AKA William

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As we wait for the vote in Albany, what’s important to remember is the experiences of the past. The New York City gay rights bill was scheduled for passage on more then one occasion. Councilmembers who sponsored that legislation then turned their backs on the gay community and voted against their own legislation!

Queens Councilmember Morton Povman, Brooklyn Councilmembers Monroe Cohen (who is believed to have had a gay child) and Sam Horwitz (who on a later occasion voted for the bill, when it eventually passed) and Manhattan’s Fred Samuel (who was gay and died of AIDS) all voted no. Comptroller and recent mayoral candidate Bill Thompson’s father William Thompson, Sr., former appellate court judge, was a councilmember and consistently voted against the gay rights bill. The campaign manager of one no voting Jewish councilmember came out to him on Rosh Hashana, pleading with him to vote for the bill. The councilmember voted no. The campaign manager is closeted to this day.

Thus we can always expect the unexpected. After all, we are dealing with elected officials.

While we were fighting for the passage of the New York City Gay Rights bill, Victor Gottbaum was president of District Council 37, New York City’s Largest Public Employee Union. Gottbaum proclaimed that his union would not support any councilmember who was not voting for the Gay Rights Bill. Isn’t it about time the Unions throughout the state follow suit in relation to marriage equality?

Speaking of unions, Ned Lamont is one of three serious Democratic candidates for the seat being vacated by Conn. Gov. Jodi Rell (R) in 2010. And word is Lamont has hired Howard Wolfson.

Wolfson is the man who condemned Mayor Michael Bloomberg during his 2005 reelection bid, and then four years later Wolfson sold his integrity for big bucks as Bloomberg’s chief spokesperson. Howard then trashed labor unions, the Democratic party’s most loyal allies, calling them “special interests.”

I would have difficulty supporting any candidate who has the bad judgment to turn to Howard Wolfson for advice. Wolfson, as a staffer, advised and defended then Senate Candidate Hillary’s Clinton in her first run for Senate when she said she was against “same sex marriage on moral, religious and traditional grounds”

Wolfson admitted after this year’s mayoral election that he intentionally tried to mislead the voters of New York – by ridiculing a poll showing the race as close even though he knew it was accurate. Why should anybody believe him on anything else again?

If Lamont is serious about using Wolfson, every Democrat should question Lamont’s judgment. And Wolfson must stop being called a “Democratic strategist.”