Observer » Davidson Goldin

Ford Aide to Lupica: Read Your Own Paper

Azi Paybarah — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:36:50 -0400

Daily News columnist Mike Lupica questioned Harold Ford's claim that he's "always been pro-choice," writing, sarcastically, "Sure he has."

Ford's spokesman, Davidson Goldin, is now blasting Lupica for what he says is misrepresenting Ford's actual record on the issue.

"Harold has always been a supporter of abortion rights," Goldin wrote in an email to The Observer. "If Mike Lupica took the time to read his own newspaper he'd know that.

"The New York Daily News last month reported that Jeff Teague, president of Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee who's known Harold for 20 years, said, 'He voted with Planned Parenthood the majority of the time - it is wrong to characterize him as anti-choice.' "

UPDATE: They're not letting this one go. Kirsten Gillibrand's advisor, Jef Pollock, emailed to say, "Harold Ford Jr. appears to want to run away from his own words, 'I'm pro-life, I'm pro-life, Tucker, so I mean, I don't run from that.' Over two hundred women's rights advocates and concerned citizens have signed an open letter to Mr. Ford to let him know that he won't get away with covering up his anti-choice record. He's clearly disappointed that Mr. Lupica is looking past his hetoric and at his record."

.GAY On the Way, Thanks to Joe Dolce

Gillian Reagan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:28:30 -0400

Early next year, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will begin accepting applications for new, and maybe even unconventional, top-level doman addresses besides .com, .org and .net. Not only will they be recieving one from the city of New York for a ".NYC" address, but also from the Dot Gay Alliance, for .GAY.

The group was founded by former Star and Details editor Joe Dolce, who started the media strategy firm, DolceGoldin with former NY1 anchor and MSNBC editorial director Davidson Goldin last year. They're behind-the-scenes strategists for pop stars, musicians and politicians and, have worked with James Frey, Emily Brill, Heather Mills, and Assemblyman Herman "Denny" Farrell Jr, among others.

Next week, Mr. Dolce's alliance will reveal plans at an Internet conference in Seoul for a .GAY domain name "that will provide a reliable and ethical source of funding for LGBT civil rights," according to a press statement.

"The LGBT community has always supported itself and its causes - no one was there to help us," Mr. Dolce said in the release. "We've made amazing progress in the 40 years since Stonewall. Now in the digital era a .GAY top-level domain is a logical evolution in our history of self sustenance."

Minds + Machines, the same Web consulting group working with former mayor Ed Koch on .NYC and the Sierra Club and Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection on .ECO, is providing the tech, while Paula Ettelbrick, the lawyer and activist for lesbian and gay rights, serves as the philanthropic advisor for the Dot Gay Alliance.

Here's a list of supporters, according to Mr. Dolce's statement:

New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn
Daniel O'Donnell, Member of New York State Assembly
Edmund White, Award-winning author and professor of Creative Writing, Princeton University
Paula Ettelbrick, Civil rights lawyer, advocate, and non-profit executive
Michelle Kristel, Executive Director of In The Life Media
Sunil Babu Pant, the first openly gay member of the Nepal Parliament

Monserrate Spends $15K on ‘Reputation Management’

Jimmy Vielkind — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:44:47 -0400

ALBANY—State Senator Hiram Monserrate brought his elections filings up to date, and records show he paid $15,000 to a reputation management firm two weeks after he was accused of assaulting his girlfriend.

Monserrate's January filings show his campaign committee paid $15,000 to Dolce Goldin, the home firm of former Inside City Hall host Davidson Goldin.

"Like most elected officials, I receive, from time to time, advice from media consultants," Monserrate said when asked if the payment was for services rendered related to the alleged assault. (Monserrate has pleaded not guilty and his accuser has publicly changed her story.) "It's all part of what we do, and that's what I contracted them for.

Filings closer to his November election do not show similar payments. Monserrate also paid $2,500 to campaign finance attorney Leo Glickman, and received a $350 contribution from the State Fraternal Order of Police in January.

State Senator Pedro Espada's filings are still not up to speed, but he has dispatched Daniel Pagano, who did legal work for him in his primary campaign against Efrain Gonzalez.

More on Those Cuts at NBC

Zachary Roth — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:24:43 -0400

Over the last few weeks, we've learned from several reports that NBC is planning a series of layoffs at NBC News and MSNBC. Today, TV Newser provides some names.

According to the site, Davidson Goldin, MSNBC's editorial director; Amy Rosenblum, the senior producer of the 10am hour of The Today Show; Joe Alicastro, a veteran NBC News producer; and Jean Harper, a senior prodcuer at Nightly News who has worked with Brian Williams for many years are all on the way out.

Mr. Goldin's likely departure was first reported last week by The New York Post.

Post: Big Cuts Coming at NBC News, MSNBC

Zachary Roth — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:45:38 -0400

NBC is planning to get rid of an entire level of MSNBC's management team, as well as making major cuts at NBC News, according to The New York Post. Two senior MSNBC staffers -- head of primetime programming Bill Wolf, and editorial director Davidson Goldin -- are set to see their jobs eliminated. But the cable network's top shows -- those hosted by Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, and Dan Abrams -- are said to be sacrosanct, and will escape the cuts unscathed.

As for CNBC, it too will be unaffected, says The Post, because NBC chief Jeff Zucker wants it at full strength to compete with Fox Business.

Memorial Beats Olympic Training Center

Thu, 18 May 2006 10:23:09 -0400

Davidson Goldin reports that 14,707 New York state taxpayers donated to the World Trade Center Memorial this year through a tax form check-off, which is almost 4,000 more than donated to the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center. (Five other causes, on the other hand, yielded much more interest.)

-Matthew Schuerman

The Morning Read: May 16, 2006

Tue, 16 May 2006 07:11:12 -0400

The Times reports that a judge has ruled against city plans for a Hunt's Point site; and the city continues to go after illegal gun sales.

The Daily News reports the City Council has declared war on poverty.

Over at the Post, Andrea Peyser goes after Sheldon Silver.

And Davidson Goldin examines Rudy Giuliani's stump speech for the Sun.

—Nicole Brydson

The Greedy Thing

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:02:15 -0400

Charles Gargano’s “greedy” comment is taking on a life of its own. The state economic development chief backed down yesterday on using that language to describe developer Larry Silverstein, saying during a television taping, “Emotions got a little high the other day and I think it's time to look to see how we can go forward."

Davidson Goldin thinks it was intentional. In today’s Sun, he writes “I've interviewed Mr. Gargano on live television countless times. The former ambassador simply doesn't say anything he doesn't want to say--and hadn't planned to say.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg is backing the Governor on this one strongly, and that means a lot. “When Larry came back and said, 'My way or the highway,' the governor said, 'I represent the people of the State of New York and I'm not going to make a bad deal,'" The News quotes Bloomberg as saying. Who brought us to this point at which the whole ownership of the site gets re-thought out, after all? Certainly not Pataki nor the Port Authority.

-Matthew Schuerman