The Almost Mayor

September 11, 2001 was supposed to be primary day in New York City.  As the divisive tenure of Mayor Rudy Giuliani was winding down, the city seemed poised to elect a more inclusive mayor. The Democratic frontrunner, progressive Mark Green, appeared to fit the part. 

But when the Twin Towers went down, voting in the primary was halted. In the following weeks, many New Yorkers embraced Giuliani, who was anointed America’s Mayor.

In this new, unknown New York, there were no certainties. The moment of unity before the attacks was lost. And instead of Green, New Yorkers elected a little-known Republican billionaire named Mike Bloomberg.

This is a story about how our principles are tested in times of crisis. 

Transcript

Broadcaster

Good morning, America. We hope you had a nice weekend. A little discordant sound there but it’s OK. I’m Charles Gibson. I’m Diane Sawyer. And it’s Monday, September 10th, 2001. Good to have you back from the weekend. Yeah it is. Nice to see you again. We’ve got a lot of news this morning.

Will

It’s September 10th, 2001. After months of handshakes and kissing babies, tomorrow, September 11th, is primary day in New York. Voters will decide who should win the Democratic nomination for mayor. 

Niamh

And the assumption is the Democratic nominee will go on to win the general election and become the next mayor of New York City. 

Mark Green

I’m sitting home, you know, feeling calm and excited, exhilarated.

Niamh

Mark Green is the frontrunner. 

Green

The campaign is fundamentally over.

Niamh

The New York Times writes that Green is “​​all but picking out the fabric for new drapes at Gracie Mansion.”

Will

Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been in control of the city for seven years, but his popularity is on the decline. Only about forty percent of New Yorkers feel positively towards the mayor.

Niamh

His perception is especially bad in Black and Latino communities … who’ve been the targets of his tough on crime policies. 

Giuliani

I think as people see that the investment in making the city safer disproportionately is happening in poorer communities, as it should because that’s where the crime is highest, unfortunately. 

Will

Some New Yorkers want a fresh start. And that fresh start might be Mark Green. 

Ramirez

Mark Green was the standard. Mark Green was a progressive member of the city, when it came to politics.

Will

Green is an obvious candidate. A cookie cutter New York Democrat. White, progressive, Harvard Law educated. He’s been leading in the polls for months. 

Niamh

And he’s confident that his political destiny will manifest. 

Green

And I said the words, ‘I think I’ll win unless there’s a big external event that disrupts everything. 

Man on street

Oh shit. [boom] What the hell was that? It sounded like a plane crash?

Will

But the Twin Towers go down on primary day. What the city thinks about, cares about, dreams about, worries about – changes.

Will

Instead of Mark Green, New Yorkers turn to a little-known Republican billionaire named Mike Bloomberg. 

So what happened?  

Newsweek

Welcome to Newsweek On Air. The striking thing in the New York City mayoral election is that Hispanic voters went half for the Republican, something I don’t think they’ve done anywhere in the country, and even Black voters went a third for the Republican Mike Bloomberg. Is this a momentous shift or a one time thing? Ellis: Well, yes, it’s a shift and it’s a shift rooted in anger.  

Niamh

With the help of Black and Latino voters, Bloomberg will go on to be mayor of New York for 12 years. Green becomes a footnote in New York history.

Reverend Al Sharpton

Mike Bloomberg didn’t beat Mark Green. Mark Green beat Mark Green. 

Will

I’m Will Norris

Niamh

And I’m Niamh Rowe

Will

This is Shoe Leather, an investigative podcast that digs up stories from New York City’s past — to find out how yesterday’s news affects us today. In Season three we’re looking back at the headlines the day before 9/11. Before the sky fell and everything changed, we want to know what was happening in the city 

Niamh

September 10th is a warm, muggy day. About 75 degrees. Overcast

Niamh

That night, it rains. But the next day voters wake up to sunny skies. The polls open at 6 that morning. But 2 hours and 46 minutes later the first tower is hit. The election is halted.

Niamh

This is Shoe Leather season 3 – the day before, you’re listening to The Almost Mayor. It’s a story about how our principles are tested in times of crisis. 

Will

We’re Going to interview Mark Green. What do you think we can expect there?

Niamh

It’s going to be kind of weird after researching someone to put a human behind that research. 

Will

Now, more than 20 years later, we wanted to meet up with Green to ask what happened.

Niamh

We stopped outside an ornate stone building. It was gray – about eight stories tall. it loomed over us.

Will

Alright, in we go.

Will

The elevator opened into a large, airy loft with bay windows. It was sleek and stylish – the sort of unrealistic New York loft you might see in movies.

Niamh

Hi!

Green

I’m boosted, shot.

Niamh

He looked a lot like the Mark Green from campaign debates 20 years ago — the same piercing blue eyes and signature, thick New York accent. But the gray hair had gotten grayer. 

Will

He was both put together and disheveled. His shirt was creased and untucked. He alerted us to his

Green

My COVID-19 beard

Niamh

He walked us through to his office and sat behind a large wooden desk. Each wall was filled from the floor to ceiling with books.

Will

And a few grabbed the eye. Memoirs of his nemesis Giuliani and his hero Ralph Nader, the progressive activist who Green considers his mentor. Nearby on the floor was a crumpled newspaper titled “The Progresive Populist.”

Green

We’re gonna get two chairs for you over here. 

Niamh

Great, thank you so much.

Will

Green grew up in a Jewish family in a wealthy suburb in Long Island.

Niamh

His mom was a public-school teacher, and his dad was a lawyer. Both were Republicans.

Will 

But it was between Cornell and Harvard Law School, as the Vietnam War raged, that Green started to realize just how different his beliefs were from his parents. 

Niamh

During an internship in congress in the 60s, Green started a petition against the war. 

Green

My effort ended not the war, but the intern program.

Niamh

Lyndon B Johnson was president at the time. He was so angry about the petition that he actually suspended that internship program. Green was put on a list of the 10 most radical students in America.

