Madoff and sometimes council president Eugene "Jeep" DePasquale were regular rivals on council through the 1980s. In 1983, DePasquale's dismissal of a tax she proposed when he joked at a council meeting that he would "kiss you-know-what" if it ever raised just $20. After the tax raised $1,542.15 ($ today) in a short time, she challenged DePasquale to make good on his promise by waiting for him under the Kaufmann's Clock with a dozen reporters and 100 on-lookers on January 24, 1983. DePasquale, however, was a no-show, later telling reporters that "I thought it would be undignified".