MILLMAN DESERTS PARTY POST Assemblyman Joan Millman resigned her ceremonial position on the Kings County Democratic County Committee, an association that became more of a political liability when her district lines were redrawn to include more reformers. "She was fearful that it was going to hurt her politically. What other reason could there be? She did a very smart thing politically for herself," said one observer. "She's morphing into a more reform-minded Democrat." Millman, who gained 54,000 new constituents in Park Slope, Gowanus, and Prospect Heights in the redistricting that took effect January 1, previously bucked County by endorsing Civil Court Judge Margarita Lopez Torres for reelection.

The Democratic clubs that predominate in Millman's district-Independent Neighborhood Democrats, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, and Lambda Independent Democrats-consider County an obstacle to reform. Being a County official "doesn't serve her purpose, representing the brownstone belt," our source said. Millman told the New York Post that she quit to spend more time getting to know her new constituents. We read that politically correct quote and tried to get a better explanation, e-mailing her chief of staff, Adam Freed, "There MUST be more to it than that."

But Millman didn't take the bait. She repeated the line about her new constituents and added that her legislative duties in Albany were increasing. Millman also said she doesn't need to attend County meetings because her two district leaders, Alan Fleishman and Liz Daly, keep her apprised.

LAWYER QUITS, RUMOR HITS There was no way Thomas Garry could have resigned as treasurer of the Kings County Democratic County Committee without prompting all sorts of speculation about his reasons. Such is the reputation of the county organization and the gossips who follow its every turn. The most predictable rumor was that Garry quit to avoid getting implicated in the financial chicanery of party leaders. A treasurer would be legally responsible even if someone else is orchestrating the scheme. One wag reported talk that Garry was kept in the dark by party leaders about the transactions he was asked to approve. "He's told people he can no longer sign checks without knowing what's going on," one source claimed. Another said he was worried about the propriety of Jeff Feldman holding two jobs, one as executive director of the Brooklyn Democratic organization and other on state Senator Marty Connor's staff (before Connor was deposed as minority leader).

But Garry told us there was no intrigue involved. He said he quit the unpaid treasurer's job simply because he moved his law practice to Manhattan, and also because his county organization position might have dissuaded some political candidates from hiring him to do legal work. Garry also doesn't strike us as the type to blithely sign checks with ignorance of their purpose. He was the one who insisted the organization disclose the loans to party boss Clarence Norman's campaign committee, which got Norman into hot water.

As you might guess, Garry and Norman aren't exactly golfing buddies. One might wonder why someone would volunteer to be treasurer of the county committee. Party loyalty? Uh, no. But helping out the organization might lead to legal work assigned by County-backed judges, or even a judgeship itself. (Incidentally, Garry's father, William Garry, is a Supreme Court judge in Brooklyn.) If it doesn't, though, it's a lot of work and some legal risk, with little upside.

DAVIS BACKS RUDY City Councilman James Davis of Fort Greene probably doesn't find himself agreeing with Rudy Giuliani too often, but he did side with the former mayor in the legal battle with the police officer and firefighters fired for racial insensitivity. The three men wore blackface on a 1998 Labor Day float decorated with fried chicken. They threw slices of watermelon to the crowd and mocked the murder of the black man dragged to his death in Texas by skinheads in a truck.

In court, where they're seeking reinstatement, they claimed to be mocking the racism of the lily-white Queens neighborhood hosting the parade. "Their actions were just as bad as cops and firefighters dressing up as Hitler and dragging skeleton bones of Jewish people who had been starved in concentration camps," Davis said in a statement announcing a City Hall press conference.

DEMS SPLIT IN BAY RIDGE The apparent unification of Republicans in Bay Ridge behind City Council candidate Rosemarie O'Keefe made the split among Democrats all the more conspicuous.

At this writing, former state Senator Vinny Gentile, district leader Joanne Seminara, Community Board 10 Chairman Steve Harrison, and School Board 20 member Carlo Scissura, all Democrats, were still in the race. Two Republicans have joined O'Keefe in the race, but neither is expected to siphon many votes from her. "Unfortunately the Republicans have been able to get their act together more than we have," said Councilman Lew Fidler, chairman of the Brooklyn council delegation. The lack of unity is keeping Fidler, and probably others, on the sidelines while a bevy of Republican officials campaign for O'Keefe.

Councilman Bill deBlasio could also play a role, but Gentile's vote last month against the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) all but assures deBlasio won't endorse him. Doing so would subject deBlasio to backlash from SONDA supporters in his own district. Gentile's vote might also have killed his chances of backing from Rep. Anthony Weiner, who stumped with him during Gentile's failed Senate campaign last fall.

Weiner allowed that the SONDA vote would affect his decision on whether to endorse Gentile. "It's certainly fresh in my mind," Weiner said. "He's a friend and someone I knocked on doors with this summer and wrote checks to and worked very hard to get elected. The (SONDA) vote was an embarrassment for me. But that's the least of it. The bigger issue is it was the wrong vote." The congressman said he hadn't spoken with Gentile about the vote, but added, "If he were my state senator, I'd write him a nasty letter."

