This could wind up being the political whopper of the year.
A New York City councilman who’s filed paperwork to run for Congress is trying to burnish his credentials with an official bio that boasts he was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” in 2011.
Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Upper Manhattan) hinges his assertion on the dubious distinction of getting busted during the “Occupy Wall Street” protests.
The anti-capitalism demonstrations were mentioned in Time’s Dec. 14, 2011, cover story that named “The Protester” its annual person of the year following the “Arab Spring” uprisings that led to regime changes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
“As a legislator, Ydanis has stood at the forefront of issues most important to New Yorkers….His efforts during the Occupy Wall Street protests were recognized when he garnered Time Magazine’s 2011 Person of the Year,” Rodriguez says on his official council website.
Rodriguez filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Friday to join the race to succeed retiring US Rep. Jose Serrano, a Democrat whose district covers the South Bronx.
A rival candidate, city Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-The Bronx), ridiculed Rodriguez’s claim to fame.
“I am ready to wave the white flag. I cannot possibly compete against Time magazine’s Person of the Year,” Torres said sarcastically.
Torres also joked that he would “nominate [Rodriguez] for a Nobel Prize just so that he can claim to be a Nobel nominee.”
“His need for public accolades is as great as his need for public office,” Torres added.
Asked for comment on the claim in his bio, Rodriguez initially said he didn’t know how the “Person of the Year” mention got included, saying, “It was very long ago.”
But Rodriguez then repeated the claim, saying, “It was an honor to be recognized by Time Magazine as one of the protesters fighting the fight.”
“I look at it as a great honor. It was about worldwide recognition of a movement that people are going to fight for what they believe in, [whether it’s] climate change, people being separated from their families,” he said.
Rodriguez also said he planned to make his history of public protests a key element of his congressional campaign.
Rodriguez was busted during an NYPD sweep that cleared thousands of Occupy protesters from an encampment in Lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park on Nov. 15, 2011.
He was charged with resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration, but the case against him was dismissed and he sued the city over allegations that a cop threw him to the ground and clobbered him with a baton.
He scored a $30,000 settlement from the city and donated the money to the nonprofit Center For Constitutional Rights legal organization.
Rodriguez was arrested again in 2017 while protesting in support of illegal immigrants, known as “dreamers,” who were brought to the US as children.