teve Shaw was once the president of his co-op board, the only elected office he said he had ever held, and now he wants to be mayor of New York City.Posted on 12/22/2004 10:03:18 PM PST by NYC GOP Chick
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
teve Shaw was once the president of his co-op board, the only elected office he said he had ever held, and now he wants to be mayor of New York City.
Mr. Shaw, 30, an investment banker with a Canadian firm in Midtown Manhattan, is planning to run in a Republican primary against Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
Mr. Shaw is young, a relative newcomer to the city, having moved here eight years ago, and is low on campaign money, but he does have a Web site, a few thousand dollars in his campaign account and the conviction that he may just beat the mayor.
"I believe this is a very winnable election," said Mr. Shaw, who lives with his wife in Park Slope, Brooklyn. "If you are a Republican voter, you want to support the people who believe in what you do."
Mr. Shaw may be a dreamer, but he does have a rationale. New York Republican primaries draw very few voters. In 2001, when Mr. Bloomberg was challenged by Herman Badillo, 66,531 Republicans, about 14.4 percent of registered Republicans, actually cast a ballot in that primary race. So by Mr. Shaw's calculation, he has to reach out to only a relatively small group of people, and win them over, to knock Mr. Bloomberg off the Republican line. And he figures that the party faithful who turn out to vote in a primary will support him because "I'm the only Republican in the race."
While Mr. Bloomberg's Democratic rivals are beating him up for being a Republican, Mr. Shaw plans to try to attack him for being too much like a Democrat, which Mr. Bloomberg was before switching parties to run for mayor in the 2001 race.
Then, when he is heralded as a David for slaying Goliath, Mr. Shaw figures, he will have enough momentum to carry him past a Democratic nominee and into City Hall.
"After I defeat Mayor Bloomberg in the Republican primary, I will show people I have the characteristics that people want, to accomplish the unaccomplishable," Mr. Shaw said. His ideas include making the city more hospitable to business, reducing its tax burden and relaxing the smoking ban in some bars.
Mr. Bloomberg's aides said they had not heard of Mr. Shaw, but did not take the opportunity, as they so often do with those who challenge them, to insult or dismiss him. Whether Mr. Bloomberg likes it or not, he may find himself forced into a primary, no matter how mismatched the competition. It takes just 7,500 signatures on a petition to get on the ballot.
Kevin Sheekey, a close adviser to the mayor who is expected to take over as Mr. Bloomberg's campaign manager, said, "New York is at a population all-time high, and crime is at a 40-year low," and added that the unemployment rate is also relatively low.
"Anyone that wants to improve on the record is welcome to try," he said.
But even if the mayor should lose a Republican primary, he will probably remain on the ballot because he has courted the Independence Party, on whose ballot line he received 59,000 votes in 2001.
Mr. Shaw says he is undeterred by the financial resources of Mr. Bloomberg, who spent $20 million to win the Republican primary in 2001.
"To print out about 1,500 palm cards cost me about $279," Mr. Shaw said.
FYI...
Good luck to Steve Shaw, he is going to need it.
Good!!!!
I'll just ask one small question, if I may: is there some unspoken rule that your mayor mustn't have lips? Wagner, Beame, Lindsay, Giuliani, half a dozen others I can't recall (but have recoiled at their photos, always excepting LaGuardia). I suppose Dinkins was an exception to a limited extent, regarding lips, but NOT regarding incompetence.
No, your thinking of that guy who used to write for National Review. I forget his name...(too much Malbec).
We need to be careful of what we wish for...
Confirming a widely accepted axiom:
Yes, that's an actual quote from one of my former professors. :)
-good times, G.J.P.(Jr.)
William F. Buckley could not be reached for comment, as he is too busy sharing a few bottles of Malbec with Clemenza...
I voted twice for Badillo. The first time was just before my neighborhood blew up on 9/11, and again on the re-do 2 weeks later.
Man, that is olde skool!
Can you believe that guy would have actually been our governor, if not for the dastardly machinations of one Lyndon LaRouche?
I don't remember if I was preparing for one of my classes or to go vote, but I put those plans on hold...indefinitely.
I was about 4 blocks to the east of them when the first plane hit.
I heard about it driving to work on the Howard Stern show. I was in Miami at the time.
My mother-who's an amateur photographer-has been to Ground Zero a few times.
The first two years, the closest I ever approached it was when the N or R trains would rumble past what used to be the Courtlandt St. station.
As I say, elect whom you like as mayor of your, er, fair city.
BTW, didja notice that your handle is **almost** a perfect substitution for the first line of the lyric to ''High Noon''?
''Do not (just) dub me shap-ka bro-ham...''
The Cortlandt St. station is still here -- I use it!
I didn't have my digital camera with me that morning, even though I had used it at an event the night before. But I did take photos near the site at different points throughout that first year. http://wtcaftermath.tripod.com
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