Anthony WeinerThere was a fleeting moment in the 2008 presidential race when it looked like three New Yorkers might be on the ballot against one another. Alas, not a single one of them made it past the primaries — but there is still an awful lot of New York City in Washington these days.
One of those candidates is now Secretary of State; and the Obama administration has been recruiting New Yorkers at a frenzied pace: Thomas Frieden to the Centers for Disease Control*; Rocco Landesman to the National Endowment for the Arts; Shaun Donovan to Housing and Urban Development; Peggy Hamburg to the Food and Drug Administration; and, oh yes, Tim Geithner to Treasury.
But few New Yorkers bring more of a New York attitude to Washington than Democratic Congressman Anthony David Weiner. He is the self-confessed Dorian Gray of politics, a mirror image of the 27-year-old version of himself who in 1991 became the then-youngest elected member of New York’s City Council. He was elected to Congress in 1998, taking over the seat previously occupied by his mentor Chuck Schumer, who won election to the U.S. Senate.
Weiner now sits on the Judiciary Committee and the wide-reaching Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees telecommunications, public health, energy policy, environmental protection, and interstate and foreign commerce. He is also vice chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, which he believes should steer legislation for the nation’s cybersecurity. At a May 1 hearing, he wondered if the president should have “an on-off switch” for the Internet, or if there should be a “second tier” of the Internet for more secure operations:
He also very much wanted to run for Mayor of New York (again) this year, but probably won’t. Like many New Yorkers, he is fond of swearing. He is significantly entwined with Huma Abedin, a senior aide to Secretary of State Clinton. (If that marriage goes through, Hollywood won’t be able to resist — a Jewish/Muslim romantic-comedy version of an Albert Brooks film, maybe.) Oh yeah, Weiner also used to be a sort-of roommate to Jon Stewart, and has become Ben Affleck‘s political sage.
I ran into Weiner in an airport the other week and can testify that there is almost no question to which he won’t give a candid, informed, and fairly entertaining answer. So fire away in the comments section below. As always, we will post his answers to your questions in short course.
*Based near Atlanta; its predecessor agency was located there to fight malaria in the 1940′s.
Addendum: Weiner answers your questions here.
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Why did the Congressman oppose congestion pricing? I’m a New Yorker (and, I should note, an outer borough resident with a car) and his opposition to it really soured me on him. It seemed blatantly political – I’ve yet to hear a good policy-based argument against it – but if he can mount a reasonable defense of his position on the issue, I’d love to hear it.
Congress seems fundamentally broken to me because the issues we face today — war fighting/empire dismantling, climate change, long-term deficit, entitlement reform — have a policy cycle much longer than the political cycle. Decisions are made with an eye on the short term, constantly kicking the ball down the road for future members to deal with. Is there any non-systemic change possible to alter this, or should we just pack it up and allocate Congressional seats like jury duty (one person randomly assigned per district) to remove the politics from it?
Assemblyman Bob Reilly, a democratic member of the committee who represents the 109th district of New York, opposes the legislation of MMA in NY. He says “I think economically, it’s a very poor thing for New York State, that just the economics of it would not be beneficial to our state.” I disagree because tourism, hotels, restaurant’s business will boom for every fight in the Big Apple. What is your take on MMA being legal in NY?
The federal deficit is out of control and yet both the previous administration and the current administration, and the associated congresses, keep adding new programs and make no meaningful effort at reducing expenses. What is the mindset of the members of Congress? You must either think these spiraling deficits do not matter, or recognize they do matter but you do not care. Surely if you think they do matter and you do care you can find some way to eliminate failed programs and truly reduce waste (as a trivial example, why is the federal government paying for a ultimate frisbee course in Austin, TX?). So which is it? They don’t matter? Or you don’t care?
What would the economic benefits from legislating MMA (UFC) fighst in New York mean for the state as a whole?
DO you think Mixed Martial Arts should be legalized and sanctioned in New York?
Given the growing use of the filibuster to impede legislation on even the most mundane of issues, do you view the Senate as being a broken institution?
do you think we are falling behind Japan/Europe in broadband access/infrastructure? if so, what can Congress do to close the gap? any way to piggy back on the stimulus program? and are private companies attempting to block any public wireless infrastructure?