So there's this thing. It's called a mayoral's race. Heard of it? Any idea who's running? If you can name a single candidate, you're an outlier—55 percent of the New Yorkers we asked couldn't. That's one of the take-home messages from our Race to Gracie Mansion 2013 street polling project: very low awareness of the upcoming election. Only one candidate approaches broad name recognition, and it's not for his policy smarts. Browse the full results here, and tell us who you plan to support. Not sure yet? Keep reading Politicker for up-to-the-minute mayor's race news.

The mayor unveiled his last budget the other day, and if he took a little extra time to sing the praises of his administration, well, fair enough. Mr. Bloomberg has presided over two very difficult recessions—the post-9/11 crash and the even more serious recession that began in 2008. He has managed to navigate bad times without resorting to dramatic service cuts or sharp tax increases—no small accomplishment.

The $70 billion budget keeps city spending flat, but many New Yorkers are rightfully anxious about a return to budgeting as usual after the mayor leaves office. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio complained that the mayor isn’t spending enough on early education, which Mr. de Blasio wishes to fund by raising taxes on high earners. City Comptroller John Liu referred to the proposal as a “holding-pattern budget.”

As usual, there will be weeks of give and take between the mayor’s office and the City Council over what amounts to a very small portion of overall city spending. The Council will very likely restore funds to prevent the closing of 20 firehouses and the elimination of thousands of day care openings. In the end, however, the budget will look very much like the one the mayor outlined as part of his yearlong farewell tour the other day.

At this time next year, a new mayor will present his or her first-ever budget. Only then will we know if 20 years of accountability and efficiency truly have taken root in City Hall.

It is springtime—hope springs eternal.

The cartoonist Thomas Nast made the phrase famous—some believe he actually fabricated Tweed’s response—as a symbol of official arrogance during the Gilded Age. Tweed is long gone, but the spirit of his supposed response—What are you going to do about it?—is alive and well in New York.

In the last week, yet another senior member of the State Senate, John Sampson of Brooklyn, was arrested on corruption charges, while two of Comptroller John Liu’s former campaign aides were found guilty of fraud. Mr. Liu, who is running for mayor, was positively Tweed-like. As The Observer reports this week, Mr. Liu suggested that prosecutors “put up or shut up.” How’s that for remorse?

In the aftermath of Senator Sampson’s indictment, Governor Cuomo reiterated his pledge to pass tough anticorruption legislation before lawmakers wrap up their session next month. Mr. Sampson’s indictment, the governor said, added “more of an urgency to do it, and denial is not a life strategy.”

That’s fine, but it’s not enough. The governor needs to make the mess in Albany his top priority. New York has become an ethical laughingstock—even more so than usual. Two members of the State Legislature, one from each house, have been secretly taping conversations with their colleagues. The legislators, Assemblyman Nelson Castro and State Senator Shirley Huntley, agreed to wear a wire after law-enforcement officials confronted them with evidence of ethical lapses.

If this all sounds comical, well, Senator Sampson’s case adds a truly menacing twist to the usual narrative of political shenanigans. Prosecutors say that Mr. Sampson secretly sought to get the names of witnesses who were cooperating in a federal investigation of his office. The senator allegedly said that he wanted to “take them out”—presumably not for a cup of coffee.

The U.S. attorney who investigated Senator Sampson, Loretta E. Lynch, said the case was “one of the most extreme examples of political hubris we have yet seen.”

Mr. Cuomo has hardly been silent about the ethical failings of his colleagues in the Legislature. But he needs to be louder and more forceful, because, fairly or not, he is going to have to answer for the behavior of corrupt legislators when or if he decides to run for higher office.

Of course, presidential politics should be the least important reason for getting serious about cleaning up Albany. But self-interest has always been a great motivator in the political world, and it is certainly in Mr. Cuomo’s interest to scrub Albany of the dirt that has accumulated over the last several years—including the two-plus years of his tenure as governor.

Mr. Cuomo and his allies would have you believe that his election marked the beginning of dramatic change in Albany. The persistence of political perp walks in New York would seem to indicate that real change has been elusive.

