City Councilman Lew Fidler said he understands why some people, and some members of Congress, opposed the federal bailout legislation.

“It seems like it’s OK for an individual to lose their house, but it’s not OK for Merrill Lynch to lose its shirt,” Fidler said in a brief telephone interview.

But he also noted that now, since there will be less money from Wall Street contributing to city tax revenues, there will be more competition between City Council members and others who relying on city funds.

“I think every time the pie gets smaller, for whatever reason, it increases competition among everybody,” said Fidler, who also said he was “shocked” the bailout plan didn’t pass.  read more »

City Councilman Lew Fidler of Brooklyn hinted to The Politicker's Azi Paybarah that the Wall Street troubles could spawn a property tax increase: “As distasteful as it is, we’ll be left with the property tax, which is a well we went to before.”

More here.

Lew Fidler, who wouldn't turn down a third term in the City Council, told me the Wall Street collapse won’t be much of a factor in the conversation about extending term limits.

“I don’t see how it’s remotely relevant,” he told me just now.

He said the collapse will likely affect everyone in the city, but that the city budget may not be as affected as one would think.

“I’m not entirely sure but how much leverage where they expected from a group like Lehman’s Brothers which was expecting to have huge write-offs,” Fidler asked.

Going forward, the real issue he said wouldn’t be term limits, but property taxes. “As distasteful as it is, we’ll be left with the property tax, which is a well we went to before.”

Fidler also said he hoped the state would pass a millionaire’s tax.

The National Committee for the Furtherance for Jewish Education held their annual “empowerment breakfast” in a small hotel room on Ninth Avenue yesterday morning, where the talk of politics was unavoidable.

Breakfast chair Suri Kasirer called City Comptroller Bill Thompson to the front of the room to present an award. (She used to be a fund-raiser for him). Kasirer introduced him by listing a number of his accomplishments.

“No matter what Bill decides to do in the future," she said, "Hope he will be mayor.”

After a brief pause, the line got a round of applause from the audience. Then Kasirer added in good humor, “See, Chris is late, so it’s okay that I said it,” a reference to Christine Quinn, one of Thompson’s more formidable rivals in next year’s mayoral race.  read more »

Here’s Representative Anthony Weiner responding to a question about his management skills--and his reputation for high staff turnover--yesterday at the Crain’s business breakfast, which was before the New York Times story reported that he has run through more staff than any other member of the New York House delegation.

“I think I’m tough but I’m fair,” he said, adding, “And I'm cheap.”

In the story, Weiner chalks up his attitude to growing up in Brooklyn as a middle-class kid (always on message!).

City Councilman Lew Fidler, who also grew up middle-class in Brooklyn (and supported Freddy Ferrer over Weiner in the 2005 mayor’s race) told me, “I push my employees too and I haven’t had any turnover in six years.  read more »

Not everyone is happy with the $59.1 billion budget that Michael Bloomberg and the City Council agreed upon last night, which preserved property tax cuts and school aid by cutting funds to cultural programs and senior centers.

“I’m very dissatisfied in terms of calling it a budget negotiation,” Councilman Lew Fidler told me in an interview this morning. “A number of us went to the quote-unquote 'handshake' last night to support the speaker, but not because we thought there was a partnership with the mayor.”

Fidler said Bloomberg "wanted to raise the property taxes.”

Raising property taxes may be necessary if budget revenues continue to decline, Fidler acknowledged.  read more »

City Councilman Mike McMahon, who is running for the congressional seat Vito Fossella is vacating, was endorsed last night by the Staten Island Democratic Party.  read more »

It seems that Christine Quinn has two important factions to please. On one side are the 50 other members of the City Council. On the other are good-government groups and, particularly, The New York Times editorial board.

When Quinn began discussing the slush fund scandal at the City Council, The Times editorial board--a big voice in Democratic primaries for offices like, say, mayor--held out hope that Quinn could set things straight, writing, "[her] reformist zeal is still needed."

The first package of reforms Quinn announced, on April 11, would have stripped the City Council of the ability to determine how $20 million in discretionary money from the council speaker's office is spent, giving that power instead to the mayor's agencies. The Times called it "sensible" but added, "[S]he must do a lot more."

Then, council members objected. Loudly. Strongly.

So this week, Quinn unveiled another set of reforms that are more palatable to her members.

The major difference between Quinn's old plan and new plan is that the new plan leaves a majority of decision-making power with council members. The Times was not pleased:  read more »

Technically, Michael Bloomberg’s $59.1 billion budget increases spending -- albeit by one tenth of one percent -- but the loudest critcism it's facing so far is from officials and interest groups that want him to spend more.  read more »

Councilman Kendall Stewart helped steer taxpayer money the Donna Reid Fund, which not only shares an address in Brooklyn with Stewart's chief of staff Asquith Reid, but allegedly was used to funnel money to Reid and another staff member.

But the relationship between Reid and the Donna Reid Foundation wasn’t a secret.
 read more »]]> Politics Donna Reid Fund Kendall Stewart Lew Fidler Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:31:33 -0400 Azi Paybarah 67956 at http://www.observer.com