NOACH DITCHES THE TAPE RECORDER: Rep. Anthony Weiner no doubt enjoyed hearing that his former nemesis Noach Dear is taking left-wing positions only before liberal audiences-something Dear had alleged Weiner did just two years ago. But when we told him, Weiner refrained from smug criticism, saying of Dear, "I take him at his word." Here's the background:

In 2000, when Dear was running for Congress against Weiner, Dear had his people record or transcribe what Weiner said on gay-related issues at the Lambda Independent Democrats endorsement meeting. Dear then replayed Weiner's comments at a meeting of Agudath Israel, a conservative Jewish organization, to undercut support for Weiner there. Dear's people defended the action by noting that if Weiner were talking out of both sides of his mouth-changing his message depending on the venue-his hypocrisy deserved to be exposed.

If so, the transcript from Dear's recent appearance before the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, during which he said he'd softened his conservative positions on gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender issues, should be provided to Orthodox leaders in Borough Park and Crown Heights, whose support Dear is counting on in his run for state Senate.

Weiner, we should note, denied he took different positions before different constituencies and didn't seem affected by Dear's tactics, as he defeated Dear handily in the 2000 election. "I laughed it off," Weiner said. Speaking last week, the congressman seemed amused by Dear's recent change of heart on gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender issues. "If his campaigns against me did anything to make him appreciate that his positions are not appreciated or tolerated by the voters, then I'm glad," Weiner said.

DAVIS URGED TO LET SLEEPING OWENS LIE Insurgent candidates in central Brooklyn have told City Councilman James Davis that he might hurt, rather than help, their chances of upsetting incumbents by challenging Rep. Major Owens in the 11th Congressional District.

A primary against the 20-year congressman would bring out his voters, who would be likely to support incumbents like Assemblymembers Roger Green, Clarence Norman and Rhoda Jacobs and state Senator Carl Andrews. Supporters of their opponents-Hakeem Jeffries, Sandra Roper, Zachary LaReche, and Wellington Sharpe, respectively-are more purposeful voters who will get to the polls regardless of the other races. So low turnout favors insurgent candidates with dedicated followings. What the challengers would like is for Davis to mobilize his political base to support their campaigns, but without bringing out the incumbents' artillery. A Davis-Owens primary could result in a get-out-the-vote effort by the unions that support Owens.

Davis had floated the idea of running against Owens in retaliation for Norman's running against him for Democratic district leader in the 43rd A.D. (Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights). Jeffries, Roper, and Sharpe already have the odds against them, given that black incumbents in central Brooklyn haven't lost for nearly three decades. The last time one fell was 1974, when Al Vann knocked off Cal Williams. But Davis came within a few hundred votes of defeating Norman in 1998, and Jeffries is given a good shot against Green this year.

Roper figures to at least be a concern for Norman, while LaReche and Sharpe will be challenged just to get on the primary ballot. Two years ago, Sharpe was knocked off the ballot by Marty Markowitz in a state Senate race and LaReche was booted by Jacobs before being restored to the ballot on appeal.

JUDGE IS NO FRIEND OF O'HARA In the race for three boroughwide Civil Court judgeships, Democratic county organization nemesis John O'Hara is reportedly petitioning for three candidates, including Judge Margarita Lopez Torres, but the judge's campaign manager says O'Hara is acting on his own. "I don't know O'Hara, I don't like O'Hara, I'm not involved with O'Hara," Gary Tilzer said. O'Hara has been convicted of three felonies, which may be why Tilzer is disassociating his candidate from the man. O

n the other hand, both of O'Hara's candidates won judgeships last year. The three spots available this year carry 10-year terms and require 15,000 signatures to get on the ballot. In other news from the race, the residency of one of the county organization's three candidates, attorney Robin Garson, has become an issue. At a Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats meeting, CBID President Susan Loeb asked Garson why she's running here and not in her home borough of Manhattan. "I was asked to," Garson reportedly replied.

As one witness commented, "She really didn't have a very good answer." Perhaps not, but she did tell the truth, which is usually better than the alternative.

BOARD VOTES TO KEEP GOWANUS DEAD Sometimes even well-meaning community board members can take their job of "protecting the neighborhood" so seriously that they protect it from progress. Such was the case in mid-June when Community Board 6 cast its advisory vote against a proposal to replace a hideous, graffiti-strewn, rarely used warehouse by the Gowanus Canal with a 64-unit apartment building. The board's primary reason: the new six-story building would be "inappropriate for the area," which has three- and four-story houses a block away.

