CONNOR FINALLY CONCEDES Senate Minority Leader Marty Connor of Brooklyn Heights did not crawl into a shell when Manhattan Senator David Paterson announced on November 13 that he had more than the 13 votes needed to wrest the leadership of the Democratic conference from Connor on November 19. Rather, Connor enlisted the help of Assemblyman Clarence Norman, the Brooklyn Democratic leader, as well as other county leaders and just about everyone he could think of, to try to swing three or four Paterson supporters back to his side. But it was like trying to stop a wave from crashing on the beach. Paterson continued to pick up support until, at 1:30 p.m. on the day of the vote, Connor finally conceded and in fact voted for Paterson as well. Connor also squelched speculation that he would leave office if he lost the leadership, declaring in a statement, "I am looking forward to the next two years in the Senate." That's bad news for his staff member Kathryn Fried, the former Manhattan councilwoman, who's telling people she'd probably run for Connor's seat if he quit.

The leadership battle made for a long, frustrating week for Norman, a longtime ally of Connor whom the senator had entrusted to keep Brooklyn representatives in his corner. In turn, Connor has hired more than a few associates of Norman, including Jeff Feldman, who manages to hold down a second job as executive director of Norman's county organization. Norman spent much of the week frantically trying to drum up support for Connor, who nonetheless felt Norman could be doing more. Among other arguments, Norman told Brooklyn senators that it was good to have a Brooklynite leading the conference. "I was a little torn," said senator-elect Kevin Parker of Flatbush. "I think all of us were a little torn." He said he sided with Paterson because the Democrats needed a "spark."

Particularly embarrassing for Norman is that every Democratic state Senator in Brooklyn except for Seymour Lachman sided with Paterson last week-including Carl Andrews, who won his seat largely because of Norman's support and friendship. Praising Lachman for his loyalty, Connor's spokeswoman Sue Gold said, "Senator Lachman has integrity." A day or two later, Lachman pledged his support to Paterson. Ouch.

Referring to Senators Andrews, Lachman, Velmanette Montgomery, Carl Kruger, and John Sampson, and Senators-elect Kevin Parker and Marty Malave Dilan, Paterson's spokesman Michael Jones-Bey said the day before the vote, "They are solidly behind Senator Paterson." Norman eventually gave up and, according to one rumor, told Paterson he would support him if the new minority leader would spare Feldman's job. Paterson reportedly refused. (Feldman didn't return our call about this before press time.) "I'm glad that at the end Clarence did the prudent thing and decided to step back," said Parker, who's no ally of the county leader.

How desperate was Connor? Even Kruger, whom Connor vowed on November 5 to kick out of the Democratic caucus for endorsing the Republican opponent of conference member Vinny Gentile, said he was asked to ditch Paterson. "Everyone who could call on behalf of Senator Connor did call," Kruger reported. But Kruger wasn't in a forgiving mood. "The days of totalitarian, blind leadership can no longer exist," Kruger said.

Gold said of Kruger, "Marty would rather walk away from the leadership than have to stand with somebody like Carl Kruger and Al Sharpton. He has too much integrity." Yet four days later, Connor did stand with Kruger, or at least voted for the same candidate. Of Paterson's coup, which was supported by Sharpton and David Dinkins, Kruger said, "I'm not in the least bit surprised. I knew this was in the offing… I'm glad that in some measure I played a role in making it happen."

Kruger said the threat of his expulsion from the conference is dead, but Parker told us that Paterson was "going to develop a process and they're going to hear from Senator Kruger, Vincent Gentile, Marty Connor, and others in the conference who have a stake in this issue." Connor had been minority leader since 1994, four years after his first attempt for the leadership failed. He will formally turn the leadership over to Paterson at the end of the year.

SUNSET PARK REMATCH ON HORIZON? There's strong sentiment that School Board 15 member Eddie Rodriguez and/or Democratic district leader George Martinez will take on City Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez again in next September's Democratic primary. Gonzalez won 44 percent of the vote to Rodriguez's 30 and Martinez's 26 in a special election November 5, but Rodriguez and Martinez believe they might have won had Gonzalez's name not been listed under the Democratic column on the ballot.

Martinez, who appeared unintentionally under the Republican line, said he might run again in 2003. Remove ballot position from the equation, he said, and all three candidates would likely have been "in the same ballpark" on November 5. "I think the placement on the ballot was the single largest factor in determining who our new councilmember is," Martinez said. "Absolutely. No question about it." "To say something like that is an insult to the voters," responded Lynn Schulman, a spokeswoman for Gonzalez. "It's an insult to them to say they only voted that way because they didn't know what else to do." Schulman said Gonzalez was simply the best candidate.

