Christine Quinn today officially launched her campaign to become the next mayor of New York City, in a slick and carefully-curated video that touted her parents, childhood, accomplishments for union workers, the middle class, schools, firehouses, jobs, and teachers. What was conspicuously absent was any mention of taxes, her predecessor, or her wife.
Noting her “glossy biographical video” and the “carefully curated version” of “her outsize, off-the-cuff personality,” the New York Times also notes:
Ms. Quinn, who married her longtime partner, Kim Catullo, last year, has attracted national attention for the historic nature of her bid to become New York City’s first openly gay mayor.
But the five-minute video, despite its personal touch, includes no reference to Ms. Catullo, or even that Ms. Quinn is gay.
Quinn, 46, a Democrat in a town filled with Democrats, is the most high-profile candidate, having served as New York City Council Speaker for seven years, and as a member of the city Council since 1999. Perhaps her greatest challenges to winning election are the 2008 slush fund scandal from which she successfully shielded herself, her unprecedented push to help Mayor Michael Bloomberg override term limits to win a third term, the perception she is too much of a Manhattanite, a rising crime rate, and her refusal to support or allow a vote on a paid sick-leave bill for workers.
“Ms. Quinn, a former housing activist who has shifted to the political center over the course of her career, has aggressively courted the city’s business and real estate industries while also angling for labor support. She is hoping to win over residents outside of Manhattan who may be skeptical of her close ties with Mr. Bloomberg, a relationship that has allowed her to be caricatured by rivals as an elite Manhattanite,” the New York Times adds:
On Sunday, Ms. Quinn plans to plunge into neighborhoods far from her Manhattan home bases of Chelsea and City Hall, making stops to greet residents in all five boroughs. The day serves to inaugurate a campaign effort that she calls “Walk and Talk†— or, as Ms. Quinn pronounces it in the video, “wawk and tawk,†in a thick Long Island accent.
“It’s a great way to hear directly from New Yorkers, what’s going on in your homes, what’s going on in their lives, so I can make sure when I’m mayor, my focus is their focus,†Ms. Quinn says in the video, as she urges New Yorkers “to put those sensible shoes on†and join her for a local stroll.
And while Quinn invites residents to join her, neither she nor her website mention when, or where she’ll be.