STAY THE
COURSE OR CHANGE IT?
MUCH AT
STAKE COME TUESDAY
A
clarification from The Brooding Cynyx
TAGS: NYC
MAYORAL ELECTION, OUR CONTROVERSIAL POST, ENDORSING JOE LHOTA,
A MAYOR’S PREROGATIVES, NY CITY CHARTER, MAYORAL AUTHORITY,
NYPD
COMMISSIONER, NYPD POLICIES & PRACTICES,
RAY KELLY, POST
9-11-01 NYC
AN EDITORAL
MESSAGE TO OUR READERS
(Sunday, November 03, 2013 Elmhurst,
Queens NYC) By late this coming Tuesday
night we should know who our new Mayor will be.
What we will not learn until later down the line is the composition of
his Administration; who he will chose to fill all the various appointed
positions from those he will surround himself with in City Hall to the myriad
other posts and positions that fall within the scope of the Mayor’s prerogative. The New York City Charter endows the Mayor
with a wide range of authority allowing him (both candidates are men) to shape
City policy and practices across the wide swath of agencies and departments. He will name his Deputies, Legal Counsel, and
Advisors and appoint hundreds of his political supporters, Party operatives and
cronies to positions of influence and power.
Once the votes are counted and the results confirmed we will have
elected far more than one man to run our City.
Arguably, the most important
appointment the Mayor can make is choosing the next Commissioner of the
NYPD. The Police Commissioner is the
second most powerful person in any Administration and that post has certainly
become one of national and even international importance given the nature and prominence
of New York City. In our opinion and,
everyone is entitled to have one, Ray Kelly has steered the largest Law
Enforcement Agency in America, the most professional Police Department in the
world admirably, with integrity and the proper mixture of management and
leadership. His tenure stretches back to
the months after 9-11-2001 when he was appointed by Mayor Bloomberg in January
2002. He has been at the helm ever since
and has received high praise from many quarters for advancing NYPD policy and
procedures in everything from the impressive reduction of street crime to the
development of the premier municipal (actually the first) Intelligence Division
in America if not the world. The Special
Units including the widely praised and trend setting Intel Unit, Counter-terrorism,
Atlas, Cobra and Hercules Units as well as other specialty Squads within the Emergency Services Unit have in many ways
revolutionized urban policing in the new world that was delivered unto us on an
Election Day in September 2001. But this
is not a discussion about Ray Kelly or any of the controversies that have been
the byproducts of some of his innovations in methods, strategy and
tactics. It is highly unlikely that the
next Mayor will keep Ray Kelly in One Police Plaza or if he would be willing to
stay.
PHILOSOPHY NOT POLITICS
In keeping within our
tradition The Brooding Cynyx try to avoid controversy by steering clear of
overt political and religious issues.
There have been and will be times that current events have prompted an
opinion or commentary in these often thorny realms of public discourse and
debate. For the most part we have not
offended our regular readers, followers and visitors.
Last week we posted a blog http://broodingcynyx.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-thinking-new-yorker-should-vote-for.html
that garnered an extremely rare and surprising amount of criticism. We do not filter negative comments nor do we
ignore negative e-mails or other contact.
We firmly believe our blog should be as interactive as possible and
encourage interaction with our readers.
That said we feel compelled to offer a few words of clarification given
the poor reaction that particular post received.
Our post was written as a New
Yorker who feels strongly that the looming Mayoral election is extremely
important for many reasons. Our top
concern is regarding whom the ultimate victor is, either Bill de Blasio or Joe Lhota
that their appointment of the person to serve as the next Commissioner of the
NYPD is the single most important decision the new Mayor will make and has, by
far, the most ramifications and repercussions across all strata of City life and
beyond.
As has been heavily reported
in the local media the differences between Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Lhota are as
polar opposite as can be in all the most important issues and challenges we
will face going forward. In what has become a largely apathetic, cynical
electorate those of us who do vote should be as well informed about the policy
platforms of these two men so we can make a thoughtful, measured and educated
decision. The New
York Times published a very concise head to head comparison of the two candidates
on their stances of topics from education to taxes.
The political definitions of Democrat
and Republican have changed in the last 20 years and those changes are not more
in evidence anywhere else in the country as they are in the Northeast and New
York City in particular. Cleary both
Rudi Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg would not be considered as “Republicans” anywhere
else. The same might be said of New
Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Giuliani
made his mark on our City as a “Republican” in fiscal and management issues
while disavowing most of his Party’s social and cultural imperatives. Bloomberg was the handpicked successor to
Giuliani and soon after his election he switched his Party affiliation from Republican
to Independent. Historically the
Democrats have been seen as Liberals with the Republicans as Conservative. However as the ever evolving political
landscape across the country amply illustrates even those definitions have been
subject to subdivisions, alterations and some malleability. Governing has become far too complex for the
black and white simplicity of such ideological divides.
WHY JOE LHOTA?
The Brooding Cynyx endorsement
of Republican Joe Lhota seemed to be the focus of the most consternation among
our audience. In our view as New Yorkers
we feel Mr. Lhota is more likely to keep lumbering ship that is NYC on a steady
course, a very similar course as has been plotted and navigated by Giuliani and
Bloomberg. We also view Mr. Lhota in a
more favorable light when it comes to matters of crime and policing.
As for Mr. de Blasio, since
the NYC Democrats have been out of City Hall since the Giuliani defeat of David
Dinkins 20 years ago, they appear to anticipate his victory and see Mr. de
Blasio as a kindred gate keeper who will allow them to flood back into
appointed positions and political prominence.
Mr. de Blasio has long been a vocal critic of the NYPD, an ardent
supporter of increasing citizen review boards the NYPD must answer to as well
as stating his intention to dismantle much of the policing infrastructure and
practical practices of the Ray Kelly tenure.
We feel that the old school Democrats de Blasio would surely build his
Administration with, true liberals of whom this City is a bastion, would not
serve us well. This is not an election to
take lightly.
Our position was at least
partially validated in today’s New York Daily News in a column written by Denis
Hamill. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-officers-suicides-lesson-new-mayor-article-1.1505191.
Clearly the unfortunate death of PO Robert Cedeno should not be exploited for
political purposes; Mr. Hamill mentions it only to call attention to and emphasize
the depths and scope of the challenges the next NYPD Commissioner will face. Our post we are addressing today was written
prior to the tragic death of PO Cedeno.
We respectfully wrote about PO Cedeno last Friday http://broodingcynyx.blogspot.com/2013/11/rest-in-peace-officer-cedeno.html
.
The Brooding Cynyx do not shy
away from criticism, actually we welcome all comments and opinions no matter
whether or not they comport with ours. Some
wrote us calling the post in question here a “liberal rant”. It was atypically removed from a group
Facebook page, a group that we have long supported and contributed to. We respect the rights of FB and web page administrators
and moderators to control the content on their sites. We did perceive some of the criticism as
harsh but, politics is almost always bound to incite passionate exchanges. We have said our piece. Now we will just have to wait for Tuesday night. Hopefully as many New Yorker’s as possible
will get out and vote. We will all live
with the consequences for the next four years.
Copyright The Brooding Cynyx 2013 © All Rights Reserved
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