Longtime Cuomo outlet Fred Dicker of the New York Post quotes a one-time Giuliani aide, questioning Mark Green’s ad claim that he took on mob influence in trash-hauling while he was the NYC public advocate.
Eleven clips from Newsday and others seem to support Green (see his backup after the jump...). And, in case there were any doubts about the fingerprints on this story, Cuomo is now peddling quotes from Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, a Cuomo backer, questioning Green’s ad.
What does the mayor of Albany know about NYC trash hauling? Isn’t that kind of a reach?
In the meantime, our man Fred is busy pushing the Cuomo line on another front as well. He’s the latest to pick up on Mario Cuomo’s call for Tom Suozzi to leave the gubernatorial race, which has coincided with Eliot Spitzer saying a couple of nice things about Andrew.
Maybe the Cuomo clan should have a little sympathy for Suozzi’s political indecision.
After all, Andrew didn’t pull out of his 2002 challenge to McCall until September. And the former Hamlet-on-the-Hudson himself, as we recall, took his sweet time equivocating about whether to run for president back in the day.....
Here's the Green backup::
"[A] synopsis of Green's undisputed record. He helped kill the mob-controlled private carting industry that was gouging city businesses at a half-billion-a-year cost, enacted a bill to bar gender-based retail pricing, forced the state to regulate dry-cleaner toxins, successfully sued the Giuliani administration for police misconduct data, and issued hundreds of news breaking reports that did everything from rate HMOs to count the uninsured." (THE VILLAGE VOICE: 9/2/05)
"During the eight-year reign of Gotbaum's flamboyant predecessor, Mark Green, the public advocate held big press conferences, churned out reports on racial discrimination in bank fees, drafted legislation to end mob control in the carting industry, and sued Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and his police commissioner to get information about racial profiling." (NEWSDAY (8/29/05))
“He didn't have Giuliani's schooling in the ways of organized crime when, as Consumer Affairs commissioner under Dinkins, he launched the city's first attack on mob control of the private carting industry after recognizing that citizens were paying far higher prices than necessary.” (THE VILLAGE VOICE 9/11/01)
"As the city's No. 2 official, Green teamed with Mayor Giuliani to break organized crime's hold over the private carting industry." (THE DAILY NEWS, 10/7/01)
“[Green] did as much as anyone to de-cartelize the local carting industry.” (NEW YORK MAGAZINE 5/7/01)
"Mr. Green has an impressive record as a city official, particularly in his fights against the tobacco lobby and mob influence in the carting industry. He has run an aggressive but fair campaign, and if he fails to win he will undoubtedly still have an important political future in the city." (NEW YORK TIMES 9/6/98)
"Mayoral chief of staff Randy Mastro argued that the city's crackdown had already prompted healthy new competition. As evidence, he cited recent moves by national firms to purchase two local commercial carting firms… ‘We are committed to insuring an honest industry,’ Mastro said of the city oversight and licensing plan proposed by Mayor Giuliani and Public Advocate Mark Green." (DAILY NEWS 3/5/96)
"The garbage districts, proposed by then-Consumer Affairs Commissioner Mark Green, were among a series of reforms introduced last week by Mayor Giuliani." (DAILY NEWS 12/4/95)
“Public Advocate Mark Green, who proposed a version of the plan in 1991, said the changes would foster competition and cut carting costs. Green estimated that a McDonald's franchise's average $ 36,000-a-year bill could be cut by $ 11,000. The $ 15,000 annual tab for an average grocery could be reduced by $ 4,500, he predicted.” (DAILY NEWS 12/1/1995)
“Yesterday the city's political and law enforcement leaders joined to call for a new commission that would regulate and license the city's carters. It was a good and rare day for New York, in which Mayor Rudolph Giuliani showed an unusual willingness to share the podium with political rivals like Public Advocate Mark Green and City Council Speaker Peter Vallone. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau was another welcome participant, expressing an uncharacteristic willingness to share some of his turf… Mr. Green deserves special praise for his long fight to clean up commercial carting. There was a danger the Mayor would torpedo the Public Advocate's crusade solely because of its source. Speaker Vallone and the City Council member Kenneth Fisher of Brooklyn played important roles in brokering an agreement.” (THE NEW YORK TIMES 12/1/1995)
"Sources yesterday said an unusual political alliance that includes Mayor Giuliani, the City Council and Public Advocate Mark Green has agreed to impose new licensing requirements, background checks and a fingerprinting system on 1,000 companies that collect garbage from a quarter million businesses citywide." (THE DAILY NEWS 11/30/95)
“Public Advocate Mark Green opened up another front in the city's war on the mob yesterday, proposing legislation to clean up the garbage-carting industry. The law backed by a City Council sponsor, several business groups and the city Bar Association would create two experimental carting districts where contracts would be competitively bid." DAILY NEWS 4/6/95)