From the Norm Siegel Campaign:

New Yorkers for Norman Siegel will be holding a birthday bash for civil rights attorney Norman Siegel as we rev up the campaign to elect him NYC Public Advocate in 2009. The celebration will take place at Azza Restaurant & Lounge on 137 East 55th Street (between Lexington and Third Ave) from 6:00-8:30 PM on Monday, December 1st.

The program for the evening features guest speakers State Senator Eric Adams, former ACLU Director Ira Glasser, Vanessa Ramos, Deputy Director for Policy at the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families, and Connie Steensma, Chair Emerita of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. There will also be a performance by the New York Granny Chicks of the Granny Peace Brigade. The event has already attracted a wide array of hosts and sponsors from all five boroughs, reflecting the diverse, grassroots, citywide campaign that New Yorkers for Norman Siegel is ready to wage.

Three New York journalists, Rafael Martínez Alequin, Ralph E. Smith and David Wallis, have been denied press credentials by the NYPD with little explanation or appeals process. All three write for online journals and believe that they are being denied press credentials because they write for non-traditional media. The lawsuit alleges that the current Press Credential procedure violates the Constitutional Rights of the plaintiffs and interferes with the reporting of news in NYC.

Rafael Martínez Alequin, a long-time critic of Mayor (Tsar) Bloomberg, publishes the New York City Free Press, an online version of his earlier print version, the Free Press (originally the Brooklyn Free Press). His stated philosophy for the NYC Free Press is:

Well, having just highlighted the anger people feel about the Bloomberg Putsch in my "Tsar Bloomberg and his Trained Surrender Monkeys" piece, I think it might be good to discuss the heroes of this fight and their actions to stop Bloomberg and the City Council from screwing the voters. A lawsuit has been filed.

From the Norm Siegel for Public Advocate website:

On Monday, November 10th, Norman, along with Randy Mastro and other attorneys of The law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, filed a federal lawsuit challenging the extension of term limits from 2 to 3 terms without a public referendum. Below is Norman’s statement regarding that lawsuit:

Today, we filed an important civil rights lawsuit regarding the extension of term limits from 2 to 3 terms.

The lawsuit is filed on behalf of 26 Plaintiffs, including voters, elected officials, citizens who aspire to be elected officials and good government groups.

And now back to the term limits battle. Yes, that's right Tsar Bloomberg and your trained Surrender Monkeys (Christine Quinn, Dominc Recchia, David Yassky and the rest of the Bloomberg 29), we aren't forgetting your disrespect of the voters of NYC.

Norman Siegel got to confront Tsar Bloomberg at City Hall:

Norman 's statement at City Hall on Monday, November 3rd, prior to the Mayor's signing of the bill extending term limits.

Mr. Mayor, where I grew up in Brooklyn we were taught that whenever we were critical of someone we were to tell them why we disagreed with them face to face. So, this morning I will respectfully do exactly that.

I love New York City. I also love the principles and values associated with a democratic society. By extending term limits by legislative fiat on October 23, 2008, you and the City Council Speaker along with 28 other members of the City Council trampled on those precious principles. I and other New Yorkers will not be silent in opposition to your undoing the People’s will.

Yesterday, at remarkably short notice, a new group calling itself New Yorkers for Term Limits convened a press conference at City Hall. Their case was simple: New Yorkers decided twice, in consecutive referenda, that they want the terms of their servants to be limited to two, and that nothing short of a referendum suffices to repeal them, as a matter of basic small-D democratic integrity.

Norman Siegel in his remarks pointed out that the current mayor is only in office due to term limits, which prevented his predecessor from seeking a third term. The same applies to members of the Council. As Siegel spoke, he was surrounded by several candidates for seats that were expected to be vacant in 2009.

State Senator Eric Adams (D-SD-20) went one step further and demanded term limits at the state legislative level, saying that "there comes a time to pass the baton". That should ruffle some feathers, one would imagine.