Green

And that actually stamped me from that moment until this interview. I can’t say I changed much. Slightly more gray. But my politics have always been very outspoken, aggressive progressive. 

Niamh

In 1993, Green became New York’s public advocate. That’s kind of like a watchdog for the Mayor’s office, sitting between the government and the public. 

Green

When I was running for public advocate,I said, I’m going to devote my office to fighting for communities of color who have been often excluded in this campaign. (1:43:15) 

Niamh

The same year, Rudy Giuliani was elected mayor. 

Green

I had been the number two citywide official always fighting with the number one city official. What’s his name …Rudy… something (laughter).

Will

The pair were enemies. 

Green

I knew Giuliani as a worthy if sneaky adversary who kept trying to undermine me in ways budgetarily and politically that were unusual. 

Will

And It’s in this role as public advocate, that Green would really make his reputation — as a foil to Giuliani. In his 8 years as public advocate, he’d sue Giuliani multiple times. And one area he especially focused on was the NYPD.

Green

We did a huge study… My dentist. So I did a huge study of all the times, police had been called out for being racially abusive. And how often cops with substantiated complaints against them were punished. When I asked for data about it from the NYPD, Giuliani said no way I’m turning over any data to you. I sued. And I won. 

Niamh

Green is referring to a study that he led. It found that under Giuliani, only a quarter of public complaints of police misconduct actually led to punishment. 

Niamh

Now, it’s important to take a step back here and understand just how Giuliani changed the NYPD.

Niamh

When he was elected in 1993, crime in New York City was a major concern for many New Yorkers. That year, there were over 150,000 vehicle robberies. That’s triple the rate of today. There were nearly a million property thefts. The New York Times described the Port Authority Bus Terminal as a “grim gauntlet for bus passengers dodging beggars, drunks, thieves, and destitute drug addicts.” 

Will

And so, Giuliani adopted a policing philosophy called “broken windows theory.” 

Giuliani

And the idea of it is you gotta pay attention to small things. Aggressive panhandling. The squeegee operators that would come up to your car. The street level drug dealing, the prostitution, the grafitti. 

Will

That’s Giuliani on the Charlie Rose show, claiming that if cops catch the little things, the big crimes will stop. But police officers were disproportionately deployed to Black and Latino neighborhoods.

Will

And he was also a big advocate for something called “stop-and-frisk.”  

Will

That’s a practice where police would stop and pat down anyone on the street they suspected might have weapons or drugs. 

Broadcast

To some Blacks and Latinos, it’s naked racial profiling with them as the targets of an occupying force. Thousands stopped on the streets of New York because they look or act a certain way.  

Will

And Black and Latino people were stopped by police constantly, far more than white people. Police records from this time show that there were 16 Black New Yorkers stopped for every one arrest. 

Broadcast

Almost every man you meet here tells of being stopped. I’ve been stopped in my car, I’ve been stopped in the back of taxi cabs. 

Will

During his time as Mayor, Giuliani’s approval rating among Black New Yorkers got as low as 12 percent. And so, when Green as public advocate helped bring greater accountability to the NYPD, it set him apart — he was one of the city’s first elected officials to take on racial profiling in the police department. 

New York Times, Sep. 7, 2001

Niamh

So it’s with this progressive record that Green runs for mayor in 2001. In the weeks leading up to the primary, Green is well-liked among Black New Yorkers: polls show two-thirds view him favorably. 

Niamh

But then, in the closing days before primary day — September 11th — things start to change.  Another Democratic candidate is surging in the polls. His name is Fernando Ferrer. He’d been the Bronx Borough President for more than a decade. He’s a familiar face in New York politics. At this point, Ferrer isn’t considered a fiery progressive like Green. But his campaign this year is bolder than others he’d run in the past. Here he is in an interview before the election.

Fernando Ferrer

I’m talking about improving the relationship between police and community with accountability that is clear and credible and transparent and legislated end to racial profiling.

Voicemail

You’ve reached the voicemail of ‘Fernando Ferrer.’

Will

We wanted to speak with Ferrer about his 2001 campaign.

Niamh

But we had no luck. He also left our texts – many texts – read and unanswered. So we settled for videos of him instead.

Ferrer

Somebody had to talk about the kids who were trapped in schools that were failing and couldn’t succeed. 

Niamh

To Ferrer, the problems for the Black and Latino communities in New York go far beyond  over-policing. 

Ferrer

Someone had to talk about the New Yorkers who didn’t have a decent place in which to live at a price they could afford. The New Yorkers one out of every four who didn’t have health insurance for themselves or their families

Niamh

He argues that those communities had been left behind by the entire Giuliani era. 

Will 

So when he enters the race, he promises to be a mayor for what he calls the “other New York.” And the media runs with it.

WNYC Reporter

Ferrer cast himself as the champion of the “other New York.” That was widely interpreted to mean he was the candidate of Blacks, Latinos and the poor–groups that felt alienated in Rudy Giuliani’s New York.

Will

Ferrer’s messaging about the “other New York” is drawing on the discontent of many Black and Latino voters. The voters who felt abandoned in the Giuliani era. He’s bringing together those two groups of voters in a coalition. And to do this was pretty rare in New York politics.  

Ramirez

Historically, Black and Latinos had not managed to put their differences aside to coalesce behind a candidate outside of David Dinkins. 

Will

That’s Roberto Ramirez, who was Ferrer’s top adviser in 2001. Ramirez was a major figure in Bronx politics. Building this coalition of the “other New York” was his vision. He had already done it once in 1989. Back then, he’d helped get out the Latino vote for David Dinkins, who would become New York’s first Black mayor.

Ramirez

​​I was lost. I couldn’t find the building. I forgot where it was (laughter) 

Niamh

We went to meet Ramirez at his political lobbying firm in the Bronx.  

Ramirez

Are these the people?

Reggie

This is the man the legend, Roberto.

