File #: Res 1074-2005    Version: * Name: Calling on President Bush to fire Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for his divisive rhetoric.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations
On agenda: 7/27/2005
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling on President Bush to fire Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for his divisive rhetoric, and calling on Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki to renounce Rove’s attempts to divide Americans and exploit the tragedy of 9/11 for petty, partisan political gain.
Sponsors: Gifford Miller, Charles Barron, Leroy G. Comrie, Jr., Michael C. Nelson, Annabel Palma, Domenic M. Recchia, Jr., James Sanders, Jr.
Council Member Sponsors: 7

Res. No. 1074

 

Resolution calling on President Bush to fire Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for his divisive rhetoric, and calling on Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki to renounce Rove’s attempts to divide Americans and exploit the tragedy of 9/11 for petty, partisan political gain.

 

By The Speaker (Council Member Miller) Barron, Comrie, Nelson, Palma, Recchia Jr. and Sanders Jr.

 

Whereas, The people of the United States and the City of New York came together as one in the wake of terrorist attacks against our nation on September 11, 2001; and

Whereas, Members of both political parties and Americans of all political persuasions supported the allied intervention in Afghanistan in October, 2001, to root out the Taliban and bring the terrorists responsible for those attacks to justice; and

Whereas, The Bush administration has cynically and deliberately divided Americans and exploited the 9/11 attacks for petty, partisan political gain for the last three and a half years; and

Whereas, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove is chief political strategist for President Bush and the architect of this strategy; and

Whereas, Karl Rove stated at a meeting of the Republican National Committee on January 18, 2002, that Republican candidates in that year’s elections could increase their advantage by politicizing the 9/11 attacks; and

Whereas, Karl Rove recently escalated this divisive campaign with remarks at a dinner for the New York State Conservative Party on June 22, 2005, in which he said, “Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war. Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers”; and

Whereas, Governor George Pataki sat on the same dais as Karl Rove when these remarks were delivered; and

Whereas, Governor Pataki has said there was nothing “divisive” about these remarks and has refused to condemn them; and

Whereas, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has also refused to condemn Karl Rove’s divisive rhetoric; and

Whereas, Karl Rove’s rhetoric and cynical strategy of dividing Americans against each other for partisan gain has no place in our nation’s public discourse; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on President Bush to fire Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for his divisive rhetoric, and on Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki to renounce Rove’s attempts to divide Americans and exploit the tragedy of 9/11 for petty, partisan political gain.