Friday, October 21, 2011

Carrión attempting a city comeback?


One last story from this week's paper. This one on the possibility of former borough president Adolfo Carrión running for city comptroller. Check out Bob Kappstatter's Daily News column to read about how he's heard Carrión may decide to run for his former BP post instead. 

By Brendan McHugh 

After mediocre success on the federal level, it is possible that former Bronx Borough president Adolfo Carrión Jr. could come back to New York to run for city comptroller, which would make him the first Latino to hold a citywide office in New York City.

Carrión has $2.3 million in a campaign account, most of it left over from an abandoned run for comptroller in 2009, according to New York City Campaign finance records.

Carrión was instead tapped to run the White House Office of Urban Affairs in 2009, and left a year later to run the regional office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a move some consider to be a lateral career move at best—current Public Advocate, Bill de Blasio, had the HUD position under President Bill Clinton before taking citywide office.

The funds the former borough president has amassed put him in good position to run for comptroller, which caps candidates’ total funds at slightly over $4 million.

Jump below for the full story.

The other names most mentioned to run for the office, according to CityHallNews.com, are East Side Councilmember Dan Garodnick and City Council Finance Committee Chairman Domenic M. Recchia Jr. Garodnick has raised about $731,000 so far, Recchia has raised $204,000, and neither of them have declared an intention to run.

The current comptroller, John Liu, is widely believed to be interested in running for mayor in 2013.

“2013 is a long way away, but I am certainly exploring all of my options,” Garodnick told the newspaper.

Carrión has been putting in public appearances both in the Bronx and around the city. This past Saturday he was the keynote speaker at state Sen. Jeff Klein’s brunch honoring Hispanic leaders, and he’s made rounds in other political and business get-togethers.

When Carrión left for the White House, he left many of his close allies in the dust, which may cause a rocky campaign if he indeed goes forth with it. So far, none of the possible candidates have declared their intention to run for office.

Also, no Latino candidate has declared his or her intention to run for any of the three citywide races – mayor, comptroller, or public advocate.

At the beginning of his term, many people believed current Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr. might make a run for mayor in 2013. However, after an arduous run with the Kingsbridge Armory and the living wage issue, political strategists say he would be better off waiting for a different time for multiple reasons.

First and foremost is his age; Diaz is only 38 years old and can afford to sit back and wait for the right time. Also, if the living wage bill eventually passes—City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has yet to even allow a vote on it, though there is a public hearing scheduled for November—and it is successful, Diaz could ride that success to City Hall.

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