Just as exciting for The Optimist as being introduced to the candidate at yesterday's fundraiser for Norman Siegel in Brooklyn Heights was meeting many of the borough's political advocates that The Optimist has admired from afar.
First, there was David Michaelson (a.k.a. mole333), Managing Editor of the national progressive blog Culture Kitchen, whose own blog Mole's Progressive Democrat - which overlaps with his work on the Daily Gotham - was one of The Optimist's chief inspirations when he decided to venture into the blogosphere. Michaelson, who had his cute 3-year-old son Jacob in tow at the event, co-hosted the fundraiser with his wife Joy Romanski, the Corresponding Secretary of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, a political club which meets in Park Slope.
The Optimist was also pleased to make the acquaintance of Ken Diamonstone, who is still considering whether to make another upstart bid to unseat the long-entrenched incumbent for his State Senate seat in the 25th District. Diamonstone, who garnered the endorsement of The New York Times and a host of heavyweights in his 2006 bid, was edged out by Connor in the Democratic primary by a miniscule 59 votes in Brooklyn (although he was trounced in the Manhattan portion of the district by over 2000).
Also in attendance at the event were Charlotte Phillips, Chairperson of Brooklyn for Peace, political activist for Democracy for New York City and rumored Queens City Council candidate Dan Jacoby, and the delightful Olga "Pete" Valentine, an off-and-on resident of the same house on Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights for 80 years.
Last but not least was community leader Marjorie Gersten, who graciously opened her wonderful apartment for the fundraiser. Seeing Gersten's apartment was reason enough to attend her superbly organized event.
Showing posts with label Marjorie Gersten. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marjorie Gersten. Show all posts
Monday, January 7, 2008
Norman Siegel Fundraiser Recap
Yesterday evening, The Optimist headed over to Marjorie Gersten's lovely Brooklyn Heights apartment for one of the first fundraisers of Norman Siegel's 2009 Public Advocate bid. For those of you who don't know, Siegel is the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union and now a lawyer in private practice specializing in representing community activist organizations. He ran unsuccessfully in both 2000 and 2004 for Pubic Advocate, both times losing to the current, term-limited officeholder Betsy Gotbaum.
Though The Optimist did make a donation to the campaign, my attendance at the event in no way indicates that Siegel necessarily will get either my vote (as he did in the last two elections) or my endorsement. I went to learn more about Siegel's platform and to see what kind of a crowd would rally to support his candidacy this time around.
As it happens, though the turnout for the event was strong, I ended up engaged in a rather lengthy tete-a-tete with the candidate himself before his somewhat lawyerly, long-winded speech began. Since the Public Advocate presides over the City Council, I asked Siegel to evaluate the current Council as a whole - even though 35 of the body's current 51 members would be out of office after the 2009 elections in which he is competing. The word Siegel used was "unimpressive", which I took to mean "ineffective".
Siegel added that he felt the Public Advocate's parliamentary role in the Council was unnecessary pomp and that the Advocate's time could be better spent fighting for the City, then sitting in a stiff chair in Council chambers (my words). Were he elected, Siegel pledged either to renounce the Public Advocate's role of ceremonially presiding over the Council or to send an emissary in his place to fill the role. After having seen how lost Gotbaum looked in Council chambers, I imagine pretty much anyone could fit the bill. Really, isn't this a job for the Council Speaker anyway?
Although Siegel raised a number of worthy campaign positions, like battling to ban the death penalty in New York State, what most inspired The Optimist was Siegel's plan to use the Public Advocate's position to teach, create, and coordinate grassroots activism in the City on a block-by-block level. The Optimist firmly supports this intention and made a point of saying so during the event's Q&A.
It has become clear to me that though it is unquestionable that the American people must put a Democrat in the White House, regime change is far from enough to reverse the repugnant, regressive agenda enacted by the current Administration. It will not be enough for us to elect a Democrat, pat ourselves on the back, and go back to sleep for another four years. Thanks to Bush, the problems our country must grapple with are so severe that merely reversing his policies is inadequate to regain our standing at home and abroad. Every American will have to take the responsibility upon his or her own shoulders to work with the new President to change our nation's direction from the bottom up. If we do not unite to become an informed, active, and politically-minded nation, we will fall.
And that's coming from an optimist.
There's no question in my mind that Norman Siegel is well capable of being an effective ombudsman for New York City. Moreover, the idea of electing a non-politician to the office seems a sensible one, since the Public Advocate's position was created to serve as a check to the one-note rule that elected officials fall into clinging to safeguard their jobs. But 2009 is still a long way off and The Optimist is open to evaluating all of the candidates for Public Advocate as they emerge and unveil their own plans to make our borough and our City a better place.
Though The Optimist did make a donation to the campaign, my attendance at the event in no way indicates that Siegel necessarily will get either my vote (as he did in the last two elections) or my endorsement. I went to learn more about Siegel's platform and to see what kind of a crowd would rally to support his candidacy this time around.
As it happens, though the turnout for the event was strong, I ended up engaged in a rather lengthy tete-a-tete with the candidate himself before his somewhat lawyerly, long-winded speech began. Since the Public Advocate presides over the City Council, I asked Siegel to evaluate the current Council as a whole - even though 35 of the body's current 51 members would be out of office after the 2009 elections in which he is competing. The word Siegel used was "unimpressive", which I took to mean "ineffective".
Siegel added that he felt the Public Advocate's parliamentary role in the Council was unnecessary pomp and that the Advocate's time could be better spent fighting for the City, then sitting in a stiff chair in Council chambers (my words). Were he elected, Siegel pledged either to renounce the Public Advocate's role of ceremonially presiding over the Council or to send an emissary in his place to fill the role. After having seen how lost Gotbaum looked in Council chambers, I imagine pretty much anyone could fit the bill. Really, isn't this a job for the Council Speaker anyway?
Although Siegel raised a number of worthy campaign positions, like battling to ban the death penalty in New York State, what most inspired The Optimist was Siegel's plan to use the Public Advocate's position to teach, create, and coordinate grassroots activism in the City on a block-by-block level. The Optimist firmly supports this intention and made a point of saying so during the event's Q&A.
It has become clear to me that though it is unquestionable that the American people must put a Democrat in the White House, regime change is far from enough to reverse the repugnant, regressive agenda enacted by the current Administration. It will not be enough for us to elect a Democrat, pat ourselves on the back, and go back to sleep for another four years. Thanks to Bush, the problems our country must grapple with are so severe that merely reversing his policies is inadequate to regain our standing at home and abroad. Every American will have to take the responsibility upon his or her own shoulders to work with the new President to change our nation's direction from the bottom up. If we do not unite to become an informed, active, and politically-minded nation, we will fall.
And that's coming from an optimist.
There's no question in my mind that Norman Siegel is well capable of being an effective ombudsman for New York City. Moreover, the idea of electing a non-politician to the office seems a sensible one, since the Public Advocate's position was created to serve as a check to the one-note rule that elected officials fall into clinging to safeguard their jobs. But 2009 is still a long way off and The Optimist is open to evaluating all of the candidates for Public Advocate as they emerge and unveil their own plans to make our borough and our City a better place.
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