Free Republic

A New York lawmaker from Queens is getting big blowback for tweeting that because of Wednesday’s Capitol riots, the 9/11 attack is no longer his most frightening memory. “Seeing the Twin Towers crumble is no longer the most frightening moment of my life,” tweeted state Sen. John Liu (D-Queens). The tweet, which Liu sent at 4:26 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, as the Washington, D.C., riot unfolded, is still being blasted as tone-deaf days later.

The lights went out on Broadway Saturday night, and Bill de Blasio was a thousand miles away in Iowa. It was the moment that perfectly captured his distracted, ego-driven failure of a mayoralty. Bill de Blasio does not care about New York City. He does not care about its people. He does not care about how it’s run. He does not care about you or your taxes, creating jobs or improving lives. All Bill de Blasio cares about is Bill de Blasio. And so, for the good of the city, Gov. Andrew Cuomo needs to remove the mayor from office....

Four years ago, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo pushed through a plan to put New York at the forefront of a national movement to reshape American public education: He vowed that half of a teacher’s rating would be determined by student results on standardized exams. But his initiative met with immediate resistance from teachers’ unions and parents, especially those in New York’s wealthy suburbs and progressive urban pockets. They protested on the basis it would place undue stress on teachers and children, whose test scores are used for high-stakes admissions decisions and academic tracking. As a result, with Mr. Cuomo’s assent,...

It’s official: Mayor de Blasio is going to be spending part of Martin Luther King Jr. Day with the Rev. Al Sharpton. Hizzoner last week refused to say whether he would be attending the annual King tribute at Sharpton’s National Action Network Harlem headquarters. But the mayor’s office on Saturday confirmed he’ll be there. De Blasio would not confirm last week if he would be attending the annual King tribute at Sharpton’s National Action Network Harlem headquarters.De Blasio would not confirm last week if he would be attending the annual King tribute at Sharpton’s National Action Network Harlem headquarters. PreviousNextDemocratic...

Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that he is committed to immigration reform, regardless of whether the laws change in Washington. As 1010 WINS’ Stan Brooks reported, de Blasio joined other city leaders as they told a cheering crowd of immigrants massed on the City Hall steps Wednesday that they would do whatever they can to change the laws. “All of us are here committed to work with Bill de Blasio as mayor to make sure this remains an immigrant city – not just in name, but in a place with every possible opportunity for immigrants in every...

As of right now, Bill de Blasio is the man to beat in the race to be the next mayor of New York City. The latest polls put him at 43%, which is enough to avoid a run-off in the Democratic primary, and it is widely believed that whoever wins the Democratic primary will sail into office. For the most part, sitting mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has stayed out of the race, but in an extensive interview with New York Magazine the term-limited Independent ripped de Blasio's campaign as "class-warfare and racist":

Two of the men seeking to be New York City’s next comptroller touted their different backgrounds and experiences in an Aug. 1 forum in Laurelton, each saying his made him more qualified than the other to be the city’s next top financial officer. Democrat Scott Stringer is the Manhattan borough president and also served 13 years in the state Assembly. Republican John Burnett has spent more than 20 years in the financial services industry, including supervisory and management positions at Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch. Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who joined the Democratic campaign just prior to the deadline for...

Officials and various candidates for office joined in the flood of outrage tonight following the not guilty verdict in the racially-charged trial of George Zimmerman for the killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. Former Comptroller Bill Thompson, the mayoral race’s only black candidate, released and tweeted a terse, one-line statement slamming the decision, which was read tonight just before 10 p.m. “Trayvon Martin was killed because he was black,” declared Mr. Thompson. “There was no justice done today in Florida.” City Council Speaker Christine Quinn further slammed the acquittal as “a shocking insult to his family and everyone seeking justice...

Federal authorities are investigating the fund-raising operation of the New York City comptroller, John C. Liu, seeking records from his campaign and from a city contractor whose employees were listed as having contributed thousands of dollars to his campaign, people with knowledge of the matter said. Grand jury subpoenas issued last week in the inquiry followed a report in The New York Times last month detailing a number of fund-raising improprieties, including questions about the sources of Mr. Liu’s donations, whether people listed as contributors had actually given their own money and whether some donors listed even existed. It is...

(Reuters) - The Muslim center planned near the site of the World Trade Center attack could qualify for tax-free financing, a spokesman for City Comptroller John Liu said on Friday, and Liu is willing to consider approving the public subsidy.

Reporting Lou Young NEW YORK (CBS) -- Democrat John Liu has won a decisive victory in the race for New York City Comptroller. The Queens Councilman has made history, becoming the first Asian-American elected to citywide office. They pretty much knew they were having a victory party at John Liu's headquarters in Midtown. In fact, you could see the optimism on the candidate's face when we caught up with him earlier tonight in Harlem. Liu was wrapping up his successful campaign for Controller at the side of the man who currently holds the office. And his is a big deal...

John Liu easily won last night's runoff election for city comptroller and Bill de Blasio routed rival Mark Green in the public advocate contest -- victories that handed a major boost to the Working Families Party in its first foray into citywide races. Both races produced clear winners within 30 minutes of the polls closing at 9 p.m. A mere 228,000 ballots were cast, a record low. COMPLETE ELECTION RESULTS:Liu, who will oversee the city's $80 billion pension system, cruised into history as the first Asian-American to win a citywide election, beating Brooklyn Councilman David Yassky, by 56 percent to...

From the New York Slimes (Times) Sept 15, 2009... With 100 percent of the vote counted, unofficial results showed that Mr. Liu had captured 38 percent of the vote, just short of the 40 percent he needed to win outright. Mr. Yassky took 30 percent, and Councilwoman Melinda R. Katz of Queens finished third, with 20 percent. David I. Weprin, a councilman from Queens, was fourth. The results set up a contest between two men who, over the course of the campaign, projected sharply different images to voters. Mr. Liu, a former actuary and an immigrant from Taiwan, struck a...

From the New York Slimes (Times) Sept 15, 2009... With 100 percent of the vote counted, unofficial results showed that Mr. Liu had captured 38 percent of the vote, just short of the 40 percent he needed to win outright. Mr. Yassky took 30 percent, and Councilwoman Melinda R. Katz of Queens finished third, with 20 percent. David I. Weprin, a councilman from Queens, was fourth. The results set up a contest between two men who, over the course of the campaign, projected sharply different images to voters. Mr. Liu, a former actuary and an immigrant from Taiwan, struck a...

From the New York Slimes (Times) Sept 15, 2009... With 100 percent of the vote counted, unofficial results showed that Mr. Liu had captured 38 percent of the vote, just short of the 40 percent he needed to win outright. Mr. Yassky took 30 percent, and Councilwoman Melinda R. Katz of Queens finished third, with 20 percent. David I. Weprin, a councilman from Queens, was fourth. The results set up a contest between two men who, over the course of the campaign, projected sharply different images to voters. Mr. Liu, a former actuary and an immigrant from Taiwan, struck a...

New York City Candidates Linked to Chinese, North Korean Regimes Matthew Robertson & Matt Gnaizda Epoch Times Staff & NTDTV Staff Sep 13, 2009 NEW YORK—At a rally on the steps of City Hall last week, New York residents expressed concern that two New York City political candidates—John Liu and John Choe—have connections with communist regimes. John Liu has been a city council member representing New York’s Flushing area since 2001. This year, he is running for city Comptroller—the position that oversees the city’s finances, including its $60 million budget. Spokesman for the Christian Democracy Party of China, David...