PARKER, DEAR TUSSLE State Senator Kevin Parker is upset at campaign literature by Democratic primary challenger Noach Dear that, to the uninformed, might leave the impression that Dear is the incumbent. "Noach is up to his old tricks. He is putting out literature that indicates he's the senator for the 21st District and I'm not," Parker complained.

"I wish he would do the job he was elected to do instead of spending so much energy bad-mouthing Noach," responded Dear's campaign manager, John McLoughlin. "If Parker was effective at his job, he wouldn't have to worry about his constituents thinking Noach is the State Senator." Touché.

Dear's literature does say "DEAR State Senator" rather than "Dear for State Senator" but as McLoughlin pointed out, omission of the preposition "for" is becoming commonplace among candidates. John Kerry's Web site, for example, says, "John Kerry" and "President" underneath. No one has accused Kerry of trying to pass himself off as president. Meanwhile, Parker has been mailing constituents-at taxpayer expense-birthday cards. Yes, birthday cards.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the upcoming election. What do these birthday cards say? "Congratulations on Your Birthday" says the front, while inside is, "Heartfelt best wishes on this special day. I couldn't let it pas without dropping you a note to say thanks for your contributions to our community. Here's to a great day, a great week, a great year, a great lifetime! [Signed,] Kevin Parker, 21st District State Senator." What was it the Valley girls used to say? Gag me with a spoon?

Parker defended the cards. "We don't send them to everybody. Just certain people we have a relationship with," he said. But how does he know when to mail them? We asked if he were poring through DMV records. "We know when people's birthdays are," Parker said. "We're the government." He was surprised to hear that Dear got one of the birthday cards six months before Dear's birthday. "That's something we sent to him just to probably bother him," Parker said.

FELDER FAX FORGED One man's complaint in last week's column about Councilman Simcha Felder taking too much credit for the override of a mayoral veto was based on a forgery. Someone actually altered a Felder press release that was emailed to 14 Jewish newspapers.

The original sentence said, "The 50-0 Council override vote reflects the strong public outcry on the issue." The forged version said, "The 50-0 Council override vote reflects Felder's leadership ability in getting his colleagues to respond to the strong public outcry on the issue." Felder's office is now considering issuing press releases in PDF format, making them more difficult to alter. We hope to have more on this bizarre circumstance next week.

SEDDIO, CATCHER OPPOSED A wild race is unfolding in the 59th Assembly District, with relative unknown Charles Harary challenging Assemblyman Frank Seddio and Democratic district leader Bernie Catcher simultaneously. Harary was recruited to run by Miriam Steinberg, who's running for female leader against Roberta Sherman.

The original candidate for male leader was Abe Levy, the longtime president of the Flatbush Park synagogue, but he withdrew, which of course prompted speculation that he was pressured to quit or, as one source put it, "bought off" with promises of support in a future race. But one elected official told us Levy simply realized he was in a political maelstrom of which he wanted no part. "I wouldn't use the word pressure," said Councilman Lew Fidler, a close friend of Catcher. "Levy found his candidacy was being used as a hammer…[by] the Maslow/Rocoff folks."

That would be Republican election lawyer Aaron Maslow and political consultant Alan Rocoff, but Maslow told us he's simply providing legal representation to Harary's campaign at the request of Steinberg, the sister of Maslow's wife Lori Maslow. Rocoff, whom Fidler seems to suspect lurks behind every corner, is the lawyer for the Civil Court candidacy of Charles Finkelstein, whose presence in the race is denying Saul Needle a free ride in the Democratic primary. Because Needle is backed by the Catcher-Fidler-Seddio crowd, there's a suspicion Rocoff is behind Harary. Not so, Rocoff said. The candidates merely had a joint petition, common among insurgents.

