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At this time your city station brings you the press conference home earlier today at city hall I am Mayor John B. Lindsay the conference was recorded for broadcast at this time as a public service by your city station. I want to speak to you today about a matter of grave importance to every resident of New York City at this moment the Senate of the United States is preparing to vote on the deployment of an Anti Ballistic Missile System it's a most crucial decision it will help determine for many months perhaps for many years the way that we as a nation as a people and as a city will live. Every year we taxpayers of New York City contribute three billion dollars to support the disastrous war in Vietnam and every year we send another six billion dollars to feed the voracious appetite of the steadily growing military complex we cannot afford this deadly luxury for that money is urgently needed to fight battles at home to make our city a decent safe and happy place in which to live so we confront a vital choice we can go forward with the grim task of building a seven billion dollar monument to fear while our hopes decay on every side we can fatten the military establishment while our cities starve and die we can't mortgage our future to the makers of weaponry despite overwhelming evidence that no weapon is ever ultimate that for every wrong we climb on the nuclear ladder another rung comes into view about our heads or we can at last turn away from the priorities of war and the pursuit of meaningless security that no weapon offensive or defensive can ever provide. We can challenge and we can halt the military raid on our national treasury we can declare in the name of all of our citizens that we have studied death and destruction far too long and it is time to build monuments to peace. I urge the Senate and all of its members the committed and the wavering the persuaded and the perplexed to weigh the alternatives with a steady hand I ask them to hear over the rhetoric of fear and Andre's and the just demands of ordinary people for the rebuilding of our cities the education of our children the feeding of our hungry and the healing of our sick these are the Yardsticks by which an adult democracy measures its security. Our most important challenge does not lie across the ocean it is the challenge to see ourselves as we are to reorder our national priorities and to honor the promises of democracy at home. I have one release that I think is been distributed on the subject of voter registration and it represents an exchange of correspondence between commissioner Maurice J. O'ROURKE of the. Board of Elections and myself on the subject of voter registration. And. Also I also wish to at this opportunity to express my thanks to. The steering committee on the subject of voter registration who have worked so hard on this subject that steering committee includes the Reverend H. Carl McCall. Mr Frank a spot a set of Jacob Javits. Bar president Percy Sutton for president Herman but the best answer they Scotto is to just to Kleinberg and Mr Stewart Mott. Gentleman it's my pleasure to introduce. Distinguished legislative leaders of our city of New York. Courageous and independent gentleman all leaders in their own party the Democratic Party and leaders of the New York State legislature each representing the kind of leadership that in that body is so badly needed and one who is an aspirant to public office a candidate for the city council a summit and Al Blumenthal a deputy minority leader they sound like co-author of the original Medicaid bill and author of numerous other measures in the area of health and welfare. Leader in the fight for appropriate and proper and needed to Bush and reform president of the Metropolitan Council the American Jewish Congress citizen of New York senator Manfred Orenstein the ranking Democratic member and former chairman of the joint legislative committee on higher education and a member of the City University of New York Commission on admissions. Along involved in higher education and public higher education with our city school system. A leader in the field of housing and housing legislation Assemblyman Andrew Stein chairman of the special committee on malnutrition of and human needs in the New York State Assembly and a member of the joint legislative committee on consumer protection. Mr Carter Burton Democratic liberal party candidate for city council in the fourth Council Matic District of New York former legislative assistant to Senator Robert Kennedy. Something global thank you Marilyn's the ladies and gentlemen on behalf of Senator Ornstein Assemblyman Stein and card of burden. I'd like to read the following statement. Although we have had disagreements with the Democratic Party in the past both as to issues and to candidates we have always supported the candidates of our party for this reason we remain committed to the election of Abraham Bemis controller and the reelection of Francis Sexsmith as president of the city council. Unfortunately however the last decade the Democratic Party in New York has been plagued by the growth of disparate wing wings and disagreements on basic issues this has produced crisis after crisis in our party. And ultimately it has led to the selection of candidates who are not able to gone abroad party or public support resulting in the loss of virtually every major elected position in the city and state of New York fortunately within the state legislature we have begun to build the type of united party we feel will effectively deal with the problems of the city in the state and we intend to continue with that effort we hope the same African be undertaken in the city council therefore it can only be for the most compelling of reasons that any candidate of another party should be supported by us the one nine hundred sixty nine mayoralty election in New York City is one of such extreme situations when control of Mariel Proca Chito announced his