Showing posts with label Josh Isay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Josh Isay. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Christine Quinn, Jennifer Cunningham, Stephen Berger, and Hospital Closings

How did Stephen Berger get away with closing so many hospitals? The story begins like this ....

An excerpt from Chapter 9 of Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn, available now for a free preview on Scribd :

The hospital closings called for by the Berger Commission were formulated at a time when only some hospital patients were covered by job-based health insurance, and hospitals were forced to write down the economic costs from treating underinsured and uninsured patients. The Berger Commission, headed by a Wall Street banker, Stephen Berger, was only capable of seeing the provision of full-service hospital care from perspective of profits, losses, and debts, instead of from the perspective of providing people with the human right to healthcare. “We have a history in this state of pumping money into the system and not letting hospitals close even if they should,” Mr. Berger told The New York Times, adding, “You have to right-size the system, you have to shrink it, that is No. 1.” In typical Wall Street fashion of divorcing any moral dilemma from situational ethics, hospital closings were pushed as inevitable, and patients were expected to have to deal with it. This was about a decade before "Obamacare" would extend healthcare coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. Back then, Mr. Berger observed overcapacity among hospitals, which had to be cut. However, in the future, Mr. Berger’s draconian cuts would prove to gut healthcare infrastructure leading up to the time when Obamacare would lead to a large influx of newly covered healthcare patients. But even without knowing that healthcare coverage would be expanded within the next decade, back then healthcare advocates knew about the dangers of past outbreaks, pandemics, and unforeseen uses of bioterrorism agents, such as anthrax. There were reasons why it was penny wise and dollar foolish to make drastic cuts to full-service hospital capacity in New York City.

One healthcare union, 1199/S.E.I.U., had to scramble to deal with the fallout over job losses from the impending hospital closings. Jennifer Cunningham, who at that time worked as a spokesperson and political operative for 1199 and would later go on to work for Christine as a political campaign consultant, was more concerned at the time about employee retraining and not about the interruption of patient-centered care. The hit list of hospitals that would be targeted for closure by the Berger Commission came to be known as the Berger Commission Report, and Christine, as chair of the City Council Health Committee, was largely absent from the initial public conversation in 2004 and 2005 around Mr. Berger’s recommendation for hospital closings. Taking her cue from former Speaker Gifford Miller’s precedent of maintaining silence on the controversial West Side Stadium until the project’s outcome was clear, Christine was not visible in the resistance movement to fight the Berger Commission Report’s recommendations until very late in 2006, when the City Council issued its own report just weeks before the Berger Commission Report’s final recommendations would go into effect on January 1, 2007.

Read more : Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn, available now for a free preview on Scribd.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Quinn Betrays AIDS Activists In Exchange For Manufactured Koch Endorsement

In act of desperation, Quinn camp goes digging for endorsement from Ed Koch beyond the grave.

Christine Quinn has become so desperate for campaign endorsements that she is going to get one out of a dead man. Let's hope she doesn't try to get some votes the same way, too. She's already trying to fake her popularity with sock puppet Twitter accounts, mind you. But seriously, Ed Koch, whose endorsement she is seeking, was the beginning of the neoliberalism bent in Democratic policies. One needs to look no further than to the cruel betrayal in Mayor Koch's non-response to the AIDS crisis. Mayor Koch refused to take any meaningful action on HIV/AIDS out of fear that he would be outed as a gay man. What kind of a message is Speaker Quinn trying to send by reaching for this grave endorsement ? Mayor Koch's endorsement in encumbered with betrayal and closet politics. This one issue alone should be a clarion call for every New York City LGBT voter to question Speaker Quinn's judgement. How do AIDS activists feel about being thrown under the bus in exchange for an endorsement from the late Mayor Koch ? (Ed Koch’s Sister to Amplify His Support for Christine Quinn * NYTimes)

Will insensitive and revisionist statements like this, from the Quinn campaign, drive LGBT activists to demonstrate against Christine Quinn during Pride Month ?

“Ed Koch was an incredible leader for the city,” said Josh Isay, Ms. Quinn’s chief strategist.

Related : Ed Koch, 88, Dies : "How Am I Doing ?" AIDS Memorial Reality Check

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Christine Quinn is looking for endorsements and voters in the cemetery

Reality Sets In For Quinn, Isay : Early Poll Numbers Are An Illusion.

More and more, the Christine Quinn mayoral campaign are acting desperate.

Greg David published an editorial in Crain's New York Business giving everybody a reality check : The early polls portraying that Council Speaker Christine Quinn was an early leader in the crowded Democratic primary field are a fallacy !

Because Josh Isay, Matt Tepper, and Speaker Quinn's other campaign advisers know this, they are pulling out all the stops to maintain a public veneer of being in a leadership position, when in reality they could be further from it.

Earlier today, The New York Times published an article about how Speaker Quinn is now trolling through cemeteries and crematoriums for campaign endorsements. Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign is trying to figure out how to milk the endorsement she received from Ed Koch before he died. (An Endorsement Hard to Pass Up, and Harder to Promote)

''The idea that Ms. Quinn is the front-runner is a media fallacy,'' wrote Mr. David.

How low can Speaker Quinn go, for an endorsement ?

“If I were running against her, what do you say? ‘How low will she go, six feet under, or more?’ ” quipped Kenneth Sherrill, a political science professor at Hunter College. “The question is, how voters will respond to it, what they will think of a candidate who uses it.”