Maslow told us Harary was simply asked by Steinberg to run after Levy pulled out. Harary promptly got the cold shoulder from Catcher's supporters, who were shocked that Harary would dare run against a popular district leader with so many powerful friends. "He walked into a number of places that had felt warm and friendly in the past where people turned their backs on him [and told him,] 'Don't think that we're going to support you just because we go to synagogue together or we're friendly,'" Fidler said.

Forget that this is a democracy and citizens are free to run for office. By challenging Seddio and Catcher, Harary violated some sort of code in the world of Brooklyn politics. Fidler said the problem is that Harary is running for his own enjoyment, not because he's unhappy with the performances of Seddio and Catcher. "I walked over to him and said, 'What are you doing? What are you thinking?'" Fidler said. "This man invited me to his niece's bat mitzvah several months ago."

Fidler said he told Harary, "We may be friends but…I'm going to campaign as hard as I can for your opponent." Why has Harary so far resisted the treatment that caused Levy to cave in? "Harary's a stubborn SOB," e-mailed one source familiar with the story. Steinberg and the Maslows have also been harassed for daring to challenge Sherman and Catcher, the source added. Epilogue: Because of their association with the Democratic primary campaign of Steinberg, Aaron and Lori Maslow resigned as Republican officials (Aaron was second vice chairman of the county committee and his wife was a district leader).

Aaron Maslow, a former Democrat, hinted that he's considering leaving the Republican Party altogether. "I've spoken to some people about changing my (party) enrollment, but that's a story for another day," he said. "I've got to save something for my memoirs. I can't give everything away."

SLOAN GOES IT ALONE East New York resident Sam Sloan, who has filed suit to get authorization to run as a Republican against Rep. Ed Towns, wrote to one Republican official, "The Kings County Republican Party has lost every election for the past 30 years. You should take some introspective looks at yourselves. Is there something wrong with the voters, or is there something wrong with you? Why do the people amongst whom you live never vote for you? Why do you insist on running your hopelessly losing candidates every two years, when for a change you can allow somebody like me to run who actually has a chance to win?" Sloan was actually making some sense until that last part.

In the event that Sloan wins the right to run as a Republican, he'd struggle to collect signatures from 886 registered Republicans in the district to make the ballot. Candidates with the party's blessing get help from party volunteers, but Sloan would need his own campaign operation, which he doesn't have. Petitions must be filed by midnight on July 15.

One of the defendants in Sloan's suit is the chosen Republican candidate versus Towns, Isabelle Jefferson. "On the subway on the way to the courthouse, I realized that I had to add Isabella [sic] Jefferson as a defendant. She is a necessary party. I realize that she is in South Carolina and probably does not even know that her name has been substituted in place of mine as the Republican candidate for US Congress. She is 76 years old and I was reluctant to sue her but as long as her name is on the petitions, I have no choice."

Sloan also sued to run as an Independence Party candidate, citing party by-laws allowing registered voters with no party affiliation (such as himself) to vote in Independence Party primaries. If they can vote, Sloan figures, registered blanks should also be allowed to run on the Independence line.

Even if he wins his case, the chances of Sloan collecting 284 signatures from Independence Party candidates in the 10th Congressional District by July 15 are remote. Before suing, Sloan sought the Independence line through more traditional means-an interview, which was held (rather appropriately) at the Brooklyn Social Therapy office in Prospect Heights.

RUNNING FOR OFFICE? Candidates for Congress, State Senate, or Assembly are invited to appear at the sixth annual Courier-Life/Caribbean Life Political Forum, which this year will be at Lundy's from August 16-19 during business hours. Each candidate will appear for 30 minutes before a panel of impartial reporters and community leaders. Time slots are allotted on a first-come, first-served basis. To reserve one, call our Jennifer Stern at 718-615-3802. Last year's forum was filmed by BCAT and replayed CSPAN-style to Brooklyn cable television viewers. Even more important, breakfast will be provided. At press time, we were still negotiating for free shrimp cocktails.