By September Gonzalez will have had the advantage of nearly a year of incumbency, though there are suggestions that mantle could be used against her. However, the rage-against-the-machine strategy failed miserably for insurgent candidates this year, as evidenced by the lopsided primary victories of Assemblyman Clarence Norman and state Senator Carl Andrews. Besides, Democratic machine leaders were careful not to advertise their involvement with Gonzalez's recent campaign, and figure to stay in the shadows again next summer so as not to taint her candidacy. Typically, incumbents are more vulnerable in their first defense following a special election. Gonzalez would be wise to mimic Andrews's effort following his special-election victory last February. But Andrews has political savvy that Gonzalez lacks.

As one of Gonzalez's supporters, Councilman Lew Fidler, put it, "She's not slick, but she's genuine." It didn't take long for Martinez to criticize Gonzalez's performance, noting her absence from a November 14 council hearing on lead-paint legislation important to Sunset Park. We pointed out that Gonzalez wasn't officially a councilwoman yet, since the Board of Elections hadn't certified the election results.

Martinez countered, "But anytime kids from the neighborhood can stand up and speak on behalf of their own health, the next city councilwoman has a responsibility to be there as well." Schulman didn't say why Gonzalez missed the hearing, but said she was briefed on it. "Of course the councilwoman is very concerned about lead paint," Schulman said. "It's her actions and her vote that count, and she'll be voting on behalf of the district when the vote comes up." Martinez must be slipping-he neglected to mention the $300 in fines levied against Gonzalez's campaign by the Campaign Finance Board for one over-the-limit contribution and three unreported in-kind contributions. "It really isn't a big deal," said Lois Marbach, Gonzalez's campaign consultant. "A $300 fine for a first-time candidate is not noteworthy." (No argument here.)

Looking ahead, the 2003 election in the 38th Council District will have a personality quite different from the one just concluded, largely because the district lines are being radically redrawn. The first proposed redistricting plan eliminates Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Boerum Hill, and other neighborhoods on the north end of the district and replaces them with a corridor that runs through Little Chinatown, Borough Park, and Bensonhurst-populations that don't know Gonzalez and have little in common with her.

However, some of these new areas fall within the 51st Assembly District, which Martinez represents as a Democratic district leader. The time he spends there could help him in September if he decides to run in the council primary, he said. Moreover, Martinez added, the neighborhoods being drawn out of the district were Rodriguez's base, hurting his chances of winning in 2003.

Fidler figures to back Gonzalez again, which would figure to earn him Gonzalez's support if he tried to become council speaker in 2005. Fidler said he hasn't discussed the next speaker's race with Gonzalez. The man some see as Fidler's main Brooklyn rival, Councilman Bill deBlasio, told us he's far from deciding whether to run for speaker in two years, especially since he first needs to be reelected in 2003. "It's tempting fate to talk about what will happen" in 2005, deBlasio said. "It's extremely premature to think about who will be running for speaker when we don't even know who the councilmembers will be." Fidler told us likewise. But the next race for speaker, however cloudy, has relevance today, what with the Fidler-deBlasio rivalry playing a role in the recent 38th C.D. election and likely to do so again next summer, if Rodriguez runs.

NELLIE MAILS IT IN Lest Assemblyman Roger Green think we singled him out when we raised the possibility that his Assembly staff members improperly participated in his reelection campaign, we bring your attention to a fax we received from state Senator Nellie Santiago a week before the November 5 election. The fax, on Santiago's Senate letterhead, announced that Santiago's candidacy had been endorsed by the big union 1199. It listed Santiago's taxpayer-salaried press secretary, Aisha Tator, as the media contact, giving Tator's number in Santiago's Albany office. It's incredible that after 10 years in office, Santiago doesn't realize that it's illegal to use a taxpayer-funded office to campaign. That's why candidates form campaign committees, raise money, and hire a campaign staff.

We called the senator's office and were told that it sends out faxes like that all the time. The attitude seemed to be, What's the big deal? Pardon us for expecting lawmakers to actually follow the law.

Fortunately, Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes cares deeply about enforcing our state election law, as evidenced by his seven-year prosecution of illegal voter John O'Hara, and figures to bring charges against Santiago any century now. OK, so handcuffs are not in the offing. But still, why was Santiago so slipshod? It's possible that as a lame duck-she'd already lost the Democratic primary in Bushwick and had no shot to win the general election-she just didn't care about the legalities of campaigning any more.

