A Good Run with Daniel Feldman: Recent Episodes
Daniel Feldman
A Good Run Podcast offers pieces of political history as personally experienced by Dan Feldman, a New York State legislator between 1981 and 1998 and current public management professor at John Jay College. The series includes revealing encounters between Feldman and such legendary New York political figures as Ed Koch, Mario Cuomo and John Lindsay, as well as with figures still prominent in American politics. His two children, Asher and Leah, take turns interviewing Dan about topics recounted on the Tales From The Sausage Factory blog, a compendium of narratives published in conjunction with a book of the same name from SUNY Press.
With less than a month to Election Day, a new Supreme Court justice nomination on hand, and political turmoil around every turn, Dan and Asher sit down to discuss what it’s like to be a close follower of the political news cycle in 2020. Spend the better part of an hour with us as we try to navigate the entirety of the world of politics today, what it means, and what it could result in. Note: This episode was recorded before last weekend’s news that the President had contracted COVID-19.
Twenty-two years ago today, Daniel Feldman, Melina Katz, Noach Deer and Anthony Weiner participated in the Democratic Primary for the 9th District Congressional seat in New York. Early Pollsters gave Dan’s campaign cigars after conducting its first run of polls in the 9th Congressional District in New York. Dan was clearly the favorite — but there was an issue. Hear how the 1998 Congressional Primary to replace Chuck Schumer ultimately played out and how New York and national politics was forever changed by this one, hotly contested, four-way race for the Democratic nomination for Congress, a sure-fire bet to ultimately be elected. Deer, Katz, Weiner and Feldman all vying for the seat until Election Day.
The long-serving Congressman Schumer has set off to pursue a seat in the U.S. Senate. Who will replace him? Hear the foundational elements of the 1998 Congressional Primary to fill the Congressional seat for the 9th District of New York and the intense four-way race between Anthony Weiner, Melinda Katz, Noach Deer and Dan himself. What did the race look like at the outset? Why did Dan choose to run now? What is it like running in a Congressional primary? Dan and Asher explore it all.
As the 1980s turned into the 1990s and the political landscape in New York continued to shift, Dan exits his largest-profile race to date with a new perspective and an appreciation for what’s to come. Hear how, even in the span of less than a decade, the political map of New York changed, in its elected officials, its ideology, law making and understanding of the system itself. All of this as the city, state and nation gears up for the turn of the millennium. Note: There is a small factual error made in the middle of the episode, corrected at the end — make sure to listen all the way through!
New York City’s most populous borough needed a new District Attorney in 1989. Who better to pursue the seat than Dan Feldman? After a few consecutive terms of success in the New York State Assembly, hear the trials of the 1989 District Attorney race in Brooklyn from the runner-up’s perspective, and what could’ve gone differently. This is no Assembly race, this is a Brooklyn-wide race with all the complications that brings — hear directly from Dan what that means.
Dan recalls his dozen-year stint as chair of the Correction Committee and the massively complex and evolving relationship the state of New York has with the prison and correctional systems. Learn about motivations, changes, undertakings and reforms pushed throughout the system over the course of two decades and how that came to shape the current version of the system in New York. As Dan himself points out: “I was fond of saying that I spent more time in prisons in New York than any other legislator who was not actually convicted of anything.”
Being a politician makes a person accountable too many groups simultaneously. But few politicians experienced the multifaceted nature of political responsibility like New York City politicians of the 1980s and 1990s. While Dan’s making headway in Albany, changing laws and fighting for his people, find out what it took to stay afloat the ever-changing political landscape of New York City politics, a beast all its own.
Sure, elective politics appears to be glamorous and making important laws feels like the kind of fulfilling work anyone could want for themselves. But what are the ins and outs of the game that politicians need to keep in mind? How do you balance the cavalcade of characters, interests, schemes and interests that are constantly at play in the political realm? Listen as Dan and Asher talk through some of the ‘inside baseball’ of the New York State political system and how Dan was able to navigate them on this week’s episode.