Diahann Billings-Burford, Kenneth Cole, Peter Vallone and John Liu (Getty Images)

This morning on the cold, bright steps of City Hall, several photographers huddled, shivering, waiting for the Two Ten Footwear Foundation conference to begin. The charitable foundation of the U.S. footwear industry was gathered to kick off Two Ten's Footwear Cares National Footwear Community Service Week (whoof, what a title) in New York, where 14 shoe companies would be dedicating their time and resources to packing meals for the New York Food NYC, God's Love We Deliver, GrowNYC, and the Occupy Sandy Recovery group.

A smattering of unlikely bedfellows trickled in: Kenneth Cole, Katie Butler of Nine West, two mayoral candidates--Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu--former Council speaker Peter Vallone, City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, along with several other representatitves from the fashionable footwear industry.

Before the press conference, The Observer had asked Mr. Cole what it was like coming together with some of his contemporaries like Steve Madden, who was also involved with the program but was unable to make Monday's event. Were they friendly competitors, or was this a rivalry that only a good deeds photo opp could bridge.

"No, no," Mr. Cole said, who kept his sunglasses on throughout our conversation. "Steve and I, we're old friends."

"I feel funny being singled out," I slightly laconic Mr. Cole said after opening remarks by Two Ten president Neal Newman. "Because everyone here does a lot, and the industry does a lot." Mr. Cole went on to say that the nonprofit was an organization to "be looked at with envy" because the footwear industry "takes care of its own." It should be noted that for 75 years, Two Ten's purpose has been to provide service to those in need...provided they have been employed by a shoe company for a certain amount of time.

Mr. de Blasio was full of accolades for the iniative, saying "This is arguably our most fabulous industry here in New York City. Fabulous not just for its creativity or for what it does for the economy, but for it's heart." To Mr. Cole, he had even higher praise, calling him a template for what entrepreneurs can do to raise awareness and help their community.

Mr. Liu had a slightly different take. While praising Two Ten's and the organization's Hurricane Sandy relief effort, which provided $290,000 to over 250 footwear families, he added that the people who were getting the assistance were "some of the hardest working and some of the lowest paid workers in this city and this country."

Catching up with Mr. de Blasio after the conference, we asked who he was wearing on his feet that day. He took off his shoes, to study the label. "You know, I don't know what they are," he told The Observer, "But I know I got them at Eneslow on Park Avenue and 33rd."

Councilwoman Brewer also didn't know the name brand of her black flats with the flowers, but exclaimed: "I got them at Harry's! Always Harry's!"

Well, Mr. Liu can have a laugh if he likes, but he’s about the only one who finds this matter funny. Law enforcement has a very different view of the shady machinations in his campaign fund-raising. Four weeks from now, two of the comptroller’s former associates, including his onetime campaign treasurer, will go on trial for fraud. The indictments of the two followed press revelations of disgracefully sloppy record-keeping, including charges that some people listed as contributors denied ever giving the campaign money.

What’s more, The Observer noted less than a month ago that a Liu staff member was one of three people arrested for stealing tens of thousands of dollars from lunch programs for senior citizens.

These stories should have been enough to end Mr. Liu’s mayoral ambitions. Still, Mr. Liu persists—he officially announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party’s nomination the other day.

Mr. Liu might well believe that voters will treat the accusations against his associates no more seriously than he himself seems to regard them. The polls indicate at the moment that he is making a serious miscalculation—he trails Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. And if you think they’ll remain silent about the Liu campaign’s transgressions, you haven’t been following New York politics very long.

Some of Mr. Liu’s supporters, particularly in the Asian-American community, have suggested that he is the victim of a racist plot, presumably orchestrated by anonymous power brokers who can’t bear the thought of an Asian in Gracie Mansion. To his eternal discredit, Mr. Liu has not dismissed these ridiculous accusations out of hand. If anything, he has stoked the paranoia, saying that “something is driving this so-called investigation.”

Well, he’s right about that—something is driving this investigation. And that something is his campaign’s dreadful fund-raising practices.

It’s a simple matter, Mr. Liu: if your campaign had followed the rules, you wouldn’t be in this mess.

