Mark J. Green
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Mark J. Green (b. March 15, 1945) is a public interest author and lawyer and a retired Democratic politician who lives in New York City. He is probably best known for several high profile but unsuccessful campaigns in New York City and state, most notable of which was his run as the 2001 Democratic candidate for Mayor of New York against Republican novice Michael Bloomberg. He has written several books, including Who Runs Congress? (1972) and Selling Out: How Big Corporate Money Buys Elections, Rams through Legislation, and Betrays Our Democracy (2002). He has collaborated on published works several times with consumer advocate Ralph Nader. He was a regular guest on the show Crossfire on CNN, and also appears 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 the wealthy, influential 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. In 1972, he attended the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach as a delegate for Ramsey Clark (see his photograph on dianamarahenry.com). In 1981, he founded the New Democracy Project, a public policy institute in New York City, which he ran for several years. During the 1984 presidential election, he served as chief speechwriter for Democratic candidate Senator Gary Hart, who ran second in the primary. Green's first run for office came in 1986 when he ran as the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate seat from New York held by Alfonse D'Amato, who defeated Green and won re-election.
From 1990 to 1993, he 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.
One of Mark 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.
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. 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. In the weeks after the Sharpton controversy, Village Voice columnist Peter Noel wrote that "Mark Green ... may have replaced [Giuliani] as the most hated white man in the African American community,"[2] an ironic twist for someone who had been so popular in that community for so long.
Although Green claims to have had nothing to do with the dissemination of the literature, and a recent investigation 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,"[3] many analysts believe this resentment and Green's failure to deal with the controversy based on his knowledge of the fact coupled with an infamous statement to Ferrer supporters that he did not need them to get elected reduced minority turnout in the general election and helped the Republican candidate win in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.
The September 11th 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. The hugely popular "Mayor of America," Rudy Giuliani — who suddenly had an extremely high popularity rating even amongst minorities — stumped for Bloomberg.
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.
As 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."[4]
[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 current Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. [5] 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."[6]
The Republican candidate against Cuomo was former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who lost to Cuomo in the general election.
[edit] State and City Campaign Tickets
The following lists the slates that Mark J. Green has been part of:
[edit] 1986 NYS Democratic Ticket
- Governor: Mario Cuomo
- Lieutenant Governor: Stan Lundine
- Comptroller: Herman Badillo
- Attorney General: Robert Abrams
- U.S. Senate: Mark J. Green
[edit] 1993 NYC Democratic Ticket
- Mayor: David Dinkins
- Public Advocate: Mark J. Green
- Comptroller: Alan Hevesi
[edit] 1997 NYC Democratic Ticket
- Mayor: Ruth Messinger
- Public Advocate: Mark J. Green
- Comptroller: Alan Hevesi
[edit] 2001 NYC Democratic Ticket
- Mayor: Mark J. Green
- Public Advocate: Betsy Gotbaum
- Comptroller: William Thompson
[edit] Air America
On 6 March 2007 Mark Green and his brother, New York real estate magnate Stephen L. Green, purchased majority shares in Air America Radio. Stephen will be chairman, and Mark will be president.[7]
[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] 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
| Preceded by (none) |
New York Public Advocate 1994—2001 |
Succeeded by Betsy Gotbaum |
| Preceded by Ruth Messinger |
Democratic Nominee for Mayor of New York 2001 |
Succeeded by Fernando Ferrer |
| Preceded by Elizabeth Holtzman |
Democratic Nominee for U.S. Senate (class 3) from New York 1986 |
Succeeded by Robert Abrams |