candidacy for mayor he vowed to remain a candidate in November regardless of the outcome of the primary he said he believed his point of view should be presented to the people in November while we agree that his viewpoint should be represented it is not one that is shared by us all by our constituencies. Mr Prohack Cino is complain that the mayor is not responsive to the whole city by the same token we represent a broad spectrum of economic social and ethnic groups who live in Manhattan Mr Prohack Cheeto is rejected every opportunity to appear before our communities and to discuss their legitimate needs and problems it has been said that New York City is totally ungovernable Perhaps this is so but we are still ready to try the one thing that we agree upon is that the city cannot be governed by old and outmoded methods and programs there are no quick slick solutions simplistic programs and slogans are not sufficient. There must be serious thought given to the problems there must be a willingness to provide imaginative leadership to try new things and to arrive at innovative techniques and solutions. We have had many disagreements with Malins he during his term of office we have also disagreed on occasion with the manner in which he attempted to carry out policies and programs however we believe he has worked long and hard in an attempt to solve the problems of New York City Of the three major candidates only he has shown the willingness the desire and the ability to resolve those basic problems to listen to all of the people in our city and to attempt some reconciliation among opposing interests progressive New Yorkers must unite in this campaign more important we cannot quit once the election is won by continued active participation we can shape the policies of the next four years only then can we ensure that the next Lindsay administration will move beyond the stage of innovative planning and into a reality of concrete solution to the city's very real problems it is for these reasons that we are compelled today to withdraw support for the Democratic candidate for mayor and to announce our support for the reelection of John Lindsay before we submit to questions I'd like to as Senator Ornstein to say a few words. Thank you. Mr Mayor. Fellow legislators this one may engage in a moment of levity I I have one complaint Mr Mayor I really think you ought to do something about this all this rain. Now I know you got elected in the year of the drought back in one thousand nine hundred sixty five but I think your rainmaker is overdoing it slightly so please bring some relief to the citizens of New York I say this is a very grim audience and I'm going to raise on the slide here this morning. As for myself I I wanted to. Say. A few words on one particular subject which I have been endlessly involved in and this is the whole area of housing. The reason I am here today in addition to statement that Al Blumenthal read and can give my unequivocal endorsement to the Lindsay administration and to its reelection is because in this very vital field I think the mayor and the administration is now making very decisive moves forward one I think the mayor and the administration has acted decisively and firmly in the whole area of control of the skyrocketing rents in the uncontrolled sector of our rent market we all believe that within a few days the mayor will be making appointments to a new board which I believe will be very acceptable to the tenants of the city of New York and will be a very large step forward in this fight Secondly I have been concerned particularly with the area of moderate income housing one of the law Chad standing problems in the city of New York. As a result of the discussions of the last few weeks I am now engaged in meetings with members of the Housing and Development ministration on the whole problem of providing housing and adequate numbers and at adequate rentals for the moderate income New York I think the mayor and the administration. Is dedicated to solving this problem which is a very tough one because it is a problem which can only be solved with the necessary aid by the state and the federal government I think within the next few weeks you will find there will be programmatic an ounce of sense in that area which will spell a great relief for hard pressed middle income New Yorkers Finally I want to say this and the mayor alluded to it himself in his first statement here that there are issues involved in this election beyond the city of New York there are issues of national importance of worldwide importance they cannot be ignored and they have relevance as to whether this city will be livable during the next decade the mayor statement today on the A.B.M. is only indicative of his posture in this regard the Democratic candidate unfortunately has chosen not only to remain silent silent but in his silence to give aid and comfort to those forces which are continuing to drag the United States in the direction of a war policy rather than a peace policy so for these reasons I am very pleased to enjoy to join with my colleagues on the west side and my other colleagues in this endorsement today thank you. And you say. With our support of the Democratic. Party. In point of fact GAEV. I announced my withdrawal of support several weeks ago but there are four of us here and the pro We applied to all four I'm not sure the others have made public statements in that respect but I personally made that statement about three and a half weeks ago in Albany I believe Senator Orenstein may have made a similar statement shortly thereafter I'm not certain about the others but this makes it formal In any event. I think a party is as successful as its appeal to the public the question is quite clear that the Democratic Party has fallen far short in its ability to command the respect and support of the public and the reason that that has occurred in my opinion is because we failed as a party to offer the candidacies of people who will attract the voters. It's