The man should be preparing to leave public service, not asking for promotion to the city’s highest elective office.

The Chinese New Year was off with a bang on Sunday, Feb. 10, in Sara D. Roosevelt Park.

The Observer welcomed the Year of the Snake on the morning of Sunday, Feb. 10, leaning over railings and standing atop park benches to get as close as legally possible to 500,000 rounds of firecrackers, noisemakers and a snake-shaped firecracker display.

According to Chinese tradition, firecrackers frighten away evil spirits at the beginning of each year. Rest assured, no evil spirits remain in Sara D. Roosevelt Park, where thousands buzzed through a cloud of smoke and confetti at the 14th Lunar New Year Firecracker Ceremony and Cultural Festival, presented by the Better Chinatown Society.

This year, the society set out to engage younger generations of Chinese-Americans and the larger New York community in the celebration of traditional Chinese culture.

Longtime organizer Steven Tin spoke with The Observer on the eve of the New Year to explain just how far the organization has come in its endeavor. “This year it really jumped,” he said. “It really jumped to new heights.”

“The newest technology really helped us expand and get the word out,” explained Mr. Tin. “The last two to three years, we’ve attracted a lot of mainstream, a lot of the younger generation into our event.”

One example: 24-year-old Jessie Zheng, a first-time participant, who told The Observer that she first heard about the event through a friend. Since last June, Ms. Zheng has joined high school and college-age volunteers, who network online, in planning the Lunar New Year celebration. Ms. Zheng is this year’s volunteer coordinator and head of public relations.

Before the first firecracker exploded on Sunday, a full roster of community leaders took turns at the microphone to pay tribute to one of the fastest-growing communities in the city. Councilwoman Margaret Chin and City Comptroller John Liu joined judges and police officers in wishing the crowd a happy New Year in their best Mandarin and Cantonese. And Councilwoman Gale Brewer, of the Upper West Side, made sure to thank Chinatown for helping to attract tourists to the city.

Maybe it was the adrenaline from the pyrotechnics and the sparkling confetti, but throughout the morning’s celebration, a sense of optimism radiated through the crowd.

Children and families in the park were busy trading lucky red envelopes as the Chinese and American national anthems resounded over the loudspeakers. On the far end of the basketball court, young dancers and acrobats sporting traditional red and yellow garb practiced their routine for the highly anticipated dragon dance. Even a jovial Ronald McDonald was there to celebrate with youngsters in the crowd.

The New Year was off with a bang, and the new generation was there to carry it forward.

Keep digging. (DumboNYC)

Remember shovel ready projects? Thought they were so 2009? Well, you'd be wrong, at least here in New York, where Mayor Bloomberg, Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the ever financially creative City Comptroller John Liu have done some juggling with the city's capital construction program to fast track $1 billion worth of infrastructure work. These projects will begin in the coming months, rather than in the coming years. Let's hear it for putting people to work.

This marks the finalization of the city’s four-year Capital Commitment Plan. The plan—which originally called for $2 billion in accelerated investment but who’s counting—was conceived in May to boost New York’s global competitiveness by increasing capital investment in the city’s aging infrastructure while taking advantage of historically low interest rates. It’s what comptrollers like to call a win-win.

“Tough economic times demand creative solutions like this Capital Acceleration Plan,” Comptroller Liu said. “Put simply, this plan will deliver a much-needed shot in the arm to our city’s economy. Creating good jobs, accelerating infrastructure improvements and realizing long-term cost savings are a winning trifecta for our city’s taxpayers.”

The authorized projects include some 300 miles worth of road and bridge repairs, waterfront infrastructure improvements, and $175 million to invest in schools and libraries. Mayor Bloomberg believes these capital investments will help New York continue to maintain its spot as de-facto Capital of the World.

“Throughout our Administration, during good economic times and bad, one thing has remained constant—we’ve continued to invest in New York City’s future,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “Efforts like this one are what make city government effective and are yet another example of how, in contrast to places like Washington where people from opposing parties or ideas cannot get anything accomplished, here in New York City, we can work together to what is right for our city.” Oh snap.

