14 Comments

The inability of the DSA electoral machine to do anything but endorse two winning candidates while having candidates who are members win irregardless of their electoral machinery, the dominance of their "electoral machine" being tied in with WFP, and their national political leadership within the city voting against infrastructure - which will be held to their neck like a knife from here on out by constituencies deeply attached to infrastructure spending - while basically attaching themselves to Israeli defense spending is more reflective of "a Party" in crisis in its ability to be anything that the loyal opposition within WFP and alienated completely from long lasting social bases that keep turning them to power.

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The old time machines did more for constituents than DSA ever will do.

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Who is this Ross Barkan character ? Oh Vicki went to a party and had fun ! What a scandal ! Libs really are losers who are always miserable and angry

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DSA equals anti Semitic losers laughed at by the rest of the country

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Last I checked Republicans got stomped in the city and were the ones wearing "Camp Auschiwtz" shirts to the capitol insurrection

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I notice the writer takes pot shots at gop

The gop is the only hope against anarchy in nyc

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You mean the guys with a cult like devotion to that orange Hole from Jamaica Estates and had a rally in Dallas because "JFKjr" was coming back, riiiiiggghht

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lol shut up

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Dianne Morales supporters aka far left people online that call themselves the dianneverse, hate Ross.

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build more housing. vacancy rates are low, inflation is back after years of absence. we can't keep building 4 homes for every 13 people that move to the city or whatever. jobs boom, tax income boom, rent growth amelioration, all good. build more housing

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Stop building luxury housing. Use vacant office space, use vacant apartment space in LIC, stop having parents throw their kids out at 18. Build some more housing in Manhattan, but don't upzone the whole city and suburbs.

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Ross, ah, if only the City Council was a legislative body. Aside from the Thursday “Standing” meeting, council members set their own schedule, community office hours, community events, maybe a committee meeting, or two or three …. What’s missing is the work of legislative bodies. Albany controls all the “important stuff” and the Speaker controls your political life.

In whatever the equivalent of the “smoke filled” room twenty-six council members will support a candidate for Speaker, in exchange for committee chairmanships, committee assignments, office locations at 250 Broadway and in the community, budgets for staff, location of community offices, etc.,

The Speaker is the gatekeeper, nothing gets to the floor without the Speaker, is your committee at a back room in 250 Broadway or the Council chamber? What time is it scheduled? Committee meetings discuss “oversight,” an opportunity for “ink,” and opportunity for your name in lights, an opportunity to challenge the mayor, without aggravating him too much. Piss off the Speaker and your committee meeting is scheduled to be in a closet at 8 am.

Community offices are usually understaffed and frequently with knowledge-less staffers, getting to actually meet with a member is difficult, the staffer is usually as far as you get. How do you increase twitter followers? Build a social media presence, and maybe, just maybe, get in front of the camera in prime time. Meeting face-to-face with community members may be far down the list.

The Mayor and the Speaker run the show.

With the Republican resurgence and all the Albany electeds on the ballot I suspect a retreat to the right. Heastie and Cousins will step carefully, is Zeldin another Pataki?

The DSA may have seen their times and the voter rejection of the DSA primary winner, election loser in Buffalo may presage the next round of elections.

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Voters rejected India Walton because they are stupid and easily manipulated swine, but it’s important to keep in mind that the vaunted Black and Latino constituencies that mainstream Democrats love to put on a pedestal voted for her over Brown. Dismiss DSA candidates at your own peril.

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The black and latino vote can be just as much of a swing vote as any other voter. Dismiss the concerns of blacks and latinos at your own peril.

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