TWO SAY NO TO NOACH Lambda Independent Democrats, Brooklyn's gay and lesbian Democratic club, extracted pledges from district leaders Jake Gold and City Councilman Lew Fidler not to support Noach Dear's expected run for State Senate in the new 21st District. (Dear is considered "the arch enemy of the lesbian/gay community of Brooklyn," according to one Lambda member.)

Not that Fidler and Gold were sticking their necks out. Renouncing Dear requires far less gumption than it used to, given the ex-councilman's lopsided loss to Anthony Weiner in the 1998 election to succeed Chuck Schumer in the House, followed by an even more crushing defeat in a rematch two years later. The question now is whether Gold will help his co-district leader Lori Knipel of Flatbush in her race against Dear (and others). Gold and Knipel have been feuding for years because Knipel was never repaid after lending her personal savings of $40,000 to the Jim Brennan/Gold/Knipel campaign that defeated Joni Yoswein's slate in a bitter Democratic primary nearly a decade ago. (Knipel, who became an attorney two years ago, said she lent the money because she was a "true believer," but alleged that it was "misspent.") Knipel could help her chances in the upcoming election by burying the hatchet with Gold, assuming she chooses a location other than her co-leader's forehead.

Knipel told us she realizes she'll probably never get her money back and is ready to patch things up with Gold. "We're working on repairing our former good relationship," she said.

MAJOR STAYING PUT Rep. Major Owens denies rumors that he will withdraw his name after winning the September 10 Democratic primary so that a committee on vacancies can select his son, Chris Owens, to replace him in the general election.

According to the congressman, former City Councilwoman Una Clarke's people have been putting out that rumor for years, and it's no more true today than it ever was. (Clarke ran against Owens in 2000 and lost a fairly close primary.)

The rumor had some Democratic club members in a tizzy - not because they love Major Owens (in fact, many consider Owens's district offices disorganized and the 65-year-old Congressman uninfluential in Washington, despite his 20 years of seniority in the House) - but because the committee on vacancies circumvents the voting public.

OWENS BUTTERS UP FLEISHMAN Speaking of Chris Owens, the former School Board 13 member has decided not to run for Democratic leader in the new brownstone Brooklyn assembly district. Instead Owens endorsed the only declared candidate, former Lambda president Alan Fleishman.

Owens's mother was my piano teacher when I was a kid and used to host recitals for her students in the Owens household. That has nothing to do with the race for district leader. I just wanted to mention it.

REPS ON EGGSHELLS Brooklyn members of the House of Representatives continued their prayer vigil last week as former federal judge Frederick Lacey prepared to release his proposal for new district lines. New York state will lose two congressional districts because of population changes revealed by the 2000 census, and one New York City district is certain to be dramatically shifted. The latest word was that Democrats and Republicans in Albany were nearing agreement to target Eliot Engel's Bronx district and leave Brooklyn relatively unscathed. But if can't agree on a new map, Lacey's would be used.

Brooklyn representatives were particularly nervous because Lacey was responsible for drawing the current lines in 1992, which forced Steve Solarz to run in a new district. To avoid battling Rep. Chuck Schumer he chose the new Latino district, was defeated by Nydia Velazquez, and soon disappeared from politics. "Lacey did a number on Solarz and Schumer the last time," said Rep. Anthony Weiner. "I have no reason to believe he'll be kinder to me."

The only safe districts are the ones largely populated by minorities, since eliminating them would violate the Voting Rights Act. So Velazquez, Ed Towns, and Major Owens aren't in jeopardy, which only increases the threat to Weiner and Jerry Nadler - particularly Nadler, whose district was chopped in half by the proposal of Albany Republicans.

Nadler did not return calls seeking comment before press time. Weiner was understandably in a better mood. "There hasn't been a single rumor with my name in it," he beamed.

COUNCILMAN REBUFFED BY BEEP When Marty Markowitz ran against Borough President Howard Golden in the 1980s, he broke the unwritten rule about challenging an incumbent backed by "county," that is, the Brooklyn Democratic Party machine. The machine won, sending Markowitz scurrying back to his powerless State Senate seat. Markowitz was never part of county Democrats' inner circle after that. Now that Markowitz finally is the borough president (Golden having been forced out by term limits), you would think he'd embrace others who buck the machine. You would be wrong.

Consider Markowitz's rejection of a Community Board 2 nomination made by Councilman James Davis, the most prominent and outspoken critic of the party machine. Community board nominations are generally rubber-stamped by Borough Hall, but when Davis sent in an application to renew Bob Evans's board membership, it came back with red ink all over it. Markowitz reportedly sided with CB 2 chairwoman Shirley McRae over Councilman Davis. An angry Davis wondered aloud whether that was "a slap in the face."

ORTIZ IN FANTASY LAND The Bonehead of the Month award for May goes to Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, who said he would introduce a bill lowering the legal drinking age in New York from 21 to 18. His reasoning: teenagers drink anyway, but hide it from their parents because it's illegal. Thus, legalizing it would open up a dialogue. What world is Ortiz living in?

Perhaps he envisions this conversation: Teen: Dad, now that it's legal for me to drink, I want to tell you I consume alcohol every weekend. Can we have an honest discussion about it? Father: Sure, son. Tell me your feelings.

