication only of his connections and who expects him to be beholden to them) should make you think twice before behaving in such an uninformed and nasty manner.