If the board wants to preserve the character of the blocks adjacent to the Gowanus Canal, may God help us. The buildings there give new meaning to "eyesore" and "urban blight." With industrial jobs along the once-bustling canal having all but vanished, the land is crying out for redevelopment.

So when a developer comes along and offers to create 64 units of market-rate housing, including penthouses, to a borough whose astronomical housing costs reflect a severe supply shortage, the community board should be rolling out the red carpet, not hoisting red flags. And to reject urban housing because six stories is too tall reflects ignorance of the benefits of building up, rather than out. Building up creates population density, which cities need to thrive and function efficiently. Building out spreads people across the landscape, which wastes space, separates neighbors, reduces the viability of public transportation, and increases automobile dependence and traffic. (Other than that, it's wonderful.)

We're not saying community board members should get urban planning degrees, but perhaps some reading about urban revitalization and suburban sprawl is in order. For while developers are stymied here, others are spoiling mountainsides and pastures in New Jersey with five-bedroom, three-car-garage McMansions. An attractive, six-story apartment house at 460 Union Street wouldn't destroy a neighborhood, it would help create one. Community Board 6 members are devoted volunteers but aren't infallible. Lest we forget, the board once voted to replace a playground with a multi-story parking lot and later helped stop a city plan to ban cars from Prospect Park.

JIM BRENNAN ON SICK LEAVE? A Brooklyn elected official mentioned to us in passing that Assemblyman Jim Brennan recently had surgery, which might explain why he hasn't returned our calls and failed to vote on the school reform bill. Surprised, given that Brennan recently ran a marathon and seemed to be in good health, we called Brennan's chief of staff, John Keefe, to ask about the surgery. "No comment," Keefe said.

We noted that when the president has surgery, the media gets a full medical report. Surely an assemblyman can tell us if he's physically unable to represent his constituents. "No comment," Keefe said again. Our powers of persuasion are slipping.

BILLY THOMPSON'S GAS GUZZLER After September 11, many Americans learned that Osama bin Laden hates the U.S. largely for its interference in Saudi Arabia, the purpose of which is to keep the oil flowing our way. In turn, people realized that our excessive energy consumption indirectly makes us more susceptible to terrorism in addition to global warming. While some citizens made an extra effort to save energy, New York City Comptroller Billy Thompson went out and bought a new SUV.

The Brooklyn-bred Thompson's official city vehicle is a gigantic Chevy Tahoe that seats seven, guzzles a gallon of gas every 14 miles, and cost taxpayers $45,000. Thompson, who was raised in Bed-Stuy and still lives there, undoubtedly thinks we're being extremely unfair to impugn his patriotism because of his choice of vehicle. We're not questioning his patriotism, only his inability to treat environmentalism as an important facet of it. In Thompson's defense, the former deputy Brooklyn borough president trimmed his office's fleet from 29 cars to 27. But that is a very modest reduction, and the fact remains that the comptroller himself tools around in a car that's larger than your average college dorm room: 16 ½ feet long, 6 ½ feet wide, and 6 ½ feet tall.

Thompson's press person told us the comptroller needs an all-weather vehicle to carry him and six others to meetings. But we'd bet such meetings are nearly always canceled in the extremely rare event of a snowstorm severe enough to disable non-SUVs.

OWENS BETTER LATE THAN NEVER Rep. Major Owens, who failed to send an aide to the Independent Neighborhood Democrats endorsement meeting and was denied the club's support, appeared at the club's following gathering. He told club members he flew up from Washington specifically to see them. "He said he didn't want the club to think he was neglecting them," one observer commented.

Owens and Rep. Ed Towns missed the club's endorsement meeting because they were voting in Washington the same day.

HIKIND RESPONDS Assemblyman Dov Hikind responded to our item about him calling for Andrew Cuomo to reject the endorsement of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. on the grounds that Jackson voted against Congress's expression of support for Israel, which had just leveled a Palestinian refugee camp in the name of fighting terrorism. "Israel's bulldozing of terrorist enclaves was an obvious act of self-defense," Hikind wrote in a letter to the editor. "Jackson and Erik Engquist just don't get it. There can be no logical equation between terrorism and self-defense."

