October 26, 2005
I must do the NY Times' bidding
The City Council race in district 5 of NYC, my home district, is one of around four semi-competitive races in the 5 boroughs. The Republican running is Joel Zinberg, a man so overqualified that it boggles the mind that he'd waste his time on such an uphill race. He's both a doctor and a lawyer and generally just a nice guy. He also received something that few Republicans ever do- the endorsement of the NY Times.
Now, there's some speculation as to why he received the endorsement. The last time a Republican ran for this seat, on a rainy, freezing election day a few years back, Jennifer Arangio got something like 16% of the vote. The Times knows they're not going to make or break this election so why not throw out a token Republican endorsement. Now, again, Joel is super-qualified but we're talking about the Times here-- that kind of thing just doesn't matter when there's an (R) after his name.
His opponent is a pleasant enough young lady, Jessica Lappin. Her major flaw is that she was on Gifford 'the annoying boy-man' Miller's staff. She also campaigns outside the Victoria's Secret on E.86th Street a lot, which I guess is less weird for her than if she was a man, but odd nevertheless. I've shaken her hand half a dozen times on my way home from the subway and now I've got this semi-evil impulse to tell her that I was going to vote for her but that I do whatever the NY Times tells me to do and I'm going to have to go for Joel.
Posted by Karol at October 26, 2005 10:08 AM | TrackBackTechnorati Tags: New+York+City+Council+Race+District+5 Jessica+Lappin Joel+Zinberg
Why is this a suprise ? The NY Times often endorsed Republicans on the Upper East Side (Eristoff, Ravitz, Goodman). Indeed, while not endorsing him, the NY Times was gushing over Log Cabinite Patrick Murphy. In the endorsement, the NY Times is gushing over Dr. Zinberg's resume. He went to Yale ! He is at Mt. Sinai ! We need more political leaders from outside politics and law !
The NY Times needs to throw an occasional bone to the Republicans. Why not a pro-abortion one(and based on his website, sadly, he celebrates Roe vs. Wade) ?
Posted by: Von Bek at October 26, 2005 10:38 AMKarol, I've worked on Joel's campaign this year and I think he's got a good shot to win this open seat, especially with the NYT endorsement. Bloomberg, who endorsed Joel (and is pictured with Joel in the campaign literature), is likely to win the district with 65-70% and the district did elect a Republican, Charles Millard, in the 1990's. Joel's also a good guy with a lot of real world experience and he would make a great councilman.
Posted by: bobm at October 26, 2005 10:39 AMBob, Obviously I hope you're right but I can't say that I'm too optimistic. He'd make a great Councilman, no doubt about it, I just think the demographics are against him.
Posted by: Karol at October 26, 2005 10:53 AMAnd the new York times endorsed Bloomberg, who, last time i checked, has an (R) next to his name.
Posted by: Not Dawn Summers at October 26, 2005 10:59 AMAgain, the Times only endorses Republicans when it really doesn't matter. Bloomberg is going to win, by a lot.
Posted by: Karol at October 26, 2005 11:04 AMSo THAT's where it went?!!? Bloomberg's got the Joe-mentum!
Posted by: Not Dawn Summers at October 26, 2005 11:08 AMHuh?
Posted by: Karol at October 26, 2005 11:16 AMThe Times endorsed Gail Hilson, Republican candidate for the 73rd assembly district on the East Side in an open seat race against Jonathan Bing in 2002. Gail didn't win, but she did get about 48%, so I think the Times endorsement matters quite a bit. In Joel's case, although the 5th council district isn't quite as Republican as the 73rd, he's going to be helped a lot more than Gail was by the top of the ticket. Obviously, we'll see what happens.
Posted by: bobm at October 26, 2005 11:16 AMI think the endorsement comes from the angle of medical reform. If we look back to, what was it, three or four weeks ago, the NY Times ran a two-parter on the waste in medicare and the desperate need of reform. This is Zinberg's trump card to his campaign. And like Bloomberg, he's not really a true conservative republican. He became one two years ago because he saw the effectiveness of the last two mayors who were socially liberal, but didn't want to steal all our money in their taxing pet projects.
Posted by: Daniel at October 28, 2005 12:38 AM
