City of Smoke » Smoke-Filled Rooms

Campaign Lit, Part 1

William Bryk — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:22:58 +0000

The use of the word “literature” to describe the campaign fliers and pamphlets that fill our mailboxes at this time of year has always intrigued me. Usually, the stuff reminds me of Talleyrand’s observation that language exists to conceal truth. Sometimes, though, the truth will out. Today’s example is a mail piece from the affable Bob Capano, a lawyer, long-time political appointee, adjunct professor, and genuinely nice guy who is presently the Republican candidate for the local City Council seat against the incumbent, who is a Democrat. Like most local Republicans, Mr. Capano strongly supports the re-election of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Mr. Capano’s literature complains that local residents are Read More

Requiescat L.D. Knox

William Bryk — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:13:23 +0000

On May 29, 2009, The New York Times published the obituary of L. D. "None of the Above" Knox, 80, a farmer and politician from Winnsboro, Louisiana who had crusaded for over forty years to make "None of the Above" an option on the Pelican State's ballots. In 1979, he went so far as to make "None of the Above" his additional middle name and used it thereafter whenever he ran for office. Read More

Just Say “NOTA”

William Bryk — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:11:01 +0000

From New York Press, Janury 21, 2004 One of my New Year's resolutions was to throw out the old papers piled up on my desk. I'm not a pack rat like the Bronx guy who spent two days trapped in his apartment under an avalanche of his own magazines and newspapers, but I've a weakness for letting interesting documents accumulate. So, late on the afternoon of January 1, 2004, I went to work. One thing I turned up was the New York City Campaign Finance Board's Voter Guide for the General Election of

Another Last Hurrah?

William Bryk — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:25:25 +0000

As becomes a citizen, I have occasionally run for public office. As Edouard Herriot, four times Prime Minister under the Third Republic, said whenever he was running for anything, from conseilleur municipal to President de la Republique, "I have placed myself at the disposal of my friends and the Read More

How I Got Out of Politics

William Bryk — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:42:16 +0000

Eleven percent of all eligible New Yorkers voted on Tuesday, November 2, 1999. I was among them. I was also among a smaller minority. I was a candidate myself---for Richmond County district attorney on the Right to Life ticket. How did an Irish Catholic regular Democrat come to this? Read More

McCain and Me

William Bryk — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 02:51:55 +0000

John S. McCain won the New Hampshire Republican Presidential primary on February 1, 2000. No one reported the result of the Republican vice-presidential primary. Even the victor didn't know the results for a week, until he checked the web site of the New Hampshire Secretary of State on Tuesday Read More

Mayoral Election Digest: The End of Ideology

William Bryk — Tue, 04 Dec 2001 12:31:51 +0000

The revolutionary left did not contest this year's municipal elections. The Communist, Socialist, Socialist Labor, and Socialist Workers tickets were not on the ballot. Somehow the ballot seemed incomplete without the SWP's striking emblem: a lightning bolt shattering the chains of capitalism Read More