Bill DeBlasio: He Is Not Your Neighborhood Politician

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(photo credit: creepysleepy on flick)

Why is Bill deBlasio Helping Hillary In Iowa

While Carroll Gardens Is Still Waiting For Answers?

Back in 1999, when Bill deBlasio wanted to beef up his neighborhood credentials before running for City Council, he served on the Board of Education's District 15 School Board here in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, he was a bit distracted while he served in this position. So distracted in fact that he did not pay attention to the pleas of a group of parents from P.S. 58 to look into the excessive spending of District 15's Superintendent Frank DeStefano. I was one of those parents. Bill DeBlasio doggedly supported DeStefano, refusing to question the district's spending and to investigate the many budget irregularities.

After the Press exposed the District's more than $1 Million Dollar deficit, a direct result of DeStefano' expensive junkets, the Superintendent was finally sacked by the Board Of Education. By that time, the school children in the district had lost out big time. Programs had been cut, including a popular after-school reading program, because the district office was reshuffling money to cover their budget holes.
How could Bill DeBlasio have missed all the warning signs though he had been warned? The answer is very simple: while he sat on the School Board, he was Hillary Clinton's Campaign Manager for her New York State Senatorial Race. During that time, Bill was simply absent, busy with Hillary, busy with making a name for himself and most importantly busy with setting the stage for his own campaign for City Council a year later.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Bill DeBlasio let parents of District 15 down big time by showing up late and by taking telephone calls from Hillary instead of paying attention at meetings. It explains his continued support for DeStefano while the press was investigating and exposing his wrongdoings.
(Just five year later deStefano was booted out of Baltimore's School System after similar shenanigans)

As we all know, Bill DeBlasio went on to win the 39th District Council Seat. His performance as representative of the community has been lackluster at best. All one has to do is to check some of the comments left on neighborhood chat rooms and neighborhood blogs. His constituents are fed up with him.
Bill DeBlasio does not follow through on issues, runs a dysfunctional office and has been on the wrong side of more than a few issues. If you don't agree, just try to get someone from his Brooklyn office to return a call, or try to get some information from his assistants. I guarantee you won't get anywhere. Bill DeBlasio has been absent once again from the community that elected him.

And now news that Bill was campaigning for Hillary Clinton in Iowa last week. We should not be surprised. Four years ago, he was working on Edwards' campaign. While Carroll Gardeners are still trying to get the Councilman's help in down-zoning their neighborhood and in fighting off rogue architect Robert Scarano, deBlasio is dealing with national issues.
Good for him, but bad for his local constituents. But then, Bill did not become our Councilman because he cared about local issues. Rather, he used our district as a stepping stone to further his own political career, the same way that he used our school board and our children to get elected to City Council.
Bill deBlasio is slick: a great politician but a miserable representative. By that I mean that he will stop at nothing to claw his way to the top of the political ladder. However, he forgets that political office comes with responsibility. It is about time that we demand to be represented by a man who promised to be our advocate as well as our voice, a role he can hardly perform if he is in Iowa, working on Hillary Clinton's campaign as well as on his own campaign for Borough President.Let's make sure to let the rest of Brooklyn know that Bill has not lived up to his promises in the 39th Council District. Because it is not enough to be able to play the political game. It is more important to represent...and represent well. Something that Bill deBlasio has yet to learn.

Related Reading:
From The New York Observer, December 2007
Bill De Blasio back in Iowa

From the Village Voice, September 2001
The Park Slope Scramble:

Is the 39th CD DeBlasio's to loose?
From New York Times, 2000
Brooklyn School District Exceeded Spending Caps for Conferences, Audit Says


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