Niamh

Ramirez is a natural orator. Standing before us with silver hair and a blue suit, he’s somewhere between a political lobbyist, pentecostal preacher and mischievous child.

Ramirez

I love your accent. 

Niamh

Oh, thank you, I’m from London.

Ramirez

I thought you were from the Bronx! 

Will

Ramirez said he was so energized by the idea of New York electing its first Latino mayor — Ferrer is Puerto Rican — that he left his roles as the Bronx Democratic Party leader and state assemblyman to lead the Ferrer campaign. To Ramirez, this was a chance for Latinos to have real representation in New York.

Ramirez

So the mayor’s campaign of 2001 was not just a campaign, this was not just another mayoral campaign. This is the coming of age of an entire constituency. 

Niamh

Ramirez knew that to bring together the coalition of Black and Latino voters again, he needed to create alliances with Black leaders in New York. 

Niamh

Two events would help him do just that. First, there was the police killing of an unarmed Black man in 1999. 

Broadcaster

Here in New York tomorrow four white police officers are going to be formally charged with murder for killing an african immigrant named amadou diallo the four policeman shot at him 41 times and he was unarmed. The killing set off a storm of reaction first against the police but more particularly against the mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, who alienated the minority community by not taking its concerns about the police seriously.

Niamh

Both Ferrer and Ramirez were arrested at those protests. So was the Reverend Al Sharpton. Sharpton was, and still is, among the most influential unelected Black leaders in the city.

Associated Press, Mar. 22, 1999

Broadcaster

It took the death of the unarmed Amadou Diallo in that hail of 41 bullets to finally unite minority leaders here in their demands for equal treatment by police.

Broadcast

Drums, chanting and singing in Spanish. Man shouting in Spanish.

Will

Then, in Spring 2001, Sharpton and Ramirez came together again. They went to Puerto Rico to protest the U.S. Navy’s bombing exercises on a nearby island. They were arrested again and would spend a collective 130 days behind bars. 

Ramirez

By the time we come out of jail, skinny, skinnier, beards, there’s a real moment of magic in the city. 

Will

Political scientists we spoke to told us that these two events helped bring together Black and Latino leaders in New York. But maybe the most unifying factor of all was Mayor Giuliani. By 2001, the racial bias of his policing tactics was clear. And it wasn’t just in Black communities – police overreach was also impacting Latinos.

Ramirez 

It runs rampant in both communities, It’s a shared experience of both Black and Latinos. 

Niamh

And so, leaders from both the Black and Latino communities saw the value in coming together. And more and more Black leaders came out in support of Ferrer. Here he is talking at a conference a year later.

Ferrer

The city’s highest ranking African American office holder, Carl McColl, who’s now running for governor, stepped up early and supported me. And that began a movement or cascade of endorsements from the African American community. 

New York Times, Aug. 18, 2001

Niamh

Here’s Ramirez again.

Ramirez

We literally put together for the first time in the history of the city, a coalition between the entire Black leadership, and Latinos, every one of us saying we can articulate policy. We can have a narrative. We can make this city better. 

Niamh

So as the primary approaches, with the help of Ramirez, Ferrer has his coalition and his message. 

Ramirez

Freddie’s mantra and Freddie’s argument, there was a part of New York that has never been in charge of policy. And that it needed to change and that he came from that community that was the other New York and that other New York doesn’t live in Wall Street. That other New York doesn’t even have much say about anything that happens in city and state government. 

Niamh

There’s also something Ferrer has that Green never will. He’s part of that other New York. And Green knows it.

Green

I had one incident I remember to this day, I was walking through Grand Central Station, and a, like, a 20 year old or so Latino guy sees me comes up and goes, Hey, green, I really like you. But, you know, ferrer, hey, he, he’s me. I laughed. I said I got it. It’s cool.

Will

Ferrer’s support in the Black and Latino communities has grown so much that by September 10th, Green and Ferrer are now even in the polls. And yet, after leading for so long, Green is still seen as the front runner. 

News anchor

Good morning. 64 degrees at 8:00. It’s Tuesday, September 11th. I’m Lee Harris. Here’s what’s happening –it’s primary day in New York. And the polls are open in New York City…. 

Niamh

Finally September 11th arrives. Primary day.

Green

At 8:46, I had finished campaigning in the primary. And I turned to an aid and I said, ‘Okay, that’s it.’ Said, ‘The primary is over, let’s go.’ And then a woman who I happen to know coincidentally was walking south. And I see her look up and exclaim in a way that I had never seen anybody do.

Broadcaster

There is smoke coming from the tower on the northern side of the north tower. That smoke billowing out of the building on the upper floors. We don’t have any word as to what might have caused this explosion this morning. 

Niamh

When you heard of the attacks, and you saw the attacks happening and unfolding, did you kind of see them first as a New Yorker? And just a citizen of New York and then a politician? Or did you see it through the lens of a politician who was running for mayor?

Green

My first reaction was, This can’t be happening. It’s Election Day.

Will

Voting in the primary stops. Mayor Giuliani jumps into action. When the planes hit, he’s only two blocks away. He’s seen covered in ash, comforting a police officer and generally taking charge of the situation.

Giuliani

So people should remain calm, they should remain where they are, except if they are in southern Manhattan. If you’re below Canal Street, you should walk out of southern Manhattan and what you’re doing right here. 

Niamh

In the days and weeks afterwards, he becomes the city’s cool, calm and collected anchor amidst a storm.  And very quickly that reputation… grows.

CBS News, Sep. 28, 2001

CBS Anchor

For every single person touched by this unthinkable tragedy, there’s been one man who, above all of us, has been the beacon holding the city together,

Oprah Winfrey

I know you want to hear from him. He’s the man of the hour, a man whose extraordinary grace under pressure has led him to be called America’s mayor 

Crowd

“Rudy” “Rudy” “Rudy.”

Oprah

He’s the mayor of New York City. Rudy Giuliani 

Green

Giuliani went from being a figure of Nixonian popularity to Churchillian over a 24-hour period. We know what that 24 hour was. 

