BP Councilmen against NYPD Spying

Chances are that the federal government or a federal judge will start to reign in the new NYPD military. This might become a major issue in the next mayoral race. Indirectly, it may have sacked Police Comish Kelly's chances to take over the FBI in an Obama Administration, and as a result bring him to reconsider his decision not to run for mayor. These thoughts are beyond my self-proclaimed area of expertise, and I will leave it for the bigger ones. More locally, I found it of interest that BP's Councilman Brad Lander - and to a lesser extent David Greenfield - are also against the NYPD anti-terrorism spying.

Brad Lander told the AP: "I'm troubled by the extent that New Yorkers, in this case Moroccans, but who knows who else, can be under surveillance for nothing other than their ethnicity or religion or their appetite for Moroccan food."

Meanwhile, David Greenfield who doesn't appear in the above article, retweeted a quote from the same long AP piece: "Sen. Dianne Feinstein: 'The CIA has no business or authority in domestic spying, or in advising the NYPD how to conduct local surveillance.'"

Wondering if this an indication where he stands on the issue, or is it a way to get in to a story where his colleague is quoted, without taking sides?

I think that it takes guts - principles, if you will - to be a representative of the Orthodox community and speak out against an anti-terrorism program. Greenfield - in case you forgot - also spoke out forcefully against TSA naked screenings. In that case he wanted the city to take over the security of the airports. So why not take over the spy agency?

UPDATE: Dov Hikind is on record for years as a supporter of ehtnic profiling against terrorism, before it was popular. Will this be the next Greenfield Hikind clash?

Adam Lisberg, CityHall News Editor, responded to this article: You're right, it's an interesting stance for them (Greenfield and Lander) to take, though Greenfield has taken steps in that direction before. As with many things in the Council, though, it will come down to what Christine Quinn is willing to allow them to do. And so once again the spotlight is on her: How closely is she willing to stray from the shadow of Bloomberg, who has made it very clear that as long as crime declines and New York is not attacked by terrorists, Ray Kelly can do whatever he wants?