Source: Rivera to Endorse Cuomo. Formally
Jose Rivera, right, with a friend at Bronx County Dinner.
Below is the full text of the letter Assemblyman Jose Rivera sent to Mark Green, which starts with the subtle line :
"Clearly you have learned nothing from the divisive and negative race you ran in 2001 against Fernando Ferrer which cost the New York City Democrats the mayor's office."
It ends with this equally emphatic kicker:
"The sad truth is, you run as a Democrat in name, but you once again do the dirty work for the Republicans."
Tomorrow, according to a source in City Hall, Rivera will endorse Cuomo in the Bronx, according to a source in City Hall.
The timing hardly seems like a coincidence.
-- Azi Paybarah
NEWS FROM ASSEMBLYMAN JOSE RIVERA
August 13, 2006 Contact: Ululy Rafael Martinez (347) XXX-XXXXMark Green 4AG 420 Lexington Ave., Suite 3030 New York City Y10170 Dear Mr. Green,
After viewing the negative ads you launched attacking Andrew Cuomo, I must ask you: When will you ever learn from your mistakes? Clearly you have learned nothing from the divisive and negative race you ran in 2001 against Fernando Ferrer which cost the New York City Democrats the mayor's office.
Now after eight years with a great Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, in your umpteenth race for elective office you have once again chosen to run a divisive and negative campaign and are running attack ads against the leading Democratic candidate for Attorney General.
Your new ads are also just wrong on the facts and I noticed that even President Clinton's opinion about Andrew's record strongly differs from yours in your deceptive and mean-spirited advertising. Mr. Green, I officially call on you to pull these negative ads and apologize to all New York State Democrats for trying to drag a Democratic primary race down a shameful, nasty and divisive road again.
I also call on you to cease the vicious attacks that you continue to unleash. Your so-called "comparison campaign" is a transparent and cheap cover-up for what is in reality a barrage of negativity and divisiveness. Do not think you can fool New Yorkers by simply calling it a "comparison campaign."
The sad truth is, you run as a Democrat in name, but you once again do the dirty work for the Republicans. New Yorkers deserve an Attorney General like Eliot Spitzer who will take on the big fights and win, not a Republican who will give hope to the special interests and most powerful institutions that threaten working families.
Mr. Green, after twenty years of running for office in New York, it is time for you to learn from your past numerous mistakes once and for all. I know I am not alone in warning you Mr. Green--Do not turn 2006 into a re-run of the 2001 New York City mayoral campaign. New Yorkers deserve a race free from your destructive political ploys--they have endured them for twenty years and enough is enough.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Assemblyman Jose Rivera
Doesn't Raphael Martinez (contact on that release) work for NYC Council now? How is he also contact on Jose Rivera political letter?
Andrew, have you been ghostwriting again? I'm sure we'll be seeing numerous, slightly altered versions of this same letter in the days to come, all bearing the signature of another in your list of sycophantic surrogates.
Andrew Cuomo was a major strategist in the Green 2001 mayoral campaign. His Father was on the air featured in television commercials after the runoff primary against Ferrer and after any any incident about which Jose Rivera could be complaining. If Andrew Cuomo does not disassociate himself from this baseless attack by Rivera, he is demonstrating a complete lack of character.
He's 100% right. It would be better if all of this comes out in the general election, when it's too late. Also Mark Green obviously ordered those flyers to be printed (who cares that Hynes, who is supporting Cuomo and would do anything to hurt his main opponent, had to admit that Mark had nothing to do with it). His entire career of helping minorities is just trying to hide the fact that he is a closet racist. And last but not least, the fact that Rivera refused to help Mark in the general election had nothing to do with the fact that the Democrats lost the Mayorship.
It's endgame for Mark Green. His deperate cheap shots are similar to Hezbollah rockets, meaningless attacks, designed to drum up support for the cause. If Green wishes to squander his remaing political credibility so be it. Looks like his ego is similar to that of his mentor Ralph Nader. He would rather damage his own party than admit defeat. Its time to move on.
"He would rather damage his own party than admit defeat." That's the Jose Rivera story. Rule or ruin.
It wasn't Mark Green that ost the democrats the Mayor's office in 2001. Mark Green would have been Mayor if primary day was not Sept. llth.
"The sad truth is, you run as a Democrat in name, but you once again do the dirty work for the Republicans."
Are you projecting, Jose? The same quote could be applied to Rivera, Ramirez and the rest of the Bronx Dems in 2001.