not me who has failed the Democratic Party unfortunately and I say this sorrowfully because I am a very committed and frequently very partisan Democrat to Democratic Party that has failed the public. And. No I think you've got it in reverse we intend to campaign for the mayor I'm not running for reelection this year. We've gotten into this thing because we think his reelection is urgent and we plan to make every effort to see that he wins this is not a token endorsement this is a working indorsement. I guess my party members in the regulars. Will have something to say about my reelection campaign to the extent that they live in my district and when I run next year it'll be the enrolled Democrats will determine whether I've done the right thing and will read nominate me and then the general public which will decide whether I should be reelected I think it's fairly clear at least with respect to constituencies like ours how our constituency feels. In the primary. The voting results were very. Clear on the West Side of Manhattan Mr Prohack you know got less than ten percent of the vote Herman video that over fifty percent Mayor Lindsay one in the majority and I think it's clear how our constituencies feel and frankly I have no problem about going back the next year and reporting on what I've done. You. Know I don't believe so I think our party has from time to time shown rare Everton evidences of bipartisanship if I go back to the one nine hundred sixty five leadership struggle in the state legislature I seem to recall one of the county leaders of Queens County who entered into an arrangement with the Republican party to elect a speaker. I think people do what they feel they have to do under the circumstances of the time and I think the circumstances at this time the most compelling for the reelection of John Lindsay Gerry. Well the Liberal Party. Their lives the way they're created. It was criticism in the Liberal Party. The last four years is what. We're here. You know similar assurances to some. Other. Indications of the mayor or. Yes we've discussed in great detail the question of consultation and cross advice our primary concern is the question of the legislature that is the city council the state legislature and Congress and the mayor has agreed most willingly to the organization of a bipartisan body of legislators at all three levels of government to help the city in developing a new legislative program for the next sessions of all three legislatures and I think this will be a very unique and important step forward in that respect. This mass exodus going on the Democratic Party already appears to be great. I think the repercussions have already been there and in terms of the vote in the primary it's very clear that the party is badly split Mr Prohack Cino won by with thirty six percent of the enroll Democratic voters. That in my mind is not a commanding when. The Democratic Party is only as united as the candidates it offers. Gives it the opportunity to be and I think it's clear that at this stage of the game in any event that the party is seriously divided not from our doing but from the doing of the voters in the primary party regulars will remember you are. Leaving the party Oh I think party regulars who choose to remember anything remember what they want to remember and forget what they want to forget I don't think this bears on that very much. What you're doing. Is going to. Yes I think it well. Some people in our party and this is not true of everybody on the other side and I want to make that very clear. Reformers have no monopoly on virtue and regulars have no monopoly on sin but there are some people in our party who still have not gotten the message that although we command a majority of the registered voters we have not been able to command a majority of their votes at election time because we haven't put forward the candidates who will do that. It's probably easy to claim that Blumenthal in Ornstein and Stein and Burton and others who have already acted are destroying the party but in point of fact every time the party has gone to the general electorate in a general election over the last five or six years we've lost I didn't dictate the choice frankly of Abraham Beeman sixty five although I supported a beam and I didn't dictate the choice of Frank O'Connor in one nine hundred sixty six I supported Howard Samuels for the nomination but when O'Connell one I supported him and we lost the last election we want in the state was for Senator Robert Kennedy in one thousand nine hundred four. I supported Hubert Humphrey in the general election this year although I had grave reservations about his candidacy but the party just hasn't gotten the message that we're not making with the voters and if we're going to be a successful political party they are the ultimate consumer. I think it's the final therapy for the party the less the party recognizes the fact that we're only illustrative of many thousands of the people who I think are going to vote for Mayor Lindsay than unless they recognize that as a serious fact of life in this party will go down into complete destruction and I say this is somebody who wants the party rebuilt and has made every effort particularly in Albany I think as you know to rebuild that party and we've demonstrated in Albany that you can have a working coalition if people want to coalesce. But coalition and coalescing and working together literally means a two way thing and in the candidacy that we're presented with this time it is not two way at all it is strictly a one way street and we're not prepared to walk on that street. You know made. Worse and worse the policy direction of Europe ministration we're coming for years. Well this this whole coalition has been an effort to. See whether or not we can create something quite new and quite different a coming together of Progressive's that care about urban American about the city of New York and are willing to fight for it and naturally I'm very deeply