Letters to the Editor
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Mayor Follows a Proven Path
John P. Avlon [“Who Lost Queens?” Page 1, February 11, 2005] writes that during the age of La Guardia, “Republican citizens were made to feel appreciated and engaged.” True, but Republican bosses – now that was a different story. In fact, the city’s Republican bosses felt so unappreciated that they tried mightily to prevent La Guardia from winning the party’s nomination during his first re-election campaign in 1937.
“The clubhouse leaders,” wrote La Guardia biographer Alyn Brodsky in “The Great Mayor,” “considered unforgivable his failure to repay their 1933 support by a suitable dispensation of patronage.” Sound familiar?
But Republican citizens appreciated Mayor La Guardia for the very reason that Republican bosses did not: He was independent – and effective. And so, against the bosses’ wishes, Republican voters carried La Guardia to victory in the primary election and again that November. In 1941, some Republican bosses again attempted to defeat La Guardia – by now the most successful mayor in New York history. Again, Republican citizens would have none of it.
This year, voters will judge Mayor Bloomberg on very different criterion than party operatives who are disgruntled by an absence of patronage: Is the city safer? Are jobs being created? Are the schools improving?
Mayor La Guardia once said, “There is no Republican or Democratic way of cleaning the streets.” The Mayor’s job – as Mike Bloomberg knows – is to get things done, not to play partisan politics. Mayor La Guardia, and Mayor Giuliani, were not products of the party clubhouse. They put the city first, and all New Yorkers benefited. Mayor Bloomberg is following in their tradition.
WILLIAM T. CUNNINGHAM
Mr. Cunningham is the communications director for the mayor.
Manhattan
‘Chicken Are Friends, Not Food’
Why on earth would Steven Milloy criticize anyone for encouraging children to be kind to animals and eat a healthy diet [“Turning Children Against Business,” Steven Milloy, Business, January 27, 2005]? I applaud People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for teaching children that chickens are friends, not food. Fast-food restaurants are peddling unhealthy products to children with free toys and other cutesy gimmicks, and many children have weight problems, diabetes, high cholesterol, and other warning signs of heart disease, as a result.
ELAINE SLOAN
Manhattan
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