Posted on 03/25/2004 3:50:21 AM PST by SheLion
Mike's run may go up in smoke
Mayor Bloomberg could be run out of City Hall by the smokers he ran out of bars and into the streets.
This will sound funny to those who read polls that say Bloomberg's smoking ban is popular. But it's very serious to the politicians who have their eyes on Gracie Mansion - and their ears to the bitterness of smokers and the business blues of saloon keepers and restaurateurs.
I spoke yesterday to three of the Democrats who are considering making the run for mayor: Rep. Anthony Weiner, Controller William Thompson and Fernando Ferrer, the ex-Bronx borough president who nearly won the nomination in 2001. All three, in varying degrees, say they will make the smoking ban a serious issue in their campaigns.
"It has to be," says Hank Sheinkopf, the savvy New York political consultant, "because to many smokers, this is a one-issue deal, like abortion and gun control. If they're with you on everything else but this, you're dead. It could lose Bloomberg north of 400,000 votes."
Weiner is easily the most articulate on the issue, which, on the face of it, is surprising because he is a nonsmoker. "If you want to see just how much Bloomberg misunderstands the DNA of New York - what sort of a condescending patrician he is - look at the way he handled the smoking business," says Weiner.
"He rammed it through without ever having campaigned for it. He did it without considering what it would do to the small bars in the city, particularly the outer boroughs, what it would do to the soul of New York, which to me is libertarianism, the right to live your life without onerous government intervention. I sum it up this way: New York does not want or need Nurse Ratched as mayor."
Weiner represents parts of Queens and Brooklyn, the last gin-mill neighborhoods of the city, where smokin' and drinkin' are an integral part of the life of working men and women.
"Exactly where Bloomberg is most vulnerable," says Sheinkopf. "Add Staten Island, where his Republican base threatens him on real estate taxes as well as smoking, and the mayor is in big trouble."
So, too, may be Gifford Miller, the speaker of the City Council, who pushed through Bloomberg's smoking law. Miller wants the Democratic nomination for mayor, and now Weiner, Thompson and Ferrer will challenge him.
Thompson told me yesterday: "I'm concerned that the blanket application of the smoking ban has had a negative financial impact on bars, and I would look to create exceptions for these establishments."
Ferrer says: "We definitely need to reexamine this law and see if we can come to a reasonable way to both protect health and business."
Make no mistake about it - the restaurants and bars are getting killed by this Bloomberg-Miller law that has nothing but fake science to support it.
Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden insisted to me that 1,000 bartenders and waiters die each year of secondhand smoke. I didn't bother to argue with him about this nonsense. I simply warned him that he could cost Mike the election.
Hearing that, he took notes and said, "I wish I could take the heat instead of him. Maybe we should put me on a dartboard."
Too late, buddy. Too late.
Originally published on March 24, 2004
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/col/story/176888p-153884c.html
Of course he is. But, I still agree with everything he says about it. Bloomberg never campaigned on the issue, for one. If he had, he would have lost my vote then. As it is, Bloomberg will not get my vote this time around.
"He rammed it through without ever having campaigned for it. He did it without considering what it would do to the small bars in the city, particularly the outer boroughs, what it would do to the soul of New York, which to me is libertarianism, the right to live your life without onerous government intervention. I sum it up this way: New York does not want or need Nurse Ratched as mayor."
Whoa! When did this putz start making sense?! He's usually one of THE most egregious leftist blowhards in the House, and I am truly stunned by this foray into lucidity.
Actually, this protege of Schmuck Schumer usually *is* a putz -- this was just an uncharacteristic moment of coherence.
Yes! And I make sure to get photos of that at every parade/rally where he does that!
The last sentence hits it right on the mark. In Manhattan, one goes to "lounges," which are neat, tidy places, where Metrosexuals (like Nurse Bloomberg) and women from Ivy League schools feel "comfortable." In places like Bay Ridge, Throgs Neck, Woodside, Astoria, etc., bars often function as "community centers" where a largely male crowd gathers to relax, shoot the sh-t and (until recently) relax for a drink and smoke. The ban smacks of Yuppie elitsim and must be repealed now!
BTW: Do you think the Nurse will get his health requirements for menus passed. It will be hell on places like Dominick's in the Bronx, which lack a written menu and change their meals daily.
Not to mention all these little foreign-owned places in which the workers barely speak English!
Oh, and what about food carts? :D
While I agree with the sentiment, the point is moot, as a NY statewide law followed the city law. Even if the law were repealed, it would still be illegal to smoke in a bar in NYC!
Aside from Giuliani, the last person worth voting for in this city was William F. Buckley (you could say Marchi, but he had all the personality of a Venetian blind).
I agree with this, but disagree with your assessment of Ferrer. I think he can do a great deal of damage, he's certainly to the left of socialist. He straddles border-line Communism.
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