Bill Cunningham

Beloved New York Times Styles section photographer Bill Cunningham generally avoids interviews. However, at a party held in his honor last night on the third floor of Bergdorf Goodman, several encouraging attendees told us, “He’s in a good mood tonight.”

With that in mind, we gave chase, following the blue-suited Mr. Cunningham through racks of clothes as part of the shifting, seemingly impenetrable ring of friends and admirers that surrounded him as he made the rounds. After a few false starts (“Just a moment, I must talk to this woman from the museum” followed by many obliging smiles), we finally cornered Mr.  read more »

Tom Golisano’s new political action committee could put him on a collision course with Michael Bloomberg, who has openly talked very publicly about what he says would be the benefits of keeping Republicans in control of the State Senate.

As Bloomberg’s former communications director Bill Cunningham told me, “They may have dueling agendas.”

“The mayor’s agenda has typically been what’s good for New York City. Golisano’s agenda sounds like it is a traditional reform agenda about the process of state government. So here you have philosophy versus process.” He also said the mayor, since he’s in office, is dealing with “the real politics,” of the Albany-New York City relationship.  read more »

Here’s another clip from this morning’s panel discussion at the New School about Eliot Spitzer’s political prospects.
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Inspired by the ado over Barack Obama's use of Deval Patrick's phrasing, and similar use by Hillary Clinton of at least one Obama phrase, I emailed a few quotable people in New York for them to give them the opportunity to put a catchphrase of their own on the record.

Here they are:

Simcha Felder:
“Do not place unsolicited advertising materials on this property."

Brian Ziff-Levine:
“It’s the undecideds, stupid.”

Joe Mercurio:
“Silence is an incredibly stupid communications strategy. No wait I actually stole that from Frank Luntz.”

Doug Muzzio:
"'If a frog had wings he wouldn't be bumping his ass on the ground' (cribbed from my father-in-law, Darrell Saunders)."

Phil Anderson:
"No reform, no raise."

Charles Barron:
“The renter's rebate. Rock Hackshaw gave me that idea when I was running for mayor in 2005. The next thing I know, Gifford Miller is talking about it, and now, Christine Quinn is."

More after the jump.  read more »

Michael Bloomberg has repeatedly said that he’s not running. He's also repeatedly said that no candidate is talking about substantive issues on the presidential campaign trail.

Former Bloomberg communications director Bill Cunningham, who cautions that he doesn't have any inside knowledge about the mayor's intentions, thinks that if nothing else, the mayor may be in a position to deliver a crucial presidential endorsement.  read more »

In the paper this week, I tried finding out what ever happened to that revolutionary voter data information that helped Michael Bloomberg customize his message to practically every New York City voter.

In his recently published book, The Power of the Vote, Bloomberg pollster Doug Schoen said it “was nothing less than a revolution in political outreach and communication.”

So, where is that stuff now?

“I don’t really think I can be helpful on that subject,” Bloomberg pollster Doug Schoen told me in a very short interview.

“It’s probably locked away in some computer vault,” Bloomberg’s former senior adviser Bill Cunningham told me, joking only a little bit. He also said it’s probably useless anyway.

The better Rudy Giuliani does in the national polls, the more it proves that Mike Bloomberg could be a real contender for president.

That seemed to be the case that Bloomberg's former communications director Bill Cunningham was making last night on NY1.

"Everyday, another newspaper writes about it. You talked about it. Your guests talk about it. It's on all the talk shows. You can't run away from it. But, I take him at his word [that he won't run]. On the other hand, I know a lot of people wonder if a New York mayor, who is pro choice, pro gun control, pro gay rights, anti-smoking, can run nationally. Rudy will find that out, if you can be all those things and run nationally. But there are many states in the country where a Michael Bloomberg can do very well."

