"PROGRESSIVE" REPS SIDE WITH NRA Members of the House Progressive Caucus tend to wear their zero-percent ratings from the National Rifle Association like a badge of honor. Rep. Major Owens even puts his NRA score on his literature. So what were Owens and Rep. Jerry Nadler doing voting for a bill to allow pilots to carry guns in their cockpits? Brooklyn's third Progressive Caucus member, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, voted against it, as did Reps. Anthony Weiner and Ed Towns. Joining Nadler and Owens in favor was Rep. Vito Fossella, the only Republican House member representing Brooklyn.

Weiner and Towns were planning to support the bi-partisan bill until an NRA-backed amendment made the armed-pilot program permanent and unlimited, rather than a two-year trial involving no more than 2 percent of pilots. "It was a carefully cast, bipartisan agreement," said Weiner. "Before we knew it, we went to all guns, all the time in all cockpits." The amendment was peddled by the NRA lobbyists who scoot through the Capitol Hill hallways like so many roaches. Owens and Nadler, usually two of the House's most liberal members, did not return calls before press time to explain their votes.

No one is quite sure whether arming pilots will make planes safer or more dangerous, which is the reason the program was supposed to be limited and temporary. But the NRA amendment was hardly the only problem with this bill. Because the airlines oppose guns in cockpits, they were given a concession by the House: expanded immunity from lawsuits, even for screw-ups that have nothing to do with terrorism. Unfortunately, these trade-offs are so commonplace in Congress than many legislators consider them acceptable-the cost of doing business, if you will.

The feeling here is we don't need guns to keep terrorists out of the cockpit when reinforced doors will do. But the NRA favors the firepower solution. As Weiner explained, "They fundamentally believe that all people should be carrying guns at all times." Ironically, the NRA amendment may have the effect of killing the bill altogether by making it unlikely that the more level-headed Senate will pass it.

TOWNS WON'T CHALLENGE NORMAN (YET) To update our item in last week's column, there is a third and most likely reason that Rep. Ed Towns is running for district leader in Bushwick. It's not part of a plan to wrest the county leadership away from Assemblyman Clarence Norman in September, but simply an effort to improve his leverage with Norman. In other words, according to one source, Towns wants to be able to threaten to run against Norman for chairman of the Kings County Democratic Party executive committee, not to actually run. (Only district leaders are eligible to challenge an incumbent county leader.) A tacit threat could force Norman to accede to Towns's wishes on such matters as whether Norman supports his son, Assemblyman Darryl Towns, to succeed his father when Ed Towns retires.

Towns's press secretary James Harris told us, "In the conversations I've had with the congressman, he's said he's not running for county leader and I believe he's talked to Mr. Norman and told him as much." Our source maintained that Norman-the county leader since 1990, when Howie Golden had to give up the post to remain borough president-would never be ousted in a reapportionment year, when his ally Shelly Silver, the state Assembly speaker, is most powerful.

Why are Silver and Norman allies? "They have a relationship," the source explained. "The speaker keeps Clarence where he is. Clarence plays a role in keeping the black and Latino caucus together in support of Shelly Silver."

TERM LIMITS COULD BRING NEW PARK One of the reasons adequate funding was never allocated for a new park and recreational complex at Atlantic Commons in Fort Greene is that former Councilwoman Mary Pinkett and Borough President Howard Golden were warring, Parks Commissioner Henry Stern told us before leaving his post last year. "There's a great squabble between the city councilwoman and the borough president," Stern said last summer. "They're enemies." Pinkett contributed $335,000 in discretionary funds, but Golden wasn't about to allocate the remaining several million dollars for a project in Pinkett's district, Stern intimated. Stern didn't mention that his boss, Rudy Giuliani, also hated Golden, which is perhaps why the mayor didn't fund the project either.

Residents had been promised a park when they bought houses in Atlantic Commons several years ago. In fact, recreational space is a requirement of such urban renewal projects. The stalemate might have gone on forever were it not for term limits, which forced out Giuliani, Golden and Pinkett and made way for Mike Bloomberg, Marty Markowitz and James Davis, respectively. Markowitz promptly set aside $50,000 for design work this year and $500,000 for a beautification project in fiscal year 2004. More will be needed to restore the tennis courts, create a green space, and build a community center, but it's a start.

"I would like to sign off on that," Councilman Davis said. "I plan on funding and working closely to get development in that location. It's high on my list of items. Unfortunately we have a $5 billion budget deficit right now."

The park is to be built where the stately South Oxford Tennis Club stood before its recent demolition. The club had been a favorite watering hole for many Brooklyn politicians. Its operator, Richard Northern, who rented the building and tennis courts from the city, had made a worthy effort to stave off eviction by enlisting the help of numerous politicians and club neighbors. The effort succeeded when David Dinkins was mayor. But later Northern lost the support of Pinkett, giving the Giuliani administration an opening to oust him in late 1997.

Finally in the city's hands, the glamorous club was promptly raided by scavengers and homeless people, thanks to a refusal by the Parks Department to purchase the club's $1,600 alarm system for Northern's offer of $200. Three fires ensued and the property was damaged beyond repair, giving the city the excuse it needed to raze it. Pinkett, by the way, swore she wasn't trying to get rid of the club, and insisted the $335,000 she allocated was not for the purpose of tearing it down. But ultimately, that is exactly what the money was used for.

OH DEAR, KNIPEL'S IN THE DISTRICT Shortly after the lines for the new 21st state Senate district were drawn, former Councilman Noach Dear called fellow candidate Lori Citron Knipel to gleefully inform her that her Flatbush residence had been excluded from it. But Knipel had the last laugh: the redistricting committee, apparently botching its favor to Dear (who Knipel suspects had called in a favor to Governor George Pataki), included Knipel's house in the extreme northern edge of the district. Knipel could have run for the seat regardless, but would have had to move into the district to run again in the following election.

