NYC Mayoral Race Interview w Jacob Kornbluh Orthodox Jewish Blogger

excuse me hello mr. corn blue that's your name oh it's just before Shaba says he just bought beautiful flowers for your family for Shabbos ah I guess you're rushing so I don't want to keep you for too long just let me ask you a few questions if you don't mind I know you're covering the mayoral race and I would like to ask you a few questions about that question number one don't you think that somehow Mayor Bloomberg will work his way and again convince you know whoever needs to convince that he should be able to run a four time which he didn't allow Giuliani to do but he somehow he managed to do it well first of all he barely won the mayoral race in 2009 I mean Bill Thompson spent nine million dollars and he spent like 110 million dollars and he barely made it to the fifty percent so first of all I don't think he has a chance but second of all the guys that were there allowing him a third term on all of the City Council so I guess there's nobody to lobby within the community to allow ourselves to what will gamble make me for my plumbing so I don't think it's a realistic question oh thank God for that one okay so um I have to be very careful the questions I asked you I assume and you have to be very careful with what you answer what do you think - about a very popular candidate Speaker Quinn she's she's speak of the council she has a record of speaking out then standing up for some issues that were unpopular she also is an establishment candidate for mayor bloomberg has his people working for just today she got endorsements of some assembly candidates she speak of the council so ultimately she would get votes of some City Council members so she is the favorite right now she was at 39% she's now dropping to 24% so we'll have to see what happens great he was also very popular person and nobody believed would be so popular when it comes to the race Anthony Weiner well he's an energetic guy first of all he's one of us I mean people remember him as congressman he it was actually part of Brooklyn was his district so he knows about us he understands our issues and also he is a presentable guy yes charisma he's energetic she knows the issues he knows how to put down him himself as a fighter as somebody that would do unpopular things to please his constituents so and you know he knows the Yiddish he knows Chuang he knows Shalom Aleichem he knows kishka gefilte fish mikvah so he's one of us people see him as one of us and they could embrace him the question remains whether they when they enter the ballot booth would they vote for him would they see him as a serious candidate enough to vote him in for mayor that still remains open yes I guess my personally met seven times the candidate Bill Thompson he seems to be a very nice guy and I believe he knows about chalant as well he knows some other leadership phrases I mean his father George Thompson is very close with the community bill Thompson didn't get so much support here in the Jewish community in 2009 I guess an unpopular assemblyman here in the district endorsed him so that didn't give him too much of a black vote but yeah people know him he has always been a friend to Jewish community he attends events he knows how to sympathize with us since we are also a minority voting bloc and he's a serious guy the question is does he have the fire in the belly does he have the energy to speak out to stand up to the unions if elected mayor and actually to deliver on some promises that he promises about I don't see him yet as a food as a formidable candidate I will move on to the next one is also someone is quite popular in this community bill de blasio he was council member here in Borough Park he even has a Jewish liaison somebody of the community penny Ringel I'm sure you know him he knows us he is a friend of the Jewish community for he's a liberal he's a progressive candidate he's seeking the UTF endorsement which is against school vouchers he's talking about raising taxes for those making two hundred or five hundred thousand dollars we don't we pay enough taxes so he's a roll progressive guy that yes people know he's a friend of us some people might vote for him because he's seen as an alternative to Christine Quinn or to Anthony Weiner go to some others but to say that as mayor he would be a friend to the Jewish community I think we have to look at his policy proposals and see does that proposal match the interest of our community I see this interview is going pretty well so I think I'm you know I'm gonna ask you to - excuse me and give me another couple of minutes I said I want to go ahead with John Liu I know him as a friend of a lot of Jewish people John Liu actually John Liu if I may say he has not missed the Jewish event ever he always considered Jewish events he is a friend of the Jewish community I mean he has some Hasidic employees he had actually had some coffe Elda yes pinna hikin yes we have the same problem with John Liu which is his policies don't match the interests of our community and also he's not seen as a serious candidate he had the scandal he has not been moving up in the polls people don't see him as a contender for a runoff if nobody gets 40% okay yeah I have a problem you know pronouncing some of these candidates names I think this one I'll do pretty good Erik Salgado oh yeah he's a reverend he's the only conservative in the Democratic primary now the reason why he didn't run as a Republican is his voting bloc which are the Hispanic voters they all that registered as Democrats he's still relying on some Jewish votes you know those who voted it for Bob Turner because of the same gender build