The plan is a welcome boost to the city's construction sector, which has seen a decline of nearly 20,000 jobs over the last four years. By expediting the start of some of these proposed projects, the city hopes to take advantage low construction costs saving, more than $200 million over the life of the bonds. It is expected to create an estimated 8,000 jobs.

The construction industry is already eager for the work to begin. “The Building and Construction Trades Council applauds today's announcement regarding the Capital Acceleration Plan,” Robert Barletta said in a release. “It's a creative way to keep our economy growing by putting construction workers and others to work while rebuilding our critical infrastructure.”

From underground parks to entirely new neighborhoods, Mayor Bloomberg and, as such, New York City really is all about the creative thinking these days. But pulling $1 billion in new financing from the ether is a neat trick that’s going to be hard to top. Like Jay Z said, “When your boy reach a billion it’s a wrap.”

Sadly, that sort of arrogance has become standard operating procedure in the comptroller’s office. Mr. Liu is a discredited public official who can no longer carry out the vital duties of his office. He needs to leave.

Mr. Liu’s campaign fund-raising practices are the subject of a widening federal investigation. The feds moved in after The New York Times revealed that Mr. Liu’s campaign books read like a novel—not because they are easy to read, but because they contain elements of fiction. Individuals listed as contributors came forward to say that they never gave money to the campaign. The names of bundlers, that is, people who solicited bulk contributions, were not disclosed as required by law (after months of stalling, Mr. Liu revealed their names several weeks ago).

Ms. Hou, a 25-year-old with limited experience in the high-powered world of New York campaign fund-raising, was arrested on fraud and conspiracy charges, including an accusation that she illegally funneled money into Mr. Liu’s campaign through the use of phony donors. The question, of course, is whether Mr. Liu was aware of these irregularities. If so, Ms. Hou may be more a victim than a perpetrator in this scandal.

Mr. Liu pretends to be blissfully unaware of the growing outrage. Asked recently on WNYC radio about a chorus of calls for his resignation, he responded with a question of his own: “What calls for resignation?”

They are loud and they are clear, but Mr. Liu continues to pretend that he is a credible figure in New York politics and government. He has yet to renounce his prospective campaign for mayor in 2013.

How many more arrests will it take for Mr. Liu to realize that the game is up, and he has lost?

Money hungry. (Getty)

The Parks Department has left a bad taste in the city's mouth—and its coffers.

Yesterday, Comptroller John Liu announced that Parks lost the city $8.8 million by poorly managing concessions and vendors, according to a new audit from the comptroller's office.

No, overpriced  bottles of lukewarm hose water are not to blame, but rather lack of competition for vending licenses and, particularly, the closing of Tavern on the Green.

Officials believe New York has lost upwards of $3.7 million in sales taxes since the beloved Tavern shut its doors in 2009. That's a lot Baked Alaska. In addition to sales taxes, the comptroller estimated that 500 jobs have been lost in the wake of the Tavern's closing, and another $2.2 million in revenue.

On the whole, revenues from concessions have been sliding over the past few years, the press release said, from $52.6 million in 2008 to $39.8 million in 2010. What, is no one eating cotton candy anymore?

Update: The Parks department disagrees with the audit's findings, claiming that the comptroller's definition of "foregone revenue" is flawed. The so-called lost revenue was the result of careful decision making, and that defining the success on finances alone is dangerous.

In its insistence on generating revenue at any cost, this report would have Parks, as the guardian of important City assets, ignore legal obligations and ongoing court proceedings in favor of current revenue, or forego opportunities to obtain large-scale capital investments which result in greater long term income and expanded amenities to the public.

“There were people smoking crack, people with puppies begging for money, we looked like shit,” Jake yelled to the police. “Now what do we look like? Peaceful protesters getting our asses kicked. This is the best thing that could have happened. There are thousands of people watching us.”

