The four likely Democratic mayoral contenders at last week's Crain's Future of New York Conference. Photo by Buck Ennis
There are a few politics-related stories worth highlighting in Monday’s new issue of Crain’s.
We look at how the New York business community reacted to the four likely Democratic mayoral contenders at last weeks’ Crain’s Future of New York conference:
The audience saw Council Speaker Christine Quinn as adhering the closest to Mr. Bloomberg’s legacy. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio was viewed as tacking left. Former Comptroller Bill Thompson was said to be less substantive than the others, yet improved from his 2009 campaign. And city Comptroller John Liu, though he surprised some observers, was still seen as too damaged by his fundraising scandal to be taken seriously.
“They all managed—maybe de Blasio a little less—to let the business community know that if they get elected, it wasn’t all of a sudden going to be a 180-degree turn,” said Cliff Chenfeld, co-CEO of Razor & Tie and Kidz Bop. “But they want to distinguish themselves. They don’t want to seem like they were going to do exactly what Bloomberg did.”
Crain’s columnist Greg David looks at Washington’s choices on the future of tax policy.
As the Democratic mayoral candidates bemoaned the impact that the so-called fiscal cliff would have on New York City at last week’s Crain’s Future of New York conference, I turned to a leading business executive and asked, “Do you really care if you pay higher taxes because they take away your deductions or because they raise the rates?” No, he replied: “It’s the same amount of money. And we should be paying higher taxes.”
Finally, the Crain’s editorial board weighs in with its concern that patronage could return under the next mayor of New York City.
A hallmark of Mr. Bloomberg’s three terms has been his ability to attract smart, hardworking, nonpartisan people truly motivated by public service. After 11 years, it almost seems like nothing out of the ordinary. But longtime New Yorkers haven’t forgotten the days when mayors doled out patronage and enacted policies to satisfy campaign boosters. Concern that such practices might return in 2014 permeated the conversations of business leaders at the Future of New York conference sponsored by this newspaper last week.