Republican Joseph Lhota had a comfortable conversation with Rosanna Scotto and Dave Price about his mayoral aspirations and several contemporary matters on the local Fox station's broadcast of Good Day New York (Good Day New York/myfoxny, 1/21/13 [http://www.myfoxny.com/story/20638018/joe-lhota]).
On NYC labor matters he said that he comes from a family with a strong labor background, but that he could be tough-but-fair with all of the city unions, When questioned as to how he might have handled negotiations with the teachers union over something like mandatory teacher evaluations or the loss of state and federal funding for the city schools, the new candidate's answer was circumspect but substantial. Lhota first said that it wouldn't be fair to talk about a lot of things that did go on behind closed doors between the mayor, other officials and the union. He did say that name-calling wasn't helpful and pointed out "... one of the things I've been known for is the willingness to talk to everybody. There is nothing that can't be worked out." He said you just stay at the table and keep talking for as long as it takes.
When Lhota's was compared to the very likely Democratic Party contender, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, he answered that he's known and worked with "Christine" for twenty years. And that compared to Ms. Quinn, "My background together shows I have the leadership skills to lead the City to the next level. Running a legislative process and managing a problem and performing and hitting all the goals and exceeding all the goals is a different skill set. The mayor of NY is a CEO. Everything in my background leads me to that position."
He also distinguished himself from his former boss, Rudy Guiliani, but said he would adopt Guiliani's practice of conducting in person Town Halls in all neighborhoods and communities throughout New York City, even where he might not be very popular.
No comments:
Post a Comment