DEBLASIO, GAYS AT ODDS City Councilman Bill deBlasio rejected a request from gay activists that he co-sponsor a domestic partnership bill, though he said he would vote for the measure. The councilman's refusal upset and disappointed the gay lobby, which didn't completely buy his explanation that he's really a big booster of their cause and only seeks changes in the bill that would benefit them. DeBlasio told us the Equal Benefits Bill, which would require businesses contracting with the city to offer equal benefits to the spouses and domestic partners of their employees, should specifically exempt houses of worship, though not the non-profit organizations affiliated with them.

The gay lobby calls this a "religious carve-out" and says it could weaken the bill by exempting more organizations than intended. The councilman, who ran Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign, is sometimes criticized for his "Clintonian" tendencies-that is, allegedly trying to please (or not offend) as many constituents as possible, rather than going with his gut.

In that context, the Equal Benefits Bill puts him in a difficult position because his district includes neighborhoods with concentrations of gays and liberals (Park Slope) and conservative Orthodox Jews (Borough Park), plus a few Catholics in Windsor Terrace. He's also thought to be cognizant of pleasing Borough Park's Assemblyman Dov Hikind, without whose support deBlasio might well have lost the 2001 council race to Steve Banks. "There appears to be no bottom to the payback," one activist said.

But the councilman denied he's pandering to Hikind on the Equal Benefits Bill. He said the religious carve-out (he didn't actually call it that, but we will) would result in more domestic partners getting benefits because religious institutions wouldn't pull their non-profit arms out of city service for fear that the institutions themselves would also be required to offer domestic-partner benefits. Nonsense, say the bill's advocates. "The experience in the other localities that have passed similar laws without religious exemptions is that there has been no fall-off in the number of institutions seeking city contracts, with the sole exception being the Salvation Army in San Francisco," said the Empire State Pride Association's Matt Foreman. "The Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Archdiocese of Seattle, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have not withdrawn from seeking city contracts."

Foreman said he appreciated deBlasio's desire to exempt houses of worship but include faith-affiliated organizations, but he noted, "How do you write the language to make that distinction, particularly when you have religious employees such as rabbis, priests, and nuns providing those tax-dollar services?" One gay activist noted that councilmembers with more conservative, religious constituencies than deBlasio are co-sponsors of the bill, including Kendall Stewart, Yvette Clarke, Charles Barron, David Yassky, James Davis, Diana Reyna, Al Vann, and even Staten Island's Michael McMahon.

The activist said deBlasio's predecessor, Steve DiBrienza, would certainly have been a co-sponsor without the changes deBlasio wants. DeBlasio reiterated that if the bill isn't changed to his liking, he would still vote for it and vote to override a mayoral veto as well. But he said, "The religious organizations have at least a valid concern and if we can find a way to accommodate them without harming the impact of the bill, I'd like us to do that."

POLITICAL DONORS MURDERED Two prolific campaign donors from Williamsburg, who had given money to the campaigns of State Senator Marty Golden and numerous other candidates, were murdered in shocking fashion in late January. Josephine Lin, 65, and her husband, Shan Kai Lin, 70, were found bound and gagged and with yellow plastic bags over their heads in their Moore Street apartment by their son on January 28. The husband's mouth was also duct-taped. At press time, no arrests had been made. "It seems that the killer really wanted them to die, but why? That's the question the Chinese community is asking today," said a family friend, Justin Yu. "Nobody can think of any theories. They were devout Christians, honest, enthusiastic, warm, friendly, and well liked in the community. "They helped anybody they could. I don't know why anyone would do this."

A day after he spoke, police sources said Josephine Lin, vice president of her Mitchell-Lama co-op board, may have taken payments from people hoping to secure state-subsidized apartments and parking spots. One theory is she and her husband were killed by someone who didn't feel he got his money's worth. Cops suspect the Lins knew their killer since there was no sign of forced entry and no money or jewelry appeared missing. In fact, police found $1,000 in some drawers.

