New York Post's Fred Dicker speculates in a column Monday that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly could, after all, run for mayor in 2013.
Dicker's main source is former state Republican Chairman Bill Powers who reminds New Yorkers that a left-leaning NYC can still elect a Republican mayor.
And what of the countless NYPD scandals? And growing discontent over the department's use of stop-and-frisk? Powers says it's all fueled by Democratic frontrunner Christine Quinn (“because she doesn’t want to face Kelly in the election next year’’) and by the liberal media.
“When I read the awful hatchet jobs that are being done on Ray, in The New York Times, in New York magazine, by the Associated Press, to see how he’s been treated when he’s a national hero, I know that it’s being done by the liberals who are trying to stop Ray Kelly,’’ said Powers.
It should be noted that Dicker (New York's most powerful journalist?) has a habit of writing speculative pieces like this, namely about candidates whom he admires. Last summer a Dicker article speculated that President Obama would tap Governor Cuomo as his running mate in 2012. And Dicker's main source? Bill Powers.
Adding to the drum beat for Kelly to run are former Borough President Guy Molinari, a Republican, and former Democratic mayor Ed Koch.
“We would like to see him think more seriously about running for top office,” said Molinari. "“We’re trying to find a candidate who could be elected on the Republican line. Very few meet that criteria. There’s no one who would give us a better shot than Ray Kelly.”
Ed Koch, who said that if Kelly threw hit hat in the ring, he'd switch allegiances from Quinn to top cop Kelly in a heartbeat.
"He knows where I stand," Koch said. "I urged him, heavily, to run. He knows that if he were to run, I would support him. But I don't have to call him."
And what does Kelly himself think of all the endorsements?
“I certainly appreciate those comments,” Kelly said on WORS Monday morning. “It’s obviously flattering. But I’m totally focused on what I’m doing now.”
And Capital New York reports that when Manhattan Republican Chairman recently David Isaacs approached Kelly at a recent event, asking, ""Hey Commissioner, how are ya? Any interest? We want to talk to you," Kelly responded, ""I'm a big fan of John Catsimatidis."
Catsimatidis is a supermarket mogul with no party affiliation who has flirted with the idea of running for mayor.
The latest Qunnipiac poll gave Kelly a favorable approval rating of 64-25.