Making laws in any context is difficult, but when it comes to organized crime and New York state, the pressure is especially tense, and the “tinkering” is especially vital. Hear about the “hundreds” of hours it took to help get the New York State Organized Crime Control Act across the finish line and the impact it ultimately had in the state. Then Dan and Asher round out this Making Laws in New York 101 session with a few final stories of the legislative process, in both its successes and failures.
So Dan’s an Assemblyman! How does a legislator make laws in Albany? What drives that desire to make specific laws? Hear Dan and Asher discuss some of the inner workings of making laws in the ‘80s in New York State and how the approach changes depending on who’s involved, what’s at stake, and what is meant to be achieved. This is part one in a two-part series on this integral topic, stay tuned for next week’s conclusion of this discussion.
Dan returns from the mountains to travel immediately to Albany, NY to begin his time as Assemblyman from the 45th District in New York. Hear what it’s like to be a first-time member of the Assembly, from orientation to learning the ins and outs of the political process and who helped Dan acclimate along his way. Effective from the word “go,” Dan begins his run as a member of the legislature.
The final steps in winning a local election — in this case the Assembly seat in the 45th district of New York — are recounted as Dan and Asher discuss the final days of the 1980 campaign. The hard leg work of campaigning and the difficulty of the balancing act to win local election at the time are discussed in full! This is the beginning of the heart Dan’s good run, hear how it all transpired.
Dan and Asher sit down for a length discussion about the protests and movements happening around America and how it resembles (or doesn’t resemble) what Dan has seen in his life of politics, protest, legislation and government. In the far-ranging discussion the two talk about President Trump, George Floyd, #BlackLivesMatter and other topics at the top of Americans’ minds today. We’ll return with regularly scheduled programming soon, but we thought it important to take some time out to discuss the pressing storyline of the day.
We rejoin Dan’s journey into politics during the spring and summer of 1980, as a fresh decade gave Dan a fresh chance at elective office, this time as Chuck Schumer’s replacement as the Assemblyman for New York’s 45th district. Dan recounts the process of campaigning for the seat, the power dynamics at hand, the many ins and outs of the campaign itself and what it took to ultimately find success. Stay tuned for more from A Good Run Podcast, and a victory still to come…
Dan recounts his time working for Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman and Assemblyman Chuck Schumer in the time immediately after his second consecutive electoral loss and the gear up for what would become his first electoral victory. Hear about the heyday of the Holtzman Congressional office and the earliest indication of the master politician Chuck Schumer would become.
A Good Run is back with a deep dive into Dan's second political campaign after a stint in the working world. A Good Run returns via social distancing and Zoom, welcome back to all our friends and followers, hope everyone is safe and healthy.
In part two of our two-parter, Dan and Asher wrap up the storyline from last episode, discussing the ins and outs of a campaign from the point of view of a candidate.
Season 2 of A Good Run starts off with Dan coming off the high of Elizabeth Holtzman's campaign victory. Hear how that triumph kickstarts his own political career in New York.
A retelling of the against-all-odds campaign of Elizabeth Holtzman for Congress and Dan's involvement in the underdog campaign. Hear how a toothpick eventually did topple the Washington Monument as the youngest woman to serve in Congress at the time (a record she would hold for 42 years).
Leah and Dan reconvene for A Good Run episode about the “extremely unsuccessful presidential campaign” of John Lindsay. Travel with Dan through Indiana, Massachusetts and Florida and meet a wide variety of characters and personalities that defined Dan’s time with the campaign.
A Good Run returns with some Inauguration counter programming! Leah and Dan sit down to discuss Allard Lowenstein, and his many influences on Dan's life and political history. In Dan's own words: "I went to hear Al Lowenstein speak at the Institute of Politics with no special expectations. Lowenstein spoke for almost an hour, non-stop. When he finished, I walked from the very back of the room up to the podium and said to him 'I will be working for you this summer.'"
