Observer » Hilton Hotels Corporation

Spitzer Pours It On

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 09:39:44 -0400

Eliot Spitzer may have toned down his act recently, but he wasn't tempering much of anything during his appearance at the Hilton this morning in front of an audience of business leaders at an ABNY breakfast.

Displaying the logos of 1199 and the Greater New York Hospital Association under the headline "guardians of the status quo," he said, "I wanted to put your logos up here so everybody knows who you are."

A ripple of distinctly nervous laughter went through the ballroom.

-- Azi Paybarah

Spitzer and 1199

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 10:15:00 -0400

I found this photo last night on the Flickr page set up by Eliot Spitzer's campaign. It's from 2005 and but it takes on a certain added poignance now that the governor is about to launch half-million dollars' worth of ads against 1199 SEIU and the Greater New York Hospitals Association over his plans to reduce health care spending.

On a related matter, at 10:30 a.m. at the Hilton, 1199 will have a delegate meeting with union representatives from health care institutions where their members work, according to two sources. It's possible that a few elected officials may drop by also.

-- Azi Paybarah

Goldman to Buy Embassy Suites B.P.C.?

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:05:02 -0400

According to Downtown Express, Goldman Sachs is negotiating with Embassy Suites to buy its 453-room hotel in Battery Park City. A lawyer for Goldman wrote a letter to Community Board 1 saying that an agreement would be signed by tomorrow, with a closing a month later.

A DE source, noting that the building is "really ugly," said that Goldman will "likely either demolish the building or change its facade .... "

Goldman recently began construction on its new $2.4 billion headquarters across a pedestrian walkway from the hotel.

-Matthew Grace

HRC Rival Sounds Like Bill

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 11:00:00 -0400

As part of our continuing, exhaustive (exhausting?) series on Mark Warner in New York, here's a write-up from Observer contributor Niall Stanage on an event that was covered by him and one Japanese reporter and, as far as Niall could tell, no one else:

Addressing the annual dinner of the Japan Society at the Hilton Hotel, Mark Warner delivered a speech that borrowed much of its lexicon and its worldview from Sen. Clinton's husband, emphatically underlining his centrist credentials.

At times, it could almost have been the former president at the lectern. Warner spoke frequently of an "interconnected" and interdependent world.

In a supremely Clintonian formulation, he asserted that the current moment held "tremendous" opportunities, "but only if we see the key questions of our day . . .are no longer based on the ideological fault lines of the past: left versus right, liberal versus conservative, or even open versus closed markets. Issues must be looked at through the prism of the future versus the past."

A lack of foreign policy experience could clearly be a weakness if Warner presses ahead with a presidential bid. He seemed intent on dispelling any impression of ignorance or naiveté last night.

More after the jump.

Among the issues he touched upon: North Korea's nuclear program ("it is time to re-energize the six-party talks"); Japan's role in the world (he asserted that the U.S. should support Japan becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council); and the rise of China ("the U.S. and Japan should consider launching a trilateral dialogue with China").

It wasn't all Third Way-ism and foreign policy theorizing, though. Warner also delivered a broadside against the administration for its attitude to the environment.

"More effort has been put into denying global warming than doing something about it," he said. He also complained about the lack of "leadership that is willing to look a little further down the road and actually embrace science."

Though far from an incendiary address - it even began with the former gov commending the Bush administration "for recognizing the importance of Japan" - Warner did showcase his knack for politically savvy terminology.

Expect to hear much more about "energy security" - a phrase that captures in two words an idea that John Kerry tried in vain to articulate effectively in '04 - if a Warner candidacy takes off.