Clinton Campaign Organizes In The Slope Bill de Blasio, Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign manager, met Sunday with almost 80 local leaders and organizers from the Park Slope area to galvanize grassroots efforts during the last weeks of the campaign. One odd moment occurred when a man asked why he should vote for Clinton given the financial troubles of School District 15, where de Blasio is a school board member. The school board has no control over the district's finances, and in his answer de Blasio separated the Senate race from district issues and later met personally with the man.

Overall, local organizers stressed turnout in the brownstone neighborhoods, which should be fruitful areas for Clinton. Attendees included several elected officials and presidents of local clubs, as well as Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers and a Park Slope resident.

One of Clinton's biggest supporters is the South Brooklyn arm of the Working Families Party, which will have roughly 1,200 people out on Election Day. The WFP will also reprise their "Friends and Neighbors" strategy from 1998, when they asked people for a list of their friends and neighbors, and then used the source's name to personalize messages for people on their list.

Poll Staffing Irks Davis District Leader James Davis is again at odds with Brooklyn's Democratic Party boss, Assemblymember Clarence Norman, Jr. This time, Davis is stewing because Norman won't accept Davis' recommendations for Election Day poll workers. Instead, Norman is recommending that the Board of Elections hire only from his own list. "He has a personal vendetta," said the never-demure Davis. "This is clearly an abuse of authority. Instead of uniting us around the bandwagon, he goes with this type of behavior. I'm prepared to take Clarence Norman and the county to court."

Shortly after he lost a bitter Assembly race to Norman but won the male leadership, Davis said that he would refrain from criticizing Norman. a vow that lasted about 10 seconds. Despite his cries of foul, Davis may be hamstrung on this one. Jeff Feldman of the Kings County Democratic Party said that under the law, Davis has no basis to object. "State committee members are not afforded any authority under election law to do anything," he said. "The chairman has the right to appoint anyone who the chair deems to so recommend, and can select from the recommendations made to his office without fetter by the election law. As they say, Mr. Davis is learning that not a whole lot comes with the position that he's won election to."

Davis did get one piece of good news this week when the Police Department informed him that he is able to work as a cop while being district leader. However, the letter from the city's Law Department contained a potentially ominous final sentence, "Election Law 17-110 further prohibits Police Officers from soliciting, collecting or receiving funds for any political fund, club, association, society or committee." Davis took it to mean that he could raise funds as long as he did so exclusively in his role of district leader, and not as a police officer. But when asked if the law could prevent Davis from raising funds altogether, his lawyer, Harry Kresky, wasn't so sure. "I think that's an important question," he said. "We'll certainly check that out."

Brooklyn's Choice Brooklyn's elected officials are way ahead of their colleagues in supporting abortion rights, according to an analysis released by the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League of New York State. NARAL rates 73.5 percent of Brooklyn's officials in Congress and the state legislature as "pro-choice champions," as compared with only 44.4 percent statewide. Only 5.8 percent of Brooklyn officials were rated a "threat to women," compared with 37.3 percent statewide. The only two Brooklyn officials listed in the "threat" category are Rep. Vito Fossella and Assemblymember Dov Hikind.

"I think they should call my wife and talk to her, or talk to my daughter," said Hikind. "That's a pretty inflammatory thing to say. I would think that they need psychological counseling if this is the way they talk. What does that mean I'm a threat to women? Which women? They should really examine their rhetoric. I'm not going to lose any sleep over this, I guarantee you, but I would advise them not to use that kind of language. That's pretty incredible. Someone must have had a bad day."

Fossella spokesperson Craig Donner said, "People can have an honest disagreement over this issue, but there's no need to use such inflammatory language."

"In 1998 in Kings County there were 16,243 abortions," said Erica Pelatreau of NARAL. "Abortion care is a basic medical health care process that women are having on a regular basis, and these two (Hikind and Fossella) would try and stop it."

The Scarlet Web Page Shame has historically been used as a tool of persuasion, and now the Campaign Finance Board is publicly shaking its finger at two Brooklyn councilmembers who have yet to fork over fines and repay public funds from their 1997 races. The board has added a page to its Web site listing all candidates who have outstanding fines as a "final effort by the board to encourage payment," according to a press release.

Councilmember Una Clarke owes more than $48,066 in penalties and $9,877 in outstanding repayments, according to the board. The violation occurred when she exceeded spending limits, a move that was all the more noticeable coming against a creampuff opponent who was not at all competitive on Election Day. Richard Ayleen, a Clarke spokesperson, said that Clarke was in the process of appealing the fine.

Councilmember Howard Lasher owes $200 in penalties and $3,258 in outstanding repayments, according to the board. Susan Lasher, his wife and treasurer, said that the violations stemmed from minor omissions in the documentation of contributors, and that she had provided the board with proof of her efforts to supply the details.

Borough Politics Archive
October 16 column.
October 9 column.
October 2 column.
September 25 column.
September 18 column.
September 11 column.
September 4 column.
August 28 column.
August 21 column.
August 7 column.
July 31 column.
July 24 column.
July 17 column.
July 10 column.
June 26 column.
June 19 column.
June 12 column.
May 15 column.
May 8 column.
April 24 column.
April 10 column.
March 13 column.
March 7 column.
February 21 column.
February 14 column.
February 7 column.
January 31 column.
January 24 column.
January 17 column.
December 16 column.
December 9 column.
December 2 column.
November 25 column.
November 18 column.
November 11 column.
November 4 column.