-- Azi Paybarah

When Scott Schuman, the amateur photographer who runs the fashion blog The Sartorialist, first attem  read more »

From an email exchange with former Bloomberg campaign manager and current public relations executive Bill Cunningham on the early-but-active state of play for 2009:

Too early to rate odds other than the conventional wisdom...Thompson will be seen as the front runner given his two terms in citywide office, money in the bank, and Brooklyn base. Weiner will be seen as very formidable due to his run last time and his tax cut plan that he will dust off whenever there is an opportunity, as we saw this week re the tax analysis that was released showing NYC atop all other cities in taxes.

Carrion and Quinn have their advantages but neither has a citywide race to point to. Which all means exactly...nothing. 2007 and 2008 are the years to organize, fundraise and develop themes.

I asked him if there was any chance he'd find himself involved in the race somehow. His reponse:

I'm very happy at Dan Klores Communications, but as Mario Cuomo was fond of saying: "between now and then a Pope could be born."

-- Azi Paybarah

The theme of this year's Inner Circle Dinner, the City Hall version of the Gridiron, was "$pent," and Mike cooperated, with an extended skit with the cast of Spamalot that was harsher than any of the roasting the press had done earlier Saturday evening. The papers covered the main show, but there were a few details that didn't wind up in print.

They included Bill Cunningham laughing uproriously at a verion of Landslide that featured Patti Harris and Diana Taylor dueling over who really won the election for Mike and the Mayor taking a shot at Cheney (Mr. Vice President, you need a license for that," he says after a shot rings out.).

I didn' t see Freddy there, but he might have liked it. "I wish I had those ideas," Mike says at one point of some policy planks of Ferrer's. "You will," says Sheekey. The Mayor also describes his vast volunteer operation as "50,000 volunteers -- give or take 20,000."

The Sun and NY1 News were the media outlets taking particular shots from the Mayor: "I don't recognize you." "That's because I'm on New York One," goes one exchange. (Though I'm not sure not being mentioned at all is such a good thing either.)

Bloomberg aide Bill Cunningham is headed over to Dan Klores's PR firm, where he and his 2001 adversary Joe DePlasco can spend countless hours going over the fine points of Stalinism. From the press release: "Bill's experience in the public affairs and political arenas is unrivaled," [DKC President Sean] Cassidy said. "He will join DKC's ‘murderer's row' of local and national political experts, while adding valuable counsel and perspective to DKC's corporate practice areas."  read more »

Politics is notorious for its short memory. The lessons drawn are always the lessons from last year.

And so the Bloomberg campaign, despite its obvious fears about being linked to George Bush, seems to be reading from a Bush campaign script in its decision that the central line of attack on Freddy should be that he's a "flip-flopper."

"My opponent chose to take sides for reform, and against it," Mike said at Junior's yesterday, sounding just slightly like another Republican.

"Freddy's been able to take two sides of nearly every issue, so maybe he should debate himself," was Bill Cunningham's version the other day.  read more »

Obviously, flip-flopper is a potent political attack, and Karl Rove didn't invent it. But doesn't the phrase also remind people of Bush-Kerry?

One possible Ferrer campaign response that's been floating around: "Another Swift-Boat attack from Mike Bloomberg..."

Having chided Steve Minarik for a ridiculous attack on the Drum Major Institute, I can't avoid mocking Drum Major's response as well.

Andrea Batista Schlesinger, who (not Freddy Ferrer) actually runs Drum Major, posted her response to Minarik on the Hollywood liberal organ Huffington Post, of course. She portrays Drum Major's bad press as a Republican conspiracy against liberal ideas. This plot is spearheaded by Bloomberg aide Bill Cunningham, whom she describes as a noted Republican operative. (It was open-minded of the New York State Democratic Party to allow a Republican like Cunningham to serve as its executive director, come to think of it.)

"[E]ach time DMI raises critical questions about social and economic policy in New York, the conservatives says it's tacit support for Mr. Ferrer's campaign.

"A bit of a stretch? You better believe it."

OK, I'm more or less with Andrea to this point.

But the article continues:

"Between Minarik writing letters asking for investigations and Bill Cunningham calling every newspaper reporter in sight to plant a story asserting connections that don't exist, it is clear that theirs is a press strategy designed to undermine our credibility and, ultimately, to bring us down. If they wanted simply to attack Fernando Ferrer, they would pick a better story line than affiliation with a civil rights organization....

