Mark J. Green
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Mark J. Green
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| In office January 1, 1994 – December 31, 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Betsy Gotbaum |
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| Born | March 15, 1945 Brooklyn, New York |
| Political party | Democratic Party |
| Alma mater | Cornell University Harvard Law School |
Mark J. Green (b. March 15, 1945) is a public interest author and lawyer and a former Democratic politician who lives in New York City. He is currently the president of Air America Radio.
He has written or edited 22 books, including two best sellers, Who Runs Congress? (1972) and The Book On Bush (2004). He has collaborated on published works several times with consumer advocate Ralph Nader. His most recent book is Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President, a transition policy book for President Obama, produced in conjunction with John Podesta's Center for American Progress Action Fund.[1]
He served as New York City Consumer Affairs Commissioner (1990-1993). As a politician, he was twice elected New York City Public Advocate (1994-2001). He also won Democratic primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, and Mayor of New York, but in each case lost in the general election.
He was a regular guest on the show Crossfire on CNN, and has also appeared on the show Firing Line on PBS and Inside City Hall on NY1, usually representing the liberal point of view.
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[edit] Early life
Green was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Great Neck South High School in Great Neck, New York in 1963 [1]; from Cornell University in 1967; and from Harvard Law School in 1970, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.
Green has been married to Deni Frand, a former director of the New York City office of liberal interest group People for the American Way, since 1977. They have two children, Jenya and Jonah. Green's brother is real estate developer Stephen L. Green.
[edit] Political career
During the 1970s, Green worked as one of "Nader's Raiders" at Ralph Nader's Public Citizen, including working on a suit against the administration of Richard M. Nixon and ultimately running Congress Watch (1977-1980).
Green's first run for office came in 1980 when he sought to represent the East Side of Manhattan in the House of Representatives. He won a contested Democratic primary but was then defeated by the Republican incumbent, Bill Green (not a relative).
In 1981, Mark Green founded the New Democracy Project, a public policy institute in New York City, which he ran for 10 years. During the 1984 presidential election, he served as chief speechwriter for Democratic candidate Senator Gary Hart, who ran second in the primary.
Green returned to the candidate's role in 1986 when he ran for the U.S. Senate. He was opposed for the Democratic nomination by multimillionaire John Dyson. Although Dyson outspent Green 10-1, Green won the primary. Dyson remained on the ballot as the candidate of the Liberal Party. The race was won by the Republican incumbent, Alfonse D'Amato.
From 1990 to 1993, Green served as Consumer Affairs Commissioner of New York City. He was elected the first Public Advocate of New York City in 1993 and was re-elected in 1997. In that office, Green led investigations of HMOs, hospitals, and nursing homes which led to fines by the New York State Attorney General. A 1994 investigation on the Bell Regulations ("Libby Zion Law") -- limiting resident working hours and requiring physician supervision -- and follow-up study prompted the New York State Department of Health to crack down on violating hospitals and also launched a series of exposes and legal action against tobacco advertising to children that culminated in the FTC forcing the end of Joe Camel ads.
One of Green's most high-profile accomplishments as Public Advocate was a lawsuit against the unpunished racial profiling in Rudy Giuliani's police force. As Green told the Gotham Gazette, "I sued Mayor Giuliani because he was in deep denial about racial profiling and police misconduct that went unpunished. I won my lawsuit, I released an investigation showing a pattern of unpunished misconduct ... [and] the rate that police with substantiated complaints are punished went from 25 percent, up to 75 percent." Green was one of the first politicians to draw attention to this problem, and for this and other accomplishments in this area he was, until 2001, one of the most popular white politicians among New York City African Americans.
Green ran for the U.S. Senate again in 1998, when D'Amato was seeking a fourth term. Green finished third in the Democratic primary behind the winner, Congressman Charles Schumer, and 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro.
Despite Green's ties to Nader, he did not support Nader's presidential campaigns. In 2000 he praised Nader's work as a consumer advocate but he endorsed Democratic nominee Al Gore.[2] In 2004, Green was the co-chair of the New York wing of Senator John Kerry's failed presidential campaign.
[edit] 2001 race for Mayor
Green ran for Mayor of New York as the Democratic candidate in 2001, but lost to Michael Bloomberg 49% - 47% in one of the closest elections in New York City's history.[3] Green narrowly defeated Fernando Ferrer in the primary, surviving a negative contest that divided the party.
Green was roundly criticized for the actions of supporters that were construed as racist, involving literature with New York Post caricatures of Ferrer and Al Sharpton distributed in white enclaves of Brooklyn and Staten Island. Green stated that he had nothing to do with the dissemination of the literature. An investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney came to the conclusion that "Mark Green had no knowledge of these events, and that when he learned of them, he repeatedly denounced the distribution of this literature and sought to find out who had engaged in it."[2] Nevertheless, the incident is thought to have diminished minority turnout in the general election and helped the Republican candidate win in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks occurred on the morning of the Democratic primary and also contributed to Green's loss, since the media barely covered the subsequent general election, and Bloomberg spent $74 million on TV ads and direct mail. Rudy Giuliani, who suddenly had an extremely high popularity rating even among minorities, publicly endorsed Bloomberg.[4]
Additionally, Green made a controversial decision during the primary to support Giuliani's unprecedented attempt to extend his own mayoral term, in the name of the emergency of 9/11. Ferrer opposed Giuliani's ultimately unsuccessful attempt at term self-extension, and was able to accuse Green of being rolled over by Giuliani.
