This Sept. 10, voters in the New York Democratic Party primary will get a chance to nominate the most radical mayoral candidate since Fiorello La Guardia.
Will they do it? Or will they just hold their noses - once again - and nominate another errand boy (or girl) from the same corporate establishment that has been squeezing New York dry for the past 60 years?
Why do Democratic voters keep doing that? "Because we want someone who can win," they say. But it seems to escape them that the "someone who can win" is the someone that most people will vote for. And "most people," in New York City, means Democrats (they outnumber Republicans by 6 to 1).
In other words, it's a good bet that whoever gets the Democratic nomination ... will be the next mayor of New York. What does that mean for HUFFINGTON POST readers?
Well, if you live in New York City, you're probably a registered Democrat (no matter how ashamed you may be of the Democratic Party). So why not nominate someone who actually believes in what HUFFINGTON POST readers are supposed to believe in?
Now here is my blatantly shameless pitch for your vote.
In every election, politicians always say, "Your vote can make a difference." This is said even when it is clearly untrue. But this time it's different. As a HUFFINGTON POST reader, your vote in the New York City Democratic primary really can make a difference.
How? Consider this. The number of HUFFINGTON POST readers in New York City (my estimate) is about 350,000. That's almost exactly the same number who voted in the 2009 Democratic primary. So given that none of the candidates is currently polling over 30%, if even a quarter of HUFFINGTON POST's New York readers vote for me - well, do the math. I'd win in a walk.
That's the same argument I'm making to readers of The Nation Magazine. My campaign ad will be in the September 16 issue (delivered around September 8 or 9). I'm paying for that ad myself, with the last few dollars in my laughably minuscule campaign chest. What choice do I have - if I want to be heard? Because the corporate media - from the Post and Daily News to the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX - won't cover my campaign. They won't even list my name as an official candidate, even though I have been duly certified by the Board of Elections and will have my own ballot line in the September 10 Democratic Party primary - thanks to nearly 20,000 registered Democrats who signed petitions demanding that I be placed on the ballot.
How does the media justify making me invisible? They say it's because my poll numbers are low. But my poll numbers are low precisely because the media won't cover my campaign.
But it's no surprise the media wants me to disappear. As a HUFFINGTON POST reader, you can probably guess the reason. Two of the major planks in my platform are (1) ending "sweetheart" giveaways to the real estate industry, and (2) imposing a ½% sales tax on Wall Street stock transactions. And since media boards of directors are chock full of real estate moguls and Wall Street CEOs, their editors quickly got the message: "Make Credico invisible."
And they almost did. Almost - because I am not invisible to the thousands who cheer my appearances at churches, school events, subway stops, memorials for Black kids shot by untouchable cops, and political rallies all over the city - not just in Manhattan - but in Brooklyn, in Queens, and in the Bronx projects, where my Democratic rivals do not go.
My ½% sales tax on Wall Street stock transactions - a mere flea bite - would raise $60 billion a year, doubling New York City revenue. Is such a tax fair? Very fair - after all, you pay sales tax on what you buy. Why shouldn't Wall Street speculators pay sales tax on what they buy?
As mayor, I would use that extra $60 billion to fund an FDR-style Jobs Program to put the city's 1 million unemployed back to work ... pass a Living Wage Law ... raise the minimum wage to $12.50 ... end Stop and Frisk immediately (not "maybe" or "I'll look into it," as Quinn and De Blasio promise) ... make college free for every high school grad (as New York used to do) ... protect every New Yorker with free single-payer health insurance, the way London, Paris, Rome, Berlin and every major city in the world protect the health of their citizens ... stop the closing of neighborhood hospitals, libraries and schools ... make bus and subway fares free (which would boost retail traffic and raise city revenue even further) ... and finally (I'm really looking forward to this) demand jail time for the crooked bankers at Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, HSBC and others who laundered drug money, funded terrorists, stole billions from New Yorkers, and wrecked the US economy.
Let's kick-start this city back to life!
For more information about my campaign please go to my website
