Two candidates -Davila, Griffith- challenge 2 incumbents that supported the term limits extension

New York City voters voted twice to support limits of two terms for the offices of mayor and city councillor. Yet several city council members supported the extension of term limits.

If you oppose those councillor's votes, you can vote them out on Tuesday, November 3, 2009. Here are the councillors and their opponents, running on the Working Families Party line with that party's endorsement:
Diana Reyna (District 34, in eastern Williamsburg, Bushwick in Brooklyn and western Ridgewood in Queens) (Click here for the district boundaries.) --challenged by Working Families Party nominee Maritza Davila

Albert Vann or Al Vann (District 36, in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights in Brooklyn.) (Click here for the district boundaries.) --challenged by Working Families Party nominee Mark Winston Griffith

Davila is a former aide to Williamsburg political powerhouse State Assemblyman Vito Lopez. She is also a community organizer, having established the Northern Bushwick Residents’ Association. Here is a biographical sketch by Aaron Short in the BushwickBK blog.

Griffith is the executive director of the Drum Major Institute, and is currently on leave, during the campaign.
WWRL radio host and New York Daily News columnist Errol Louis has repeatedly criticized Al Vann for his chronic absenteeism from the city council. Vann ranked an inglorious second place in absenteeism from votes, "A City Council Scorecard: Who's Engaged and Who's Not?", by Gotham Gazette.
Griffith received the endorsement recently of Al Sharpton and the Daily News.
The New York Times spotlighted the Vann-Griffith contest with a recent piece by Kareem Fahim this weekend, "Once a Young Turk, Now Challenged by One."

To see the break-down of city council votes on the term limit extension law, click on this link to NY1's site, "How They Voted: Council Members Tackle Term Limit Bill".

So, even if you are dejected over the lack of even resources in the Mike Bloomberg-Bill Thompson race for mayor matchup, you can still express your voice, to support candidates that oppose certain Democrats that caved in to the mayor's heavy-handed strong-arming of community organizations, media outlets and ultimately the city council to win an extension of the term limits law.

Tony Avella and William Thompson assail Michael Bloomberg's record -Avella winning, I believe

City Councilor Tony Avella (19th CD, Whitestone/Bayside) and Comptroller William Thompson debated Wednesday night, in a debate of contenders for the Democratic nomination for mayor this November,
with the former winning, I believe.
Avella directly assailed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for kowtowing to run-away development. He also faulted fellow city councilors for voting themselves pay raises and for overturning the mayoral term-limits law.
Similarly, Avella is distinguished from Bloomberg and Thompson by being less connected with the real estate and finance interests in the city.
Avella

“I made a decision early on in this campaign that if we were going to win, it was going to be for the right reasons. I’m not selling my soul to raise huge amounts of money. I’m not dialing for dollars, which every campaign consultant tells you you have to do. I’m not taking money from the big real estate industry firms, like my opponent is. And I gotta tell you, what I just heard, I can’t believe what I just heard, that he's got a real, that he's raising, my opponent is raising money on a real grassroots effort. If that were true, why did he only just now qualify for matching funds? The truth is, my opponent is getting huge amounts of money from Wall Street, from the money managers of the pensions he supervises, from the real estate developers. His is not a real grassroots campaign. Yes, I haven't raised the amount of money that he has. ... The fact that he said he's got a grassroots campaign, I'm absolutely shocked that he actually said that."

Here is a favorably assessment of Avella's views, at Daily Kos:

