Bronx DA Johnson wins election...against no one

Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson had the Democratic, Republican and Conservative line, and was running completely unopposed, so the only thing we learned yesterday was how many people either came out to vote to keep a perfect voting record or had no idea who was running for what and just showed up anyways.

Scroll down to the fourth page to find the Bronx DA race, and you'll see that 20,358 people (unofficially) cast their vote for the only dog in the race.
The breakdown by which party line they voted on has 17,535 people (86.13%) voting for him on the Democratic line, 2,065 (10.14%) went Republican and 758 (3.72%) voters chose the Conservative Robert Johnson.

Well, that was an exciting race. We'll post something about the race for NYC mayor later today. That hopes to be a bit more exciting.


NYC 2011 Unofficial Election Results

News that's not news: Rudy Giuliani isn't running for President

In all the hype over New Jersey Governor Chris Christie endorsing Mitt Romney as the GOP presidential candidate, America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, has announced today that he is, just like Christie, not running for president.

Not America's President, at least this time around.

Politico reports that Giuliani, a Manhattan College alum, made the announcement at a Long Island Association event.

Asked by the group's president Kevin Law about reports that he had sent messages to New Hampshire supporters to keep their powder dry, Giuliani joked that they must have gone missing, according to one attendee.

And he added definitively, "If it's too late for Chris Christie, it's too late for me."

Giuliani had entertained the prospect of another presidential bid after his failed attempt last election. At the Manhattan College 9/11 remembrance event, we asked him if he'd like to make it official to us, but he just laughed and said he wasn't ready to jump into the race yet. But what little buzz he generated died when Texas Gov. Rick Perry joined the race. Perry was the only sitting governor to endorse Giuliani four years ago, and a handful of the former mayor’s aides and supporters are backing the Texas governor this year.

Rivera Confirms Candidacy, Again

We have a new report that City Councilman Joel Rivera is, indeed, going to be a candidate in the upcoming special election, this time from Gotham Gazette, which reports:

Councilmember Joel Rivera said yesterday “his shoes are on,” and he is ready to announce his candidacy as soon as current Bronx Prez Adolfo Carrion steps down formally, which, the young Rivera added, is scheduled for Sunday.

Rivera had previously confirmed to us that he'd be in the race, though there had been some "will he or won't he" noise in political circles over the past week.

--John DeSio

And Just For The Record...

...both Assemblyman Ruben Diaz and City Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera confirmed that they will be running in the special election, though that should come as no surprise.

Game on.

--John DeSio

Israel Ruiz Considering A SpecElec Run

One thing we’ve been doing around the office is tracking down the wide array of different potential candidates who have mentioned, at one time or another, that they might consider pursuing the borough presidency (with two confirmed, of course).

One such candidate is former State Senator and City Councilman Israel Ruiz, who told me on Friday that he was also interested in jumping into the special election.

“I’m exploring,” said Ruiz, who recently sent out a mailing looking for campaign contributions to former contributors.

Ruiz said that nothing is final, and that he is also considering a run for borough president or for City Council in the 14th District against incumbent Maria Baez.

Ruiz held that council seat until 1997, when he ran for borough president against Fernando Ferrer.

(Though, to be fair, Ruiz did not seek out a Ferrer contest. When Ruiz announced for borough president, Ferrer was planning a run for mayor against Rudy Giuliani. When Ferrer opted out of the mayoral race, Ruiz stayed in the beep race rather than finagle his way back to the City Council. Obviously, Ferrer won, and Ruiz’s former seat was filled by Adolfo Carrion.)

Ruiz was unsuccessful in 2001 and 2003 races against Baez for the seat. Ruiz also ran for his former State Senate seat in 2006 against Efrain Gonzalez Jr, a seat he had held until 1989, when he was convicted of lying on a loan application. Upon his release from jail, Ruiz was victorious in the City Council race.

Ruiz said he’s spoken about his potential return to a number of people, and all the response he has gotten is positive.

“People are saying they’d like to have a discussion about who should be the next borough president, and they want me to be a part of that discussion,” said Ruiz. “The Bronx is really hurting, and we have to come up with solutions.”

--John DeSio

Welcome To The Thunderdome

The Bronx is in a very unique political situation right now.

With this week’s announcement that Adolfo Carrion would officially be heading to Washington as President Barack Obama’s director of urban affairs, the Bronx now faces the first borough wide special election for the seat of Bronx Borough President in its history, and possibly the first borough wide special election in the history of the City (we're still checking).

With that in mind, we here at the Bronx Press Review/Riverdale Review understand there will be a hunger for news about this race and it's associated consequences. To fill that need, John DeSio and Candice M. Giove will be providing daily updates about the race, covering all aspects of the contest from the important to the minutia.

Stay tuned.