DAVIS, MONTGOMERY OFFER COMIC RELIEF Even after listening to the three consecutive phone messages left by Councilman James E. Davis on state Senator Velmanette Montgomery's voice-mail, we're not sure if Davis was truly furious or just having fun with his political rival. Nor can we discern whether Montgomery was actually outraged at Davis's messages or simply publicized them to make him look bad. What is certain is the hilarity of their latest tiff, which stemmed from Montgomery omitting Davis's name from her brochure of local elected officials' contact information (inadvertently, she claims).

Here are some excerpts from Davis's first voice-mail message: "You didn't put Councilman James E. Davis (in the brochure). You had David Yassky, Al Vann, Angel Rodriguez, Bill deBlasio, and Tracy Boyland. "This blatant disrespect of Councilman James E. Davis, that's the problem, Velmanette Montgomery, that's the problem-your immaturity, that kid stuff, that negative stuff on your part, that's why there's political back-and-forth. You disrespect me as an elected official by not putting me in this, and you put in Angel Rodriguez, a man who was indicted, a man who was convicted. But you didn't put Councilman James E. Davis. And then you wonder why there's a new sheriff in town. Then you wonder why we go back and forth and get in the newspapers."

Davis then turned his attention to his reelection next year and Montgomery's in 2004. "If you support somebody against me in 2003, fine-2004 is coming. If I lose in 2003, fine. You and me in 2004. So disrespect me, I make a note of it. Nothing I can do about it, but make a note." He concluded, "This is your councilman, James E. Davis, and if you ever need me, I'm at 324 DeKalb Avenue, 718-857-0959."

Davis's second message contained his ransom demand, as it were: "This is the lowest kind of politics, to use your office as a state senator to politic… This is blatant disrespect to me and is outrageous and I'm very disappointed in you for omitting my name as an elected official." "You can run against me in 2003, you can support Tish James against me in 2003, you can support anybody against me. I'm going to win in 2003, and then I'm going to have a strong memory in 2004. I'm not going to forget what people did in 2003." "I'm going to continue to be professional. You should send a letter to the newspapers, you should apologize to me and to the voters. I demand an apology. I know you won't apologize. I know you will not rise to that level." "I forgive you as a Christian, as a man of God."

Davis may have forgiven Montgomery, but he wasn't finished venting about the omission, so he called a third time. The highlights: "I want an apology, a written apology, to me, James Davis. I know it was on purpose." "Like I made clear, I will beat Tish James in the next election. I will beat anybody in the next election. If you run, I will beat you in the next election, too." "How you treat me from this day forward will determine how and what I do in 2004 with you and anybody else. This immaturity is outrageous." "I'm not going to go to the media yet. I'm going to give you an opportunity to apologize to me in writing. I will never use state-funded monies to disrespect your office. This (brochure) doesn't say paid for by Friends of Velmanette Montgomery." "I'm giving you time, otherwise I'm going to the press."

But Montgomery went to the press first with her refusal to apologize. That occasioned a fourth call from Davis, prompting Montgomery to write back accusing him of "using an intimidating tone and speaking in a threatening and hostile manner" in calls that "border on harassment" and are "insulting and demeaning to our status as elected officials." (Our note to Davis: Just keep doing what you're doing. We can always use the material.)

Montgomery sent copies of her letter to the local police commander and District Attorney Joe Hynes. She also cc'd unspecified "colleagues" and "press," which Davis wrote back was evidence of her "campaign to publicly discredit" him. Davis cc'd unnamed "colleagues" and "press" on his letter as well. Touché.

SARA AMENDS ABORTION ANSWER The new councilwoman from Sunset Park, Sara Gonzalez, clarified for us her position on whether poor women should be able to get abortions funded by Medicaid. Well, she didn't clarify it-she changed it.

At a Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats endorsement meeting before the election, district leader Alan Fleishman asked Gonzalez if she were pro-choice. Yes, she said. Then he asked if she supported Medicaid paying for abortions. Gonzalez said she did not. She reiterated that she supported a woman's right to choose, but of Medicaid-funded abortions, she said, "That goes a step further."

