What's the deal with the AP?

Instead of a story, we got a joke about a wedding gone wrong
Why run a 50-word news brief on the Brooklyn carriage accident? To make light of it, of course, as The Associated Press did in its pickup of the accident. We now know, thanks to other news outlets, that the horses involved were 2,000-pound Percherons, which is good news and bad. Their sheer size may be one reason that they survived the crash into the livery cab with only cuts to the legs. A 2,000-pound spooked horse, however, poses real danger to people who may be in his path. The carriage driver, who helped "steer" the out-of-control horses to a crash landing, suffered multiple broken ribs.

As Dave Barry pointed out years ago, AP staffers mostly sit at the desk and read newspapers. Too bad, because there's a story and a half here, and it remains to be told. The blistering but largely ignored 2007 audit of the carriage horse industry; the conflict of interest with Linda Gibbs (DOH) and her carriage industry lobbyist husband Thomas McMahon; the dirty dealings of Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who blocks the legislation that would ban horse-drawn carriages in NYC (a measure that is supported by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society of the United States); the national tragedy of horse slaughter, and on and on.

The silliness that is the AP. Did you hear the one the Jonas Salk obituary, which had a GenDesk editor ranting and raving about receiving "an 800-word obituary on some dead guy that no one's ever heard of!" Or the editor who bellowed, "Does anyone speak Spanish?" upon receiving a story that referred to the legal term "nolo contendre." No surprise that news gets by these guys. And now the AP is terrrorizing bloggers! Please!

Once more, slowly

For the benefit of today's reporters and editors
Things are getting worse for the carriage horses of New York City, and a collective apathy among those in the news media isn't helping.

It's been nearly a year since city Comptroller William C. Thompson released an audit that detailed a litany of problems within the carriage industry and a series of tactical failures among the organizations that would regulate it.

Little has changed, and reform won't be likely, given the obvious conflict of interest that stands in the way. The woman whose fingerprints are all over this is Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Linda Gibbs, whose department is responsible for oversight of the carriage industry. Ms. Gibbs has strong and numerous family ties to carriage industry lobbyists, a circumstance that represents an obvious conflict of interest. This is being investigated by the Conflict of Interest Board.

How long will the real story of New York City's carriage horses be ignored by the news media? Showbiz gossip reigns supreme, apparently. This is the era of Brangelina and Britney. Right? "All the news that's fit to print" has become "All the entertainment news that fits!" Reporters (journalists?) now apparently get away with merely editorializing and publishing news releases that have been provided by those paid to represent business interests. It's kind of embarrassing. Who needs a newspaper? I'll just read PR Newswire.
What Does the City Audit Say

Of log books and law judges

Problems of infrequent and substandard veterinary care were disclosed in the 2007 city audit of the carriage horse industry, and so was poor record-keeping. Here's a neat example of both.

In July 2007, a carriage driver escaped an inhumane treatment charge, but was fined $200, after a Department of Consumer Affairs inspector noticed an open wound on the withers (the area between the shoulder blades) of a working carriage horse, in violation of city rules that prohibit working a horse with an open wound. The driver helped his case, apparently, by testifying that he had discovered the wound in the stable after a day's work, and that he immediately dressed the wound and took the horse out of service. However, the driver's testimony could not be confirmed by his log book entries.

Based on testimony, an administrative law judge dismissed the inhumane treatment charge. But because the judge found that the driver had not consistently entered in his log book the times he had returned the horse to the stable, the driver was fined $200. [Violation # LL5047122]

The audit had plenty to say about the disturbingly bad record-keeping. Hmm. I wonder why they do that? The drivers--and the industry's public relations machine--keep saying that the industry is a pretty tight ship. What would be the advantage of keeping poor records of the horses' shifts and their physical ailments (including open wounds)? This from an industry that wants more self-regulation. Shameful.

And what about that driver I saw fairly galloping a horse July 4th on Central Park West? Mr. Carriage Driver (whose name I won't share here), you know it's illegal, don't you? It would be great if the ASPCA had more than a handful of humane law officers, and if the police would do their jobs and enforce the carriage industry laws, and if the Department of Health would do its job in minding this business. The latter surely won't happen, given that Linda Gibbs of the DOH is married to Thomas McMahon, whose lone associate in his firm is a carriage industry lobbyist. All of which is an embarrassing conflict of interest. It's junior high school politics. Except it's real life in my city.
Read: Political Entrenchment 101 (HorseWatchNYC)
See a recap of the audit of the industry and read the NYC Comptroller's News Release (2007)
Familiarize yourself with the laws pertaining to the industry and the horses' treatment

Political entrenchment 101

Why haven't horse-drawn carriages been banned, you ask?
Many thoughtful, rational residents find it incomprehensible that New York City still allows horse-drawn carriages on the streets and ignores the inherent dangers, to say nothing of the inherent cruelty of this industry. And it is an industry, complete with profit margins and difficult decisions about when the "equipment" has outlived its usefulness. Some, like Bud (pictured), are casualties of the job itself.

For those who are new to this issue, perhaps a review is in order. There are some shameful connections between those who supposedly would reform this cash industry and those who are profiting from it. Among them, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Linda Gibbs, a Bloomberg appointee who oversees the Dept of Health, is married to lobbyist Thomas McMahon, whose lone associate in his firm, Jean Kim, is lobbying for the carriage horse industry. Gibbs' brother-in-law also has been representing the carriage industry. Does this seem right?
As you can see, efforts at meaningful reform are doomed to fail--a complete joke. Then there's the corrupt Christine Quinn, speaker of the City Council and renowned animal-hater, who scares away any council members who would support the bill to ban horse-drawn carriages. Just run a Google search of "Christine Quinn slush fund" and read about some of her recent shenanigans.
Take Action! Call City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and tell her that you support a ban on horse-drawn carriages, a measure that is endorsed by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Humane Society of the United States, to name a few organizations. You'll speak with an aide, no doubt, as Quinn will probably be on the phone with her $600-an-hour lawyer.
Not a New York City resident? Call anyway!

Anything but authentic

John B. Moore, like many others, once thought that New York's carriage industry was a harmless tradition that didn't warrant a second look. Now, he writes on the Central Park Blog, he has been forced "to confront the awful truth" about the industry, reckoning that there is no excuse for making the horses live the way they do--living in squalid cells and working in some of the nation's worst traffic.
Like many of us who have discovered this same awful truth, The Central Park Blogger has been confronted with the industry's PR machinery, which is quite elaborate. Between the paid PR person (Carolyn Daly) and lobbyist Thomas McMahon (whose lone associate in his firm, Jean Kim, is lobbying for the carriage industry), and the unfortunate mix of politics and "oversight," given that McMahon's wife, Linda Gibbs, is the Bloomberg appointee who oversees the Department of Health), you can begin to see how politically entrenched this cash-only industry is. Much effort is devoted to making the horse-drawn carriage industry appear to be an inconsequential diversion. Harmless? That it isn't, because putting horses into traffic endangers the horses as well as the public.

Support a ban on horse-drawn carriages