Ethan Geto

For all David Paterson's considerable charm and wit, his managerial style has been described by Democratic insiders as "jazz government." He is not into discipline. He's no good at firing people. His greatest political talent seems to be being in the right place at the right time.

But always walking one step behind Paterson now is his own éminence grise, Charles O'Byrne, an extremely intelligent, well-connected, tough and reclusive former Jesuit priest who as the governor's chief of staff will be one of the most powerful players in New York government. When the Spitzer governorship fell under the weight of the recent sensational sex scandal, Mr. O'Byrne became the gatekeeper of the new regime in Albany.  read more »

Talk about unsolicited praise.

Referring to the notion that the 2008 Democrats are more supportive of gay rights than the Republicans, influential consultant and gay rights activist Ethan Geto offered me the following caveat:

"They are going to be so much more supportive than the Republican candidates, unless we have an anomaly -- and it's Rudy Giuliani. Because I must say, Rudy Giuliani is pretty damned gay friendly. I was a lobbyist during his administration on gay rights issues, and Giuliani -- I couldn't get Vallone (then City Council Speaker Peter Vallone) to sign off on the Domestic Partnership Bill, because he was afraid Giuliani was going to oppose him and leave him hanging out there and make him look bad - and Giuliani went and took the leadership."

UPDATE: Ben has a fascinating memo from the Empire State Pride Agenda detailing Giuliani's pragmatic "accommodation" with gay New York.

-- Jason Horowitz

Over on the West Side, one of the Assembly candidates, Charles Simon, has a couple of mailings that perfectly illustrate how hard it will be for the state Democratic Party establishment to extricate itself from a lobbyist-heavy political culture. The central problem being that the establishment is composed in no small part of lobbyists. Here's one mailer (.pdf), highlighting Simon's call to "ban gifts from lobbyists," his refusal to take donations from lobbyists (it helps to have your own money), and his general disgust at their proliferation. And here's one with headshots (.pdf) of a couple prominent Simon supporters; one is Ethan Geto, identified as Howard Dean's New York campaign manage. In his day job, Geto is ... a lobbyist and P.R. man whose clients include major real estate developers.

An email from lobbyist/consultant/gay activist Ethan Geto has been making the rounds since he sent it to Gay City News publisher Paul Schindler.

The email, cced to a long list that included many Bloomberg supporters, responds to the paper's endorsement of Freddy:

Dear Paul,

Terrific editorial! Bully for you and GCN!

Ill eat my hat, as they said in the old days (and/or kiss Bloombergs ass in Macys window) if every single one of the gay leaders who have endorsed and actively supported Bloomberg dont get (a) a job in City Hall, (b) funding for their next electoral campaign, and/or (c) a sinecure with the Bloomberg Lifetime on Easy Street Career Opportunist Plan.

Your coverage and editorials, and particularly Andy Humms comprehensive comparative piece, have been uniformly excellent.  read more »

Yours, Ethan

The rump of the Howard Dean campaign, organized as Democracy for NYC, put together an impressive turnout of 100 or so people on a rainy Sunday night. So Wonderland, a club in the East 20s, was pretty crowded for last night's mayoral forum, particularly once you added most of Gifford's staff and much of The Politicker's staff.

Even without packing the house, it was -- and should have been -- a very pro-Giff crowd. Just as Howard Dean was losing his grip on the nomination last year, Miller sat gamely through a freezing, hopeless, endless bus trip to New Hampshire, and gamely knocked on doors for his candidate. Last night, Miller guru and Dean advisor Ethan Geto stood in back hooting with particular vigor.  read more »

It was Freddy, though, who came closest to making news, bringing the criticism of the West Side Stadium deal just an inch a way from calling for a criminal investigation:

"If we scratch under the surface, there is always something lurking that Mike Bloomberg is working out with some of his buddies in this city," Ferrer said. "Now, if he were a Democrat from another borough, he might even face an investigation for stuff that he's doing."

I've come to save the Dean campaign.  read more »

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