Councilman Bill DeBlasio, the only sitting member of the Council to make an appearance - wonder how that happened - said this:

There is no way I will vote to extend the terms of current legislators. If we change term limits this way, at the eleventh hour, we can't expect the people to have faith in their democratic system. I will vote no.

Another speaker, Michael Myers, an activist with a civil rights group, decried the thinking-out-loud on term limits of the mayor and various members of the Council - in short, of the beneficiary class - as "desperate, despicable, shameless idiocy", characterized them as "an arrogant abuse of power", adding "not only are eight years enough, enough is enough".

Members of the coalition will be active in rallying the support of New Yorkers. There's a web site planned, and apparently, a Facebook group.

Norm Siegel, candidate for Public Advocate, has a new website and a new Youtube video:

For those who aren't familiar with Norman Siegel, he has been defending the Civil Liberties of Americans decades. From his website:

Norman Siegel, raised in Brooklyn, has been an advocate for New Yorkers throughout his 40 year career. He has been a leader in the fight for freedom, justice, and equality for all, issues that have pulled at our city’s fabric for too many generations.

Big Kick Off Fundraiser for Norm Siegel for Public Advocate

Monday, February 25th, 2008, 6pm to 8:30pm

Cafe Deville
103 Third Avenue (at 13th Street)
NYC

Let me just preface this with the comment that Joy Romanski, Marjorie Gersten and myself have already held a fundraiser for Norm Siegel...so maybe we should claim the Kick off fundraiser

Norman Siegel is the ideal candidate for NYC Public Advocate. In essence he has been our public advocate for decades, having been head of the NY Civil Liberties Union, defending the rights of NYC protestors against the 2004 Republican Convention, defending the rights of Critical Mass bicyclists, fighting destruction of Harlem neighborhoods, etc.

You can read more about my impressions of Norman Siegel here.

And you can attend this big, big fundraiser and meet the man himself:

I often wind up being focused on Brooklyn over development schemes, fighting such excessive plans as Atlantic Yards. But we have to remember that the entire city is plagued with these excessive development plans that destroy whole neighborhoods and benefit wealthy develpers more than communities. And, more often than not, they are shoved down our throats practically by force...or at least using the threat of eviction.

Harlem is another neighborhood threatened by overdevelopment that could destroy its historic character. As with Atlantic Yards, the Harlem development plan will displace lower and middle income families, driving them from the center of NYC and replacing them largely with luxury high rises.

VOTE People is a community organization that, in its own words:

...works to manifest the needs and intent of the people of communities in which policy and legal reform is proposed, through a holistic approach including legal and political advocacy and social and cultural movements.

This month there are four fundraisers I am pushing. One I am on the host committee of, two I am full on co-host (one of which is at my apartment) and one I am merely plugging for friends.

The first one was last Sunday, and I now have results from that. Sunday, Marjorie Gersten, Joy Romanski and I hosted a fundraiser for Norman Siegel, running for NY Public Advocate. You can read about my (3-year old interrupted) comments on the event here. And you can read another participant's obeservations here at the Brooklyn Optimist. But now I would like to add that the fundraiser did quite well for a small scale event put on by people like me who almost never do fundraising. We brought in $1400 for Norman Siegel. Now I am sure many out there see that as small potatoes, but it's damned good in my world!

If you want to add to this, please call his campaign at 212-448-6271. Tell them Marjorie, David and Joy sent you.

Come meet, greet, and support Norman Siegel for Public Advocate.

Marjorie Gersten, Joy Romanski (Corresponding Secretary for Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats), and I will be hosting a fundraiser for former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (1985-2000), Norman Siegel, who is running for NYC Public Advocate. I can think of no one better suited to be our Public Advocate than Norm Siegel.

Essentially, Norm has already been New York's unelected Public Advocate for years, standing up for the protesters against the Republican Convention and standing up for the rights of all New Yorkers when no one else seems willing. Norm Siegel's credentials go WAY back. He even spearheaded the NY State campaign for to impeach Richard Nixon!