Daly Takes A Pass While Councilmember James E. Davis was outspoken in calling for a boycott of the annual dinner of the Kings County Democratic Party, another politician chose a less conspicuous form of protest. Insiders may have noticed that District Leader Elizabeth Rose Daly did not attend the dinner held at the Marriott in downtown Brooklyn. And her absence was due to more than a simple scheduling conflict. "I'm not happy with the way things are, and I decided that it didn't make sense for me to go support county by shelling out $300 for an event when I'm not happy with the state of affairs," Daly said when asked about why she didn't attend. "I didn't want to make a big deal of it, so I just didn't attend." Daly, the female leader in Assemblymember Joan Millman's 52nd Assembly District, has long been advocating for more democratic and transparent political processes across a range of contexts within the party.

On February 26 she wrote to the county leader, Assemblymember Clarence Norman, Jr., to suggest that the county's executive committee convene a panel of experts to review how judges are chosen in Brooklyn. Currently, the county organization selects the Democratic judicial nominees. The Democratic nomination is tantamount to victory in heavily Democratic Brooklyn, putting the judicial candidates entirely at the mercy of the county powerbrokers.

In the past few months, several Brooklyn judges have been disciplined in a state probe first catalyzed by allegations of a patronage scheme largely administered by judges, who referred lucrative receiverships to political supporters. Additionally, Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Victor Barron was indicted on bribery charges when he allegedly demanded upwards of $200,000 to sign off on a settlement agreement.

"Confidence in the judiciary is one of the underpinnings of our democratic system of government, and right now, public trust in the Brooklyn judicial selection system has been seriously eroded. We must objectively examine our practices, or suffer the consequences of others doing so without our participation, because they see us as running a sham operation," Daly wrote in the letter. Daly said that she never received a response from Norman.

She said that she also boycotted the event because of concerns about loans that Norman's campaign committee took from the county party but failed to report, and because of her displeasure with what she perceives as a fractured political architecture that lead to several defeats in the last election cycle. Thus far, she said, her complaints have fallen on deaf ears. "There's this reflexive knee-jerk reaction that everything is O.K., and don't believe what you read in the press. Well, everything's not O.K.," she said.

Start Your Engines The amended reapportionment plan just passed by the state senate has set the table for several interesting races this summer.

Now that a large chunk of Borough Park has been added to the 21st Senate District, insiders believe that an Orthodox candidate, such as former Councilmember Noach Dear, has a genuine opportunity to win that seat, despite the fact that white voters make up only 21 percent of the electorate. Dear's strategy would be to enter a field with several Carribean-American candidates and consolidate white, Jewish votes while the Caribbean-American candidates split the larger black vote into smaller pieces. "If Dear runs an effective campaign, he could theoretically win," said one elected official. "Included in that district are the election districts where Dear did particularly well against [Rep. Anthony] Weiner [in 2000.]"

Other white elected officials have been successful in Caribbean-American Central Brooklyn, including Assemblymember Rhoda Jacobs and Borough President Marty Markowitz, who consistently won reelections in a largely black district as a state senator. But with gubernatorial candidate H. Carl McCall at the top of the ticket to draw out black voters, this year may be particularly hard for a non-incumbent white candidate to win a seat in a so-called "majority-minority" district.

For his part, Dear was noncommittal about where he would run, saying that he was "considering" running in the 21st along with "all the other options. There are a lot of opportunities out there." But Assemblymember Dov Hikind said that Dear was "seriously contemplating running" in the 21st.

In a possible hint at an upcoming partnership, Hikind said that he and Dear have been working to patch up their old differences. "I have not made any final choices, but Noach and I have been working together recently, and maybe it will be possible to put the real and perceived disagreements in the past. I have not made a final decision, but Noach and I are talking very seriously. There's no question about that," he said.

If the Borough Park power structure is lining up behind Dear, that could spell serious trouble for District Leader Laurie Citron Knipel, who is also running in the 21st Senate District and would rely on largely the same pool of Jewish votes.

In all likelihood the most well-funded and star-powered local contest of the year will be between state Senator Vincent Gentile, a Democrat, and Republican Councilmember Marty Golden, both of whom will run in the 22nd Senate District, which was specifically drawn for Golden by the senate GOP. Gentile is leaving his 23rd Senate District, which covers Brooklyn and Staten Island, to run against Golden.

