A story about Ceceilia Berkowitz (D-Twitter)
Ceceilia Berkowitz Azi Paybarah via flickr
3:30 pm Feb. 18, 20137
Ceceilia Berkowitz came into my life in an instant.
It was around 9 p.m. one night late last month when Twitter alerted me and other reporters from around New York City to the following message: "Hi. I am running for NYC mayor and I wanted to let you know & see if you wanted to interview me. DM me."
Which prompted an informal question-and-answer session between Berkowitz, a 34-year-old college mathematics instructor, and a number of local reporters and political operatives. #AskCeceilia suddenly became a busy hashtag.
It was the first time any of Berkowitz's interlocuters had ever heard of her. And yet there we were.
"She must be serious because I see serious people talking to her," one operative said, decribing an initial impression of the candidate, upon seeing what was happening online.
I was curious about this person who managed, at least, to create a feedback loop about herself among those "serious" people. She wasn't going to be mayor, and her claim on Twitter to be "friends" with Michael Bloomberg seemed to be, well, one an actual friend of Bloomberg probably wouldn't make.
But it also seemed clear from her Twitter activity alone that she was, at the very least, no Mindy Meyer. And, as a reporter who complains regularly about lack of direct access to candidates, I kind of hoped that, with her very direct self-introduction and willingness to field and answer questions with no filter or preconditions, she was maybe even in the process of proving a little something about how an aspiring citizen-candidate with ideas but no money could go about building a public profile.
I met Berkowitz at a coffee shop near Union Square this weekend, and we spoke for nearly an hour.
As it turns out, she comes across very differently when she isn't communicating in 140-character bursts.
She spoke for nearly eight minutes, straight, before I interrupted her to ask my first question.
She said she planned to hire 20 campaign managers and allow her fund-raisers to keep 50 percent of what they raise for her until the campaign raises $1 million. (After that, the percentage given to the fund-raisers would drop.)
Her claim about being friends with Bloomberg, in the live telling, turned out to have been a reference to having attended a fund-raiser at the mayor's home and written checks for at least one of his pet causes.
She sat facing a window and rarely turned toward me when speaking.
"I was having problems with higher ed because you lose a lot of money," she said, at one point. "I lost a lot of money working for Baruch College, definitely over $20,000 in four months, because I had to get to work on time and the students needed me to always show up and the school doesn't pay for expenses. So I did everything I could to get there [on time], even if you're sick. It cost a lot money. So I need a career where I don't lose money for every year. And so, I notice it's a very good opportunity, for me, to take on the role of mayor. I have very good experience in starting new jobs, whether they are hard or easy, making sure I meet or beat expectations. Even if I lose money myself—Mayor Bloomberg himself doesn't take a salary—I would be prepared to spend the money on getting ready, like, if I have an emergency and need to buy new shoes, if I need to pay for my own car and I don't get reimbursed for that type of thing."
Cecilia Berkowitz is not going to be mayor.
If you think you might be a contender, tweet at me.
I think Azi is much better than many of the reporters out there, in that he acknowledged that I was going to be a mayoral candidate and took the time to interview me on Sunday morning yesterday. Much of this article is not true - I told him that I have an 80% chance of winning the election. I think he should recognize that I would not have started this campaign, hired an attorney from Wall Street and Staten Island, put in my own funds and disclosed this to the universities where I work, if I was not committed above all else to do what it takes to form a good team, construct an outstanding political platform representing many diverse New Yorkers, and aiming to an the election and doing as good a job as Mayor Bloomberg himself. I said that the Mayor is one of my best friends for over a year now, and I don't just miss work to be sure to attend events at his residence when he is there. More importantly, I am a Wharton alum with an MBA and significant work experiences, with top leadership and team building skills. My strategy is to be many people strong, and also fundraise, instead of Mayor Bloomberg 's winning strategy, which was to be many dollars strong, and also involve some people. I invite Azi and others to continue to work with me after we have a checking account and have filed with the Board of Elections and the Campaign Finance Board. We are committed to following the law above all else, which is more than I can say about almost all of the Democratic opponents, and it may take more time to convince the press if we act legally and ethically.
Aiming to win the election (typo)
Azi, I am impressed with your photography skills :)
Amy
Enjoy your moment of "FAME" and good luck with the campaign.
BTW if I run into you I will give you a nice pair of "HAPPY SOCKS"
Before there was the "Oracle of Delphi" there was Count Vampire J. Machiavelli
VJ Machiavelli
www.VJMachiavelli.blogspot.com
To The Moon, Mars, and Beyond
Azi, this woman is a complete fraud. I was one of her math "students" at Baruch during the term she worked there, if you would consider a student someone that sits in a classroom with this woman while she spends class time checking her facebook and personal e-mail accounts. She was never on time, never showed a lesson plan or syllabus and when she actually got around to teaching math it was disjointed and poorly explained.
I'm not sure how she would lose 20 grand working there for 4 months, as Baruch teachers don't even MAKE 20 grand in a term. The only thing I can think of is if she bribed the math department to actually hire her.
At the end of the term, the Baruch math department gives all math classes a departmental final exam made by the department chairs and co-chairs. The classes she taught were woefully unprepared, despite her assurances all semester that her classes always do well on finals. She started the final exam late, even with a strict 2 hour time limit. Out of her 2 classes, about 60 students, only 3 passed the final exam. She was fired shortly after and the math department was forced to administer a second exam for any of her students who wanted to try again.
This woman is delusional at best, a liar and farce at worst. I am insulted that she has been able to get even this far in the political process, and I sincerely hope that no one donates money to her campaign.
I had a top experience with most students in this class, and this student simply chose to Fail.
This student was excessively absent and a behavior problem. He therefore did not pass the class. None of this is true. The final exam was offered again by the department at my insistence since there was an interruption during the final exam, and I wanted Thomas in case he had adequately studied and the other students to have more than a fair chance of passing the test. My syllabus was posted on Blackboard and sent by email to students including Thomas. In class, we did homework and practice test problems from the MyMathLab software, and students stayed after class with me to do this more. The point is, Thomas did not so the course requirements or know what happened since he wasn't there enough to pass. 75% of students passed this class, which is a top pass rate for a remedial like high school level math class that comes before Precalculus and Calculus. The math department hired me based on my academic and professional qualifications including my college teaching background. I have received an award for college math teaching and normally receive excellent faculty and student evaluations, going above and beyond job requirements to ensure nearly all students succeed.
Baruch should perhaps do a better job in Admissions, and also have better prepared students in math take the remdial like College Algebra which comes after Developmental Algebra but before Precalculus or Calculus.
As everyone knows, a student should attend required classes and prepare for tests and do homework in order to succeed. Thomas did not, and by nit attending, he did not know much about course content or about what I did there. The final exam did start on time, and almost everybody passes except him and several other irresponsible students..
Many of my current and former students are volunteering to be on my campaign team, ND we plan to win, and do great work for NYC.
Sorry about any typos from my smartphone. I have some ideas foe improving public school education at the preK to 12 and at the college level which should prevent similar students from signing up for courses and then failing them even if almost all other students in this course succeeded and found me to be excellent at teaching them.