"It is hardly news that the right-wing of the GOP has re-adopted the Nixonian strategy of seeking to silence any and all dissent by undermining its credibility with baseless attacks, rather than by taking on opposing ideas on their merits.

"What is news it that the Right Wing is now focusing its attacks on progressive think tanks, the most fertile breeding grounds for progressive thought and policy development in our nation."

There's an instinct on the left nationally, and in New York, to conflate classic, non-ideological local hardball politics with national, ideological movement politics. Karl Rove, puppet-master.  read more »

But the idea that this is anything other than Bloomberg vs. Ferrer misreads the local scene in a serious way.

On the other hand, maybe some of those folks reading Huffington Post will give Drum Major some money.

We have the latest fundraising numbers: Virginia: $275,000-$300,000 Anthony: $501,379 Gifford: $175,000-$200,000 Freddy: $400,000

Mike, meanwhile, reported more than $4.6 million in new spending, which includes $275,000 in polling costs and almost half a million dollars on staff -- including a cool $150,000 to the newly-arrived Bill Cunningham.  read more »

Some things to note: Miller is now raising general election money, having already raised enough to hit the $5.7 million cap in the primary. Mike's spending advantage is even greater than it seems because the other candidates have to pay for fundraising operations.

Some things we're hoping to learn: How much of Anthony's money is new (as opposed to taken from his congressional committee)? How is Virginia going to dodge the adjective "underfunded"?

We were pleased to see the Times this morning take a peek into Bill Cunningham's soul, which is apparently full of Yeats. The Irish poet was a famously bad politician, but he did write a very nice poem called Politics. We trust it doesn't reflect the attitude up at Bill's new office: How can I, that girl standing there, My attention fix On Roman or on Russian Or on Spanish politics? Yet here's a travelled man that knows What he talks about, And there's a politician That has read and thought, And maybe what they say is true Of war and war's alarms, But O that I were young again And held her in my arms!  read more »

The Times editorial board has spent most of Mike Bloomberg's term as his most formidable political ally, and occasionally something like his only one. He and they have had their disagreements here and there -- notably over non-partisan elections and the West Side Stadium -- but their basic sense of his good motives and good judgement, and their admiration of his willingness to make what he describes as tough choices, make just the point Bill Cunningham is always trying to get across. We once suggested that Miller, Ferrer, or Weiner could angle for the Times endorsement, and we were roundly mocked by the four people then reading this blog.

That's why the political event of the weekend was the edit board's calculated slap at the Mayor, in their use of the carefully chosen word "pander" -- something the mayor, you may recall, never does -- to describe his change of position on that rail freight tunnel thing:

"Mr. Bloomberg is wrong. Instead of pandering, he should use his considerable skills as a salesman to win support for the project."

Perhaps it was with those words in his mind that Mike went up to the Bronx yesterday and put his energy into defending another locally unpopular piece of infrastructure, the Bronx Water Filtration Plant.

Our intrepid stringer, Azi, turned up at the Riverdale Jewish Community Council's legislative breakfast Sunday morning -- despite the parking problems, mind you -- where he saw Mike stand up to some booing over the filtration plant.

"You can boo, but let me tell you, it's going to give quarter of billion dollars or thereabouts for parks in the Bronx that would not otherwise be there. So when its all done, I think you're going to look back and say, 'It was a lot better than if we had built it up in Westchester and didn't have the money for our parks.' You can't have it both ways, and this was the best compromise I can offer."  read more »

So there.

The good folks at Cablevision have an interesting question: Why should taxpayers shell out up to $60  read more »

As he seeks to resuscitate the political fortunes of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, William Cunningham, th  read more »

Mayor Michael Bloomberg likes to advertise himself as a consensus-builder who prefers compromise to  read more »

Only 1,325 days to go. Oh, man.  read more »

The red coat entered my closet a few years back.  read more »