photo credit RAUL BARCELONA

http://www.mayorbrodeur.org

Christopher X. Brodeur is a musician, cartoonist, journalist and a well known political gadfly in New York City. He first gained notoriety for his numerous confrontations with former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani during his two terms in office. His criticisms of Giuliani culminated in Brodeur's heckling of Giuliani's testimony during the 9/11 Comission hearing held in 2004. The incident was well documented in the press worldwide.

He attempted to be the Green Party candidate for mayor in 2001 but was defeated in the primary election. In 2005, he decided to run again but this time as a Democratic candidate so that debate organizers wouldn't be able to keep him from participating with the excuse that he was a minor party candidate.

Brodeur maintains an intense anti-corruption position and claims he would make a better mayor for New York City than any of the past 108. His 100 innovations for New York City serve as his political platform and can be read in full at http://www.mayorbrodeur.org.

http://www.educationparty.org

Seth Blum has been a New York City High School teacher of Mathematics for nine years at the Manhattan International High School. He teaches Pre-calculus, AP Calculus and a Stock Market elective. He is currently working towards his second Masters in Administration.

After taking office, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took control of the schools in the city. Because Bloomberg’s appointed Chancellor was not an educator, Seth decided he needed to step up and run in the 2005 mayoral election.

Seth believes that education needs to evolve and include alternative forms of assessment and the use of engaging, interesting curriculum such as projects and hands-on activities. He does not use text books in his classroom and he does not rely solely on exams to assess student performance. In the current climate of "No Student Left Untested", Seth feels there is a dire need for politicians and lawyers to step aside and finally allow education to be run by educators.

http://www.culturebot.org

Andy Horwitz is a writer/performer/producer in New York City. He has performed his comic monologues and spoken word pieces to sold out houses all over New York in such venues as P.S. 122, Dixon Place, Here Arts Center, CBGBs and The Knitting Factory. His writing has appeared frequently at Nerve.com, Heeb Magazine and other outlets. He is the founder and editor of Culturebot.org.

In April 2005, after reading an article in The New York Daily News about the upcoming mayoral election he decided to run for Mayor. He was astounded by how much money Mayor Bloomberg had already spent and was uninspired by his Democratic opponents. Rather than complain, he figured he would get involved.