Now she's telling a different story. Gonzalez supports Medicaid paying for abortions and always has, said her spokeswoman, Lynn Schulman. Why did she tell CBID otherwise? Schulman said Gonzalez was being peppered with questions and "it got a little bit confusing."

But we couldn't detect any confusion, and doubt that any of the dozens of other people in the room thought Gonzalez misunderstood the question, which was asked clearly and loudly.

SPOUSE IN CONGRESS? APPLY HERE Shake a stick in the office of City Comptroller Billy Thompson and you're likely to hit the spouse of a Brooklyn politician. The comptroller, a Bedford-Stuyvesant resident and former deputy Brooklyn borough president, has just hired Joyce Miller, the wife of Rep. Jerry Nadler, and Paul Bader, the husband of Rep. Nydia Velazquez. Miller's getting $123,000 a year to be an administrative accountant, while Bader's making do with $90,000 as an assistant to the deputy comptroller. Both started work in October.

Also on the payroll is Councilman Bill deBlasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, a $75,000-a-year speechwriter. We're told that Thompson also wanted to hire Rep. Anthony Weiner's wife but was disappointed to learn that the congressman isn't married.

NORMAN COULD GAIN IF CONNOR QUITS What follows is pure speculation on our part, which we're thankful is still legal (though we don't want to give John Ashcroft any ideas). Assemblyman Clarence Norman's power as Brooklyn Democratic chairman took a hit when his ally Marty Connor lost the Democratic leadership of the state Senate, but Norman could now benefit more if Connor resigned rather than finish his two-year term.

How so? If Connor quits mid-stream, Democratic Party rules give him and Manhattan Democratic leader Herman Farrell joint power to choose the Democratic nominee for the special election to replace him. The rules don't even require the two leaders to convene county committee members from Connor's 25th Senate District, though they might do so anyway, particularly if they couldn't agree on a nominee. Of course, Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver could "help" Assemblymen Norman and Farrell choose someone.

A candidate hand-picked by Norman would be indebted to him, whereas if Connor serves out his term, as he says he will, the normal election rules would apply in 2004 and someone could win without any back-room dealing with county leaders.

SNEAKY MAILING EXPLAINED The truth finally emerged about sneaky literature mailed to voters by Senator Vinny Gentile in the final week of his losing campaign against Councilman Marty Golden. The mailing announced that Gentile had been endorsed by "Senator Krueger"-meaning Liz Krueger of Manhattan. It was obviously designed to fool people into believing Senator Carl Kruger of Brooklyn endorsed Gentile, when in fact Kruger backed Golden.

Our understanding is the mailing was conceived by Senator Marty Connor, Gentile's biggest supporter. Connor's people initially defended the mailing but didn't take credit for it. Later, Kruger told us, "Liz Krueger knew nothing about that mailing. Never approved it, never signed onto it, was outraged over it." We called Connor. "It was authorized," Connor's spokeswoman Sue Gold insisted. "Marty would not do that to a member. Marty has integrity." She later called back and added, "It was Senator Tom Duane's idea."

We called Duane's office. "It's absurd to think that Tom could have had anything to do with that," said Duane's spokeswoman, Jackie Brot. "Other than contributing (money) to (Gentile's) campaign, he had no further involvement." We called Liz Krueger as well and she confirmed Kruger's account. "We did endorse Gentile," said a Krueger spokesman, "but everything else we knew nothing about."

It's obvious that Connor blamed Duane for the mailing because Duane organized the coup that succeeded in replacing Connor as senate minority leader with David Paterson. Nonetheless, even one of Connor's enemies admitted to being impressed by the cleverness of the mailing, calling it "brilliant."

HIKIND TO HOST PATERSON One of David Paterson's first steps following his election as minority leader of the state Senate was to schedule a meet-and-greet with Assemblyman Dov Hikind and other Borough Park community leaders for the following afternoon.

