Fernando Ferrer

Ferrer was appointed Bronx Borough President as the result of incumbent Stanley Simon’s resignation in connection with the Wedtech scandal. In 1987, Simon, aware that he had been under investigation and that charges against him were pending, resigned from his post. A year earlier, bribery and extortion scandal at the Parking Violations Bureau took down then-Bronx Democratic Party boss Stanley Friedman. Ferrer began his 14-year tenure as Bronx borough president when the borough was a symbol of urban decay and neglect. National attention led to a federal commitment to rebuild. During the Ferrer administration housing was created for about 66,000 families. The borough saw a significant drop in crime, particularly in the South Bronx neighborhood, and a steady rise in business and real estate investment.

Ferrer resides in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. Though both Riverdale and Ferrer's native Hunts Point are located in the Bronx, they are the wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods in the borough, respectively. He worked to establish an insurance company in New York City, Poder Insurance Agency, with longtime political allies Luis Miranda, Jr. and Roberto Ramirez, Sr. (New York Magazine, October 16, 2006), and he appears regularly on NY1 News' "Wise Guy" segment along with former US Senator Alfonse D'amato.

Ferrer was the Democratic candidate for mayor, losing in the general election to incumbent Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the 2005 election.

His campaign was hurt by remarks he made in March 2005 concerning the Amadou Diallo shooting. Ferrer, who'd marched in protest against the shooting when it occurred and had gotten arrested, expressed his belief to the New York City Police Department Sergeants Benevolent Association that the incident was a "tragedy," but "not a crime." He was strongly criticized by Diallo's family and others for these remarks, and he slid in popularity polls, especially among African-Americans. These comments, although taken out of context, were never properly addressed and just followed the campaign the entire way. The comments and ensuing events also caused a long-time campaign consultant, from Chicago, and a new spokesperson, from Texas, to leave the campaign due to a power struggle over what to do. The new campaign team was made up of advisors from Ferrer's primary consulting firm, Global Strategy Group.

In the primary election held on September 13, 2005, the first tally indicated that Ferrer garnered 39.95% of the final vote. He needed 40% to avoid a runoff, but Anthony D. Weiner, the second-place finisher, conceded, thus ensuring Ferrer would advance to the general election. A final count of the total votes indicated that Ferrer actually received 40.15% of the votes. Ferrer also defeated Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields and City Council Speaker Gifford Miller.

In the 2001 election, Ferrer ran for the Democratic nomination for mayor. He won the first primary with 34%, but failed to win the necessary 40% to secure the nomination and ultimately lost a divisive runoff election to Mark Green following the September 11th terrorist attack on the World Trade Center towers. Ferrer, who is of Puerto Rican descent, received a high level of support from Hispanic voters but not from African-Americans. In the first round, Ferrer also finished ahead of City Council Speaker Peter Vallone and Comptroller Alan Hevesi.

A theme of his election campaign in 2001 was called the Two New Yorks and was altered for the 2005 campaign due to attacks that it was too race motivated. This is the conclusion of his stump speech:

In 1997, Ferrer launched a campaign for Mayor of New York. Trailing in the polls and under increased pressure from party insiders for a unified Democratic Party, he abruptly dropped out and endorsed the eventual Democratic nominee, Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger.

During the campaign, Ferrer proposed reviving a stock transfer tax for Wall Street to help pay for education; this tax ended in 1981 but while different and smaller than the original tax was treated as if it were exactly the same. The tax had resulted in and been dropped as a result of threats by brokerage houses to move their operations base to New Jersey. Ferrer sought to create 167,000 homes, proposed hiring 1,900 new police officers, supported same-sex marriage, opposed the Urstadt law, supported the Second Avenue Subway and was opposed to tolls on the East River bridges as well as allowing residents of Staten Island to be able to cross the bridge connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn for free as other residents of other boroughs can do from their borough to others (such as the Brooklyn Bridge). On October 23, Ferrer proposed Home Owner Property Exemption, or HOPE, a tax break for homeowners with a home property value of less than $100,000 which would have more than doubled the property tax rebate given to NYers.

Ferrer grew up on Fox Street in the Longwood section of the South Bronx and was raised by his mother and by his grandmother, who worked in the kitchen of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Ferrer graduated from Catholic schools in the Bronx: St. Anselm Elementary School and Cardinal Spellman High School. As a high school student, he was a member of Aspira of New York, where he was elected to the post of Vice President of the citywide Aspira Clubs Federation (ACF), which included other future Puerto Rican leaders like Ninfa Segarra and Angelo Falcón. In 1968, as an Aspirante, he was part of a major student protest at the NYC Board of Education that resulted in such reforms as bilingual report cards and the recognition by the public schools of Puerto Rican Discovery Day (November 19). His family have Catalan origins.

Fernando James "Freddy" Ferrer (born April 30, 1950) is an American politician who was the Borough President of The Bronx from 1987 to 2001, and was a candidate for Mayor of New York City in 2001 and the Democratic Party nominee for Mayor in 2005.