First off, thank you to Friday's blogger for his commentary on today's blogger. A few weeks back during a periodic Zoom of the Queens Civic Engagement Committee held by the office of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, the topic was expansion of voting. I had shared in the chat a 2016 commentary I wrote about how low turnout in the electio …
Since Gotham allowed me to regularly blog in this space I used this Sunday before Election Day to urge folks to exercise their right to vote. It remains something I feel very strongly about. The first professional remarks I ever drafted involved such participation in our electoral process. An editorial I drafted during law school where I edited …
As you read this, you may be voting in less than 48 hours – unless you voted already. Yup early voting in New York started last weekend. So maybe you did. It may prove convenient and most certainly expect it to help juice voter participation. In past years, early voting here involved absentee balloting by permanent absentees and those who apply f …
Approaching Election Day, I look forward to simply advocating Americans take their right to vote seriously; that they exercise on or before Election Day. 365 days ago I blogged that Voting Matters. Matters even more this year. Interestingly the ballots Shelly and I cast may matter more on three City Charter referenda than on candidates (I fully ex …
Tuesday, I expect to devote much of my day inducing others directly or indirectly to exercise their right to vote. Advising a candidate who all expects to win overwhelmingly you might not think that -- as we used direct mail, community newspaper ads, robo calls and canvas teams to encourage eligible folks to exercise this right I view as somethi …
I face an interesting dilemma involving a City Council candidate I advise. We want to include material advocating his position on a very important ballot issue – Proposition No. 1 (“Prop 1”) – voters get to weigh in on this November 8 when voters will also find him on the general election ballot. Four years ago, voters chose him with 96.8% the ge …
Just in case you need movitation, I hereby reprint verbatim my October 1980 editorial, "EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE," from Hofstra University School of Law's CONSCIENCE: Many imagine politics to be the art of getting elected and, once elected, staying in office; but there is more to politics than simply running for office. Politics describes the p …
I'm certainly no expert, as anyone who has spent more than 20 minutes with me can attest, but I do know that it is the single most important thing in our world today. Especially in the week ahead, with the Presidential election happening, I am encouraging kindness to all. Don't tell me why someone is awful, tell me why you love someone. Wikipe …
It's no surprise that everything around us, effects us. I've found this to be increasingly evident in my Facebook feed. Like a garden it needs frequent weeding. Or, since I'm a filmmaker, it needs good editing. The hostility this election cycle has revealed is quite upsetting to me. I know logically that there is so much more hope and joy in t …
When most of one's career centers around public service, helping others in dealing with those in public service, advising some to aspire to, or stay in it, no reader should be surprised by today's subject. My plan, before watching several reprises of a news report on my fave local news station, NY1, involved a chat around the wonders of getting …