BROOKLYNITE BATTLES BUSH Jill Harris, who in 1993 became the first openly lesbian school board member in the city when she was elected to represent District 15, is now field director for the Ohio operation of America Coming Together, which is trying to defeat George Bush by mobilizing voters in 17 swing states. Harris ran Marty Markowitz's successful campaign for borough president in 1991 despite not agreeing with him on gay marriage. She supports it, he doesn't.

"I was hoping he'd have come around by now," Harris e-mailed us. "I disagree with him on quite a few things, by the way, but overall I think he's doing a great job as BP and I'm proud of my part in helping him get there." Harris will move back to Boerum Hill after the November election.

TIDBITS Assemblywoman Joan Millman supports gay marriage and other civil rights for gays-positions that don't go over so well in Bay Ridge, which she represented until her district was redrawn in 2002. "So long, Bay Ridge. Nothing personal, but I'm glad I no longer represent them," Millman said during a recent appearance before Lambda Independent Democrats, a gay group. "It's a pleasure to be able to say the same thing wherever I go and not be attacked for it…In Bay Ridge, I was attacked." Verbally, that is…

Councilman David Yassky, in exchange for his yes vote on a downtown Brooklyn rezoning proposal, extracted a promise from the city to study his idea of residential permit parking in Brooklyn Heights and Boerum Hill. The plan would reserve some parking spots for residents. Currently, an unknown number of commuters park in these downtown neighborhoods and then take the subway to work in Manhattan…

State Senate candidate Wellington Sharpe is expected to file a lawsuit against the incumbent he's challenging, Kevin Parker, because of Parker's assertion in this column that Sharpe had been hired by the third candidate, Noach Dear, to split the black vote. Dear and Sharpe both denied the charge, but Sharpe apparently feels he has no choice but to sue because the allegation is lingering in the community. Parker declined to comment. "I don't talk about things that are irrelevant," he said…

Ed Roberts has reportedly collected more than 2,000 signatures to get on the ballot against Assemblyman Clarence Norman, the Democratic county leader. It only takes 500 good signatures to run for Assembly, but the rule of thumb is to collect three times that to survive a petition challenge, or even more to avoid a challenge altogether. Despite earlier rumors, it now appears Roberts will not substitute someone for himself…

Rep. Major Owens, facing as many as three primary opponents this summer, has supporters cold-calling residents and asking them to donate money or host a fundraiser for him. He also called in his son Geoffrey Owens, an actor who played Elvin on "The Cosby Show," to perform at a poetry reading/fundraiser in Park Slope…

Describing the state of the nation under Republican control, Democratic congressional candidate Frank Barbaro doesn't mince his words. With the wealthy getting tax cuts and 43 million Americans working without health insurance, the former assemblyman said, "It's a horrific situation. It's almost as if the drive for money and greed…is absolutely out of control. I feel I've got to get back into it." But he faces an uphill battle against Rep. Vito Fossella, an eight-year incumbent…

Robin Brown, who's been mentioned as a possible successor to Roger Green in the Assembly, was appointed to the Commission to Plan for New School Funding Dollars by Council Speaker Gifford Miller. She isn't running for office this year. But if State Senator Carl Andrews runs for Congress in 2006, Brown could face off against Hakeem Jeffries for the open seat…

A recent New York Times story revealed that increasing numbers of defendants are avoiding indictments by testifying before grand juries, which Assemblyman Clarence Norman declined to do-a decision he may well regret. Grand jury testimony can be used against defendants at trial, which is why defendants usually don't give it, figuring they'll be indicted regardless (as Norman was). But if the charges are weak, as Norman claims his are, it can be worth a shot to try to beat the rap before the grand jury…

Past and future City Council candidate Sam Taitt is helping to organize a new credit union in East Flatbush.

Contact Brooklyn Politics at (718) 399-3693.

Borough Politics Archive

2004
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2003
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2002
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2001
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2000
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1999
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