Will

Suddenly Giuliani’s a rockstar. He receives upwards of an 80% approval rating among New York City voters

Will

He’s named TIME magazine’s person of the year. 

Green

Giuliani went from being a figure of Nixonian popularity to Churchillian over a 24-hour period. We know what that 24 hours was.

Will

Many white voters now love Giuliani. And that includes white Democrats. But there’s actually an important racial distinction here. Public opinion of him remains much lower among some minority groups, in particular Black New Yorkers. 

Niamh

The primaries are finally held two weeks after they were supposed to. Michael Bloomberg easily wins the Republican nomination. But that doesn’t mean much—as Bloomberg later said, even his mother doubted he could win the whole thing. 

Niamh

But …no one wins the Democratic nomination. Neither Green or Ferrer wins enough of the vote to get the nomination outright. So they now have to face each other in a runoff. Democrats will vote again in two weeks to decide between the two.

Green

But the conversation totally changed. And it wasn’t about police misconduct. It was about public safety generally.

Niamh

Ferrer starts to come under fire for his message about the “other New York.” To some, it sounds divisive at a time when the city is supposed to come together.   

Will

But Ferrer doubles down on that message. 

Ferrer

Well, maybe the New York you live in is pretty good. But the New York a lot of other people live in isn’t so pretty good. 

Will

Here’s Ramirez again.

Ramirez

They asked him, ‘Mr. Ferrer—Mr. Ferrer. Are you prepared to change your campaign now, and talk about how important it is to unify the city?’ And Mr. Ferrer says, ‘Well, the towers may have crumbled. But my beliefs have not.’ Every mainstream outlet called Freddie racist. Called Freddie divisive. 

Will

Green goes in the opposite direction. He does start to change his message and focuses more on security. 

Green

I have a plan in this new terrorist era and if the police and firefighters our heroes before on and since September 11 put their faith in me that I can best protect our families. 

Will

And one of his biggest shifts … is on Giuliani. 

Green

I could run against Rudy Giuliani, but it was hard to run against America’s Mayor.

Will

Of course, Green had made his whole reputation on challenging him. But he sees this Giuliani mania, so he stops criticizing America’s Mayor. 

Niamh

As the runoff between Green and Ferrer gets underway, Giuliani is getting pretty comfortable with his new status as America’s Mayor. So comfortable that he starts talking about trying to extend his term in office by 90 days, something that has never been done before in New York City. 

Niamh

This means completely sidestepping the democratic process. But still, a lot of voters are in favor of it. Especially white voters, including white Democrats. 

Green

So I get a phone call from Mayor Giuliani’s office and, ‘The mayor would like to see you, the mayor would like to see you, on the west pier where he set up his office.’ I tell my staff, they meet me there and I’m then ushered into a nondescript room with Rudy. And both our staff are kept outside. And Giuliani, as is his wont, says Mark, ‘Let me get right to the point. We’re trying to, you know, still see if there are any bodies to be found. I’d like to ask whether you’d be willing to delay the runoff with Ferrer for 90 days so I can have that time tacked onto the end of my term so we can complete the follow-up to this catastrophe.’ My first reaction was, quote, ‘What?’ 

Will

Apparently Mike Bloomberg has already said yes.

Green

Now remember, Bloomberg then was an underdog, who really, really really did I say really needed Rudy’s endorsement to be competitive and viable. 

Will

But Green needs a piece of Giuliani too. Ferrer has his Black and Latino coalition and Green needs an edge. Now he might be able to find it in this Giuliani mania. Here’s political scientist John Mollenkopf.

John Mollenkopf

In order to win the primary, Mark Green tacked very clearly to the right in search of votes from Giuliani Democrats, the people in southern Brooklyn and so forth who were conservative Democrats.

Will

And so…, to do that…, here’s where Green makes his first of several crucial decisions. This decision will begin the splintering of Democrats that will lead to Bloomberg’s victory. He endorses Giuliani’s idea.

Cartoon printed in the Village Voice, Oct. 2, 2001

  

Green

And I call and said, Okay, delay it 90 days, if you tack on 90 days, at the end of my term, should I win.

Niamh

But Green comes under fire. He looks like he lacks a backbone. A New York Post headline reads: “Mark Green has fallen out of favor by ‘extension’” and accuses him of getting tangled up in the quote “Rudy factor.” 

Niamh

One person who remembers this is Reverend Al Sharpton, who, by this point, is a close ally of Ferrer and had endorsed him.

Sharpton 

When Giuliani asked to extend his time, all of us were outraged because first of all it’s against the principles of an election. Second of all, what are you suggesting, nobody else knows how to handle a crisis? Then they shouldn’t be mayor. So it was a no brainer that, no, these are the times the new person comes in. That’s that. We were stunned when Mark Green—I remember Mark Green, supposed to be Ralph Nader’s protege. I mean, these are the guys that enforced stuff like this. Stunned!

Niamh

Ferrer, on the other hand, refuses to endorse Giuliani’s idea.

Ramirez

Freddie said, Mr. Mayor, I’m ready to be mayor. Now. I don’t need three months and neither do you. “Freddie looked like the statesman. And Mark Green looked like the political hack.” 

New York Times, Sep. 29, 2001

Niamh

Green soon acknowledges he’s made a mistake. 

Will

Actually the Giuliani term extension never gets off the ground. It’s blocked by state government officials. But, for Green, it’s hard to walk back the hypocrisy of his decision. 

Green

I had been 10 points ahead of Ferrer in the first polls in the runoff. And I lost 10 points in a couple of days, and it became a tie race.  

Niamh

Editorials say Green is now fighting for his political life. The cover of the New York Observer has an illustration of Ferrer as a roaring lion, and Green cowering in the corner. So Green goes on the offensive against Ferrer. 

New York Observer

Green

I scrambled, I hit Ferrer for certain foolish things he had said, like any candidate would. 

