CALL THE GRAMMAR POLICE Councilwoman Tracy Boyland's latest campaign literature failed to disclose who paid for it. That's the most elementary requirement of election law. It also featured some unusual spelling and grammar, reporting that Boyland "lead the fight for funds for Breast Cancer and using women organizers to promote early detections." Jeez, where do we begin? With "lead" instead of led? With the capitalization of breast cancer? With "detections" instead of detection? There's more.

The back of the flier says Boyland "has funded a music programs (sic)…to expand students (sic) horizons." It lists numbers for hospital funding she's allocated but includes no dollar signs (e.g., "Brookdale 2,000,000, Bedford Stuyvesant Health Center 25,000," etc.). We can only hope the piece was unauthorized by Boyland's campaign. But generally full-color, double-sided literature is too expensive for a rogue supporter.

One sentence says she's "developed thousands of units of affordable houses"-try housing-"and subsidized many of the houses to make them affordable." Yes, it's always a good idea to make affordable housing affordable. Otherwise it wouldn't be affordable housing, or affordable houses, as it were.

REALLY, DAD Imagine you crashed your government car with no one around and instead of calling authorities, you simply disappeared, leaving an empty beer bottle inside the vehicle. Then, long afterward, you returned to the car too late for police to determine your blood-alcohol content at the time of the accident.

Then you told the district attorney the reason you left the scene was because you felt unsafe-in the ultra-quiet northern Westchester County town of North Castle, which has all of 38 police officers and one dog catcher and the median household income is over $100,000. Would the D.A. believe you? Brooklyn D.A. Joe Hynes would-at least, if you were his son Kevin Hynes, the third-ranking prosecutor in the office of Westchester County D.A. Jeanine Pirro.

Unfortunately for the younger Hynes, the local cops didn't buy his excuse. But without a sobriety test, the most they could charge him with was leaving the scene of an accident, punishable by up to 15 days in jail and a $250 fine, The New York Times reported. The paper noted that Joe Hynes issued a statement saying he believed his son's story and was satisfied that he had done nothing wrong.

McCALLA'S EXIT Last week, we reported that prospective Assembly candidate Daniel McCalla withdrew from the race against Roger Green because he couldn't collect 500 signatures to make the Democratic primary ballot, leaving Susan Metz as the only candidate opposing Bruce Ratner's arena project.

We based that report on a GothamGazette.com story that read: "Daniel McCalla, who had considered a run to challenge Green's support of the Nets arena, said he was not able to get enough signatures in time for the July 15 filing deadline for the Democratic primary-particularly since, he said, he figured the Democratic organization would challenge any signatures he did get. McCalla says he hopes to work for the election of Green Party candidate Metz in November."

But Metz called us with a different story. "Dan McCalla withdrew from the primary to support my candidacy," she said. "It was three weeks before the [filing] deadline that Dan decided to withdraw…It was a group decision." Said Metz, "He may have been able to identify more petitioners if there had been no other anti-arena candidate who could actually beat Roger Green, which we think we can." Arena opponent Schellie Hagan, who attended the "group decision" meeting along with Metz, McCalla, and her sister Patti Hagan, gave the same version of events as Metz. Hagan said they'd already collected more than 500 signatures for McCalla when the choice to go with Metz was made.

Metz needs to file 1,248 valid signatures from registered 57th A.D. voters by August 17 to make the November ballot against (presumably) Green and Republican Ric Ocasio. The unanswered question in the 57th is why pro-arena candidate Tammy Meadows filed petitions, then withdrew. One local observer told us it smacks of a deal between Green and BUILD, the pro-development group that was supporting Meadows.

CLARENCE IN COURT A supporter of Ed Roberts, who's running against Assemblyman Clarence Norman, claimed that three of Norman's employees collected "close to 2,000 signatures or at least signed off on them" and that these were "the bulk of his signatures." Norman had told our Helen Klein that he filed 6,500 signatures because so many people were inspired to help him after he was targeted for prosecution by District Attorney Joe Hynes. However, it seems most of Norman's signatures were on omnibus petitions carried for other candidates, such as Rep. Major Owens and State Senator Carl Andrews.

We're told that Roberts has subpoenaed Norman's entire staff and demanded their time cards for a hearing before Judge Ted Jones. The implication of that is that Roberts doesn't believe the staff members could collect so many signatures while also working full days for the state. Norman, incidentally, is reportedly being represented by attorney Richard Genovesi, son of the late Assemblyman Tony Genovesi, who was Norman's political rival through the 1990s.

REVENGE SOUGHT BY SLOAN When would-be Republican congressional candidate Sam Sloan's petitions were challenged by Republican officials, Sloan went on a quest to verify the voting addresses of his newfound enemies. Armed with a $60 Board of Elections CD-ROM bearing the names and addresses of all registered voters in New York City, he went to the listed home of the woman who filed objections to his Republican petitions, Bibi S. Khan. He discovered that Khan sold the building and moved out in 1997.

Sloan also went to Schenck Street in search of Diane Rudiano, the Republican official whose residence is there, according to Sloan's CD-ROM. Bear in mind that Bushwick has fewer Italian-Americans than a midnight screening of "Booty Call" in Harlem. Predictably, Sloan found no sign of Rudiano. Only a 98-year-old woman was living there. Sloan, who lives in East New York, said he just happened to be walking by the building when he remembered that Rudiano claimed to live there. "I was just curious," he said. "The building was kind of broken down. It didn't look like the kind of place that anyone with any money at all would live in."

Another Republican told Sloan he was using an old address list, but Sloan insisted it was current. Sloan also visited the listed address of the objector to his Independence Party petitions, but found it to be legitimate. Meanwhile, Sloan is running as a write-in candidate on the Independence and Working Families lines.

