CONGRESS CALLS FOR FAST It's getting harder and harder to maintain the fantasy that our representatives in Congress are exalted public servants doing the important work of running the country. Consider the House resolution asking President Bush to designate "a day of humility, prayer, and fasting for all the people of the United States" and to call on Americans "to seek guidance from God to achieve a greater understanding of our own failings." As the Valley girls used to say, "Gag me with a spoon."

Let's look at this resolution carefully. First, it calls for humility. Does invading a foreign land without the support of most of the international community seem a humble act?

Second, it calls for a government-designated day of prayer. Has the House forgotten the separation of church and state?

Third, it calls for a day of fasting. How do you think restaurants and delicatessens would appreciate a day without customers? We like the last part, though, about understanding our failings.

For example, the failings of Reps. Jerry Nadler, Ed Towns, Major Owens, and Vito Fossella to vote against this obviously self-serving attempt to pander to voters during a dark period in U.S. history. Owens, at least, simply voted "present," rather than in favor of the resolution, which passed 346 to 49. Among Brooklynites, only Reps. Anthony Weiner of Sheepshead Bay and Nydia Velazquez of Brooklyn Heights had the courage to vote "nay."

BARRON SEEKS REPARATIONS If you ever want to kill an hour, mention the word "reparations" within earshot of Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron. It's nothing if not entertaining to hear Barron deliver his enthusiastic pitch for government compensation to descendants of slaves.

He eagerly points out that if Japanese-Americans interned in camps during World War II can get $20,000 each from Ronald Reagan, and Holocaust survivors can be financially compensated, so to could African-Americans.

Barron surely understands the analogies are not perfect. Reagan compensated people who were in the internment camps, not their descendants. The Holocaust cases stem from money and property that was stolen from Jews by European nations and businesses.

Barron points out that blacks paid taxes for services they were not allowed to use, such as white-only schools, which is akin to theft. Certainly, he has a point there. But he brushes off the thorny question of just how reparations would be divvied up by saying, in essence, "Just give us the money. We'll decide what to do with it."

He knows it would hardly be that simple. Who, exactly, is the "we" who would decide? Resolving such matters as whether full-blooded African-Americans would get more than people of mixed ancestry, and whether Tiger Woods would get as much as welfare recipients, would be exceedingly difficult. For that matter, establishing a family tree for every American descended from slaves would be a daunting, if not impossible, task.

Barron's tendency to minimize these problems triggers the thought that his interest in reparations stems in part from the tremendous publicity it brings him, including appearances on Phil Donohue's show and others. Let's not forget that Barron has made no secret of his desire to be mayor.

Not all of the publicity is good, such as the attention Barron got when he said at a reparations rally of several thousand people in Washington, "I want to go up to the closest white person and say, 'You can't understand this, it's a black thing,' and then slap him, just for my mental health." But the arguments from the anti-reparations crowd also fall short-notably, the one that goes, "My grandparents came to America in 1900. They had nothing to do with slavery. Why should I have to pay reparations?"

But our tax payments are already used to fix problems not of our own making. Consider farm subsidies, the savings and loan bailout, flood-control projects in the Midwest, and the space shuttle disaster. Only a tiny fraction of what we pay the government comes directly back in services. To his credit, Barron maintains a sense of humor when he talks of reparations. When we met him at the Brooklyn Community Access Television studio for a taping of Reporters' Roundtable, we suggested that if Jews were once enslaved by pharaohs, our Jewish ancestry entitles us to sue Egypt for reparations. "That's great. But what about us?" Barron asked. "You could join us," we replied. "We'll make it a class action."

Barron laughed heartily. "Good comeback," he said.

NORMAN AND TERM LIMITS Assemblyman Clarence Norman, Brooklyn's Democratic leader, publicly denied any involvement in the lawsuit that could well limit the service of some councilmembers (including Speaker Gifford Miller) to six years. Speculation has been that Norman would like to see Miller have to leave office at year's end so a Brooklyn councilman could succeed him, thus enhancing the borough's (and Norman's) power.

We don't buy it. For one, as Norman told The New York Times, if he were the mastermind behind the lawsuit, he could hardly keep it a secret. Besides, a speaker's race is not guaranteed to help Norman at all. In fact, the last time there was a race for speaker, Norman backed Angel Rodriguez, who ended up convicted.

PREZ HOPEFUL VISITS BROOKLYN Vermont Governor Howard Dean wasn't the first 2004 presidential candidate to visit Brooklyn when he arrived April 4 for a fundraiser-the Rev. Al Sharpton already lives here-but he was the first to tap the pocketbooks of Brownstone Brooklynites.