Niamh

The runoff starts to get ugly. 

Green

So Freddie, it’s OK to change your mind but you can’t change history.

Ferrer

Mark, I’m not going to let you distort my record …. 

Niamh

Green implies Ferrer’s focus on the other New York—on racism—is wrong.

Green

First I want to say, I do like Freddie’s personality. I think he’s charming. But he ran a “us vs them,” divisive campaign based on the theme of two cities. 

Will

It puts Ferrer on the defensive. 

Ferrer

Mark talks about two cities. And as he knows when I talked about the other New York people being priced out of New York, people in overcrowded and underfunded schools that are beyond race, beyond ethnicity and beyond burough, but in 1995…

Will

Green also changes his approach with Al Sharpton. They’d been friendly before the campaign. But now he’s working to distance himself from the reverend. 

Moderator

​​We were discussing, though, the Reverend Al Sharpton and his role in Mr. Ferrer’s—

Green

I have no comment. He solicited Al Sharpton endorsement and won it. I did not solicit his endorsement this year and didn’t get it.

Will

But, Sharpton remembers that differently.

Security man

Fourteenth flour. 

Will

We went to speak with him at his office in midtown about his work with Ferrer. 

Niamh

That was such a fast lift.

Will

Yes, the lift, as we call it here in America.

Niamh

We were escorted into a small conference room with frosted out windows.

Will

There is a lot of Al Sharpton iconography on the walls. There’s a poster of him with Barack Obama, some news clippings….and now we’re going to wait for him to join us.

Niamh

And after an hour of waiting…

Niamh 

Hi! Hello. Nice to meet you. Hey, I’m Niamh. 

Will

Hey I’m Will. 

Sharpton

How you doing? 

Niamh

Sharpton finally appeared in a crisp gray suit and a knit tie. He sat with his arms crossed. A gold ring sparkled on his finger. “A” “S” it read. 

Will

He claimed that Green had pursued his endorsement earlier in the campaign. But then Green distanced himself.

Sharpton

He had taken me and my ex wife — well, wife, at the time — to a Broadway play with his wife. And then later said, no, no, no, I didn’t ask for his endorsement.” Like, like, we, we double dated! And it became insulting at some point.”

Niamh

Sharpton said for Green to distance himself this way was strategic. 

Will

That’s because Sharpton was hated by many white New Yorkers at the time. He was constantly criticized in the media for his blunt approach to activism. 

Niamh

A journalist once called him “the portly prince of provocation.” He was a punching bag for tabloids like the New York Post, which called him a “professional nutcase” and a “racial arsonist.” Here’s what the writer Peter Noel had to say. He was the race correspondent for the Village Voice at the time. 

Peter Noel

Listen, Sharpton was the boogeyman. The term wasn’t invented yet, but Sharpton Derangement Syndrome, SDS, that was the big thing. Because he was the man, he was the face of the Black activist movement, and the one that white folk love to hate.

Will

Green knows distancing himself from Sharpton could help him appeal to those so-called Giuliani Democrats. He later admitted this during an interview with C-SPAN, claiming again that he never asked for Sharpton’s endorsement.

Green

Sharpton is a double-edged sword. African Americans admire him, white New Yorkers hate him. There’s a 60 point disparity in his poll ratings in New York. So I decided, I’m not going to ask for his endorsement, because he’s so unpopular with my voters, but I’m going to treat him with respect. 

Niamh

Sharpton starts to become a focus of the race. Reporters and debate moderators grill Ferrer about his relationship to Sharpton who by this point had endorsed Ferrer.

Newscaster

Your relationship with Mr. Sharpton, that’s the question. And how do you convince white voters of that relationship and what Mr. Sharpton’s role might be in your administration? 

Ferrer

Well let me tell you something, I don’t feel the need to convince anybody about the fact that he hasn’t—and it’s a matter of public record—asked me for a thing in return for his support of me and I haven’t promised a thing…” 

Will

Ramirez said it was becoming pretty obvious what was happening. [In holding]

Ramirez

His campaign thought that they could get away with chastising and using race against men of color. 

Niamh

At this point in our interview, Ramirez took off his jacket, sweat dripping from his brow.  Playing with the golden crucifix around his neck, he began to punctuate his sentences with a fist to the table. 

Will

Ramirez remembered trying to reach out to Democratic Party leaders. 

Ramirez

I spoke to every one of them and I said to them, ‘I am concerned that Mark Green’s campaign is going to lean on race, because I’m going to beat the shit out of him if he does it.’ So when I said to them No one did anything. They could not believe that Mark Green would do that. Mark Green, the paragon of progressive politics? Oh my God, that will never happen, never!

Will

And then… two critical events happen in the final days before the runoff election. Green’s reputation with Black and Latino voters had already started to suffer when he endorsed Giuliani’s term extension idea. But these events will ruin that reputation. 

Niamh

First, racist fliers and automated calls start going out to white neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

Newscaster

Fliers and phone calls flooded some white neighborhoods, alarming voters about the reverend Al Sharpton’s influence in a Ferrer administration. 

Niamh

On the flier that goes out is a cartoon that was originally printed in the New York Post. It shows Ferrer looking kind of pathetic and feeble. He’s groveling on his hands and knees. He’s kissing Sharpton’s  comically large behind. We actually found a copy of the cartoon and it’s not very nice to look at. But no one owns up to it. And at the same time, anonymous automated phone calls go out to white households. They tell voters that if Ferrer becomes mayor, he’ll hand Sharpton the keys to city hall.

New York Post

Will

Green denies involvement in the race-baiting campaign and publicly denounces it. 

Green

I didn’t know anything about that stupid cartoon. 

Will

But Ferrer’s supporters are furious. They suspect Green’s campaign was behind it all. 

Will

Do you believe that Mark knew about the fliers?

Ramirez

Yes. Did I answer quick enough? He was either the perpetrator, or he acquiesced, or he allowed it to happen. 

