“It’s time to judge him for who he is and what he is doing, rather than forever anticipating what he may become.
This is the story of one test of Mario Cuomo’s government: its ethics”
“The essence of the ruling was that Esposito, who has become a caricature of the county party boss, is in fact no boss at all and thus cannot be penalized for breaking state laws that limit the commercial activity of a county leader.”
“The initial plan called for Trump to purchase the hotel, sell it to the city, and then lease it back from the city at a nominal rental — and no real-estate taxes.”
“The most curious aspect of the Bowery/UDC relationship is the striking similarity between letters sent by both to the city concerning the Commodore deal.”
The Commodore story led the author into a series of possible conflicts concerning Ravitch's role as the unpaid chairman of the New York's Urban Development Corporation
“In Ed Koch's city, Stanley Friedman and Donald Manes were the twin towers of insider trading, the most powerful of the mayor's men. The just-completed trial record of their crimes is in a sense Ed Koch's third book — a candid account, at last, of his government”
“The fact is that Koch has protected Bess Myerson because he has long recognized that there is no way that a damaged Myerson wouldn’t also damage him. And perhaps turn on him”
“Ed Koch, who first achieved fame by conquering Tammany Hall boss Carmine DeSapio in the early 1960s, has become DeSapio, the personification of patronage, conflicts of interest, and cynical abuse of the public trust”
