Tony Avella for Mayor

The League of Humane Voters of New York State announced that it will vigorously support Tony Avella in his 2009 New York City Mayoral bid.

The League of Humane Voters has a significant record of lobbying for the election of candidates for public office who ascribe to humane values, made apparent, by their support for animal protective issues.

“Through out his tenure in office, New York City Councilman, Tony Avella has an outstanding record of supporting animal protective measures
His dedicated support on behalf of The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, chaired by Elizabeth Forel, is especially noteworthy. League members agree that we would be hard-pressed to find someone with an equally superb record,” said Peter Muller, the Chair of the New York State Chapter of the League of Humane Voters. The League will assume a dynamic role in electioneering and fund-raising activities to secure the election of Tony Avella in 2009.

On Tuesday evening, Tony Avella met with Elizabeth Forel and Peter Muller at a campaign fund-raiser at the home of by Marijo Gillis, a Co-Trustee of the Gillis Family Charitable Trust and founder of Welfare for Animals Global (WAG NY) an international political lobby and advocacy group based in Manhattan and Athens, Greece.

Tony Avella was pleased with the League’s endorsement stating, “I’m honored to have received the endorsement of the League of Humane Voters. I‘ve worked hard to make sure that legal protection for animals is taken seriously. The League’s endorsement is meaningful to me and I will seek the League’s counsel on issues that concern animals”

Council Member Tony Avella will be introducing a resolution at this week’s City Council Stated Meeting, asking the State legislature to give the City the authority to provide in the Charter that any change in the City’s term limits law must be subject to a voter referendum.

“If this Council votes to amend the Term Limits Law without seeking a public referendum, it will go down in history as one of the most blatantly self-serving and autocratic acts of any legislative body in this city’s history,” Avella stated. “This simply should not be allowed.”

“As a matter of public policy, the City Council should not be vested with the sole power to extend the length of its members terms by legislation alone. Therefore, I am seeking to amend the City Charter in order to preserve a balance between the right of the Council to carry out its legislative functions and the right of voters to have their expressed will carried out by the legislature.”

The campaign will be present at several upcoming street fairs:

Atlantic Antic, Brooklyn – Sunday 10/5 from 12 noon to 3 p.m. We will not have a table but we will be campaigning in front of
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321 Atlantic Avenue between Hoyt and Smith Street. This is a very high volume fair so we need as many volunteers as possible.

Third Avenue Bronx Festival, Bronx – Saturday 10/11 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The festival is on Third Avenue between 149th Street and 156th Street. Our table location is to be determined. The # 5 and # 2 trains stop at Third Avenue & 149th.

College Point Street Fair, College Point, Queens – Sunday 10/26 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The fair is on College Point Boulevard from to 14th Avenue to 20th Avenue. Our table location is to be determined.

Please email the campaign at TonyAvella2009@Gmail.com if you wish to volunteer. We will update you with the table locations as soon as they are available.

Thank you for your continued support.

Yesterday (September 24th), Tony joined the Friends of Animals and the Coalition to Ban Horse Drawn Carriages on the steps of City Hall, to call on the City Council to allow several animal rights bills, which have been stalled in the drafting phase, to be discussed in public hearings. Specifically, Tony called on the City Council to hold a hearing on his bill, Intro. 658, which would ban the use of Horse Drawn Carriages in New York City.

Tony will make a horse drawn carriage ban and animal rights a priority as Mayor. More details here.

This week, City Council Member Tony Avella sent a strongly worded letter to Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, reaffirming his opposition to any attempt to overturn term limits.

Tony stated, “I have heard that discussions are occurring ‘behind the scenes’ to overturn term limits. The thought that City officials are ignoring the wishes of New York City voters by plotting to overturn term limits is offensive. Twice the voters have indicated their support for two four-year terms for City officials. Their wishes could not have been clearer.”

Tony’s letter continued, “I believe it is a betrayal of the public trust if the Mayor and the City Council conspire to overturn term limits. By campaigning for public office, we made a covenant with the people that we accepted term limits. Any attempt to amend the term limits law breaks that covenant.”