Will

Here’s Peter Noel again.

Noel

New York is a dirty place in terms of politics, and people would do anything to win. No one believed that he wasn’t behind it, in some respects. If he knew about it, and he couldn’t control it, that’s a different story. But he didn’t say that he just tepidly denied that he knew anything about what was going on. 

Sharpton

We’re in a Democratic primary, and supposed to be fighting against this kind of bias and bigotry. And here is one of the two major candidates for the party’s nomination playing tricks that we would expect in Georgia somewhere.

Will

Once again, Green denies he knew about the fliers and automated calls. And at this point in the campaign, there’s no hard evidence that he did. 

Niamh

So this mysterious race-baiting campaign is the first pivotal event at the end of the runoff. The second… is an attack ad.  

Niamh

The day before the runoff election, Green’s campaign puts out a TV spot. It calls Ferrer “borderline irresponsible.” “Take a closer look at Fernando Ferrer,” a narrator says. “Can we afford to take a chance?”

Will

Ferrer’s supporters say the ad is racist fear-mongering of a potential Latino mayor. 

Advert narrator

We said we wouldn’t do it, but Mark Green has gone negative, distorting Freddie Ferrer’s record on everything from….

Ramirez

It’s a dog whistle. They know, they know, the consultants know, the candidate knows that when you say, can we afford to trust? Can we take a risk? What you’re saying is that person is different than you. And that their interests are different than yours. And that their motives are different than yours.

Will

Green maintains that the ad wasn’t racist.

Green

I don’t think you know who Antonio Villaraigosa is. Antonio Villaraigosa. He was then running for mayor of LA at the same time. He’s Latino. And I had known him. And I sent him the ad and said, ‘Antonio, is this a racial ad?’ He said, No!

Niamh

The Village Voice called it a matter of perception. One article wondered: “Was the advertisement simply another negative ad? Or was it a coded appeal to white voters’ misgivings about the prospect of a Latino mayor? Was Green playing the proverbial race card, or was Ferrer playing it by saying so?”

Will

The day after the ad runs is October 11, election day. One month after the attacks. Green manages to hold on … and he wins the runoff. The moment was captured in a documentary about his campaign made by his son Jonah. 

Mark Green’s party

Celebrations 

Niamh

The racial divisions in the exit polls are clear. Green gets most of the white vote, and Ferrer gets most of the Black and Latino vote. In less than a month, Green will go up against Bloomberg in the general election. But… Black and Latino leaders won’t soon forget the events of this Democratic runoff.  

Will

A few days after the runoff, Sharpton, Ramirez, and other Ferrer allies meet with Green for a so-called solidarity dinner. Green had said he wants to smooth things over. But….it’s not the reconciliation the Democrats hoped for. 

Sharpton

We ended up just about cussing each other out. And Mark’s attitude was all right, tell me what your beef is. And I said to him, I said, Mark, you lied about never asking for my endorsement, you took me to a Broadway play, da-da-da. You’re a liar. And I think you’ve been cowardly in this whole thing around standing up to the flier, standing up to Giuliani and all that. He sits back in his chair, and has an almost arrogant posture. He says, Well, I’ve been a politician a long time. I’ve never to my face been called a liar and a coward inside of three minutes. So I said, Well, let me make it easier, inside of 30 seconds: you’re a liar and a coward. And that was the tone of the meeting. This was supposed to be a meeting of reconciliation. He wouldn’t give an inch. That’s the kind of guy he was. So we said fine.”

Will

According to both Sharpton and Ramirez, Green tells them…

Ramirez

I do not need you to win. I need you to govern. That’s what he said. 

Sharpton

‘I don’t need you to win, I just need you to govern.’ So how many times do you want to insult people and expect that they just like, like, Okay, you’re gonna tell us you don’t need us, but you want us to get the vote out?”

Will

Green said he did say those words. But

Green

Context counts. 

Will

He said his meaning was misconstrued, and he was really just reaching out.

Green

The whole point was, I’m here to beg you for support. And I’m here not because I couldn’t win if you didn’t support me. I think I could, but I don’t want to find out. I want you to be part of my government. 

Niamh

Finally, a week after the runoff, Ferrer endorses Green as the nominee.

Newscaster

It took three face to face meetings in the last 18 hours for this to happen, Freddie Ferrer endorsing Mark Green as the Democratic Mayoral candidate to face Mike Bloomberg.

Ferrer

I’m very proud to stand here and endorse his candidacy.

Newscaster

On the face of it, this is a Democratic Party solidly unified. But underneath are still the lingering questions of who was behind the race baiting tactics in the final days of the runoff election.

Niamh

Democratic leaders like Senator Chuck Schumer condemn the race-baiting. 

Schumer

We saw at the end of this campaign. We don’t know who did it. But we saw leaflets and phone calls that appeal to the worst instincts of New York and America. 

Niamh

But Ferrer’s supporters aren’t ready to let this go so easily. Green endorsed Giuliani’s term extension idea, he attacked Ferrer, he distanced himself from Sharpton. And someone distributed those flyers—maybe Green’s campaign, maybe some stray supporters. The entire runoff had left a sense of mistrust in the Black and Latino communities.

Sharpton

Mark Green had built a reputation of being very progressive, very liberal. And I think that if he had not built that reputation, it would not have stung as much.

Niamh

Actually, it doesn’t just sting—people are furious. Peter Noel wrote about it in the pages of the Village Voice. 

Noel

I described him as a Giuliani in the making, and for what he did, and I said that he is probably the most hated white man in the African American community and I wasn’t wrong. 

Will

As the general election begins, the Black newspaper the Amsterdam News is filled with editorials condemning Green. We looked through old newspaper clippings. And the level of anger in these editorials is pretty astonishing.

Niamh

One article says: “When Mark saw that he was losing, he excited and frightened white New Yorkers to the point of rage and insanity. The victims of this rage and insanity were Blacks and Hispanics.”