NYDIA DEFENDS LATINA Rep. Nydia Velazquez chastised gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo for calling for the removal of Dr. Antonia Novello, the state health commissioner and highest-ranking Latino in the Pataki administration. Cuomo's demand stemmed from the revelation that horrific abuses and needless deaths in private homes for the mentally ill have continued unabated under Novella's watch, as revealed by several shocking articles in The New York Times. One of the most troubled homes is in Canarsie.

Velazquez, the state's only Latino member of congress, said it was "very disappointing to me that Mr. Cuomo would seize such an opportunity ... to needlessly attack one of the most accomplished women of color." She added, "I urge Mr. Cuomo to retract his statement that was clearly motivated by political expediency and issue Dr. Novello a public apology."

By the way, Velazquez supports Cuomo's opponent in the Democratic primary, Carl McCall. Could her criticism of Cuomo also been motivated by political expediency? Cuomo campaign manager Josh Isay defended his candidate by saying, "I think it's completely divisive for anyone to claim that this has anything to do with the ethnicity of the health commissioner. In fact, it has to do with the deaths of too many people in New York."

The feeling here is that Novello shouldn't be immune from criticism, including calls for her ouster, just because she's Latina. Anyone who read the Times articles would agree that the state has been unconscionably negligent and that drastic action is necessary to protect New York's mentally ill.

MILLMAN, BRENNAN FIRE BACK AT CUOMO State Assembly members Joan Millman and Jim Brennan did not take kindly to gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo's Albany-trashing campaign shtick at a candidate's forum in Park Slope on May 9. Cuomo introduced himself as a "classic progressive" and "reformer," which should have ingratiated himself to the left-leaning members of the Democratic clubs hosting the event (Lambda, IND, and CBID).

But the son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo then launched into a tirade against the state government, declaring, "There is no state government … It has done nothing. They don't pass laws. There is no legislative reform … It has been absent so long, people don't even miss its absence."

Millman, who became an assemblywoman in 1997, said afterward, "I feel very attacked by Cuomo. I don't feel I spent 5 ½ years doing nothing. It was offensive to me to hear him say we do nothing." Millman didn't buy the suggestion that Cuomo is simply saying what's necessary to win, given his underdog status against Carl McCall in the Democratic primary and, should he get that far, the general election against George Pataki. "You run against the governor. Why run against the legislature?" asked Millman, who noted that Assembly

Democrats do pass progressive reforms, only to see their bills die in the Republican-dominated Senate. She later repeated her remarks to the audience, effectively undoing whatever positive impression Cuomo might have made. The candidate had long since departed when Millman spoke. (If he'd been present, he might have noted that he did not specifically blame legislators, but rather the political system in Albany, which is undeniably inefficient and undemocratic in the way power is concentrated in the hands of the governor, assembly speaker, and senate majority leader. Reform is unlikely because both parties protect their majorities in the two chambers by drawing district lines just so.)

In response to Cuomo's intimation that perennially late state budgets were evidence of Albany's failure, Brennan delivered an analysis dripping with sarcasm. The 18-year assemblyman noted that the budget has been late every year since 1985, including when Andrew's father Mario Cuomo was governor. Brennan deadpanned, "I want to you know that I am 100 percent to blame." Brennan said the budget is late "because we have something called a de-mo-cra-cy," spacing out the word for effect and explaining that when the two parties disagree it often takes time before they reach a "com-pro-mise." On a serious note, Brennan commented, "If we don't raise taxes in the next year or two, there are going to be dramatic reductions" in services.

The chill between the Brooklyn assembly members and Cuomo wasn't exactly a surprise, since most party leaders are backing Cuomo's opponent, Carl McCall. Brennan isn't much of a player anymore in budget negotiations, having been virtually excommunicated by Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver because of Brennan's failed coup attempt and his exposure of a secret slush fund and other unsavory practices sanctioned by Silver a couple of years ago. Queried by this columnist on whether a reconciliation with Silver might ever happen, Brennan smiled and asked, "Why are you holding that notepad?" Undaunted, we found Brennan's chief of staff, John O'Keefe, who didn't rule out that Brennan and Silver might some day reconcile. But nothing is on the horizon, he said.

HEVESI SEEKS HUNGARIAN VOTE The comic relief at the aforementioned candidates' forum was provided by former New York City Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who's running for state controller. "I am the only controller running for controller," Hevesi said. "I am the only New York City resident running for controller. I am the only teacher running for controller. I am the only Hungarian running for controller. I am searching for an audience where that has any meaning."

Later, when asked by an audience member why he was running despite having turned 60 and spent decades in politics, Hevesi said, "There's a very simple explanation. I'm sick in the head."

NO SIR/MA'AM, GOLDEN AND FELDER SAY Bay Ridge Republican Marty Golden and Borough Park Democrat Simcha Felder, who represent the borough's most conservative neighborhoods, were the only Brooklyn members of the City Council to vote against a bill adding transgendered people as a protected class in the city's human rights statute. The mayor signed the bill into law.

Borough Politics Archive

2002
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2001
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2000
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1999
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