those who voted for David's Arobin over Lou fiddler because of the same gender bill so those who who who are really we care about our values and moral values family values social conservatism they would embrace him he was this week a task laner ever I mean the see an Arab is viewed as somebody or there is beloved or all over he's a serious guy if this will translate into votes remains to be seen and and also he's a longshot people don't like to support a longshot even though all of his promises match the interest and the values of our community yeah I believe he receives a blessing of school an Arab I wasn't there but also I noticed I saw somewhere that Anthony Weiner received the blessing of the Mughal Abbey's as long as they all come to receive blessings they come to the Jewish community they don't neglect us they caught us for our vote there is a blessing for us let's move on to Sal Albanese Sal Albanese is he was a council member in Bay Ridge you know he used to attend the Kojo is the JCR see events he knows the Jewish community he actually was the first elected official from New York City Council that paid a visit to Israel when it wasn't popular yet talking about in the 80s so he is intelligent he is smart he has some smart ideas he's a little moderate he speaks out he's an outsider he has a lot of qualities again he's a longshot he hasn't even the polls ever since in some points don't even include him so - you know it remains to be seen if it comes to our community without some serious outreach yes I think people should consider him and not everything is just our community New York City is consists of five boroughs you know you know my multi ethnicity and all different you know the melting pot and New York City is a melting pot so there's a lot more to do than just to visit our community specifically because you stopped me in the heart of our park oh this is Borough Park you should have stopped me in Queens I would spoke about Queens let me try see if I can pronounce this one right John cats imitators you got it man Republican is now in a primary with Joe Laura George Mack I'm giving your heads up so you don't have to you don't have difficulties to pronounce innate actually he has the money to compete he has a personality that no candidate has one-on-one he's terrific he has fascinating ideas one great idea I know of he hired actually my friend Joe Lefkowitz and he did the best choice by hiring Yoli go for it so so to come back to John cans Latinas he he has the money to compete his investing I even got to mailers from him on one day so he's investing now in name recognition the idea that you managed to pronounce his name is significant inroads because until recently nobody even myself I had to chew it over and over in order to pronounce it so he's doing some inroads by you let me let me hear you pronounce it again John Katz Matias very good I'm impressed but Joe Loder Zola was a friend of mine we speak a lot he is a serious guy he was deputy mayor under Mayor Giuliani he was the MTA had last year he handled hurricane sandy the subway system got back into business within a week so yes the terrific experience he's a serious guy he's a Republican he supports vouchers even it I would say he even evolved on the issue of machine repair he had a recent question somebody asked him about the TT Bay he said well I think it's a reasonable approach but after speaking to me and some other Jewish leaders he actually announced that he has evolved and he opposes the regulation of Mayor Bloomberg on the teacher pay so he's economically financially in terms of values when it comes to education vouchers affordable housing lower taxes for our businesses he's in line with us he's he has name recognition some name recognition he doesn't have the money to compete but when placed against Christine Quinn or Anthony Weiner in the general election I think it could be a competitive race what matters to me is somebody who doesn't have Mayor Bloomberg's ideas because I personally really dislike him I know his game and the way he puts down how crime is down what was it last week and how many people were shot 20 and and he's still gonna come up with certain ideas how he's gonna prove that crime is down and so on and on and this is our and all his ideas he was a total disaster I believe for New York City and I really hope is we can have come back some Giuliani kind of times with a new mayor make some wrong decision I'm according to I don't know what they based it on I would say first of all I would disagree I would say voters are very intelligent voters don't don't even go there it's 2010 even though that were they intelligent when they voted there for our last president do you see intelligence in there you don't want to get me quoted on that because yes I do want why are the Jones Mother Jones will take this video and it would yeah I do want to call you there but on a different interview okay so less I see the people ready I'm you know rushing to get home on time so I have a good shabbos and just to mention there are two other candidates running George McDonald which is a terrific humorous guy I love him he even recently made a picture of me in a firm during the forum so it was he's kind of funny and you have a dog for carrion which is running on the independence line he was a former Obama official he's like a middle-of-the-road when it comes to economics but you know it's a three-man race I don't see it happen I feel so well informed in everything I'm so happy that I was actually exactly I just happened to bump into you that's great and I hope to do some more stuff with you good shabbos and make sure that challenge comes out good it's awesome