Will

And this is from another editorial: “Mark Green and his friends made a mockery of the Democratic process by exploiting racism in a manner that New York and America have not seen since the days of the Ku Klux Klan.”  

Niamh

Where should we go?

Noel

Table whatever, whatever, what do we want

Niamh

Peter Noel lives in a brownstone in Harlem. 

Will

Sure, table works. 

Niamh

His apartment looks like it belongs in the Palace of Versailles. Oil paintings of fruit with intricate gold frames hung all around us. 

Will

When we got to talking, it was obvious that he’s still seething about these events 20 years later. 

Will

Noel told us that for decades, Black voters had crossed racial lines to vote for white Democrats. 

Noel

Black people are always hoodwinked into voting for the people who appear to be progressive and wanting to do things for them, wanting to protect them from police, wanting to protect them from poverty and different things. 

Niamh

But he said it’s those same people who throw the Black community under the bus when it becomes convenient. 

Noel

Mark Green was one of those people. He was a phony white liberal. He was coming for the vote. . . he seized on an issue that was dear to the hearts of the African American community. Young Black kids were being stopped in the streets. And very few white politicians were speaking out on that. 

Niamh

Noel said Green compromised on his commitment to the Black community through his actions in the runoff. Noel thinks he tried to attract white voters by attacking Ferrer and Sharpton.

Noel

We saw his true colors. 

Niamh

Ramirez agreed. And he said Green made another big mistake — he assumed Black and Latino votes were guaranteed. He thought that nothing—not even that attack ad where he called his Latino rival risky—would drive them away. 

Ramirez

It is the basic notion that there is no price to be paid if you screwed a minority politician. Cause where are they gonna go?

Will

Sharpton told us Green wasn’t the first Democratic candidate to act this way.

Sharpton

The real lesson from this for us is that many of the Democratic Party leadership and candidates just assume we have nowhere to go and they can do whatever they want with us, and we’ll be there anyway Because where are they going? They’re not going to Republicans, they’ll give them nothing. So we c;lan abuse them but they gotta come home because they got nowhere else to live.

Will

But as it turns out, Green’s campaign was wrong in that assumption.

Ramirez

“That was their miscalculation that we were just going to play along. We’re gonna roll over. And we’re gonna allow Mark Greene to be mayor after he did that.”

Noel

We wanted revenge. The African American community wanted revenge. 

Niamh

And so it becomes bigger than Mark Green. For Ramirez and Sharpton, this is the moment to make a statement. To send a message to the Democratic Party. And so they decide to keep their distance. They don’t publicly reconcile with Green or endorse him. They withhold support for Green to challenge this assumption in the Democratic Party—that minority voters have nowhere else to go. And that’s a pretty big deal, because Sharpton and Ramirez hold powerful influence over Black and Latino voters respectively. 

Ramirez

We got screwed over politically over and over and over and it was okay. Because the next day we’ll cut a deal. The next day, we will be back. And in this case, we made a decision. This is where we draw the line. And this is a lesson not to Mark Green, but this is for the future Mark Greens of the world. This is a lesson to the state Democratic Party. This is a lesson to us as a community!

Will

So now the focus turns to getting revenge.

Will

Black media leaders are determined to stop Green. By default, that means supporting the only other candidate: Mike Bloomberg. Influential DJs on radio stations like Kiss FM.

Will

Start talking about Bloomberg as the only alternative. 

Noel

Kiss FM, led these other Black radio stations in this revolt against Mark Green to influence Black people to vote for Bloomberg. So Bloomberg was the lesser of two evils. It was a revenge vote.   

Niamh

Soon the Black newspaper the Amsterdam News endorses Bloomberg too.  And yet, two weeks out from election day, Green is still polling 16 points ahead of him. But—that gap is rapidly shrinking as Bloomberg pours his massive fortune into an ad blitz.

Niamh

In the final week of the campaign, suddenly it’s pretty close. 

News anchor

Bloomberg was down by 38 points in June certainly is gaining….

Will

Then, a few days before election day, the New York Daily News publishes an investigation into the flier incident from a few weeks before.

Niamh

The investigation uncovers a suspicious meeting, a meeting that looks a lot like it led to the fliers and robocalls. Basically, four of Green’s staffers had met with a group of Democratic strategists during the runoff. This was at Nick’s Lobster House in the south end of Brooklyn. They all talked about how they could highlight the supposed influence that Sharpton would have over a Ferrer administration, basically in order to alarm white voters. That cartoon of Ferrer kissing Sharpton’s behind from the New York Post came up in the meeting. The same cartoon that would soon appear all over white neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

Will

It’s not totally proven, but it now looks like Green’s campaign was behind the fliers. The news is a bombshell this late in the race. Once again, Ferrer and his team are furious. 

Ferrer

I called him up on the phone. I said you’ve got a problem here. 

Niamh

Ferrer wants Green to fire the staffers who were at the meeting. 

Ferrer

He declined to do that after 6 telephone calls.

Green

I couldn’t fire two people and ruin them potentially. Because it would be the front page everywhere when they denied it, and I believe their denial. 

Will

Bloomberg capitalizes on the conflict. Here he is in a debate with Green.

Mayoral general debate, Nov. 1, 2001

Bloomberg

Mark, the way the runoff turned out between you and Freddie Ferrer, isn’t it time to say we’re going to conduct … you should conduct a real investigation of what happened? Isn’t it time that you apologize for the smearing of Freddie Ferrer, saying that he was borderline irresponsible,  isn’t it time to say enough, that you should not have had or somebody should not have in your interest, put out these disgraceful fliers and made those disgraceful calls? Will you promise right now to stop this politics of personal destruction that you seem to do every time you get close in an election?

Green

This is a man who said two weeks ago, he wouldn’t raise these issues because it’s racially divisive…

Niamh

Democratic leaders see things spinning out of control. They decide it’s time to step in—but not to investigate Green and this flier incident. Instead they throw a so-called “unity dinner” for Green. The event is hosted by none other than…

Green

A guy named Harvey Weinstein had organized it and he was very famous. 

