by Roxanne Delgado
Yesterday, Brian Lehrer read my tweet #AskNYCMayor.on air. The Mayor response was Machiavellian.
Deflecting resposibility, Mayor DeBlasio responded “You already have my vote. Go get the votes in the City Council and solidify the support in the City Council so we can make this change.” Mayor DeBlasio’s excuse was “The fact is, the [horse-carriage] industry has a lot of support in the City Council and among the populace”. Basically, he punted the ball to the city council court and advised the animal people to direct their energies on that court and play. And when the animal people win that court then he (Mayor) will join
In addition, the Mayor made some false assertions. If the populace supported that industry as he asserted then he would not have won . Christine Quinn or the other democratic candidates who supported the industry would be Mayor today. Also. this would be the first time a Mayor introduces a bill and doesn’t ensure its passage. When Mayor Bloomberg introduced bill to overturn term limits, it was passed by the city council despite over 90% of the populace oppose it. Former Mayoral Candidate Sal Albanese tweeted
Broken Campaign Promises are Remembered
Another mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner wrote an OpEd piece last year. stating. “Finally, “day one,” as in, ‘I’ll ban carriages on day one of my administration,” is not a metaphor. It’s the first day you go to work in City Hall. Remember all the candidate forums and debates last year? Most were sponsored by one interest group or another. So nearly daily, someone was asking us candidates to pledge to do something or other “on day one” or in the “first 100 days. — but in the prose world of governing, the mayor is learning that this counts as a promise broken.”
Lastly, when a citywide candidate or even a local candidate runs and makes promises, we know they mean working with the appropriate bodies whether state or city legislators to get it done. No Man is an island as quoted from John Donne. Organizations and their supporters fund/vote for a politician because he/she promised to make it happen. The betraying part is how Mayor DeBlasio stated he met his obligation by supporting it yet not delivering as promised. DeBlasio made the issue stall for almost 2 years and finally admitted he won’t keep his promise. Similarly, he made South Bronx Unite wait close to a year and afterwards informed them that he can’t undo the Fresh Direct subsidies as promised. It took his administration close to a year to determine they couldn’t do it.
“Read my Lips, no new taxes” a line made famous or infamous in political history by former President George H.W. Bush when he broke his promise and rose taxes. “Day 1” was Mayor DeBlasio’s pledge to end the carriage horse industry but 597 days later the industry still remains. Both made a firm uncommon pledge to a base of passionate people frustrated by the previous administration (in)action. As a result, they won their respective election yet later broke the promise that elected them to office. In former POTUS Bush case, it cost him his reelection.
In regardsto Mayor DeBlasio, the repercussion of his broken campaign promise remains to be seen in 2018. Former Mayor Bloomberg barely won his 3rd election after breaking his promise not to overturn term limits. His remarks “disgraceful” at the prospect of city council overturning term limits was used against him by opponents including Mayor DeBalsio who was a city councilman at the time. I do know that I won’t vote for DeBlasio since he broke his promise despite how many animal people like me volunteered and voted for him.
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