Tipsters have also reportedly told police that Lin had people buy life-insurance policies and book travel through her firm in exchange for moving up the waiting list for an apartment. The Lins, despite being of modest means, contributed more than $113,000 to political campaigns in the last five years. Most of the money was donated by Josephine Lin and her beneficiaries were primarily Republicans, including Golden, who got $1,000 during his senate race and $670 for his 2001 council race. For the 2002 elections she gave Governor George Pataki $24,500 and State Comptroller candidate John Faso $17,000. State Senator Ada Smith, who represented Brooklyn until this year, got $1,000. Former Brighton Beach Assemblyman Jules Polonetsky got $4,000 from the Lins for his failed 1997 race for public advocate.

According to Yu, the Lins also organized fundraisers for Assemblyman Vito Lopez, Councilwoman Diana Reyna, and State Senator Marty Malave Dilan, all Democrats. But they were perhaps not typical political donors, as they never asked for special favors in return, Yu said. "They didn't spend much on themselves buying clothing, jewelry, and travel, but they saved every penny for their work and for helping people," he said. "They were not rich, but they tried to do their best for us, for the community. They never asked politicians for benefits. Their children are not working for the government. They never got appointed to anything. They didn't want that." But it is worth asking if their donations were funded by illegal payments from apartment-seekers who believed that Lin could get them units, which are supposed to be awarded by lottery, not the co-op board.

TENNIS CLUB IS CALLED A RACKET Six years ago, the city-owned cement bleachers at the Parade Grounds tennis courts were leveled to make way for the new clubhouse promised by the holder of the indoor tennis concession. Today, there's still no new clubhouse-just a trailer as dingy as you'd find at a construction site. The courts themselves are often cold, dark, and flooded, according to some customers. A long list of other conditions in the concession agreement, including scholarships and free tennis for juniors, also haven't been met, critics say.

Yet Parkview Tennis-so named despite no view of Prospect Park from the aforementioned trailer-is asking the city to extend its concession by three years, through 2008. Outraged, a group of tennis players is trying to have the operator declared in default. They'll have to hurry, since the city's concession review committee is holding a public hearing February 10 and could grant the extension soon after.

The operator blames the six-year clubhouse fiasco on the lack of a tree-removal permit from the city, as if a clubhouse and the tree couldn't co-exist. Besides, one could hardly blame the Parks Department for not wanting to lose the tree the way it did the cement bleachers, with nothing to show for it. Anyway, the tree-permit excuse is not likely to sway the concession review committee, which includes Brooklynite Billy Thompson, the city comptroller.

But the players worry that the city will side with the club owner to keep her from suing. To counter that, they plan to file their own lawsuit if the concession isn't put up for bid. They figure the threat of legal action from both sides evens the playing field and lets the city decide the case on its merits.

MOB? WHAT MOB? Borough President Marty Markowitz publicly blasted the movie "Kangaroo Jack," a farce about two bumbling Brooklynites tied to Mafia figures from Bensonhurst. "To imply that Brooklyn is riddled with crime or that Bensonhurst is a haven of mob activity is extremely insulting," the borough president declared.

That same week, Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes announced the results of his annual hunt for mob-affiliated sports bookies. This year he found five in Brooklyn. Three were in Bensonhurst. The other two were at its doorstep, in Gravesend and Bay Ridge.

THIEF KEEPS CITY JOB If Flatbush resident Birdie Blake-Reid worked for a business and were caught stealing thousands of dollars from it, she would be fired on the spot. But she worked for the Board of Education, now the Department of Education, where such behavior is punished by a slap on the wrist and a transfer to another desk. Blake-Reid habitually directed her subordinates to work on projects for her church and private children's organization on city time and city equipment. She also had them run personal errands for her.

When one of them fell behind on his real work because he was doing Blake-Reid's chores, she authorized overtime for him to catch up. She had her employees make photocopies, stuff envelopes, create brochures, even type a college application for one of her children. This went on for at least four years, by Blake-Reid's own admission.

But rather than being hauled off to jail, she agreed to pay an $8,000 fine and was moved to another department position. In what, the Office of Theft and Corruption? Board of Education spokesman David Chai failed to return two calls to explain why the department does not promptly terminate employees who steal from it. (We did hear that Blake-Reid didn't survive the recent round of layoffs by the new chancellor, though her dismissal came months after she admitted to being corrupt.)