gratified by the this the support of these distinguished legislators and and citizens of New York and members of the Democratic Party in this coalition effort and I've told them in many conversations that we've had that I regard running of the city of New York this coalition during this campaign and if I should be reelected. The city administration thereafter is a very genuine coalition the very genuine Fusion I think that we've gone way beyond by by necessity and by by every every principle. That one can invoke way beyond the traditional two party business and trying to govern a great city. Simply hasn't worked in the past and that's been demonstrated too often it doesn't work and I think it's been demonstrated to that unless a coalition is really broad and really very genuine. And very deep that you can't govern a city of this magnitude and of this complexity that's why. I think that the participation in the legislative process and in the business of formulating programs by these John. I'm of the standing here is critically important. For your life is this really what you people. Are like. Well we had we had fusion we had a very high degree of fusion is not enough you need more. It has to be broader based that is the nature of this city today and I think of any city today we have a new thing going where the people really want to participate and the people want to roll they want to meaningful voice they want to in every aspect of institutional life and that includes. The vast institutions I mean a simple government. It's vastly it's too big and too much for any kind of a. Even moderate or modest fusion to do. It need something far broader than that and difficult as it will be to do we we intend to put it together. Have something to say about individual candidacies and they weeks to come. This coalition today and this coming together today is not on the basis of quid pro quo it's on the basis of principles programs ideas and procedures. For today Suffice it to say that Carter burden in my judgment is enormously qualified for this post would be a great addition to the city council and I take great heart courage in the fact that he and others like him are willing to go into this business you have been listening to the press conference given earlier today at City Hall by Mayor John B. Lindsey and was recorded for broadcast at this time as a public service. You're. Headed. Our way. Back to. Your are. One thing that I think is of urgent importance in the campaign. One of the issues that's being made by both of the mayor's opponents Senator Markey and controller Procrit Chino is the question of crime and safety in the streets. And anybody who comes from a constituency of like mind is quite well aware of the problems of crime and safety in the street and I think perhaps this issue above and beyond any other is what the side of my course of action because in the legislature this year we probably made the only real contribution towards changing the ability of the city to cope with street crime when we changed at the mayor is strong behest and support the ability of the police to man the platoons they only adopted the full of platoon system. If anything can put more police on the beat that system can do it. And yet the very candidate who claims that that is the mayor's principal failure and who claims that that is his primary concern has a light himself with the two most violent opponents to fourth platoon system John because Sonoma Frank how the controller can go to the people of this city and say that he is seriously concerned about my safety on the corner of eighty first rate and Broadway at the same time that he is taking the side of cassettes and Frank who are violently opposed to putting extra police on the beat the at the high crime hours between six and two P.M. I don't know and I think that's what we mean when we say simplistic slogans and simplistic solutions I think that's the kind of fakery that the people of the city will understand and reject. I don't think Mr proper Chino is a racist and I don't think he's stupid I think he has very clearly understood that there is a portion of the city that is upset and fearful and doesn't fully understand all the things that has happened today he as a politician has chosen to benefit by that problem and exploit it and I think he's done it unfortunately because in doing so all the has done is exploited the fundamental divisions in this city he's brought them into the open in a very serious way and I think it's going to turn around and bite him I think George Wallace tried it and it failed and I think appropriate you know continues on the course that he said from self it's going to fail and turn around and bite him also. I am. There. For. You and. Or. How I you. Know. I don't intend to resign. It is not a patronage post I have never worked so hard in my life. I have informed the minority leader the state chairman and other party leaders of what I intended to do and explain the reasons for my doing so and nobody has asked me to resign I don't expect anybody to do so but I have no intention of doing so in any event. In our years. We had a very genuine and good conversation and I understood everything that he said and he understood everything that I said. The one reason I think that our coalition has succeeded in Albany by the way is that we have not attempted to to impose upon each other. Things which do not concern the legislature and I I think Assemblyman Steingart has been a unique success as the Democratic minority leader and I hope he will continue to be one. Of. Them right. Now I don't think so and I think if anybody were to attempt to a force resignations upon those of us who are supporting the mayor I think before the summer is out the only net effect would be that the everybody would resign from the Democratic Party because in my belief almost everybody that holds a post on the Democratic advisory committee or in some other issue oriented function will be supporting them a before the summer's over.