If Mr. Isay and Mr. Tepper try to push former Mayor Koch's endorsement of Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign, then Speaker Quinn risks triggering a major backlash from LGBT political and healthcare activists.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Protest Against Christine Quinn At The New School

Last Tuesday, over one dozen protesters gathered outside the New School on West 11th Street in a demonstration against New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Josh Isay at the Protest Against Christine Quinn at the New School, Josh Isay walks through a picket line of protests against Christine Quinn before the start of a political education forum at the New School.

Josh Isay, one of Speaker Quinn's campaign consultants, tried to walk into the New School without drawing attention to himself, but many of the protesters knew who he was. Above, Mr. Isay was photographed hustling inside to the education form whilst clutching his cup of coffee ; in the background is the community organiser, Donny Moss.

Speaker Quinn is running an unannounced campaign for mayor this year, and activists across New York City are protesting her horrible record on term limits, the use of slush funds, her blockage of the paid sick leave bill, the closing of so many hospitals in New York City including St. Vincent's, and her support to fully-fund the NYPD's practice of using stop-and-frisk.

Protest Against Christine Quinn at The New School, Protest Against Christine Quinn at the New School

Friday, January 4, 2013

Who Is Josh Isay ?

Josh Isay Is A Lobbyist And Political Consultant With Lots Of Conflicts Of Interest

The Man Pulling The Levers, Turning The Knobs, And Flipping The Switches Behind The Curtain

Josh Isay is New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's campaign spokesman. Mr. Isay is a major political consultant in New York and Albany, with an outlet in Washington. He is one of Sen. Charles Schumer's main political consultants and advisors. So, when we wonder : why is it that no matter who gets elected, nothing seems to change, it is because the paid political consultants are the ones who keep pushing politicians into certain agendas that make them "electable." Who is advising Speaker Quinn to make these backroom deals, to keep NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, in spite of the fact that we need a federal commission to investigate the NYPD ?

When all of us keep working to demand reforms from government, who are the people behind the scenes, who are saying, "No." We only see Christine Quinn, but do we ever know to take a look at who is Josh Isay. Josh Isay worked for Bill Rudin. When the community kept demanding a full-service hospital to replace St. Vincent's, Josh Isay was advising Christine Quinn that it was O.K. to make the community of the Lower West Side of Manhattan into paws in their game to help Josh Isay's other clients, the Rudin Family. And when we wonder what happened to Speaker Quinn's former progressive roots, all you have to do is to look at her political advisors. If you vote for Speaker Quinn, because you are under the impression that you are going to get the "old" Christine Quinn of 13 or 14 years ago, then I invite you to please take a look at who decides what Speaker Quinn is allowed to do.

Read more : Who is Josh Isay ?

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

LGBT Blogger Warns Christine Quinn On Risks Of NYPD-Ray Kelly Strategy

Quinn's NYPD Strategy Will Cost Her Votes, Warns Joe.My.God.

LGBT blogger ''Joe.My.God.'' warns supports of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn that police issues may cost Speaker Quinn electoral support in her race to become mayor of New York City.

Republicans have longed for Kelly to run for mayor as the two other declared GOP candidates (MTA head Joe Lhota and billionaire grocer John Catsimatidis) are considered very long shots against Quinn or any other Democrat. While Quinn's alleged "secret deal" would take out her best-polling GOP opponent, keeping Ray "Stop-And-Frisk" Kelly in the top cop job will surely sour many prospective Quinn supporters, who could turn to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, one of stop-and-frisk's loudest detractors.

One will see if Josh Isay, one of Speaker Quinn's political handlers, will heed the warning from Joe.My.God. ?

Thursday, December 20, 2012

What Influence Does Carolyn Ryan Have Over Metropolitan Political Articles That Are Biased Against Joe Lhota ?

After having gone on a spree of Tweets ridiculing Joe Lhota's campaign for mayor, The New York Times metropolitan editor Carolyn Ryan's metropolitan desk then publishes a critical article of Mr. Lhota's campaign. Coïncidence ? Probably not.

Notice how The New York Times article of Mr. Lhota's campaign did not disclose that Kathryn S. Wylde, the president of the Partnership for New York City, was editorialised as the "city’s premier business association," and how it was not disclosed that Ms. Wylde is invested in the campaign of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Furthermore, the article allowed Josh Isay, Speaker Quinn's campaign consultant, to openly criticize Mr. Lhota over MTA fare hikes. “Joe Lhota announced his resignation the day before the Lhota fare hike gets voted on,” Mr. Isay, the told The New York Times. “He may think he’s pulled a fast one, but voters are too smart for that.”

But the article did not mention the litany of criticisms that Progressives have with Speaker Quinn's political ethics -- ranging from the change in term limits, the spree of hospital closings, including of St. Vincent's Hospital in Speaker Quinn's very own City Council district, the reckless approval of the expansion of New York University, and the disruptive zone-busting development plan for Chelsea Market. Meanwhile, The New York Times chose to portray Speaker Quinn as a "presumptive front-runner for the Democratic nomination," even though that editorial qualification was not attributed.

If you were not aware, an average voter would read this article and think that Mr. Lhota was not a viable candidate, instead of the fact that biased reportage was portraying Mr. Lhota as such, according to predetermined agendas of the people involved in this article.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Does Josh Isay Spread Lies For Christine Quinn ?