Race to City Hall 2013

Erick Salgado, a Hispanic pastor from the Bronx running a long-shot conservative campaign for mayor in the Democratic primary, is so furious that a polling agency consistently leaves his name out of their surveys that he is demanding compensation.

Salgado on Monday filed a lawsuit against Quinnipiac University in Manhattan Supreme Court seeking to prohibit the firm from “conducting and/or releasing any voter preference poll for the New York City Democratic mayoral primary which does not include all candidates qualified to participate … in the first primary election debate.”

The suit asks for “no less” than $1.5 million in damages.

“Quinnipiac describes itself as the provider of timely and accurate polls, known for its exactness and thoroughness,” Salgado said in a statement. “I believe that the poll’s actions regarding the exclusion of my name serve to disprove those claims.”

Just last week, the Salgado campaign issued a press releasehyping what they termed a “50 percent improvement” in his standing in a Siena College poll. That meant a jump from 2 percent to his current 3 percent.

Working Families to Give DA Candidate Thompson Their Slot

The Working Families Party will endorse Brooklyn district attorney candidate Kenneth Thompson, according to a source close to the party cited by City & State, dealing a blow to incumbent Charles Hynes, whom the party endorsed in 2009.

The coveted endorsement bolsters Thompson’s progressive credentials and gives him formidable manpower heading into the Sept. 10 Democratic primary. Hynes has broad establishment support, as well as the likely endorsement of the United Federation of Teachers, the city’s most politically active union.

Even if Thompson were to lose the Democratic primary, he would now have the Working Families line for the general election in November. Hynes already has the Conservative and Republican party lines.

Lhota Ad Calls Democratic Rivals ‘Embarrassing’

Joe Lhota released his first commercial, in which the Republican mayoral candidate accuses the five leading Democratic contenders of turning the race into a circus.

“This primary election has become embarrassing,” a narrator says as photos of the Democratic candidates appear. “Being mayor is a serious job, and we deserve a serious candidate. We deserve Joe Lhota.”

The ad does not mention the two GOP opponents of Lhota, who was a deputy mayor in Rudy Giuliani’s administration.

In Public Advocate Race, Schumer Makes Rare Endorse

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) offered glowing praise for state Sen. Daniel Squadron, a former aide, in the first ad of the public advocate’s race.

“In the battle against illegal guns, Daniel Squadron is a New Yorker who gets results,” Schumer says of the Democrat representing Williamsburg who co-wrote Schumer’s book. The ad focuses on gun control, an issue Squadron has tried to make a signature issue of his in Albany.

Schumer generally avoids getting involved in primary battles; the endorsement is a rare appearance for the state’s senior senator.

Many NYers Embarrassed By Mayoral Race

New Yorkers are embarrassed by the negative attention their political races are getting around the world, a Siena College poll released Monday found. Sixty-eight percent of state voters and 62 percent of city voters are humiliated by the attention.

“They are saying that these candidates and the national attention they are attracting is embarrassing,” Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said. “Those are not the eccentricities of candidates that New York City voters usually embrace, like Ed Koch’s, ‘How am I doing?’ and Rudy Giuliani as ‘America’s mayor.’ These guys don’t fall into those categories.”

Sixteen percent of voters statewide say it is “no big deal.” Just 8 percent find it entertaining.

In Wake of Racist Graffiti, Bill Thompson Calls for Tolerance

Democratic mayoral candidate Bill Thompson on Monday called for new steps to combat hate crimes and promote tolerance, days after a Brooklyn statue promoting integration was slathered with swastikas and racial epithets.

Thompson proposed that Homeland Security funding go for cameras around houses of worship and sensitive targets.

“The recent hate crime in Brooklyn and others across the city are reprehensible,” Thompson said. “We cannot and will not tolerate an attack against any one religion, ethnicity, race, or gender.”

This article appeared in print on page 1 of the August 13th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.