A Brief Recap

Last September, Christine Quinn was introduced as “the Next Mayor of New York” at a fundraiser in midtown hosted by the Victory Fund, an organization that helps elect LGBT candidates to public office. She has been campaigning ever since.

While we can’t compete with Quinn’s campaign or City resources (Do you remember how she padded her campaign staff with city employees during the last election?), we do believe we can make a difference. In 2009, Quinn was expected to win re-election by a landslide, given her incumbency, the large LGBT population in her district and the fact that she funneled so much of the City’s discretionary funds to groups in her own district. However, she barely won a majority. Could her narrow victory be attributed, in part, to our campaign against her in 2009?

After the 2009 election, Crain’s ran a story about the 2013 Mayoral race in which they reported, “Insiders have largely written off Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who was damaged by the council’s slush fund scandal and extension of term limits, and struggled to win re-election.”

Quinn was so crushed by her unexpected narrow victory and its implications that she barely came out of her office for days, according to a source in her office.

Here’s what’s happening now:

Quinn shows her true colors

On April 6, Quinn flew off the handle with Erin Einhorn, a reporter from the Daily News, who called her “Ma’am” instead of “Madam Speaker.” Quinn was angry at Einhorn, who recently reported that she “is about to move into a luxury condo building where she used taxpayer dollars ($785,000) to resolve a conflict with a neighboring building over garbage.” Einhorn also reported that Quinn has “been sued repeatedly for nonpayment of rent.”

Quinn is notoriously mean-spirited and vindictive behind the scenes, but, in public, she comes across as caring, concerned and self-deprecating. It’s a great act, if you don’t know the truth. Her public attack gives NYers a rare glimpse of the real Christine Quinn. In case you missed it, here’s a link to the video on NY1 news:

Quinn attacks reporter

The Real Estate Fundraisers

The real estate industry is aggressively fundraising for Quinn because they have so much to gain financially if Quinn is elected. Given her penchant for saying one thing publicly and doing the opposite behind the scenes, we shouldn’t be surprised that she once made the following statement in a debate:

Question: Has anyone taken any campaign contributions from developers, landlords or real estate organizations? Would you do so in the future?

Quinn: No I haven’t and no, I won’t.

According to the Gotham Gazzette, which lists her real estate donors, through July, 2010, Quinn had already “received more than $3 million for her likely citywide campaign, much of it from the real estate industry and business interests.”

In the past two weeks alone, we have received three invitations to Quinn fundraisers hosted by real estate executives. One of these fundraisers (see invitation below) is honoring Quinn’s “commitment to the protection of animals.” Commitment to animals? According to a report card published by the former NYC League of Humane Voters, “the biggest obstacle to more humane laws in NYC is the inexplicable opposition to animal welfare legislation by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Speaker Quinn has attacked virtually every effort in the Council to make life better for animals, despite claiming in letters to concerned citizens that she cares about animal welfare and even ‘supports animal rights.””

Real estate fundraiser

Protest Against Quinn

On April 11th, ten NYers held a protest against Christine Quinn at a private home on the Upper East Side. Quinn’s security detail, chauffer and handlers did not appear happy to see us when they arrived. Nor did Quinn, who faced the ground as she scurried past us.

Many people who attended the event asked us questions and took our handout on their way into the house. And dozens of curious onlookers who are unaccustomed to seeing protests in their neighborhood stopped to look at our posters and tell their children what was happening. One guest at the event came outside and encouraged us to “pool our money to buy a ticket and speak to her directly.” We explained that talking to Quinn is a fruitless exercise because she doesn’t tell the truth.

Protest Against Christine Quinn

St. Vincent’s Hospital Closure

On April 7th, Federal Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of St. Vincent’s Hospital (in Quinn’s district) to the Rudin Management Company for $260 million. The Rudins plan to build 300 luxury condos and a health clinic. Over a million NYers on the West Side will be left without a hospital.

Instead of tapping into a $600 million reserve fund that has saved other NYC hospitals in bankruptcy or advocating for a new hospital, Quinn was virtually silent, in spite of pleas from constituents. Quinn even refused to support a resolution to zone the St. Vincent’s site for a hospital. Community leaders agree: Quinn was more interested in repaying the Rudins, who are major campaign donors, than advocating for a hospital for her constituents:

Quinn repays Rudins

The 2013 Race

According to this NY1-Marist Poll released on April 1st, “18% of Democratic voters citywide say, if the primary were held today, they would support Congressman Anthony Weiner. Former New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson takes 15%. Comptroller John Liu receives 13% of the Democratic vote, as does City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Nine percent of Democrats say they would support Public Advocate Bill de Blasio while 4% would back Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. A notable 27% are undecided.”

If the race continues to be this close, can Quinn afford to have an organized and growing movement against her?

In late January, the New York Observer ran a story about the 2013 race. On Quinn, they wrote:

“Some see her as likely to drop out of the race altogether and aim for a lesser office, and others see her as a veritable lock for a run-off. Ms. Quinn has hitched her wagon to Mayor Bloomberg’s centrist, business-friendly star, at the risk of angering the progressive base… But Ms. Quinn would be the only woman in the race, and the fact that she would become the first lesbian mayor of the city could turn her candidacy into a cause. Ms. Quinn also has another thing: the so-called elites. These are the people and groups who make up the Partnership for New York City, the Association for a Better New York, who work on Wall Street or in real estate and who make up for votes with money and editorial board influence.”

Quinn is counting on gay people to vote for her because she’s gay and for women to vote for her because she’s a woman. She is counting on her identity, not her record, to get her elected. What she’s not counting on is a growing group of gay people and women who are dedicated to voting her out of public office for good.

Puppet on a String

On a lighter note:

Quinn’s Puppet Show & Political Farce

We need your support in this grass roots campaign to vote Quinn out of office. Please forward this email to your friends and colleagues who vote in NYC.

See you in the streets.