Hikind's last sentence is clearly true, but the first begs the question of why Israel blocked a United Nations investigation of the bulldozing of Jenin if it were so obviously self-defense. The problem with unflinching supporters of either the Israeli or Palestinian side is that each holds the other side entirely responsible for the worsening conflict, so they are not capable of evenhanded analysis. Still, we thank Hikind for his reply.

PERFETTO OUT OF ASSEMBLY RACE District leader Ralph Perfetto has decided not to run against Assemblyman Matthew Mirones in the redrawn 60th District, saying Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver wasn't willing to substantially finance his campaign. Perfetto wanted about $100,000 in addition to the $25,000 or more he was willing to contribute out of pocket and the $25,000 he would raise. The speaker wanted him to raise all the money on his own, but as one observer noted, "Ralph has never been into the money part of it. He finds that distasteful." "Basically, Shelly Silver told me I had to take care of myself," Perfetto said. "Shelly Silver can afford to sacrifice this district." That's because Democrats have a substantial majority in the Assembly that wouldn't change should Mirones, a Republican, be re-elected. Mirones represents a Staten Island district that was redrawn to include a big chunk of Bay Ridge beginning next year. Perfetto will still run for Democratic state committeeman (i.e., district leader) in that district, the 60th, since that's where his political club is.

Previously, Perfetto had planned to be Assemblywoman Adele Cohen's co-leader in the 46th A.D. Instead, that spot will go to Toby Russo. "He fulfills Adele's need for an Italian from Bay Ridge," one observer noted. Cohen is being challenged by Susan Lasher and needs Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights votes to cancel out Lasher's strength in Brighton Beach.

The Democrats will probably put up James O'Connell, a 41-year-old mason, against Mirones. Both O'Connell and Mirones grew up in Bay Ridge and now reside on Staten Island. O'Connell will no doubt be thrilled to hear Perfetto say the party is "sacrificing" the district by not funding a Perfetto candidacy. All we can say is, the truth sometimes hurts.

LOPEZ LAUDS LATINO LAWMAN Assemblyman Vito Lopez is a little perturbed at suggestions that he weakened the Latino community by opposing Civil Court Judge Margarita Lopez Torres for re-election, given that he helped eight of the nine Latino judges in Brooklyn get their seats on the bench. There was just one Latino judge here when Lopez became a Democratic district leader in the 53rd A.D. 11 years ago. So when one of the judges Lopez helped, Puerto Rican Reinaldo Rivera, was appointed by Governor George Pataki to the Appellate Division in June, Lopez ballyhooed it with a press release that included quotes praising him from Rivera and Bushwick community leader Maritza Davila.

Lopez recently took some lumps from Latino groups, including the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, when he withdrew his support of Lopez Torres, whom he'd helped to the bench 10 years ago. Referring to the Rivera promotion, which was sought by dozens of judges, Lopez said, "It would be nice when these things happen that those groups would salute me." And why don't they? Lopez said it's because he doesn't get along with Rep. Nydia Velazquez. "They're very closely aligned with Nydia, and Nydia and I have not been friends for many years," Lopez said.

We asked Velazquez what the problem was, but she didn't respond. Previously Lopez told us he's also not chummy with state Sen. Nellie Santiago and is endorsing her opponent, former City Councilman Martin Malave Dilan. Santiago also declined to comment.

ANGRY WORDS BETWEEN KRUGER, FIDLER A rare public argument between elected officials erupted outside a meeting of Community Board 18 when state Senator Carl Kruger and City Councilman Lew Fidler clashed over, of all things, two plans for September 11 memorials. Kruger, who envisions a memorial to all southern Brooklyn uniformed personnel who died, was upset to learn of a Fidler-backed plan for a memorial to a single fallen firefighter from Mill Basin on East 57th St. and Avenue T.

Kruger was overheard accusing Fidler of not being a "team player" and for "grandstanding," witnesses said. Fidler says it was just a misunderstanding, that each had been unaware of the other's memorial plans, which are not mutually exclusive. "We just have to make sure we're on the same page, as we usually are, on local stuff." A little decorum in public settings would be nice, too.

Kruger has never been known for his "people skills" and Fidler isn't one to back down, hence the occasional discord between the two. But to bark at each other outside a community board meeting? Fidler said they talked several times in the days following their tiff and "everything's fine."

Borough Politics Archive

2002
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2001
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2000
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1999
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