A Good Run returns with an introduction to Elizabeth Holtzman, a candidate for State Committeewoman who became a significant influence on Dan's political life. Dan recounts his first campaign with the future Congresswoman, as he wrote: "It was clear to me some months earlier when I first met Holtzman that she was a person on her way up. I had immediately taken a powerful liking to her, perhaps because of some combination of her obvious intelligence, attractive appearance, and strong and quirky personality."
A Good Run returns with Dan and Asher discussing the end of John Lindsay's successful reelection campaign and the somewhat less successful campaigns led by Robert Morgenthau and Norman Adler. In describing the Morgenthau campaign, Dan writes: "We drove hundreds and hundreds of miles west through the counties of Montgomery, Herkimer, Otsego, Madison, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Livingston, Genesee and Wyoming, stopping in every small town where our registration lists showed clumps of Democrats. By the time we were halfway through, the locals stopped asking if I came from New York City."
Leah and Dan sit down to talk about Dan's early involvement in the 1969 reelection campaign of New York Mayor John V. Lindsay. In Dan's own words: "Years later, when I represented parts of southern Brooklyn in the Legislature, my Democratic district leader told me how the City, early in the Lindsay administration, had opened a center for developmentally disabled children in Manhattan Beach, the wealthiest part of the district. Dozens of neighborhood matrons picketed the small center, carrying signs some of which read “Down with Lindsay.” Then Lindsay appeared. As he approached the women, smiling, one by one the signs gradually came down, amidst murmurs of “he’s so handsome!” The center served developmentally disabled children at that location for decades thereafter."
Dan sits down with Asher to discuss how his increased political involvement created a closer relationship between himself and City Hall, leading ultimately to his participation in the Urban Fellowship program. In Dan's own words: "The Fellowship would enable 20 students from all over the United States to work full-time at challenging positions in NYC government. Students were supposed to get academic credit for the year, and a $3,000 stipend from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. That would pay my entire room, board, and tuition costs for the year. Actually, my mother took notice of the program before I did, but she did not have to work very hard to persuade me to apply. This changed my life."
A watershed moment in student interaction with the police force in New York City is discussed as Dan recounts the days leading up to and following a clash at Columbia and his involvement. In Dan's own words: "I was among the South Field protesters, but after the initial thrust by the police, I spent the rest of the night on the first aid squad, carrying my bleeding classmates to St. Luke’s Hospital across Amsterdam Avenue from the College."
Dan discusses his father's influence on all aspects of his personality and politics with Leah, covering aspects of life, community and personal drive. In Dan's own words: "Charming, gentle in manner, and immensely likable, his personal style enabled him to exercise leadership throughout his life."
An episode that dives into the ways Dan's mom, Rennie, and his childhood influenced the way he saw politics in New York as it evolved over the decades. In Dan's own words: "Years later, in the 1990s, Milton “Mike” Drucker, then an administrator at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, insisted that Rennie Feldman, my mother, who had died in 1973, was 'the best captain in Rockaway.'"
Dan sits down with Leah to discuss the beginnings of the modern political movement in New York and concepts of "reformers" and "regulars." In Dan's own words: "My own political history grew out of the reform movement, the idealistic wing of the Democratic party devoted to fighting what we at least perceived as corrupt regular Democratic political clubs, and what surely often were."
A Good Run begins with a good warm up, and in this inaugural episode, Daniel Feldman sits down with Asher to discuss his political upbringing and background. A Good Run Podcast offers pieces of political history as personally experienced by Dan Feldman, a New York State legislator between 1981 and 1998 and current public management professor at John Jay College. The series includes revealing encounters between Feldman and such legendary New York political figures as Ed Koch, Mario Cuomo and John Lindsay, as well as with figures still prominent in American politics. His two children, Asher and Leah, take turns interviewing Dan about topics recounted on the Tales From The Sausage Factory blog, a compendium of narratives published in conjunction with a book of the same name from SUNY Press.