EDITORIAL

W

e’re at the countdown. The date for the election of the new mayor of New York is 5^th November. And on that day, in Italy, a small town in Campania will be following the elections live, non-stop. Sant’Agata dei Goti, in the province of Benevento, is the home town of Democrat Bill de Blasio’s maternal grandparents, and the surveys are predicting a clear lead for him in the race for New York City Hall.

It was in the Twenties that the de Blasios emigrated to the United States and they certainly could not have imagined that only a century later one of their grandchildren would become the perfect incarnation of the American dream, finding himself in the condition to be able to aspire to the most coveted post of mayor in the world.

Born in New York and named after his father Warren Milhelm, he grew up in Massachusets, and later the aspiring mayor changed his surname legally to that of his mother of Italian origin. He’s 52 and a giant of almost 2 meters tall. Public Advocate, he lives in Park Slope (Brooklyn) with his African American wife, a feminist poet who formerly publicly declared herself to be lesbian, and their two children, Dante,16, and Chiara, 18. Part of his success seems to be thanks to young Dante’s brief (34 seconds) but efficacious ad to promote his Dad’s election campaign (to be found on YouTube).

Bill de Blasio is trying to stir up the pride of the liberal electorate speaking of a New York split in two: the super-rich and the poor, and his slogan rings clear: “two cities to bring back together”. His program includes a hike in taxes for the wealthiest to be able to pay for the public nursery schools, investments in housing projects and putting a halt to the policy of stop and search for no reason, especially applied to the ethnic minorities on the part of the New York Police Department.

If he should win he would be the fourth Italian American in the history of New York, after Fiorello La Guardia (1934-1945), by many considered one of the best mayors the city has ever had, the less well-known Vincent Impellitteri (1950-1953) and Rudolph Giuliani (1994-2001), another “star”.

His challenger, the Republican Joseph (Joe) Lhota, former manager of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York, is of Czech origins, with, on his mother’s side, a Jewish grandmother and a grandfather of Italian origins. Vaguely Italian origins, therefore, also for Lhota.

However it would seem that the ethnic factor is not so important as it was anymore in determining the election of a candidate. There was a time when the Italian American electorate, or that of the African American, Irish or Jewish communities, voted en bloc. Now they look more carefully at the electoral platform regarding the economic factor, security and quality of life that a certain party might implement better than another. That goes for the Americans.

While at Sant’Agata dei Goti there will be no exceptions: they will be waiting with bated breath for the election of “their” candidate. As will most of the Italian fans of the Big Apple, who would be happy to see the keys of the City in the hands of a mayor of Italian origin.