Steven A. Levine
Coordinator for Educational Programs
New
Yorkers are waiting on lines today to vote in the Democratic and Republican
primaries and they are again using the aging Shoup lever voting machines to cast
their ballots. Given our use of these
old, but trustworthy machines, it seemed a good moment to go back in time to
1981 to watch Ed Koch’s campaign commercials
Thirty
two years ago, Mayor Koch was up for reelection. During his first term, he had won
congressional approval for loan guarantees, brought the city back to solvency,
begun to restore city services and balanced the budget a year ahead of
schedule. His main opponent in the
Democratic primary was the liberal State Assembly member Frank Barbaro, who
attacked Koch for reducing city services and cutting taxes for the wealthy. Koch easily defeated Barbaro and also won the
Republican primary, making him the only mayoral candidate to win the nominations
of both major parties. He then went on
to win the general election in a landslide defeating Barbaro, who ran as an
independent and the candidates of the Liberal, Conservative and Right to Life
parties.
Elections have consequences and I hope you will take the time to
participate in your party’s primary and in the November general election. Mayor Koch would certainly have wanted you
to.
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