New Yorkers might not be aware that aside of the Democratic primary, that’s dominating the news cycle, another race is going on to replace Mayor Bloomberg. In this year’s mayoral election the word “Independent’ has been used a lot by various candidates seeking the job of serving as Mayor of NYC. So far, Adolfo Carrion is the leading candidate as a third party candidate on the November ballot. Jack Hidary, a member of Brooklyn’s Sephardic Jewish community, hopes to change that over the next four months.

Mr. Hidary, 44, a civic-minded technology executive, is preparing to toss his entrepreneur’s hat into the ring for mayor as an independent. He has quietly set up an exploratory committee, assembled a campaign team and established a Web site, HidaryForNYC.com.

“If I did run, it would be a very viable candidacy,” Mr. Hidary told the NY Times, describing his plan for leading New York as, well, a kind of Bloomberg 2.0: socially progressive, fiscally reserved and digitally savvy.

In an interview with NY1, Tuesday night, Mr. Hidary explained the purpose of his potential candidacy. “I go around New York City to all kinds of communities,” Hidary said. “I’m hearing that they do not want a career politician. They want independent leadership.”

“They say, ‘Jack, we are really, really worried about New York after Bloomberg,’” Hidary said he had been told by New Yorkers in recent months, according to the Times.

On Mr. Hidary’s campaign website, his impressive resume speaks for itself. In 1995, Jack co-founded and served as President and CEO of EarthWeb/Dice. Under his leadership, EarthWeb/Dice earned the prestigious BusinessWeek Info Tech 100 award. Dice is the leading IT job board today and is listed on the NYSE as DHX. Since its founding, Dice.com has connected more than five million Americans with a job.

More recently, Mr. Hidary founded Samba Energy, a leading marketplace for commercial solar projects and financing. Hidary, his bio touts, advocated for the use of high-mileage vehicles as New York City taxicabs in 2005 with David Yassky. David was a NYC council member at the time and today is the Chairman of the TLC. Jack and David successfully engaged drivers who are owner-operators who now save thousands of dollars each year driving high-MPG cars as well as leading fleet owners.

Today, the majority of the 13,500 taxis are high-MPG vehicles in NYC helping these small businesses generate more income.

In his TV interview with NY1, Mr. Hidary described his politics as socially progressive, fiscally sound and digitally savvy.

Michael Hidary, Jack’s younger brother and managing director at Samba Energy, told YWN Jack is committed in making a difference for New Yorkers of all communities. “Bloomberg, we feel really elevated the city to the next level in terms of public safety and business environment,” said Hidary. Adding, many people have reached out to Jack to complain about the current candidates in the race, expressing concerns of the Democratic candidates overtaking control of the City and revealing the lack of excitement of the current slot of candidates vying to succeed Mayor Bloomberg.

“Now that Weiner came in the race, it’s really embarrassing that this is what we have to offer for leadership of the greatest city in the World,” he said. Thus, the Hidarys are convinced Jack’s the guy that the city is looking out for. “He’s prepared. He’s willing to sacrifice the time it takes to put in all he has into this,” said Michael Hidary.

YWN: Why didn’t Mr. Hidary join the Democratic primary for mayor, rather than running as an unknown Independent?

MH: “First of all, Jack is a non-affiliated voter which gives him the opportunity to remain objective in expressing his positions on the issues that matter to all, regardless of party line. But also strategically, you have to really look at the race and say why you would want to be bogged down in the war between the 7 candidates. Now they are all going to spend the money in fighting each other and only one of them is going to merge victorious, but exhausted, September 10th or later into October. In the mean time, we are going to have the same amount of money (around $4 Million) to remain consistent and end strong.”

Mr. Hidary’s campaign believes they can build on Mike Bloomberg’s base. “With no heavy weight in the race, we are focused on matching Mr. Bloomberg’s 530,000 votes. Of the 1.2 Million voters in November, a third is Jewish,” Mr. Hidary emphasized. “While we acknowledge we won’t be getting every Jewish vote, we can bank on a substantial amount of votes in the Jewish community, especially in the Orthodox community.”

“In additional, in terms of courting the Hispanic vote, Jack speaks pretty fluent Spanish. He can probably get through an entire speech in Spanish, not Bloomberg’s Spanish. Whereas in the African-American community, if it all comes down to jobs and racial profiling, Jack has a pretty compelling case,” Mr. Hidary explained, is their base of support.

Nevertheless, his odds seem to be long. What remains to be seen, is whether Hidary’s private-sector success and ethnic background translates to politics and ultimately into votes.

(Photo: Getty)

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)