John Liu and the Bronx

He’s not an official candidate yet, but on Feb. 1 Comptroller John Liu joked, while sipping soup at the Tibbett Diner in Kingsbridge, that his intentions are no secret.

It’s also no secret he’s looking to the outer boroughs to catapult him into becoming the next mayor. When Mr. Liu ran for comptroller from his council seat in 2009, he pulled out a victory in the four-way Democratic primary with a big win not only in his home borough of Queens, but also in the Bronx.

 He lost Manhattan to David Yassky by a significant margin and enjoyed small victories in Brooklyn and Staten Island.

As Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said to the Ben Franklin Reform Democratic Club a few weeks ago, the Bronx is going to have a major say in who becomes the next mayor. 

When asked what he would do differently than Mayor Michael Bloomberg, particularly in terms of the Bronx, Mr. Liu stressed economic development.

“I’d have a totally different tack on economic development,” he said. “I think we have to reduce the amount of incentives, tax breaks, that go to major corporations and focus on small businesses instead.”

He said too many companies have received major tax breaks without creating promised jobs and the city can be blamed for a lack of oversight in that area.

“Not only did they not create the jobs, but the city did not even bother to check in to see how they were doing with the job creation.” 

He called out Mr. Bloomberg for the city’s history of wasteful spending “of billions of dollars on economic development dollars that are going to cronies and fellow billionaires.”

He has been outspoken of the controversial Fresh Direct headquarters relocation from Queens to the Bronx because of the millions of dollars in subsidies it received. He said the city should focus on tax breaks or incentives for small businesses because they are more likely to invest the extra money than to pocket it. 

After sitting down with The Riverdale Press, Mr. Liu talked with some local diners. Though the restaurant goers seemed happy to encounter a familiar face from the news inside their local diner, after he left, a few of them said they were unsure of voting for him because of allegations that his campaigns broke the law by using straw donors. A former campaign treasurer and a fundraiser are about to go on trial for breaking campaign finance laws.

“All this stuff has taken me tremendously by surprise,” he said, adding that he doesn’t take contributions from anyone doing business with the city or contributions from Wall Street.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “The more information that will come out inevitably during this trial, I think it will be better for myself and my campaign and for the public at large.”

 Mr. Liu said he has just about wrapped up fundraising for his upcoming campaign, which he said was a testament to how many people have continued to support him despite the controversy.

“I think I have a very clear shot at it,” he said.

Giving cash back

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.’s campaign committee, People for Diaz, returned $63,690 in contributions in December and January after Mr. Diaz decided to not run for a citywide position. Because campaign finance limits vary depending on the office being sought, Mr. Diaz had to return portions of contributions in excess of the amount allowed for a borough president bid. Mr. Diaz announced on Nov. 20 that he would not run for public advocate and within a few weeks, he returned the contributions.

The give back didn’t hurt his war chest all that much, though. He’s sitting on $406,094, according to the latest filing in January. That’s a pretty big sum, especially given the fact that he’s not going to have to spend all that much in his re-election campaign. He doesn’t even have a challenger.

Though he hasn’t been too specific about his decision not to run for public advocate, it could be that he figures he is best positioned to win a mayoral race from the borough president’s office, not that of public advocate.

Klein’s Jobs for Heroes

Co-Majority Leader Jeff Klein introduced legislation that will give a tax credit to businesses hiring young returning veterans.

The bill will allow private companies to claim tax credits if they hire veterans who were discharged after 9/11. The bill is dubbed Jobs for Heroes.

“With this bill, we’re tackling two major issues head-on. Not only are we incentivizing job creation, but we’re also putting our returning soldiers at the front of the employment line.” Jobs for Heroes marks a culmination of work on veteran employment issues for Sen. Klein, including hosting a veterans’ job fair and holding “Thought Raisers,” small roundtable discussions comprising veterans, veterans’ groups and business leaders,” Mr. Klein said in a press release.

Engel talks child labor

Rep. Eliot Engel will speak at Manhattan College on Monday, Feb. 11 in honor of the college’s one-year anniversary as the first college in the city to achieve Fair Trade College status. Mr. Engel will speak about the Harkin-Engel Protocol, which was established in 2001 with Sen. Tom Harkin to eliminate child and adult forced labor in the cocoa bean industry.

The event will take place at Manhattan College’s Hayden Hall, room 100, at 11:15 a.m.