A Politician Who Embraces A Smoky Room
New York City's most recent mayors have had a love/hate affair with cigars. Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani is a passionate cigar smoker. He graced the cover of Cigar Aficionado magazine in December 2001, is a regular at our Night to Remember dinner and has spoken repeatedly about the rights of cigar smokers. Current Mayor Michael Bloomberg couldn't be more the opposite, having initiated the New York City smoking ban and making move after move to make buying and smoking cigars increasingly difficult in the city that never sleeps.
So it made me happy to read a New York Times piece about a mayoral hopeful who held a fundraiser inside a cigar shop while puffing away happily on a cigar. Joseph J. Lhota, who once served in the Giuliani administration, including as deputy mayor, filed his candidacy for mayor on January 17. Last week, according to the piece written by Michael M. Grynbuam, Lhota fired up a Montecristo White with about two dozen supporters in the Habana Hut Smoke Lounge in Bayside, Queens, while discussing his hopes to become Mayor of New York City.
Lhota doesn't smoke as many cigars as he used to, according to the article. But he enjoys a good smoke on occasion, like the majority of cigar aficionados. And he's not afraid of a good old-fashioned smoky room. At one point he even joked about opening a cigar shop nearer his home.
You shouldn't vote for a man just because he smokes a cigar. But when politicians have beliefs that mirror your own—rather than standing in conflict to what you believe in—that's a good thing.
New York City will elect a new mayor on November 5. It would be a pleasant change to have another cigar smoker back in that seat.
