Green Machine Grows Mayoral hopeful Mark Green announced the endorsements of seven Brooklyn legislators last week, representing a swath of support from Park Slope to Canarsie. Assemblymembers Jim Brennan, Adele Cohen, Bill Colton, State Senators Seymour Lachman and Frank Seddio, and Councilmember Una Clarke all announced their support for Green last week at Junior's on Flatbush Avenue. Green said that he was "proud" to receive the endorsements. "This is personal, since I was born and spent the first years of my life in Brooklyn," he said.

The support of Seddio and Sampson comes mainly at the expense of Council Speaker Peter Vallone and Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer. The club in Seddio's district, the Thomas Jefferson Democrats, is backing Vallone, so Seddio broke ranks to go with Green, with whom he has a long relationship. But Ferrer has been making a push for the organization in and around Seddio's 39th Assembly District, especially after Vallone upset some of the area's elected officials by unceremoniously dismissing one Jefferson Democrat, former Council chief of staff Bruce Bender. "We clearly worked them," said one Ferrer supporter, who was most surprised by the Sampson endorsement.

"It was close between Ferrer and Green," said Sampson, who added that he felt no pressure from the Jefferson Dems. Ultimately, he said, he went with Green because, "I think he has built the coalition over the last couple of years of all ethnic people."

The Ferrer supporter said that regardless of the endorsements of Green, the Ferrer campaign is not fretting about its Brooklyn strategy. "We're not overly concerned. The county organization is endorsing Alan Hevesi. Every time Mark Green takes some, he's taking some of Hevesi's support," he said. John Del Cecato, Ferrer's spokesperson, pointed out that Ferrer has the support of Reps. Ed Towns and Nydia Velazquez, Assemblymember Daryl Towns, the Crown Heights Political Action Committee, and the South Brooklyn Independent Democratic Club. "Everybody is going to get their share of endorsements," he said.

Locals Peeved At Clinton Senator Hillary Clinton has ruffled some feathers in brownstone Brooklyn with her plans to visit Park Slope on June 24 to thank her supporters and endorse her former campaign manager, Bill de Blasio, a City Council candidate in the 39th District. While the event is being orchestrated to give de Blasio a boost, Clinton officials had hoped to keep her above the fray by billing it as a "thank you" to her supporters. But two prominent brownstone political leaders-Susan Loeb, president of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, and Bethany Joseph, president of the Lambda Independent Democrats-aren't buying it.

"It's interesting that she has time to come in and campaign for Bill de Blasio for City Council," said Loeb. "She has not really ever acknowledged the local Democratic clubs and activists who played a large part in her election and produced a very heavy turnout of votes for her. All of us put in countless hours, and spent funds that we worked hard to raise to promote Democratic candidates, focusing heavily on her race. We're glad she won, but. " Throughout the Senate race, local activists complained that they were being shut out by the campaign staff. "It was difficult to get a call back," said Loeb, adding that the club never received a reply from Clinton when it recently invited her to its dinner.

Joseph said that the Clinton visit was especially rattling because the clubs that supported her have made other endorsements in this Council race. Lambda is backing attorney Steve Banks, while CBID is backing attorney Jack Carroll. "We made other choices in this race, so it kind of stinks that she's coming in now to stump for [de Blasio]," said Joseph.

Clinton's New York spokesperson was away on vacation, and her D.C. spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

WFP Weighs In Because several candidates are jockeying for nearly every Council seat, the endorsements of smaller parties take on added significance. With an eye toward being the feather that tilted the scales, the Working Families Party recently announced the candidates it is backing in a handful of close Council races.

Ken Diamondstone got the nod in the 33rd District, Letitia James in the 35th District, Jean Vernet in the 40th District, Charles Barron in the 42nd District, Joanne Seminara-Lehu in the 43rd District, and Joseph Hochhauser in the 47th District.

The WFP endorsements give the candidates some ground troops and some decidedly liberal cache, which can be important when so many Democrats are battling one another. "It's a good kosher stamp," said one insider.

Last November, 21,557 votes, most coming from registered Democrats, were cast on the WFP line-votes that could be crucial this year, especially if some of the local races are as close as they currently appear to be. Notably, the WFP did not make an endorsement in the 39th District, where the party is deeply conflicted over three candidates-Paul Bader, Steve Banks and Bill de Blasio-who all have close ties to the organization.

A Black Eye? Did Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz suffer a political defeat in the election for chairperson of Community Board 15? Some insiders are saying so. Cymbrowitz was believed to have preferred candidate Jerry O'Shea over Anne Dietrich, a 20-year board member who was eventually elected in a 40 to 4 landslide. Dietrich was backed by State Senator Carl Kruger and Councilmember Michael Nelson.

O'Shea's defeat, said one local official, "shows that [Cymbrowitz] doesn't have a grasp on what the people in the community are thinking." "I think they're making more out of it than they should be," said Cymbrowitz. "I didn't lobby at all. I think there were some other people who spent the last few weeks doing nothing but lobbying, when Anne was a good choice."

Louis Out Of Council Race Errol Louis, executive director of the Bogolan Merchants Association in Fort Greene, has dropped out of the 35th Councilmanic District race, citing an array of reasons for his decision. On a personal level, Louis wrote in his monthly column in the Our Time Press that his entire family is "convinced that most politicians are, shall we say, well below average when it comes to intelligence, talent and ethics."

Aside from the lack of familial support, Louis said that it was not the right race or time for him to run. He also expressed a concern that the plethora of black liberals in the race would work to the advantage of the lone white candidate, a Hasidic Jew from Crown Heights, Abraham Wasserman. Other candidates include Imogene Baldwin-Ferguson, James Davis, Letitia James, District Leader Bill Saunders, Barbara Smith, Sidique Wai and Peter Williams. Louis has endorsed Williams.

CSA Endorses In Coney Island Last week's item on the Coney Island Council race failed to mention the one candidate, Domenic Recchia, who appears to be building the most institutional support. Recchia, who has the backing of Borough President Howard Golden and Assemblymembers Adele Cohen and William Colton, most recently picked up the endorsement of the Council of Supervisors and Administrators, otherwise known as the principal's union.

"I look forward to working with them," he said. "I'll fight to get them a better contract. It's going to be a wonderful endorsement, since there's a lot of supervisors that live in the councilmanic district." Other candidates in the race include Alec Brook-Krasny, Alfie Davis, Brian Gotlieb, Oleg Gutnik, Joseph Hochhauser, Susan Lasher, Joel Michaels, Cynthia Sanchez, Pat Singer and Inna Stavitsky.

Borough Politics Archive
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