Dear has had bad luck with redistricting committees before. His house was once drawn 50 feet out of the state Assembly district where he was a Democratic district leader. He managed to hold onto his title for a while, but eventually his erstwhile rival Assemblyman Dov Hikind took the matter to court, won, and became the district leader himself. Knipel thinks she can compete with Dear despite his fundraising superiority because the new district includes less than half of Borough Park, Dear's base, and most of that piece wasn't even in Dear's former City Council district. Only about 16 percent of the senate district is in Borough Park, Knipel said, noting that Dear garnered precious few votes outside of that neighborhood in his campaigns for Congress against Anthony Weiner.

Knipel's problem is she has garnered even fewer votes for higher office, never having run for one. And it's questionable whether she, as a white woman, can win the kind of support from the minority community that, say, Rhoda Jacobs has during her years representing a largely black district in the state Assembly. It's also unlikely that the Orthodox bloc vote would go to her over Dear or another white male candidate. To win the September 10 Democratic primary, Dear or Knipel would likely need multiple minority candidates to split the black vote. Knipel, though, holds out some hope of getting minority votes. She has secured endorsements from two Caribbean civic leaders: Gardy Brazilla, president of the Friends United Block Association, and Sam Palmer, president of the Flatlands Civic Association.

Dear, in announcing his candidacy June 26 in Flatbush, rounded up some members of the Caribbean community to multiculturalize his press conference, and indication that he won't focus his campaign entirely on Jewish and Latino voters.

"GREEN" LIGHT FOR BRIDGE TOLLS At least one political candidate favors tolls on the East River crossings. Unfortunately, the candidate has no chance to win, which is the reason he can answer the tolls question without regard to voter reaction.

Brooklyn Heights resident Kenn Lowy of the Green Party, running against Assemblywoman Joan Millman in brownstone Brooklyn's 52nd AD, e-mailed us, "The sad fact is that our city has a fiscal problem. Politicians don't like to raise taxes, and neither do I. But we do have a job to do." He added, "I believe the tolls should be a sliding scale. Brooklyn residents should get a discount...I also believe the tolls should be higher during rush hours. In a city with such an expansive subway system, there is no reason for so many New Yorkers to be driving into Manhattan every day. The tolls would bring in much needed cash and will hopefully reduce the amount of traffic clogging the streets of Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights."

Borough President Marty Markowitz responded to our earlier endorsement of East River tolls with a letter insisting that because some motorists don't have E-ZPass, toll booths would be needed and congestion would result. But the idea would be to require E-ZPass to cross the bridges. Other drivers could take the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Triborough Bridge, or Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Markowitz also wrote that motorists deserve free river crossings because many don't live near convenient public transportation and therefore must drive. It's not fair to make them pay tolls when their auto insurance is already so costly, according to the beep. News flash to Marty: housing is cheaper per square foot in these neighborhoods. Just compare the price of a Brooklyn Heights apartment with a similar one in Mill Basin. The money residents save by living far from subways is far more than what tolls would cost them.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg put tolls on the table in February but later said he never endorsed the idea. The mayor insisted he was simply pointing out as a possible source of revenue. The feeling here is the mayor should take a position-it is his job to make tough decisions. He shouldn't be passing the buck to the City Council on politically unpopular choices.

EDITOR-IMMED OPENING-APPLY TO MAJOR OWENS English majors should dash off a resume to Rep. Major Owens, whose newsletters can border on comical. Take this sentence from his latest mailing: "Failure to maintain its brainpower production, its public education system, in syncopation with its enormous brainpower needs could mean a momentous fall for America's cyber-civilization." Huh? Surely there's a simpler way to say we need better schools.

DOES KRUGER HAVE MIKE IN A HALF-NELSON? City Councilman Mike Nelson used to be state Senator Carl Kruger's chief of staff. But some folks who don't like Kruger and are underwhelmed by Nelson say their employee-boss relationship persists. The way they tell it, Kruger is the alpha male and Nelson the submissive puppy. "Mike Nelson is afraid of Carl Kruger," one Democrat told us. Another described Nelson as "a wholly owned subsidiary of Carl Kruger." They both spoke on condition of anonymity, of course.

There are some holes in their story, though. For one thing, Nelson hasn't always endorsed Kruger's candidates. Unlike Kruger, Nelson backed Marty Markowitz for borough president and isn't supporting George Pataki for governor, though you can bet Kruger has asked. Kruger is vice chairman of Democrats for Pataki. The Nelson camp believes the unnamed commentators are simply Kruger-haters trying to put a wedge between the councilman and Kruger, who strongly backed Nelson's run for council.

CUOMO RINGS ADELE'S BELL Assemblywoman Adele Cohen didn't take kindly to gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo's portrayal of himself as an outsider by skipping the Democratic state convention last month. Earlier, Cuomo's people had called the Brighton Beach assemblywoman to ask for her endorsement, but she declined. "I am totally offended by Andrew Cuomo," Cohen told us. "For him to pretend that he's an outsider is an affront to every member of the Democratic Party. I, as an outsider for many years, know what an outsider is. He's not."

Perhaps he wasn't before, but he is now, thanks to hundreds of New York Democrats-including Cohen-endorsing his opponent in the primary, Carl McCall. Sometimes endorsements can backfire in that way. Remember how Andy Stein used to line up endorsements? Every time he held a press conference with dozens of politicians behind him, voters got more turned off. He ceased to be seen as a man of the people. By the end he was losing dog-catcher elections to write-in candidates.

Borough Politics Archive

2002
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2001
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2000
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1999
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