Dean's appearance was orchestrated by Brooklyn Heights resident Dick Dadey, the gay activist who for seven years was executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda. According to Dadey, Governor Dean "has very strong support in the gay community." Dadey had attended a Dean fundraiser in Manhattan and talked his senior campaign people into doing an event here. The result was a $150-a-plate reception on Hicks Street, hosted by Dadey and three others. Contributors who forked over $1,000 will get a private audience with the governor.

WEINER FOR MAYOR, MAYBE Rep. Anthony Weiner was very casually described as a possible candidate for mayor of New York City in 2005 in a column by Wayne Barrett of the Village Voice, which we dutifully brought to the attention of Weiner's office. Replied Anson Kaye, Weiner's press secretary, "2005 is a long way off. The only sure thing is that the congressman is running hard for re-election."

Well, that wasn't a denial.

The good news for Weiner, who was raised in Park Slope, is that he could run for mayor without relinquishing his seat in the House of Representatives. The bad news is if he wins, Noach Dear would run for the open seat, subjecting Brooklynites to another flood of campaign advertising. Of course, a Dear campaign is always good news for political columnists.

But seriously, could Weiner win? Another Jewish congressman, Ed Koch, pulled it off, but that was three mayors ago. Still, we'd give Weiner an outside shot.

If Weiner did win, could Dear win his congressional seat? Probably not, since 70 percent of Weiner's district is now in Queens, where Dear is not known. Then again, that might help him. We are perhaps more likely to see Dear run for his old City Council seat, now occupied by Simcha Felder. Council legislation passed last year banned Dear (and other councilmembers forced out by term limits in 2001) from running in 2003. But that legislation was just ripped up by a judge who found the council had exceeded its powers.

That decision is being appealed, but if it's upheld, Dear could enter September's Democratic primary. So, for that matter, could Steve DiBrienza (against incumbent Bill deBlasio), though we'd be surprised if either happened.

TREE-STAPLERS GET NAILED Kudos to Councilmembers Bill deBlasio, Mike Nelson, Domenic Recchia, and Tracy Boyland for co-sponsoring legislation that would more severely punish folks who staple or nail posters to trees. The fines for this thoughtless act would double the existing penalties for affixing any poster to a tree, which start at $75 for first-time violators and $250 for a second offense within a 12-month period. By the way, if you're inclined to ask your own councilman why he or she isn't a co-sponsor, refer to Intro 240-A.

One other note on deBlasio: he was the only Brooklyn politician to show up in the freezing cold at a recent rally for stronger laws to protect renters from eviction, according to the organizer, rentwars.com. Borough President Marty Markowitz and Comptroller Billy Thompson sent representatives. But that was it from the County of Kings, although all city and state representatives were invited.

RIGHT CALL FOR WEINER The massive spending bill that funded the final two-thirds of the next federal budget passed the House by the overwhelming margin of 338 to 83. One of the dissenting votes was cast by Rep. Anthony Weiner, who complained that numerous objectionable riders were slipped into the $397.4 billion package.

Among those riders was a brazen measure that allowed a certain corporation's non-organic food to be labeled organic, which would essentially render the term meaningless. The action was so dastardly that when it was discovered and publicized, no congressman would admit to it. Nobody except the perpetrator even knew about the clause when the bill was approved, but Weiner certainly looked good for voting against the bill.

Weiner said it was a "tough call" to vote no because "there were a lot of important things in there" including money to fight terrorism. But he said there wasn't enough funding for first responders to emergencies nor for the No Child Left Behind Act, which has left New York City several hundred million dollars behind. I

n addition, Weiner said, "There were environmental riders in there that were a disaster." The Wilderness Society, in fact, called the riders "some of the worst in recent history." One allows timber companies to cut down trees with little oversight as "payment" for clearing brush under the guise of fire prevention.

Another denies environmental groups the right to go to court to block the administration's Tongass National Forest regulations, which are expected to allow profiteers to lay waste to the protected wilderness.

The worst of the riders authorized the draining of 200,000 acres of Mississippi wetlands. The bill also substantially reduced funding to the Conservation Trust. "The problem with these omnibus bills is you lose your freedom to consider issues individually," Weiner said. "This is a bastardization of the legislative process. This isn't the way it's supposed to work." He explained, "In this case, the Republicans in the House simply refused to pass what were going to be controversial bills in the last Congress for purely political reasons."

But once the mid-term elections were done, they slipped the riders into the spending bill. Rep. Ed Towns also voted against the bill. The rest of Brooklyn's House delegation supported it, as did President Bush, who said, "I look forward to signing this legislation and to continuing a course of fiscal discipline."

Borough Politics Archive

2002
March 31 column.
March 24 column.
March 10 column.
March 3 column.
February 24 column.
February 17 column.
February 10 column.
February 3 column.
January 27 column.
January 20 column.
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.