NOACH COMES KNOCKING Former City Councilman Noach Dear is leaving no stone unturned in his quest for votes against State Senator Kevin Parker. Five months before the Democratic primary he was ringing doorbells in a 475-unit, mostly black apartment complex. In one instance, a resident declined to open the door for Dear, saying she couldn't speak because of a death in the family. Days later she received a condolence letter from Dear. Now that is professional campaigning.

Unfortunately, in this particular case it didn't won't work because the woman was suspicious about why the letter, as well as an eight-page tabloid called "The Brooklyn Report" published by Dear's campaign she later received, consistently spelled Noach's first name "Noah." "The letter 'c' has vanished. I assume that's because my neighborhood is a community of color," the woman reported. "I can't swear that he's trying not to sound Jewish, but I'm skeptical."

Dear says the spelling change, which will not be reflected on the ballot, is because many people mispronounce Noach. His own campaign staffers still call him Noach, not Noah.

TIDBITS Rep. Major Owens sent out a press release "inviting the public to join him at a special showing of Michael Moore's controversial documentary film, Fahrenheit 9/11." But it was actually a fundraiser for his campaign, a fact that could easily have been missed-and was, in fact, by the editor of this newspaper, who published the item verbatim at no charge, a courtesy intended only for public service messages…

Sunset Park politicians and activists are complaining about adult video stores and strip clubs, which have proliferated there since a 1995 law relegated them to places like 3rd Avenue. The locals say the businesses are taking advantage of low rents. You don't suppose if the zoning were changed, porn shops left, and rents went up, nobody would complain about rising rents and gentrification and poor folks being priced out by yuppies, do you?

A downtown Brooklyn woman who won millions in a lawsuit against the city, but has been unable to collect because of continual appeals, staged a solo silent protest on the steps of City Hall. Her permit gave her an hour to demonstrate, and there she stood on a sweltering day until, with six minutes left, Mayor Mike Bloomberg happened by. She shook his hand and wished him a good afternoon, and he asked for a copy of her media advisory and then promised to read it. Expect the city to continue appealing the case…

There's a divide between the Republicans who run the state party (led by Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and Governor George Pataki) and Brooklyn's party leaders. In the middle is State Senator Marty Golden, who tries to stay on good terms with both sides. Brooklyn's Republican leaders, meanwhile, can't get too rebellious because that would compromise Golden's standing in Albany. "It could spell disaster and a return to feudalism," one Brooklyn Republican commented. "Brooklyn needs to come to terms with Republican Albany very soon."

Councilman Simcha Felder thought he was helping homeowners by writing legislation limiting the time residential properties can be ticketed for dirty sidewalks to two hours per day. But thanks to a vengeful Bloomberg administration, the measure may backfire. According to the Daily News, the Department of Sanitation has proposed ticketing hours of 8 to 9 a.m. and noon to 1 p.m. Felder is furious because homeowners who work during the day can't possibly sweep their sidewalks at noon. Look for him to round up angry constituents to blast the plan at its August 11 public hearing…

The Campaign Finance Board fined former Councilman Ken Fisher's 2001 campaign for borough president $48,110 for violating the expenditure limit by that amount in the Democratic primary. The effect of a fine three years after the fact is questionable, but in this case the excessive spending didn't help anyway. Fisher finished third behind Marty Markowitz and Jeannette Gadson…

Canarsie resident Francisco Hall was kicked off the ballot after he was found to have just 286 valid signatures on his petitions, a source reported. He needed 500 to challenge Assemblyman Frank Seddio in the Democratic primary…

A third Democrat, Aaron C. Martin, filed petitions to run in the primary against Assemblyman William F. Boyland and Reggie Bowman. Bowman is backed by Rep. Major Owens, who is upset that Boyland's sister Tracy Boyland is running against him for Congress…

At last check, Allen Herschaft of Manhattan Beach was still on the ballot against Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz. We're told Herschaft collected his signatures himself, not the usual method for successful campaigns…

A Canarsien called to weigh in on the subject of the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club, claiming, "It is a Mafia-like organization." Well, no-the club doesn't have a network of hit men. But local critics do believe it's too powerful and self-interested. "They control everything," the caller said, adding, "They haven't worked for anyone except their local people since [President Lyndon] Johnson won in 1964." Speaking of the T.J. Club, it's decided to campaign for Civil Court candidate April Newbauer following the withdrawal from the race of its first choice, Saul Needle…

Crain's and other sources reported that Republican Al Curtis will be endorsed by powerful hospital workers union 1199 SEIU in the race to succeed retiring State Senator Seymour Lachman. The leak hints of a deal between the union and state Republican leaders. Two years ago, the union traded an endorsement of Governor George Pataki for a fat new contract…

In a Bay News article about the retirement of School District 21 Superintendent Ethel Tucker, she said, "Our community school boards, no matter which members were on it, always were dedicated to children and did the best they could for the children and parents." That would include board members' own children and parents, who frequently found jobs in the district during the early 1990s when Tucker was a loyal deputy superintendent to Donny Weber. The rampant nepotism and cronyism ultimately helped cause the demise of community school boards…

Our Joe Maniscalco reported allegations that the three councilmen who appoint Community Board 15 members have tried to influence their votes. Responded Councilman Lew Fidler, "I can guarantee you that I haven't and I can guarantee you that Domenic Recchia hasn't." He didn't mention Councilman Mike Nelson. Do you suppose Fidler is still upset that Nelson voted to oust Fidler as Brooklyn delegation chairman? No, according to Fidler, who said he's patched things up with Nelson…

We've been told the Democrat running against Assemblyman Frank Seddio is not Charles Harary but Charles R. Harary. Apparently the Mill Island accountant doesn't want to get mixed up with another Charles Harary.

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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