If so, she should have simply shut down her campaign entirely. Few would have noticed.

CHEER OF THE WEEK The father of a certain Brooklyn political columnist recently identified himself as such to Assemblywoman Joan Millman, who, having the good manners to say nothing when one has nothing nice to say, simply rolled her eyes. We appreciate Millman's restraint.

Perhaps to forestall such encounters, Dad has suggested that we include a weekly cheer to a politician who has done something good. Well, we like challenges. And finding something in Brooklyn politics to cheer about every week certainly won't be easy. (For the sake of this column's reputation, we must at least maintain an appearance of cynicism.) But we do have an initial cheer recipient: Councilman David Yassky, who represents Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, and a few other neighborhoods.

Yassky and Manhattan colleague Christine Quinn have introduced a bill to ban the sale of candy or 20-ounce bottles of soda in public schools. Given the plague of childhood obesity over the last 20 years, stopping schools from selling junk food has long been an obvious step. But not much has been done, in part because short-sighted educators don't want to give up the revenue from vending machines. "Some principals have said that they like having vending machines there because they get the revenue from it," Yassky said. "My response is they can get the same revenue from a machine that just sells juice and pretzels, not soda and candy. For a few dollars, it's really not worth causing the health problems that we know obesity causes."

The Department of Education has told the councilman that it supports his bill "in concept." The details figure to emerge in the spring when hearings on the bill will be held. "I expect that we'll be able to move it through," Yassky said.

NOT LONG FOR COUNCIL RACE One potential candidate has reportedly decided not to run for the City Council seat that Marty Golden will vacate at year's end. Eileen Long, daughter of Conservative Party chief Mike Long, has decided to stay at her job as an aide to Governor George Pataki. One observer remarked that she probably didn't want to take a pay cut. Long's withdrawal puts Golden in a bit of a pickle, as he now doesn't have an obvious candidate to endorse. He could have endorsed Long and explained to the other candidates that he had no choice, given Long's father's strong support for Golden over the years.

With Long out, Golden will have to come up with new and better apologies for the friends and political allies who don't get his endorsement. "This race promises to be a good one, just for the fact that so many of Marty's supporters are going to learn a very harsh lesson in politics," one source commented.

Also, we omitted some potential candidates from the list in last week's issue. They are: longtime Bay Ridge community leader Marianne Teta, former Community Board 10 chairman Kirk Tzanides, and Anthony Ceretti Jr., who ran for the seat in 1997 but got just 5 percent of the vote in the Republican primary, well behind Golden (62 percent) and Bob DiCarlo (33 percent). The special election will likely be in February.

Borough Politics Archive

2002
Novemer 18 column.
November 11 column.
November 4 column.
October 28 column.
October 21 column.
October 14 column.
October 7 column.
September 30 column.
September 23 column.
September 16 column.
September 9 column.
September 2 column.
August 26 column.
August 19 column.
August 12 column.
August 5 column.
July 29 column.
July 22 column.
July 8 column.
July 1 column.
June 17 column.
June 10 column.
June 3 column.
May 27 column.
May 20 column.
May 13 column.
May 6 column.
April 29 column.
April 22 column.
April 15 column.
April 8 column.
April 1 column.
March 25 column.
March 18 column.
March 11 column.
March 4 column.
February 25 column.
February 18 column.
February 11 column.
February 4 column.
January 28 column.
January 21 column.
January 7 column.

2001
December 10 column.
December 3 column.
November 19 column.
November 12 column.
November 5 column.
October 22 column.
October 1 column.
September 6 column.
September 4 column.
August 30 column.
July 23 column.
July 2 column.
June 25 column.
June 11 column.
May 28 column.
May 21 column.
May 14 column.
May 7 column.
April 30 column.
April 23 column.
April 9 column.
April 2 column.
March 26 column.
March 19 column.
March 12 column.
March 5 column.
February 26 column.
February 19 column.
February 12 column.
February 5 column.
January 29 column.
January 22 column.
January 15 column.
January 8 column.
January 1 column.

2000
December 25 column.
December 18 column.
December 11 column.
December 4 column.
November 27 column.
November 20 column.
November 13 column.
November 6 column.
October 30 column.
October 23 column.
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.

1999
December 16 column.
December 9 column.
December 2 column.
November 25 column.
November 18 column.
November 11 column.
November 4 column.