“If the Mayor and the Council Speaker truly believe that extending the term of office will improve the operation of City government, then they should prove it by ensuring that only future public office holders would benefit from extending the terms of office from eight to twelve years.”

Tony also firmly indicated that if this effort to extend term limits is successful and allows current City officials to stay in office - he will not serve. Of course, he won’t have to. He’ll be Mayor of the City of New York!

Earlier this week, Tony received a dozen yellow roses from well-known Hollywood celebrity, Pamela Anderson, expressing her appreciation to him for authoring legislation to ban the operation of the horse drawn cab industry in New York City (Intro. #658).

Accompanying the flowers was a personal letter from Ms. Anderson, which read:

Tony is a strong animal rights advocate. For more information on his horse-drawn carriage legislation, or to learn more about his other animal rights and welfare efforts, click here.

Council Member Tony Avella and Dan Jacoby, an organizer with Democracy for
NYC, joined together yesterday on the steps of City Hall to announce that Tony will introduce legislation entitled “Clean Money, Clean Elections” at the next stated City Council meeting. If enacted, this legislation would allow candidates for city office to qualify for full public financing of their campaigns. Similar campaign finance programs already exist across the country in states such as Connecticut, Maine and Arizona, and in cities including Portland, Oregon and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“Twenty years after the creation of our partial public funding program for local campaigns, the system has not only proven to be ineffective, but is also failing,” Tony said. “Under the current program, private fundraising is mostly from large, outside donors and bundlers. Under ‘Clean Money, Clean Elections’ private fundraising is strictly limited to small donations from constituents. ‘Clean Money, Clean Elections’ takes the election process away from special interests and expensive consultants, and gives it back to the candidates and the voters of the city of New York.”

Avella added, “I believe that the implementation of ‘Clean Money, Clean Election’ would end the corruption and unethical behavior that has permeated politics in this City. It is a change that is long overdue.” If the legislation is not passed in the City Council, Tony will make “Clean Money, Clean Elections” a priority, as Mayor.

How would it work?
Example:

*Current Program: City Council candidates must raise $5,000 from a minimum of 75 contributors and need 900 petition signatures to get on the ballot. Once on the ballot, the candidate could receive up to a maximum $88,550 in public funds. The candidate’s spending limit is $161,000 for the primary as well as another $161,000 spending limit for the general election.

*Clean Money, Clean Elections a City Council candidate would only have to raise 500 donations of $5 ($2,500) to receive full public financing of $100,000 for the primary and another $100,000 for the general election. In addition, to the obvious benefits of reducing the influence of special interests and lobbyists, under this new program, the total allowable spending for City offices would be reduced and ballot access would be easier, allowing independent candidates to run for office.

Today, at 11:00 AM, Tony will join Dan Jacoby of Democracy for NYC on the steps of City Hall to announce a proposal for some major campaign finance reforms. These reforms will then be introduced at the stated City Council Meeting on Wednesday (July 23rd). If enacted, they will give candidates an opportunity to qualify for full public financing of their campaigns.

More on these reforms to follow, after the press conference.

On June 5th, Tony’s interview with the Village Voice was posted in their Runnin’ Scared blog. You can read it here.

Speaking of press, Tony’s campaign has been getting a lot of attention lately. You can check out all of the web links to Tony’s campaign on his Del.icio.us page.

Following the second fatal crane accident in months, Tony blasted the Department of Buildings (DOB) on Friday for its continued failure to ensure safety at construction sites.

“The Mayor and DOB need to act immediately to shut down every site that currently employs these cranes until a full inspection is conducted. It is unbelievable that DOB’s new policy to inspect and monitor these cranes was only a temporary effort. How absurd is that! These cranes need to be monitored on a continuing basis.”

“A citywide halt of all crane construction activities is essential until the City can truly make sure that all work is occurring in a safe and proper manner. Clearly, DOB failed its mandate to do so during their recent citywide sweep after the last accident.”

By 7:00 Friday evening, the Bloomberg Administration halted all crane construction activities, Citywide.

“When is City government finally going to ensure that New Yorkers are safe – how many people have to die before the City reins in the out-of-control development?”

As Mayor, Tony will make safe, sustainable development in our city a top priority.