Club Tactics Irk Felder Simcha Felder, chief of staff to Assemblymember Dov Hikind and a City Council candidate in the 44th district, has a bone to pick with State Senator Seymour Lachman, Assemblymember William Colton and District Leader Joanne Ribaudo.

Last week, we reported that the Progressive Democratic Club of Colton's 47th AD, which primarily covers the Bensonhurst part of the 44th Councilmanic district, voted unanimously to endorse attorney Bob Miller in the Council race. Felder, although not surprised by the move, was nonetheless upset because Lachman, Colton and Ribaudo had promised him an opportunity to make his pitch to the club, he said.

"I had made it clear to them that I intend to represent every part of the 44th Councilmanic District, and that means Bensonhurst, Midwood, Borough Park, and the rest of the community. They had given me a commitment that I would have an opportunity to present my platform. I had asked a number of times to be invited, and they agreed that I would be invited, even if it was just a ritual. It's quite disturbing to see a progressive club not even give the other candidates, including Sandy Aboulafia and Mr. Spirgel, the opportunity to present ourselves to them.

"This is over, it's a done deal, but they should have at least put on a good show to make it seem otherwise. Maybe it's the not-so-progressive Democratic club," said Felder, who added that he still had "tremendous respect" for the elected officials.

Lachman did not return a call seeking comment, and Ribaudo could not be reached. Colton, however, said that he was under the impression that Felder was not interested in speaking before the endorsement vote. "From what I understand, he was not seeking the endorsement. However, if he would like to come to the club, I would have no problem giving him the opportunity to present his views."

Borough Park Club Leaning Toward Gadson Speaking of Felder, Jeannette Gadson has the inside track on the endorsement of his club, the United New York Democratic Club, according to sources. Borough President Howard Golden has backed Felder for Council, leading insiders to postulate that Hikind and the club will, in turn, back Gadson, who is Golden's candidate for borough president. A political forum last week at the club's Borough Park headquarters did nothing to change that expectation.

"Overall, I think people were most impressed with Jeannette Gadson, believe it or not. She came across as sincere, someone who is not such a polished politician," said one source. "If you had to score people, and if you took a straw poll, I think Jeannette would have come in first and Markowitz a close second."

Several City Council candidates from the 39th district turned up at the club meeting, including Paul Bader, Bill de Blasio and Craig Hammerman. The 39th district candidates are eager to court Hikind's support in their own race, where a block of Hasidic votes could be the difference.

By the way, in order to comply with a recent ethics ruling, Gadson has taken a pay cut and an effective demotion to run in the borough president's race. She had until the beginning of April to comply with the ruling, which barred her from raising funds while holding appointed office at the policy-making level. Now, instead of her $120,000 per year deputy beep job, Gadson has taken a $95,000 per year job as special assistant to the borough president. The position was created especially for her.

One Out, One In Greg Atkins, chief of staff to Assemblymember Joan Millman, has decided to drop out of the 39th Councilmanic District race. The field, however, will remain just as big, as another candidate has decided to throw his hat in the ring. "I realized the numbers just weren't there for me to win, and I'd always said I wasn't going to run if I couldn't win," said Atkins. "The way the bases were split up, I realized that without a solid [Independent Neighborhood Democratic club] behind one candidate, it's going to be harder to win." Atkins' departure has cleared the way for IND to back Paul Bader for the Council seat, according to insiders.

But there is at least one long-standing IND member who will challenge Bader, that being Anthony Pugliese, a member of Community Board 6 and an organizer for the carpenter's union. Pugliese, who just entered the race, is a resident of Carroll Gardens.

Berman Sees Silver Lining Councilmember Herb Berman and his supporters were pleased with the results of last week's straw poll, even though Berman was bested by former Board of Education President Bill Thompson. Thompson and Berman will face each other in the Democratic primary for city comptroller. In the straw poll, held on the west side of Manhattan, Thompson eked out a narrow victory. But Manhattan, particularly the liberal Village, is solid Thompson territory. "We thought Herbie was going to get absolutely killed," said one source.

But Berman took 44 percent of the vote, leading his supporters to claim a victory of sorts. "Thompson's winning a straw poll held on the west side of Manhattan is analogous to Bush winning a caucus in the heart of Texas," said District Leader Bernie Catcher. The poll is not indicative of grass roots support and should not be taken in any way as an indicator of a candidate's strength or weakness.

Open For Business On the same night as the Manhattan straw poll, District Leader Lew Fidler could be found at 2952 Avenue R, presiding over the grand opening of the 41st AD Democrats Club. Although the weather was inclement, several elected officials made the trek, including all three borough presidential candidates, Rep. Anthony Weiner, State Senator Carl Kruger, Assemblymembers Helene Weinstein and Frank Seddio, and Councilmembers Herbert Berman and Michael Nelson. The crowd, said Fidler, totaled almost 250 people.

The club is Fidler's first since he split with his female counterpart, Rene Hauser. It will be open every Thursday night, as circumstances permit, Fidler said.

Vet To Manage DiBrienza's Race If Councilmember Steve DiBrienza's campaign manager looks familiar, that's because insiders and political junkies may have seen her running some high profile races in other states. Carol Butler, who is running DiBrienza's campaign for public advocate, just finished engineering a victory for Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who defeated the incumbent Republican, Spencer Abraham, now the federal energy secretary. Prior to that race, Butler worked to help reelect Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR).

Borough Politics Archive
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