Will

Twelve-hundred people cram into the Sheraton ballroom in midtown Manhattan.

Green

John Stewart was the MC. 

John Stewart

This was the time they said to me to make your remarks. I really have nothing to say. I had about five minutes to say—that’s very nice—but Mr. Bloomberg purchased my time. 

Green

The two Clintons were there, 

Hillary

I’m looking forward on Wednesday morning to talking to Mayor elect Green about coming to Washington . . . 

Will

But Ferrer’s supporters are upset that the same Democratic leaders who’d disavowed the fliers a few weeks ago are now gathering to celebrate Green.

Ramirez

Everybody gave him a pass. I am going to for the rest of my life. I would never give Mark Green a pass. And I would never give their leadership at the time a pass. It was wrong. 

Will

To Ramirez, it felt like disrespect to Black and Latino voters.

Ramirez

The Democratic Party never thought they had a responsibility to a constituency just because they’re part of the city.

Will

Ferrer doesn’t show up to the unity dinner. And he reverses his endorsement of Green. Four days after that dinner it’s election day – Nov 6 2001.  

NBC Anchor 

We are briefly interrupting the Tonight Show with Jay Leno to bring you live coverage of the transition of power in New York City. 

NBC Anchor 

Mayor elect Michael Bloomberg about to officially become the city’s leader…

Will

Green’s opponents put all the blame on him. 

Ferrer

Well, that’s the result, the fruit of desperation when you play the race and the fear card. Had he fired somebody he might have been mayor today. Had he taken a stand, he might have won. 

Sharpton

Mike Bloomberg didn’t beat Mark Green. Mark Green beat Mark Green.

Niamh

But that’s only partially true. Sharpton, Ferrer and Ramirez—they beat Mark Green too. 

Green

Now it didn’t occur to me that they really would go on political strike and allow a Republican billionaire who joined all white golfing clubs to be elected mayor over a person who they knew was always on their side marching with them fighting police misconduct. But I was naive, because the issue wasn’t issues. It was power, racial power.

Niamh

Did you go on political strike? And if you did, what did that look like?

Ramirez

No, I did not go on a strike at all. Even though it’s been said that way. Mark Green believed that he was entitled to the benefit of my life’s work of Freddie’s life’s work of Sharpton of every one of us who worked so hard to get to this point. And he believed that no, you have to ignore what happened and you have to help me. And then the presumption becomes If I don’t help them, I am on a strike. I’m sorry, no, I did not go on a strike.

Niamh

Electing Bloomberg had profound consequences for New York. 

Will

Bloomberg was widely credited with the rebuilding of lower Manhattan. But his tenure would represent a step back for racial justice in New York. He’d massively expand stop and frisk even compared to the Giuliani era. 

Will

The policy reached a fever pitch by 2011. That year there were nearly 700,000 stops. Nearly 90 percent of those targeted young Black and Latino men. To put that in perspective, there were actually more stops of young Black men that year than the total number of young Black men in the city. 

Will

And it wasn’t just policing. Inequality and homelessness soared under Bloomberg. Conditions in public housing deteriorated. Those problems had a disproportionate impact on Black and Latino people.   

Niamh

But Ramirez said he doesn’t regret helping stop Green.  

Ramirez

I would have taken five more Rudy Giulianis rather than one Mark Green. And I say to you that I have not had one better day in my life than on the day that I chose to enforce my ideals and who I am and the responsibility that I carry on my shoulders. If it was today, I would do it again, and I would have another cigar.

Niamh

For Green, questions around the flier incident lingered for years. In 2002, the Brooklyn District Attorney opened an investigation.

Green

And I said, I’m gonna come in and you’re gonna put me under oath. And at the end of it, you’re either going to charge me or exonerate me publicly. 

Niamh

Four years later, he was finally found in court to have had no knowledge of the fliers. And his name was cleared.  

Will

Green was surprised to learn Ramirez remains angry at him. He still doesn’t think he did anything wrong. The way he sees it, only the flier incident was overtly racist, and he was found to have had no knowledge of that.

Green

If he wants to make me into an ogre, he’s gonna have a hard time. And it’s great when you’re accused of something and you have a completely free conscience. Because I didn’t do anything. 

Will

As we talked, Green was obviously tired of rehashing this story. 

Green

I’m boring myself. I don’t actually talk about this every day, you know. 

Will

After 2001, Green never held elected office again. His ability to regain the trust of the Black and Latino communities was never really tested. But now the memory of 2001 is hard to escape for the man who was almost mayor. 

Green

I dream about it occasionally. And I’ll leave it to the therapists to say whether dreams reflect psychology and the answer is they do. 

Niamh

But Ramirez doesn’t want this story to die. He sees 2001 as a lost chance for representation that still hasn’t been achieved. Today, Latinos make up almost as much of New York as white people, and the city council includes a growing number of Latinos. But still, no Latino has ever held one of the key citywide positions like mayor, public advocate, or council speaker. 

Niamh

Ramirez hopes this statement they made twenty years ago will someday change that. 

Ramirez

There ought to be somebody in the future that looks back to 2001. they will be the new mayor that got elected and her name is Rodriguez, right? First time it’s going to happen. We will elect a latina, latino mayor. And at that juncture, I’m hoping that somebody looks back and says, There was a contribution that was made by people in 2001 who came from our community, to ensure this was never allowed to happen again,  And that whatever price it costs, politically, it was worth it.

Will

Shoe leather is a production of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. This episode was reported, written, and produced, by me, Will Norris, 

Niamh

And me, Niamh Rowe. Joanne Faryon is our executive producer and professor. Rachel Quester is our editor. Peter Leonard helped with sound design. 

A special thanks to Andy Lanset at New York Public Radio, Columbia Digital Librarian Michele Wilson, and Mason Lieb.