Catsimatidis Close to Bid for NYC Mayor
October 15, 2007 by Greek News
Filed under Community
New York.- By Apostolos Zoupaniotis
Greek American billionaire John Catsimatidis came a step closer to his bid for New York City Mayor, in the 2009 election, by filing papers to join the Republican Party.
Catsimatidis has been a member and a strong financial supporter of the Democratic Party since 1988, when Michael Dukakis decided to run for the Presidency. He has been a longtime supporter of both Senator and President Clinton and of Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election.
“Itʼs not official, I just changed my party affiliation, to the Republican Party and thatʼs the only official thing”, John Catsimatidis told Greek News, when asked to comment on articles published on Friday. In August, Catsimatidis hired a Republican political operative, Robert Ryan, as an adviser.
“We are seriously looking at it. We may soon form an exploratory committee just to explore further”, he told GreekNews.
John Catsimatidis, 59, is the chairman and CEO of Red Apple Group and according to the 2007 Forbes 400 list is worth $2.1 billion.
“I am very much concern what happens to New York after Michael Bloomberg. New York needs a leader who will carry on into Mike Bloombergʼs footsteps”.
He strongly thinks a businessman running City Hall and if elected, he is not intending to receive a salary of more than $ 1 per year.
John Catsimatidis describes his views as moderate and he insists he remains both pro-business and pro-people. But he doesnʼt think the Democratic party is able to provide the leadership New York City needs.
“I ask people in the streets, if we had to have the wrong person to become mayor in 2009, are you concern that we could go back to the old New York, when there was crime in the streets and when there was riots in the streets. The answer was: No, we donʼt want to take that chance and elect a professional politician”.
Political analysts think that by running as a Republican, Catsimatidis would avoid competing in what is expected to be a crowded Democratic primary. The speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, Comptroller William Thompson Jr., Rep. Anthony Weiner, and the president of the Bronx, Adolfo Carrion Jr., are among the likely Democratic candidates.
On the Republican side, Time Warner CEO, Richard Parsons and police commissioner, Raymond Kelly have been named as possible 2009 Republican mayoral candidates.
In a letter to Republican leaders on Thursday, Catsimatidis explained that he will explore a mayoral bid over the next few months, and hinted at what could likely be a core campaign message.
“We can’t turn this city back over to the professional politicians who are waiting in the wings,” he wrote. “The names and faces may be new, but the results will be the same; crime rates will soar, quality of life will decline, special interest groups and lobbyists will set the agenda in City Hall.”
Greek Community in New York is the largest in the United States and the only mayor it ever had in the Big Apple was “Mayor Pappas” (Al Pacino) in the movie “City Hall”.
“I remember that movie with Mayor Papas”, John Catsimatidis says.
“A Greek can accomplish anything in this great city”, he adds.
