How Ed Koch Leapt to the Head of the Field and Won The Heart of New York

Ed Koch I first encountered in 1973, when he was a member of Congress. I had, of course, heard of him, but hadn’t met him. I was hanging around at the time with a group of “reform” politicians with roots in Greenwich Village. Koch was famous for having defeated the DeSapio political machine a few years earlier. He’d been elected to the City Council and had then ran for Congress from the East Side.My friend Jimmy Organ was an early Koch convert, a protégé of a Village political operative named Micki Wolter, who later went on to run the City Record. Jimmy asked me if I would consider supporting Koch for mayor. It seemed to be the longest of long shot races.But in a field where a colorless fellow like Comptroller Abe Beame was the class of the field, Koch looked pretty damn good. As it happened,1973 turned out not to be Koch’s year, and he dropped out after just a few weeks in the race.The highlight of that race was Koch’s giving out little New York City flag pins, which resonated with me as someone who thought that this was a pretty good place to live, even at a time when most of my contemporaries couldn’t leave town fast enough.Beame ran and won on the platform of “He Knows the Buck.” As the city slid in to bankruptcy under his watch, his slogan became a cruel punch line. By 1977 I had started my first newspaper, in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx. Koch, who really never stopped running, declared his candidacy for mayor again.At first things did not look much better for him than they had four years earlier. It was true that Beame had been marginalized, but other candidates jumped in the race. The president of Manhattan, Percy Sutton, Congressman Herman Badillo, Congresswoman Bella Abzug brought up the left and Governor Hugh Carey recruited his Secretary of State, a Queens attorney named Mario Cuomo.So I joined this intrepid band of politicos, and my little newspaper became the first in the city to endorse Ed Koch, still the longest of long shots. But 1977 was also the year of riots and looting following a power blackout, and the fear in the streets over the Son of Sam killings. Things spun out of control and Koch became the only candidate in the race talking about getting tough on crime. This led to endorsements coming from the New York Post and the Daily News, and suddenly Koch was a force to be reckoned with.Late in the campaign, signs began appearing in white ethnic neighborhoods of the city warning folks to “Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo.” Koch was widely believed to be gay, but kept his private life deep under wraps, not surprising in 1977. Koch had a secret weapon, his friendship with New York’s most eligible and beloved Jewish woman, Bess Myerson.They campaigned together, walked to synagogue hand-in-hand, and before long the story had a life of its own. My late mother was consumed by this saga. She idolized Bess Myerson, the first (and only) Jewish Miss America. They were both Bronxites. Of course my mother was aware that I was knew Koch personally and was supporting him. All she could ask me at every possible occasion was when the two lovebirds would tie the knot.I learned recently that Bess Myerson is still alive (at 88, the same age as the late Mayor). In her early 50s, I recall Bess Myerson as so strikingly beautiful and bright, that the thought of her as the wife of the mayor could fuel the fantasies of every Jewish housewife in the metropolitan area.Ed Koch was a fellow who believed, totally, in himself. He looked at the field as saw that he was as smart, even smarter than anyone else running. And he was. By the end of the race, this former long shot catapulted to the head of the pack.As an early supporter, I could have sought a job, but instead opted for an unpaid post as a member of the City Human Rights Commission, where I served for eight years. I was issued a badge and a parking permit and was addressed as “Commissioner.” I will remember the swearing in not so much for the honor, but for the attention the mayor gave my father, going out of his way to praise me, something that meant a lot to my dad. I was also appointed to a number of other ad hoc panels as well, such as the Commission to mark the 30th anniversary of the State of Israel in 1978, where I got to meet Prime Minister Begin, a thrill.The best perk of being a Koch “insider” was the annual invitation to watch the Macy’s Firework’s display with the mayor at the United Nations School along the East River. In his shirtsleeves, surrounded by friends and supporters, with not a reporter in sight, you could share with this great man the joy of the moment, the boyish wonder of being a New Yorker at a time that we could once again look to the future with optimism.Ed Koch being around town made every day for all of us a little bit more interesting. He is simply irreplaceable. I miss him already.

How Ed Koch Leapt to the Head of the Field and Won The Heart of New York

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