FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com june 20, 2013 • THE QUEENS COURIER 19 ▶politics ENDORSEMENTS MAYOR Assemblymembers Edward Braunstein, Michael DenDekker, Aravella Simotas, Catherine Nolan, Margeret Markey, David Weprin, Michael Simanowitz, Andrew Hevesi and Francisco Moya endorsed Christine Quinn. Teamsters Joint Council 16 endorsed Christine Quinn. The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators endorsed Bill Thompson. The United Federation of Teacher endorsed Bill Thompson. BOROUGH PRESIDENT The Working Families Party endorsed Melinda Katz. Organization of Staff Analysts endorsed Councilmember Leroy Comrie. PUBLIC ADVOCATE Senator Charles Schumer endorsed State Senator Daniel Squadron. CITY COUNCIL Congressmember Grace Meng and Assemblymember Ron Kim endorsed Paul Vallone for District 19. Former Public Advocate Mark Green endorsed Austin Shafran for District 19. THE COURIER/File photo Kevin Ryan, spokesperson for indicted Councilmember Dan Halloran, has quit. HALLORAN SPOKESPERSON QUITS AS FUNDS FROZEN BY MELISSA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com The mouthpiece for indicted Councilmember Dan Halloran has quit his post. Kevin Ryan, 37, resigned as the lawmaker’s director of communications on June 14. He worked for Halloran for nearly a year. “I have greatly enjoyed working for the City Council, especially in the unique 19th District,” Ryan said in a statement. “I am grateful to the councilmember, my co-workers, especially my communications colleague, Victor Mimoni, the fine journalists I’ve had the pleasure of working with and the District 19 residents for making it such an exciting opportunity.” Halloran is fighting federal charges for allegedly conspiring to get State Senator Malcolm Smith on the GOP line in this year’s mayoral race. The city has frozen nearly $73,000 in Council discretionary grants to three nonprofits Halloran supported, said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s office. Grant allocations to the Greater Whitestone Taxpayers Community Center, Quality Services for the Autism Community and Prevention Alternatives for Families in Crisis Nature-Nurture Counseling Center are being held and pending clearance, city officials said. Ryan is the latest top aide to abandon the embattled politician. Legislative Director John Mulvey and Chief of Staff Chrissy Voskerichian both quit shortly after Halloran’s early April arrest. Voskerichian is now running for his seat in the City Council. Ryan said he has taken a new job as a clerk for the city’s Board of Elections in Queens and will remain active in the GOP and Northeast Queens Republican Club. “There’s not much more I can do here,” the ex-spokesperson said, “and the chance to learn all I can about the political process is very appealing.” Mayoral candidates take on tech BY LIAM LA GUERRE Mayoral candidates discussed ways to improve the city’s booming technology industry during the Mayoral Tech Policy Forum on June 17 at the Museum of the Moving Image. The Coalition for Queens, which fosters the tech community in the borough, hosted the event. It brought out more than 100 techies. “Technology affects everything from all the different industries,” said JuKay Hsu, founder of the Coalition for Queens. “I think it should be a large part of everything the candidates do.” Former Councilmember Sal Albanese, former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr., City Comptroller John Liu and former Congressman Anthony Weiner took part in the discussion. To kick off the forum, moderators asked the candidates to reveal what their smart phones, carriers and favorite apps are. Albanese has a BlackBerry Bold with Verizon and likes the Major League Baseball app; Carrion carries an iPhone with Verizon and frequently listens to Pandora; Liu has an iPhone with AT&T service and also likes Pandora; and Weiner said he has both a BlackBerry and an iPhone, but did not name his carriers or his favorite app. Moderators Anjali Athavaley of The Wall Street Journal and Nilay Patel of The Verge emphasized the event was not a debate. But the cast of former and current public officials did not miss a chance to promote their Anjali Athavaley, Nilay Patel, Anthony Weiner, Sal Albanese and Adolfo Carrion Jr. at the Coalition for Queens’ Mayoral Tech Forum. campaigns while answering questions collected from social media and tech communities. Topics included tech jobs, startup companies, housing for workers, digital media and education in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The candidates all praised Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s efforts to boost the tech industry, but agreed more could be done. Ideas included increasing the city’s broadband infrastructure. Discussing technology in schools, Wiener suggested that all students carry Kindles in their backpacks instead of 40-pound books. He later clarified he was not supporting Amazon, which makes and sells the The Courier/Photo by Liam La Guerre Kindle, but mentioned the device as one example of e-readers. The roundtable also touched on “disrupters” such as Uber. The app, which allows people to schedule a cab instead of hailing one, has come under fire from the Taxi and Limousine Commission. But Weiner drew some laughs about the subject in general. “I like the disrupter title. I’d like to think I’ve done that to the mayoral campaign,” he said, adding, “We want you to be a successful tech company, but we don’t want you to undermine the laws.” Building more affordable housing for tech workers and having more office space for companies was another popular idea at the forum. Saujani eyes advocate office Reshma Saujani, candidate for New York Public Advocate, wants to be the “voice of the people” and speak for the “most vulnerable New Yorkers — the middle class, women, children, immigrants.” As former deputy public advocate, Saujani ran the 501(c)(3) Fund for Public Advocacy. She also developed a scholarship for undocumented immigrants, the Dream Fellowship, which sends 10 students to attend the City University of New York every year. In 2012, she launched “Girls who Code,” a nonprofit that teaches computer programming to teenage girls. “It’s clear where the jobs will be,” said Saujani. “We have to make sure our young girls are not going to be left behind.” With 160 girls enrolled this year, Saujani said the program, in partnership with Cornell Tech, has helped participants land internships with companies such as Google and Gilt Groupe. And, in conjunction with the United Federation of Teachers, Saujani has launched “Teachers who Code,” which identifies educators to become advocates for computer science in schools. As for her campaign, Saujani says she has four main pillars: jobs, education, affordable housing and women’s Reshma Saujani issues. Her aim, she said, is to have a deputy public advocate in each of these areas. She will also focus on paid parental leave. If elected, she wants to convene small businesses to talk about their issues in her first 100 days. Another goal, Saujani said, is to create a group of pro-bono lawyers to represent tenants in landlord/tenant disputes. She sees the office — and her potential role — as a true advocate. After all, said the daughter of Ugandan refugees, “my story is everyone’s story.”
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