Skinny Cat Parties

What happens when you combine a) an awful economy for political fund-raising (and everything else), b) a late entry into a campaign, c) a law matching small gifts from City residents by 6-1 and d) my life-long war against big money in politics? The answer is what I've dubbed our SKINNY CAT PARTIES.

So Green for New York will be holding numerous small events that urge friends and supporters to in turn woo their NYC friends to donate $50/$100/$175 that’d be matched 6-1 by City Funds under the 1998 law that I originally enacted (alas I didn't think to specify that it only apply to me!).

So last Monday at our 19th Street loft my wife Deni, daughter Jenya, and I held a Women’s Luncheon with the main speaker being my friend Arianna Huffington. She’s the world-class personality, brain and blogger who did a radio show with me on Air America for the past nearly two years.

Over 100 women filled our living room as Jenya introduced Arianna who spoke easily and movingly about the role of women in our society and about her struggle to create The Huffington Post in the face of great skepticism. And of course she teased me in her idiosyncratic Greek ‘brogue’ – “Mark, I miss our radio so much and your witty blogs after – what was so important that made you leave?”

I explained how I preferred advocating to blogging and profusely thanked all – Deni and Jenya for their love and patience with my public life, Arianna for donating some of her multi-tasking time. And then I talked about how I met Jenette Rankin in 1973 at age 92. Rankin was the first woman ever elected to the Congress in 1914, in time to vote against our entry into The Great War (she was a pacifist) which led to her being kicked out by her Montana constituents in 1916…yet she ran again and won in 1940, in time to vote against our entry into WWII, to be again voted out the next year! “How did you have the guts to keep running and going?”, I asked her in our meeting. “You can’t lose if you never give up” she replied...and today Jenette Rankin is one of Montana’s two statues in Statutory Hall in Congress.

Then onto another Skinny Cat Party that same night at the West Village home of Danny Goldberg and Rosemary Carroll, close friends who are the Sidney and Beatrice Webb of music – he was at one time head of Warner Music Group and she is in a law firm representing major artists. They attracted 30 people from the creative community to come and listen and give $xx (trade secret).

Then three nights later it's the Tech Community at The City Winery on Varick Street, with the Arianna of the event being Andrew Rasiej. He's the guru of the internet/tech/digital community in NYC -- and founder of the widely attended Personal Democracy Forum in NYC every June. He endorsed me before the 40 folks there -- "Mark understands that information technology is indispensable to bringing New York City into the 21st century. His deep experience and new ideas will enable him to use information technology to transform and restore the Office of Public Advocate." Ideally, many tweets were twittering to the world beyond.

Forty years ago John Lindsay had 10 breakfasts at the Regency Hotel and raised $1 million in 1965 dollars from Fat Cats to successfully run for mayor. Because of our City’s campaign finance law, I now have many Skinny Cat parties to raise far less per event in small matchable dollars to run for Public Advocate. Much more democratic. So should I win, no one can control me (except Deni).