To the editor:
As of November, 2017 there are 4.596,813 active registered voters in New York City. This includes 3,156,031 Democrats; 476,614 Republicans; 814,830 Blanks (no declared party affiliation); 105,023 Independence; 18,379 Conservative; 13,761 Working Family; 7,912 Green; 1,782 Women’s Equality; 258 Reform and 1,319 other registered voters.
Out of 4,596,813 eligible voters, only 726,361 voted for de Blasio, while 303,742 voted for Nicole Malliotakis (Republican/Conservative); 22,891 for Sal Albanese (Reform); 15,763 for Akeem Browder (Green); 10,762 for Michael Tolkin (Smart Cities); 10,592 for Bo Dietl (Dump the Mayor); and 2,635 for Aarron Commery (Libertarian; while 3,504,067 who voted for “None of the Above” by staying home.
When you add up the combined votes of de Blasio’s six opponents with those who stayed home by voting for “None of the Above,” only 14 percent of registered voters supported de Blasio. Even more troubling, less than 726,361 of 3,156,031 — or 22 percent of registered Democrats — voted for him.
He had the benefits and perks of four years being mayor, including daily free media coverage. In addition, virtually every New York City Democratic Party elected official, county and district leader, and local club house, along with most labor unions, endorsed him. This included mailings, phone banks and get-out-the-vote drives. He raised and spent several million dollars. De Blasio had a multi-million dollar media buy. He outspent his Republican opponent Staten Island/Brooklyn State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis by millions.
Any Republican running for Mayor of New York City in 2017 needed both name recognition and $30 million dollars to compensate for this overwhelming 6-to-1 Democrat-to-Republican deficit. A media buy of several million per week for months, several dozen direct mail pieces, phone banks and a door-to-door vote pull operation would be required to remain competitive.
All of the above would have to be supplemented by millions more from independent Political Action Committees. Malliotakis lacked the financial resources to pay for this. It was also needed to offset de Blasio’s several million in independent expenditures from various municipal labor unions and other pay-to-play special interest groups. They have all benefited during his first term in office and looked for four more years of the same.
Incumbent Mayor de Blasio started off the General Election contest several months ago as the odds-on favorite to win. This is despite GOP candidate Nicole Malliotakis’ knowledge and ability to articulate her views.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