Both men have represented chunks of the district for years, both are well known and connected, and both will have significant campaign machines. Their battle will present that rare bird of Brooklyn politics: a competitive race between candidates who actually have different ideologies. Gentile could not immediately be reached for comment, although in a message left on a reporter's voicemail he said he was on his way to the gym and quipped, "Got to get in shape for the campaign." Golden did not return a call seeking comment.

According to sources, State Senator Seymour Lachman will run in Gentile's old 23rd Senate District, a wish that the Senate GOP formally recognized when the 23rd was amended to include Lachman's house. The 23rd Senate District will also encompass about one third of Borough Park under the amended plan. Lachman did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Although he has represented parts of the 23rd Senate District before, he will face a familiarity problem. "Seymour's problem is not in the Brooklyn end of the district. His problem is that he's totally unknown in Staten Island," said one source. "But he should be able to make a play for it."

Borough Park Made Whole (Sort Of) While the amended reapportionment plan has doused the fiery criticism of Borough Park leaders, some insiders believe that Brooklyn's largest Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish community doesn't have much to cheer about.

Under the old plan, Borough Park was divided between five districts, triggering condemnation from local elected officials who claimed that the plan diluted the community's voting power.

As amended, the plan places roughly two-thirds of Borough Park in the 21st Senate District, which is nearly 63 percent black. Most of the remaining Borough Park territory now belongs to the 23rd Senate district, spanning parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island. "It's definitely an improvement on what we had last week. There's no question about that," said Assemblymember Dov Hikind, who was harshly critical of the original bill and lobbied Governor Pataki for changes. Borough Park is often a strong reservoir of votes in overwhelmingly Democratic Brooklyn for statewide Republican candidates.

Pieces of Borough Park were then withdrawn from the districts of state Senators Carl Andrews and Carl Kruger, and consolidated in the 21st and 23rd districts Hikind said that now Borough Park residents yield substantially more clout in deciding elections in two senate districts, rather than a far more diffuse influence through five districts.

And with one district consuming the majority of the community, Borough Park as a whole will have a clearer, more direct representative structure. "The difference is that when you have someone representing a majority [of Borough Park], that makes it much more acceptable," said Hikind. But some sources questioned whether the amended plan actually improved much upon the original bill. "Everyone got sold a bill of goods. Basically, it's a cosmetic change so that [the Senate GOP] can say they've made a change," said one insider. "It doesn't make Borough Park intact, it doesn't make life any easier for Seymour Lachman and it doesn't ensure that there will be an Orthodox senator from Brooklyn.

By putting the majority of Borough Park in a district that is predominantly Caribbean-American, the Borough Park vote will likely be decisive only with regard to which Caribbean-American candidate gets the nomination, said the source. Hikind said he believed the changes were more than cosmetic, but that he was not entirely pleased with the plan himself. "I wouldn't go into the streets and jump for joy, but it is a real improvement," he said. The amended plan still must be reviewed by the Department of Justice and withstand the inevitable legal challenges.

Rodriguez Shows At County Dinner Embattled Councilmember Angel Rodriguez sent whispers through the crowd when he appeared at the annual dinner of the Kings County Democratic Party, held recently at the Brooklyn Marriott. Rodriguez has plead not guilty to a 15-count federal indictment charging him with extorting cash and a sweetheart land deal from developer Greg O'Connell in exchange for Rodriguez's support for O'Connell's Fairway Supermarket development project in on the Red Hook waterfront. Rodriguez, who just months ago was a competitive candidate for City Council speaker, stood near the wall and chatted with the few attendees who did not avoid him like the plague.

Many insiders did not expect him to show up since his well-documented legal woes have come to typify what some observers feel is a county party struggling under the weight of judicial scandals and lost elections. Asked about why he decided to come, Rodriguez declined to comment.

Councilmember Lew Fidler, the chairman of the Brooklyn Council delegation who has said that if Rodriguez is guilty he should be "drawn and quartered," also declined to comment. The gossip hounds, however, were not so reserved. "What nerve!" said one insider about Rodriguez's presence. "That's chutzpah!" said another.

One wag was less pointed. "Well, I guess he was hungry. What do you do, go up to the guy and say, 'Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?'"

If Rodriguez was hungry, he didn't show it. He stayed for about 15 minutes during cocktail hour, and then left to catch a Yankees game with his family.

Borough Politics Archive

2002
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2001
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2000
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1999
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