Fidler also criticized Gentile's vote, calling it "a deep disappointment," but said he wouldn't rule out endorsing him. "We can't expect everyone to agree with us 100 percent of the time," Fidler said. "I was shocked at the vote. It was not something I expected. A lot of people felt that way. But it doesn't sum up Vinny Gentile. There's certainly more to him than that." There is indeed-good and bad. Gentile's known as a spunky legislator, and he is extremely well received at senior centers, but on a personal level some of his fellow Democrats find him irritating. Even those who campaigned with him last fall did so because they liked his politics, not because they liked him, one insider told us.

Meanwhile, the more personable Republican Marty Golden won endorsements from Democrats like state Senator Carl Kruger and Councilman Mike Nelson. Assemblywoman Adele Cohen, who represents a good chuck of Bay Ridge, and City Councilman Simcha Felder were also missing from the list of endorsers Gentile released on January 8, a day before his formal entry into the council race.

Cohen, in fact, has endorsed Seminara, though she wouldn't tell us why beyond the standard "she will be the best representative the people in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and Bensonhurst could have." Who was on Gentile's endorsement list? State Senator Seymour Lachman and Assemblymen Peter Abbate, Dov Hikind, and Steven Cymbrowitz, plus district leaders Joe Bova, Mark Davidovich, Delia Schack, and Maryrose Sattie.

Getting back to the council election, to take place February 25, as petitioning began Harrison's people were in the streets. Turnout at his volunteer meetings had been strong, and he'd hired campaign consultant Ernie Lendler of Brooklyn Heights. Lendler said Harrison raised $15,000 at a December fundraiser and planned to reach at least $20,625 in matchable contributions to qualify for the maximum payment of $82,500 from the Campaign Finance Program. (The spending limit is $150,000, and viable candidates are expected to spend in the six figures.) On the Republican side, "people were scratching their heads" over Golden's endorsement of O'Keefe, since the two don't get along, one observer noted. Our guess is GOP officials viewed her as their most viable candidate and Golden grudgingly accepted because the last thing he wants is for Gentile or Seminara to win. (Seminara ran against Golden twice and Gentile ran against him once, all unsuccessfully.)

The other Republican possibility was Charles Capetanakis, but he withdrew in early January, citing family considerations-his wife is five months' pregnant with their fourth child. "I made the decision easy for them," he said of GOP leaders. But Capetanakis didn't immediately endorse anyone and suggested that he might run for the seat next fall. Another Republican is the earnest but perhaps naïve Bob Capano, who seems determined to run despite the certainty that his shoestring campaign will be overrun by O'Keefe's Republican conglomerate.

One observer suggested that in a field of six candidates, Capano would finish seventh. But even a losing effort would give him standing to run in some future race. Capano, while describing himself as "a proud, lifelong Republican," criticized the way GOP leaders lined up behind O'Keefe. "To me, this is back-room politics. This is what turns people off," Capano said. "Maybe I'm a little idealistic, but I'm going to do it the old-fashioned way: with grass-roots support."

Finally, a surprise candidate surfaced in the person of Danniel S. Maio, who recently moved into the district from Manhattan, where he ran as a Republican for state Senate against Tom Duane in November 2002 (getting 19 percent of the vote) and for borough president in 2001 (garnering 21 percent). Maio, of Asian descent, might be new to the district but he shouldn't have trouble finding his way around. He's a mapmaker at Identity Map Company in New York City.

If all the other candidates cancel each other out, could Maio possibly get enough Asian votes and others from people who think he's Italian to win the election? "I think it's pretty much impossible," Gentile consultant Bill Green said. "Voters are a lot smarter than that." The first step is to make the ballot, which required 1,385 valid signatures from registered voters in the district by January 14.

BABES IN BOYLAND The son of Assemblyman Frank Boyland became first in line for his father's seat when his father resigned just before his 11th term was to begin. Boyland began telling people in mid-December that he was quitting and tapping his son, William Frank Boyland Jr., to replace him, though the news took weeks to reach the media-an indication of just how irrelevant the assemblyman is. (He's been in office for 20 years and still doesn't have a photo posted on the Assembly's Web site.) Why he didn't bother to issue a press release is certainly a good question.

Technically, it will be the Democratic county committee members of the 55th A.D. who choose the Democratic nominee for the special election. But county committee members are controlled like robots by the district leaders who appoint them, or by the politicians who control the district leaders. In this case, the male district leader is none other than William Boyland. So committee members will do as they're told and nominate him, guaranteeing him victory because the district always elects a Democrat.