We also asked Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes why criminal charges weren't brought. Hynes's spokesman told us the matter was never referred to him.

GAY SUPPORT RISKY FOR SEMINARA Politically active gays in Brooklyn have made no secret of their determination to help Joanne Seminara win the February 25 special election for City Council in Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, and Dyker Heights. But gay support in those neighborhoods carries risks along with rewards, Seminara acknowledged last summer when she was seeking Lambda Independent Democrats' endorsement in her successful campaign for Democratic district leader. In her last City Council race, against State Senator Marty Golden, whom gays consider an enemy, Seminara lost despite strong gay support.

"In some cases [I] took a beating because of it," she said to Lambda members in Park Slope. She added that she was "offended by the bigotry and hatred that came out because of your support for me." Seminara said she was accused of being two-faced for portraying herself as a wife and mother while hanging out with gays and lesbians. Nonetheless, she told members of the gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender political club, "Your endorsement is the only one we're seeking now. I'd be proud to have your endorsement. I will run on it. I will publicize it."

We just did.

THE O'KEEFE PARADOX City Council candidate Rosemarie O'Keefe is running in Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, and Dyker Heights under the banner "No New Taxes" in the non-partisan special election on February 25. But it's worth asking if O'Keefe owes her viability in this race to a new tax.

We refer to the Dinkins administration's Safe Streets, Safe City surcharge that increased the city police force from 26,000 members to over 41,000. No one reaped more political benefit from that than Rudy Giuliani, as the nearly 60 percent increase in cops helped achieve a tremendous reduction in crime during Giuliani's eight years as mayor. Giuliani owes his popularity largely to that reduction in crime. Without that popularity, Giuliani's support for his former employee O'Keefe wouldn't mean much. She probably wouldn't even be a candidate.

We called O'Keefe's campaign to ask whether "No New Taxes" isn't a timeworn, trite slogan much better suited to getting candidates elected than to guiding government policy-and whether it isn't particularly odd for O'Keefe to adopt this label when the city she hopes to represent is trying to bring back the commuter tax.

Her campaign manager said he wanted O'Keefe to answer for herself. But she never called back. Might O'Keefe have been better off with a party name that reflects the philosophy of her fellow Republican, Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who believes keeping the city livable and safe is more important than freezing taxes? As Bloomberg recently said in his "state of the city" address at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, "Taxes and frugality are far better than crime, filth and abandonment. And as to the short-term political fallout, I would rather be less popular, knowing that New Yorkers are safe, than promise a rose garden I know we can't deliver."

If O'Keefe would like to modify "No New Taxes" to make it more honest, she might try "No New Taxes, Even If It Means You Might Be Mugged, Raped, or Killed."

HOLD THE MAIO The political aspirations of Danniel Maio will have to wait. The new resident of the 43rd Council District has been bounced from the ballot for the February 25 special election. On January 30, the Board of Elections ruled his petition had just 807 signatures from registered voters in the district, well short of the 1,385 needed, according to Elnatan Rudolph of Vinny Gentile's campaign, which had challenged Maio's petition.

Maio's hastily assembled crew of six petitioners had collected over 2,000 signatures in less than two weeks, but most were from people ineligible to vote in the election. Maio made the ballot in both 2001 and 2002 in Manhattan races, but that was with support from the Republican Party. This time, party leaders wanted him out of the race because their chosen candidate is Rosemarie O'Keefe.

LACHMAN'S REWARD State Senator Seymour Lachman reaped his first reward for switching his support from Brooklyn Heights' Marty Connor to David Paterson in the battle for Democratic leadership of the Senate. Paterson assigned Park Slope resident Lorin Wiener to be Lachman's chief of staff. Wiener's salary will come from the minority leader's payroll, not Lachman's.

Wiener previously worked under Connor, who gave him time off to work for Lachman's reelection campaign (Wiener was paid $6,000 by the campaign). Lachman was grateful enough to Connor to initially decline to join Paterson's coup, but switched his allegiance after Paterson announced he had enough votes to oust Connor.

Borough Politics Archive

2002
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2002
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2001
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2000
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1999
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