Christine Quinn's bonus pay idea for teachers a great idea at face value!

NYC Council Chair and likely 2009 mayoral candidate Christine Quinn will push hard for a pilot program which would give highly qualified teachers bonus pay to work in tough schools in difficult areas, according to today's Daily Politics from the NY Daily News. The full text of the excerpt from tomorrow's State of the City speech appears below. This is a terrific (and politically smart) idea from Quinn, and as a future Councilman who wants to make education my number one priority, I can whole-heartedly support this initiative. I hope the UFT (and more important Mayor Bloomberg) give it the same support.


"As The Council's Middle School Task Force report showed, our middle schools are having great difficulty attracting and keeping qualified experienced teachers.

And as you might expect, the problem is most acute in the lowest performing schools in our poorest neighborhoods.

To turn around this situation I am proposing a pilot program for bonus pay to recruit and retain highly qualified, experienced teachers.

I am calling on the Department of Education and the education unions to come together to offer substantial salary incentives to teachers who are willing to work and stay in our most troubled middle schools.

Look, we have to admit that some schools are harder to teach in than others.

And if we are going to convince our best teachers to go there or stay there we have to be willing to experiment with different approaches to compensating them.

If this new approach works I will push hard to take it city-wide and guarantee every middle school student a great education. With innovative and cooperative efforts like this we are on the path to having schools that every New Yorker can feel confident in and proud of."

Whether it's for Obama or Clinton, Make Sure You Vote Today or Register Soon

It's Super Tuesday, and I'm feeling super! As the New York Times said the other day about Jewish voters in New York (of which I'm one of course), it's an embarrassment of riches with Obama and Clinton. Both are excellent candidates that bring a lot to the table for New Yorkers and the nation.

I'll be voting for Clinton, but I do like Obama a lot too. Heck, I don't agree with his politics, but from everything I can tell, John McCain would make a pretty darn good leader too.

The only way you can lose is if you don't vote.

I interviewed a babysitter for my kids yesterday, a smart, passionate college senior who wants to make the world a better place. She wasn't voting, and felt disillusioned about government and the political process. This made me very sad. Surely if this bright, idealistic 22 year old had no intention to vote, there are countless other people young and old not voting in arguably the most important election year of our lives.

The good news? There's still time for the November election.
VOTE TODAY IF IT'S YOUR STATE'S PRIMARY, AND IF YOU'RE NOT REGISTERED TO VOTE YET, REGISTER TODAY! CLICK HERE! Every vote does count, young ladies and gentlemen, and your future is in fact on the line.

Besides, if you're in the 23rd District of New York City, I'll need you to register in time to vote for me next year.
:-)

Went to 2 Events Last Night...and One was actually moving

Last night I attended the quarterly fundraiser for the Queens County Democratic Party, who is whole-heartedly supporting Hillary for President. Saw a lot of the same faces, mostly friendly, that I see at all of these functions. Frankly, these functions are already starting to get boring- and the race has barely begun. Thanks to Morty Povman and my friends from the JFK Regular Democratic Club for setting me up at the event...it really wasn't so bad, just not as inspirational as I'd hoped.

I left early, though, to attend a the kickoff party for my neighbor's Relay for Life event with the American Cancer Society. The event last night was held at the Queens County Farm, in my district, just as the relay will be at the Farm May 31st - June 1st, 2008. What an amazing, inspiring group of people the folks are that I met and saw last night. I can't wait for the Relay, at which I'll be a Team Captain. Let me know if you're interested in participating in any way.

Hillblazers Night a Great Success for Clinton

After a great 9 day vacation with my family, I'm back and hitting the ground running. last Night I attended a Hillblazers fundraising event for Hillary Clinton at Hiro in Manhattan.

Hillary was at her best, rallying a crowd of 800 young people in what was scheduled to be her last New York appearance before Super Tuesday February 5th. My wife and I met some great people from Park Slope, Brooklyn and enjoyed watching Carson Kressley have to go to the back of line to get in, just like everyone else.

I'll upload some video footage of Hillary later, but to be sure, between the event and the New York Times endorsement, yesterday was Hillary's day to shine in this city.

On Deadline Day, Times Ledger Runs Awesome Piece

Today is the first important deadline in my political career. It's the deadline to receive contributions to file on Jan 15th with the Campaign Finance Board of New York. A year ago, I may have been interested in one day going into elected public service, but I had no idea fundraising was quite this important.

It's the name of the game. More money means electability. More money means the ability to advertise. More money means the ability to hire top consultants. I truly wish it were all about policies, ideas, attitude, etc. but, while those things are important, the ability to raise money is most important. Luckily, I have always been pretty good at sales, and fundraising for a campaign is pretty similar to selling. Luckily also I have a terrific network of friends and family who have gotten me started in an amazing way. So, the deadline is today, and we're still counting up all of the checks, (and if you are interested in contributing, you certainly still can, just click here!) but it looks like we will file with more than $15,000 on January 15th, not bad for the first filing date nearly 2 years away from the election.

Finally, The Times Ledger, the largest paid newspaper in Queens, wrote a terrific piece on me and the campaign today. You can read it all here. Thanks to Mr. Alam, who authored the piece. I hope it'll be the first of many as I attempt to serve my community, borough and city.

I'm going away on a much needed family vacation next week. I'm sure I'll still be checking email, and blogging....just a little bit less.

Young Democrats Taking Over Queens, NY and the World

I went last night to my first Queens County Young Democrats meeting. The club is a chapter of the strong Young Democrats of America. I had joined the club a year ago but had never had the time to go to a meeting. Boy was I glad I did- at the ripe old age of 31, I was so impressed with the energy, passion, and drive of the young people of this club, led by Matthew Silverstein and Costa Constantinides, the latter of whom is running for City Council in Astoria.

It was a joint meeting with the Queens Labor Caucus, another up-and-coming group led by Mike Corbett of the Teamsters. We talked about national politics, of course, including the New Hampshire Primary, getting results via web every 15 minutes throughout the meeting (Now that's my kind of Democratic Club meeting!). We also talked about how to make Queens "True Blue" in '08 and some cool upcoming events: a bowling party January 26th, a dinner meeting February 12th, a celebrity bartender night Feb. 25th, and a Sing for Solidarity Karaoke night March 19th.

Things are really happening with these guys. Glad I joined them!

Happy New Year!!! My 2008 Political Resolutions...

1) To put together a terrific team of supporters, neighbors, friends, and concerned citizens to help prepare for the City Council Race.

2) To lose 30 pounds, partially by walking every single street in the district and getting to know as many of my constituents as possible.

3) To raise at least $100,000 in contributions, before the match, to help fund the best campaign we possibly can for '09.

4) To get as much done for the campaign on my own as possible, and keep my amazing wife from having undue stress about this endeavor.

5) To support the best Presidential Candidate in any way I can, and to support local candidates that I agree with in New York.

Happy New Year to one and all, and here's to a great 2008!