Jake’s remarks proved prescient. In the eight days since the predawn NYPD raid, the Occupy movement has emerged with newfound political muscle and support of some of the city’s biggest unions. Mayor Bloomberg took the park from the protesters, but he also solved many of the problems that consumed organizational energy at Zuccotti: food, shelter and keeping their community safe from the more volatile elements in the park. As long as occupiers made holding ground in the park their main objective, the movement appeared caught in an unending battle against police, winter weather and a steady string of homeless and mentally ill New Yorkers who showed up for the free food and shelter. Then came the dramatic raid, and the protest went from an eyesore to a political cause célèbre. Now, demonstrators are spreading their message at events all around the city, joined by a new-found army of politicians and union leaders eager to score political points and attach themselves to the movement.

Less than 12 hours after police swept through Zuccotti Park in a cloud of pepper spray and swinging batons, several of the likely candidates vying to replace Mayor Bloomberg in 2013 piled on the OWS bandwagon, blasting him for the show of force and his efforts to obstruct reporters from witnessing the eviction.

“Today’s actions include reports of excessive force by the NYPD, and reports of infringement of the rights of the press. If these reports are true, these actions are unacceptable,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in a statement following Tuesday’s raid.

“Zuccotti Park is not Tiananmen Square,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer in a rival statement.

“The administration should have let the situation in Zuccotti Park play out. There were still opportunities to resolve outstanding issues, including finding an alternative site that would have proved less problematic,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.

Ms. Quinn also showed up on the steps of City Hall on Wednesday at noon for a press conference with Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who was arrested during the raid. Wading into even more dangerous territory (and marking an undeniable sea change with regard to post-9/11 deference to law enforcement), Ms. Quinn raised questions of police misconduct on Mr. Rodriguez’s behalf.

“We need answers to these questions: Why was he pushed to the ground? Why was he held in a van for two hours when no one else was in that van with him? Why did he ask to see a supervisor and was never granted that right? Among other questions, those are troubling, troubling questions. Why was his attorney not given the ability to see him?” Ms. Quinn said, very troubled indeed.

But none of the potential mayoral candidates could match the rhetoric of Comptroller John Liu, who in addition to the developments at Zuccotti had the added inconvenience of seeing one of his fund-raisers arrested by the FBI on Wednesday afternoon.
“It is simply outrageous that City Hall felt it necessary to swoop in on Zuccotti Park under cover of the dark of night and to show up with such an incredible show of force somewhat similar to the shock and awe that was employed in Iraq,” declaimed Mr. Liu. “It’s 2011, not 1984, and yet, we hear more and more of this Orwellian doublespeak coming from City Hall. This has to end.”

Clever.

Ignoring the gibe, Mayor Bloomberg’s deputy for communications, Howard Wolfson, said the criticism of police tactics missed the central question of the raid—whether protesters should have been allowed to maintain their tent city indefinitely. It’s a question that even some of Zuccotti’s supporters might have trouble answering truthfully, despite widespread opposition about the underhanded way the eviction was carried out.

“I was shocked at the statements put out by many of those who say they are going to be running for mayor,” Mr. Wolfson said. “The central issue before this mayor at this time was whether or not the tenting and tarping and camping can continue at Zuccotti Park. And not a single statement by any of the mayoral aspirants addressed that central issue.”

The only person who has officially launched his mayoral campaign, longshot candidate and local media mogul Tom Allon, told The Observer Mr. Wolfson was the one dodging the issues.

“Deputy Mayor Wolfson’s attempt to spin the administration’s dead of night, military-style raid on sleeping protesters into a health and safety issue simply doesn’t conform with reality. Rather than worrying about the 2013 mayoral race, Wolfson should be explaining to the public why, over the last two days, roughing up and arresting journalists for daring to report on Occupy Wall Street has appeared to become a matter of policy,” Mr. Allon said.

As politicians jockeyed over the circumstances surrounding the raid, the debate over tenting was already becoming moot. On Tuesday night in Zuccotti Park, protesters met for the first General Assembly following the end of their encampment. A large crowd packed tightly into the newly uncluttered space for an account of what had happened and a discussion about what was next. Many of those present had been awake through the previous night. Some were sprawled out napping on Zuccotti’s Tetris-like, geometric benches under honey locust trees whose leaves had recently changed to a piercing yellow. A light drizzle fell, as the occupiers began to unveil the next phase of the movement, including plans to move beyond Zuccotti Park and to capitalize on the newfound political support generated by the severity of the raid.
“Last night was really hard,” said the convener of the General Assembly (“LAST NIGHT WAS REALLY HARD,” echoed the crowd). “We lost a lot (WE LOST A LOT). But we have so much more (BUT WE HAVE SO MUCH MORE).”