In the article about Avella, the Mayoral candidate called the current Mayor: "one of the biggest threats to democracy that this city, and perhaps this country, has ever faced". By that he meant the amount of money the Mayor is capable of spending, not just on his own campaign, but on the campaigns of New York State Senators or Assemblypersons who support his views in return for his support. The Sponsor of the Bill that the State Senate passed yesterday, re-affirming Mayoral control of schools, had his campaign financed largely by contributions from Bloomberg. Avella made this statement at a fund raiser for him in the East Village. I know this, because I attended it. As I left, I said hello to the candidate. I mentioned the overdevelopment that, in spite of the financial slow down, is still rampant in the city, and particularly that is happening in my neighborhood on the Upper West Side. To my surprise, rather than just agreeing with me, Avella went into thr subject further, telling me that Bloomberg wants to eliminate the small amount of power to put some reasonable limits on these developments that the Community Boards still maintain. He also told me that one of the reasons Bloomberg wants to cut the funds to the Public Advocate's Office is to have greater control over land use. He might have elaborated further, but others were waiting to say hello, however in the short time I spoke with him, I was impressed by his ability to discuss this issue in detail. I left the benefit and walked out into the night air, hoping that Avella could get his message out in the next six weeks, the six weeks that will lead up to the Democratic Primary in which he faces William Thompson (September 15).

A poster, JW, at Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), identified Avella and the "leading man" for mayor:

Avella as "leading" man
After Tony Avella's statements at the Working Families Party forum a couple of weeks ago, progressive educators seem to be backing his run for mayor.

"I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT A FAN OF CHARTER SCHOOLS."

You can't get much clearer than that.

Avella will first have to topple Bill Thompson in the Democratic primary, and that will take some doing. In the meantime, Thompson's been putting on some new coats. He certainly wasn't asking to fire Joel Klein before Avella said it at the WFP forum.

The Avella campaign is letting people know that their man was on NY1 bashing the rubber rooms, no-bid contracts, and the atmosphere of intimidation at the DoE. Video will be available online tomorrow.
{{Correction: Here is video on Avella on education in New York.}}

They've also put a new page on Facebook: Educators for Avella.

Tony Avella is forging the correct agenda on education.

Bill Thompson is real "Old School" when it comes to teaching kids, and he's now just playing catch up.

***BOTH THOMPSON AND AVELLA HAVE ASSAILED BLOOMBERG'S LAISSEZ FAIRE (HANDS OFF) POLICY ON THE SWINE FLU IN THE CITY'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS***
Click Here for Comptroller Thompson's open letter opposing the policy.

Click Here for Councilor Avella's open letter opposing the policy.

Admittedly, Thompson is comfortably ahead, with the Working Families Party endorsement already. He has also received the endorsement of Queens Congressman Antony Weiner, who dropped out of the race in May. (Avella received the endorsement of the League of Humane Voters.
Here is a video at NYC Public School Parents' blog, of Avella opposing charter schools. Avella properly asks, "Why not fix the failing schools?"

Where does Working Families Party on transit hikes?

Monday, March 23, 2009
Where Does the Working Families Party Stand on MTA Rescue?
by Ben Fried

Millions of New York City bus riders are counting on an MTA rescue plan to maintain service and hold fares down.
Last week, some of the biggest unions in New York came out in favor of the Ravitch Commission's MTA rescue plan, including the bridge tolls that a handful of state senators refuse to support. So, what is the stance of the Working Families Party, which is closely aligned with labor? Founded in 1998, the WFP is a growing force in city and state politics. Its endorsement, and the ballot line that comes with it, has become a sought-after electoral commodity. In the current round of state budget talks, the party is widely credited for advancing higher taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, now viewed as all but inevitable.

A plan to save transit service and spare New Yorkers the burden of drastically higher fares would seem to match the Working Families Party agenda perfectly. The party has a public transportation plank, and has touted a halt the hike website in tandem with the Straphangers Campaign when higher fares loom. The car commuters who would pay bridge tolls earn far more, on average, than the transit riding majority. But on the question of the Ravitch Plan, the party has been mum in public.

"We haven’t taken a pro position on the Ravitch Plan itself," said WFP spokesman Dan Levitan. "We haven’t had the bandwidth to do a public campaign around this, since we've been fighting so hard on the general budget. We've been trying to defend the Silver/Paterson [transit funding] compromise in the Senate."

In the last election, three of the key players in the Senate hold-out were endorsed by the party: Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, Fare Hike Four member Hiram Monserrate (indicted on six counts today for assaulting his girlfriend), and Kevin Parker, a bridge toll opponent whose Brooklyn constituents face a slew of service cuts [PDF]. Will the Working Families Party ballot line still be available to these legislators if doomsday comes to pass?