One thing could foul up this plot: if Governor George Pataki doesn't call a special election. He could simply leave the seat vacant until the next scheduled election, in 2004. But that's unlikely. "I think he should call the election," the younger Boyland told us. "The district does need representation in the state Legislature in order to bring the bacon home." Boyland Sr. told the Associated Press that he ran for reelection with no intention of serving another term. He simply wanted to be sure his son got the seat, and wasn't certain his son could defeat his Democratic primary opponent, Abdur Rahman Farrakhan.

Boyland's son told us a different story. "It was a decision that we made in December," he said. "Mid December (my father) just decided that the drive (to Albany) would be too much for him." The elder Boyland is 62. Farrakhan, executive director of the Ocean Hill/Brownsville Tenants Association, was indignant. "Your son, running on his own without any incumbency, you believe, could not have won that seat. So you're going to win it for your son and pass it on to him as part of his inheritance," Farrakhan railed as if he were talking to Boyland. "I find it abominable. It's unscrupulous. But that's the practice of the Boylands to be unscrupulous. The community should be appalled." Farrakhan was certainly appalled at the reason Boyland gave the AP-that he had to be sure Farrakhan was defeated because Farrakhan is a Republican.

In fact, Farrakhan is a registered Democrat. He was a Democratic club member for many years. He did accept the Republican line after losing the Democratic primary, but that hardly makes him a Republican. Farrakhan was at a loss to explain his characterization as a Republican by the Boyland camp, except to say, "They're drunk most of the time. He's an abomination."

William Boyland was restrained in his response. "That tells you what kind of politics he's into," the younger Boyland said. "I plan to not run a slanderous race and bring decent representation to the area." Frank Boyland's end-run around democracy, and the false pretenses of his candidacy, did not escape Farrakhan's wrath either. "It's a fraud. A fraud. He's defrauding the people. How in the world can you run a campaign, representing to the people that you're standing for reelection, knowing that your intention is to quit. So you win the seat based on the people's confidence in you, and then you quit and appoint your son for the seat." He called William Boyland "a novice who doesn't have any experience, who's never had a decent job in his life." "That's crazy. How would he know?" chuckled Boyland, an administrator at Brookdale Hospital.

We'd be derelict if we didn't mention another rumor making the rounds: that the departed assemblyman's daughter, City Councilwoman Tracy Boyland, would run for Congress against Rep. Ed Towns, and if she won, her father would run for her council seat. William Boyland said the rumor was news to him, and his sister, the councilwoman, laughed and assured us she had no such plans. She added that she took exception to the Daily News blasting the resignations of her father and Bronx Assemblywoman Gloria Davis, an admitted criminal, in the same editorial. "He's not resigning under the same circumstances," Boyland said.

Borough Politics Archive

2002
January 13 column.
January 6 column.

2002
December 30 column.
December 23 column.
December 16 column.
December 9 column.
December 2 column.
Novemer 25 column.
Novemer 18 column.
November 11 column.
November 4 column.
October 28 column.
October 21 column.
October 14 column.
October 7 column.
September 30 column.
September 23 column.
September 16 column.
September 9 column.
September 2 column.
August 26 column.
August 19 column.
August 12 column.
August 5 column.
July 29 column.
July 22 column.
July 8 column.
July 1 column.
June 17 column.
June 10 column.
June 3 column.
May 27 column.
May 20 column.
May 13 column.
May 6 column.
April 29 column.
April 22 column.
April 15 column.
April 8 column.
April 1 column.
March 25 column.
March 18 column.
March 11 column.
March 4 column.
February 25 column.
February 18 column.
February 11 column.
February 4 column.
January 28 column.
January 21 column.
January 7 column.

2001
December 10 column.
December 3 column.
November 19 column.
November 12 column.
November 5 column.
October 22 column.
October 1 column.
September 6 column.
September 4 column.
August 30 column.
July 23 column.
July 2 column.
June 25 column.
June 11 column.
May 28 column.
May 21 column.
May 14 column.
May 7 column.
April 30 column.
April 23 column.
April 9 column.
April 2 column.
March 26 column.
March 19 column.
March 12 column.
March 5 column.
February 26 column.
February 19 column.
February 12 column.
February 5 column.
January 29 column.
January 22 column.
January 15 column.
January 8 column.
January 1 column.

2000
December 25 column.
December 18 column.
December 11 column.
December 4 column.
November 27 column.
November 20 column.
November 13 column.
November 6 column.
October 30 column.
October 23 column.
October 16 column.
October 9 column.
October 2 column.
September 25 column.
September 18 column.
September 11 column.
September 4 column.
August 28 column.
August 21 column.
August 7 column.
July 31 column.
July 24 column.
July 17 column.
July 10 column.
June 26 column.
June 19 column.
June 12 column.
May 15 column.
May 8 column.
April 24 column.
April 10 column.
March 13 column.
March 7 column.
February 21 column.
February 14 column.
February 7 column.
January 31 column.
January 24 column.
January 17 column.

1999
December 16 column.
December 9 column.
December 2 column.
November 25 column.
November 18 column.
November 11 column.
November 4 column.