“They showed us their power (THEY SHOWED US THEIR POWER),” the occupiers said. “And we’re showing them ours. (AND WE’RE SHOWING THEM OURS.)” The people’s microphone dissolved into cheers.

Unoccupied.

On Thursday, the protesters entered the postraid phase of the movement with a slate of citywide events celebrating the two-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. The actions of Nov. 17 had been planned for days, but Mr. Bloomberg’s decision to eliminate the tent city certainly seemed to catalyze the movement’s weekend warriors and centrists into action, as protesters debuted their new, mobile occupation.

OWS scheduled events throughout the city separated into morning, afternoon, and evening sessions it referred to as breakfast, lunch and dinner. From before sunrise, protesters amassed not in Zuccotti Park, which continues to be barricaded and surrounded by police officers, but across the street, in the plaza in front of the Brown Brothers Harriman building. When The Observer arrived on the scene shortly after 7 a.m., several hundred protesters were filling the plaza. They carried signs, finding inspiration in everything from a photo of Gandhi to Jay-Z (“the one percent have 99 problems and this bitch is one”). There were signs that read “empathy” and “tear down this wall,” and a picture of a melting ice cap over the words “can you feel it trickle down?”

Many protesters were clearly prepared for the possibility of arrest: some wore goggles or had gas masks in the event the police again deployed pepper spray or tear gas, and volunteers wove through the crowd distributing the phone number of the New York chapter of the National Lawyer’s Guild. Given the hundreds of protesters packed into the square, the protection afforded to the nearly vacant Zuccotti across the street seemed nonsensical.

One protester climbed atop the black marble memorial to real estate mogul and convicted tax evader Harry Helmsley, “whose richness of spirit and love for New York helped build this great city.” While others secured his feet to keep him balanced, he deployed the call-and-repeat people’s microphone to explain that the protest would be splitting into two groups, one following a black flag and one following a green flag. In these separate groups, protesters attempted to occupy the intersections surrounding Wall Street as commuters arrived for work.

The Observer witnessed the scene at Pine and Nassau, where approximately 50 protesters arranged themselves into a sit-in in the street. Police emerged from behind a barricade and over a loudspeaker ordered protesters to vacate the street or face arrest. Gym goers in the Equinox overlooking the scene abandoned their Pilates balls and gathered at the windows to watch. The police moved swiftly, neatly vacuuming up approximately 20 protesters, spiriting them behind barricades and tying their wrists with zip cuffs. As the arrests proliferated, protesters sang “We Shall Overcome,” and those who had obeyed orders to move to the sidewalks chanted “Shame.” Retired Philadelphia police captain Ray Lewis, in uniform, whom officers led cuffed down Nassau Street in front of the assembled crowd, received a loud ovation.

For “lunch” students gathered in Union Square for a rally. Other protesters took to the subways, distributing leaflets and chanting. “Dinner” was a gathering at Foley Square that drew an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people (the numbers vary depending who one asks, and the NYPD no longer does crowd estimates), and culminated in a march across the Brooklyn Bridge. The protest was largely peaceful, and benefited from the presence of unions, which have been a significant presence at Occupy since an Oct. 5 march that drew thousands of members.

The evening protest was markedly more diverse, drawing an older and more racially varied group than the morning’s activities. Even the sit-ins took on a more institutional character: a group of 99 Occupy Wall Street protesters including Councilman Jumaane Williams, Councilwoman Melissa Mark Viverito and George Gresham, the president of chapter 1199 of United Healthcare Workers East, were arrested for sitting down on the street at the foot of the bridge. Union leaders also obtained a permit for the march, and many participants wore gear identifying them as members of local unions including the UAW, UFT, CWA and 1199 SEIU.

A woman named Angela Sanchez, who described herself as a representative of 1199, sought out reporters in the crowded square. She told The Observer about her union’s support for the protests. Unlike the original occupiers, the health care workers have very focused demands.