The Economist wrote, "The billionaire businessman [Bloomberg] is usually seen as one of the post-September 11th winners (if such a word can be so used): he would probably have lost the mayoralty to Mark Green, a leftish Democrat, had the terrorist strike not happened. Yet it is also worth noting that his election probably spared New York city a turbulent period of score-settling over Rudy Giuliani's legacy."[5]
[edit] 2006 race for state Attorney General
Green ran in the Democratic primary for New York State Attorney General in 2006. He faced former HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, former White House Staff Secretary Sean Patrick Maloney, and former lieutenant governor candidate Charles King in the primary. Other candidates who initially ran but dropped out before the primary include former U.S. Attorney Denise O'Donnell and Assemblyman Richard Brodsky. Green did not receive the required 25% at the state Democratic convention to earn a spot on the primary ballot and therefore had to circulate nominating petitions statewide to be on the September ballot. He was required to submit at least 15,000 valid signatures; on July 13, he submitted more than 40,000 signatures. He held several endorsements of note, including former NYC Mayor David Dinkins, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the Sierra Club, the National Organization for Women (NOW), the New York Times, and most recently the New York Daily News.
On September 12, 2006, Green lost to Andrew Cuomo in his bid to secure the Democratic nomination to succeed then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.[6] On the evening the results came in, he vowed to reporters that "I won't be running for office again. But I'll continue to advocate, write and teach."[3]
The Republican candidate against Cuomo was former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who lost to Cuomo in the general election.
[edit] 2009 race for Public Advocate
On February 10, 2009, Green announced that he would again run for the office public advocate.[7] Green was the first individual to hold this post in New York City.
[edit] State and city campaign tickets
The following lists the slates that Mark J. Green has been part of:
[edit] 1986 New York state Democratic ticket
- Governor: Mario Cuomo
- Lieutenant Governor: Stan Lundine
- Comptroller: Herman Badillo
- Attorney General: Robert Abrams
- U.S. Senate: Mark J. Green
[edit] 1993 New York City Democratic ticket
- Mayor: David Dinkins
- Public Advocate: Mark J. Green
- Comptroller: Alan Hevesi
[edit] 1997 New York City Democratic ticket
- Mayor: Ruth Messinger
- Public Advocate: Mark J. Green
- Comptroller: Alan Hevesi
[edit] 2001 New York City Democratic ticket
- Mayor: Mark J. Green
- Public Advocate: Betsy Gotbaum
- Comptroller: William Thompson
[edit] Air America
On 6 March 2007 Green and his brother, New York real estate magnate Stephen L. Green, purchased majority shares in Air America Radio. Stephen serves as chairman, and Mark serves as president.[8]
Green is co-host, with Arianna Huffington, of the syndicated talk show 7 Days in America, which airs on the network.[9]
[edit] Selected publications
- The Book on Bush : How George W. (Mis)leads America, (ISBN 0-670-03273-5) (2004)
- Who Runs Congress? (1972)
- The Consumer Bible (1995)
- Selling Out; How Big Corporate Money Buys Elections, Rams through Legislation, and Betrays Our Democracy, (ISBN 0-06-052392-1) (2002)
[edit] References
- ^ Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President: http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/changeforamerica/
- ^ Ramirez, Anthony (September 1, 2000), "Metro Briefing", The New York Times, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E4DD1230F932A3575AC0A9669C8B63&scp=2&sq=Nader+Mark+Green&st=nyt
- ^ New York City Mayoralty Elections: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_mayoralty_elections#Principal_candidates.27_City-wide_vote_since_1897
- ^ Nagourney, Adam. "Bloomberg Puts Eggs In a Basket: Giuliani's", The New York Times, October 28, 2001. Accessed December 31, 2007. "Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's decision to endorse Michael R. Bloomberg at City Hall yesterday provides Mr. Bloomberg with perhaps his greatest hope for victory as he moves into the final days of what his supporters describe as a troubled campaign."
- ^ " New York's difficult year", The Economist, September 12, 2002. Accessed December 31, 2007.
- ^ "Clinton, Spitzer, Spencer, Cuomo Advance In Primaries", NY1. Accessed December 31, 2007.
- ^ "Mark Green Announces Candidacy For Public Advocate", NY1. Accessed February 10, 2009.
- ^ via Associated Press. "Green brothers close deal to buy liberal talk radio network Air America", San Diego Union-Tribune, March 6, 2007. Accessed December 31, 2007.
- ^ 7 Days in America official website, www.airamerica.com
[edit] External links
- Mark Green for Attorney General
- New Democracy Project official site
- Mark J. Green's response to the 2006 Attorney General screening questionnaire from the 504 Democratic Club of New York City
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Elizabeth Holtzman |
Democratic Nominee for U.S. Senate (class 3) from New York 1986 |
Succeeded by Robert Abrams |
| Preceded by Ruth Messinger |
Democratic Nominee for Mayor of New York 2001 |
Succeeded by Fernando Ferrer |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Position created |
New York City Public Advocate 1994—2001 |
Succeeded by Betsy Gotbaum |