“We’re constantly under threat of layoffs. Right now, they’re threatening to take away our health care,” Ms. Sanchez said. “Everyone’s pretty up in arms that there would be healthcare workers without healthcare.”

As they squeezed out of Foley Square and passed the gates of City Hall at the foot of the bridge, protesters passed 1199 members wearing T-shirts identifying them as “marshalls” for the march who cheered them on. On the walkway leading to the bridge, the union marshalls formed a human gate, standing between the protesters and police officers who lined the road on either side. The march went off without a hitch, and a light projecting huge letters on the nearby Verizon building declared the movement victorious.
“We are winning,” it said.

“Mayor Bloomberg beware; Zuccotti Park is everywhere,” the protesters chanted.

Labor’s support for Occupy Wall Street hasn’t been confined to large protests. Both 1199 and the UFT have provided occupiers office space to hold their spokescouncils and working groups in the aftermath of their eviction from Zuccotti Park.

On Friday, former governor David Paterson had the current governor, Andrew Cuomo, on his radio show and the two discussed the still-growing movement. Governor Paterson discussed the march and the effect union’s were having on the movement.

“I was very happy to see that toward the end of the day when they connected with Union 1199, and the Verizon workers, and the transport workers,” Governor Paterson said. “The fact is, they know how to march, they know how to engage the police, they know the process, and they really brought, toward the end of the day, some reasonable, you know, deliberateness to the group. And it’s amazing, when you have leadership, you can organize a group and you have far less confrontations.”

Unions and politicians might provide Occupy Wall Street with logistical support and institutional credibility, but will a movement that began as a leaderless expression of frustration with the financial industry survive an influx of would-be leaders bearing their own agendas?

At Zuccotti Park on Sunday afternoon, we saw evidence protesters might give a prickly reception to the politicians and union leaders attempting to occupy their movement. Several hundred supporters thronged the now tent-free park. Holiday lights had been strung through the trees but the barricades and police checkpoints still stood.

“What we’ve seen is they’re just trying to get face time more than anything,” said Sam Uddin, who was attending a meeting of Occupy Wall Street’s Politics and Electoral Reform working group. He emphasized he spoke of his personal views rather than those of the movement, but pointed out that Representative Charles Rangel was booed when he showed up at the Foley Square rally last week.

“How can we expect these politicians to reform themselves? It’s not in their best interest to be reformed,” said Mr. Uddin. “Rangel is the epitome of what’s wrong with our system. He’s so corrupt.”
Tony Cochran, who is involved with Occupy Harlem, showed more equanimity about the politicians’ involvement. “It can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing,” he said. “It depends what their intentions are.”

Whether or not the politicians and unions are allowed to stay along for the ride, the Occupy Wall Street protesters plan to continue staging events all over the city now that they have lost their perch in the park. Throughout Zuccotti on Sunday, people discussed plans for a smorgasbord of Occupy activities planned for points far and wide. A faction of Occupiers traveled to the Upper East Side to form a drum circle outside of Mayor Bloomberg’s townhouse. Working groups met in the atrium of 60 Wall Street to discuss future actions. An anti-stop and frisk rally was held in Queens. At the New School, a sit-in was underway and a candlelit march was scheduled to leave from Washington Square Park and travel to Sixth Avenue and Canal Street. On Monday, Occupy Student Debt, an Occupy Wall Street offshoot, protested the board of trustees’ meeting at CUNY and launched a national student-debt refusal campaign.

Jesse LaGreca, the Daily Kos writer who gained Internet fame for telling off a Fox News reporter in the early days of the occupation, said that the loss of the tents at Zuccotti will not threaten the movement. “I think the encampment is the physical manifestation of the conversation we’re trying to have,” he said. “But it’s more about the ideas.

“Phase Two of Occupy Wall Street is what I’ve been calling this,” he continued. “It’s more about creating consciousness. He mentioned plans to travel to Washington, D.C., to occupy Congress from Dec. 5 to Dec. 9 and a day of action in solidarity with Occupy Oakland on Dec. 12. “Our problems aren’t going away any time soon and neither are we.”