The November 20 neighborhood tour was canceled because of a scheduling conflict, but will be held sometime in December when Hikind returns from a trip to Israel. Paterson undoubtedly wants to assure Orthodox leaders that he is not a close ally of Al Sharpton, who had lobbied strongly for Paterson to replace Marty Connor as minority leader. On the day of his election, Paterson told reporters that Sharpton had nothing to do with it.

NORMAN QUIETS UPRISING Democratic county leader Clarence Norman is said to be planning reforms to what some call the undemocratic, secretive way County endorses judicial candidates. Norman would just assume keep the status quo, but pressure for reforms is building and he'd rather make them on his own terms than be given a mandate.

That's why, at a recent meeting of about 25 of Brooklyn's 40 Democratic district leaders, Norman interceded before a vote could be taken on a motion by Joanne Seminara of Bay Ridge to form a committee to examine the process by which County nominates Supreme Court candidates. The issue is important because County essentially decides who sits on the Supreme Court in Brooklyn. (There are no party primaries for these judgeships in Brooklyn, unlike for Civil Court.) A recent New York Times editorial put it bluntly: "Defenders of this farcical system talk piously about voter choice and preserving democracy. But as this year's judicial elections underscore, the only thing really being preserved is clubhouse control of lucrative courthouse patronage." Seminara said, "I think it's a real important issue. I'm a lawyer and I want to make sure the best qualified judges are being placed."

After Seminara's motion, which was seconded by Park Slope's Alan Fleishman, Norman asked if the matter could be postponed until he could meet privately with Seminara. Mike Geller of Sheepshead Bay, though supportive of Seminara's plan, seconded Lori Knipel's motion to table it, which passed. "He threw Clarence a little line there, but this issue isn't going away," one witness said of Geller, adding, "This was one of the most awkward meetings I've ever been in."

Some district leaders are also privately questioning the way County unofficially supports candidates for political office without a formal discussion or vote of the executive committee. For example, County assisted Omar Boucher, who badly lost the state Senate primary in Flatbush.

RELAX, WE'LL PRINT IT Someone out there really doesn't like Councilman Bill deBlasio. This person, whose identity we don't know, was obviously miffed by deBlasio's August decision to retract his endorsement of Civil Court Judge Margarita Lopez Torres (as a favor to deBlasio's friend, United Federation of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten, who supported another candidate, Housing Court Judge Marcia Sikowitz). But our mysterious deBlasio hater felt that deBlasio's giving $1,000 from his campaign committee to Sikowitz wasn't exactly being "neutral."

To make sure we knew about the gift, the anonymous reader photocopied the form listing the donation and mailed it to our house. Then mailed another copy to the newspaper office. Then faxed a copy to the office. Then faxed us a copy at home.

Okay, we got it! Stop killing trees! Councilman deBlasio, incidentally, doesn't feel his donation was at odds with his public neutrality in the race, which Sikowitz lost.

ET TU, GELLER? Democratic district leader Mike Geller, who's made a curious habit of endorsing Republicans, recently sat on a panel interviewing candidates and asked a few Democrats about the recent trend of Democrats endorsing Republicans-without mentioning that he was one of them. At the time Geller was preparing to endorse Republicans George Pataki for governor and Marty Golden for state Senate. It was as if he wanted to see if he were being a bad boy.

He promptly got an earful from Rep. Major Owens, a card-carrying liberal Democrat. "If people keep defecting…we weaken our position in Washington," the congressman said, mentioning his nemesis Una Clarke (now working for Pataki) as a culprit. He intimated that some Democrats were crossing party lines in the hopes of getting money or political favors from Republicans. "The people who are defecting now are old-fashioned folks who are looking for some crumbs," Owens said. "Democrats who defect for those kinds of reasons deserve to be pinpointed and called to task."

Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs said, "The governor is buying his way into these communities and the community leaders are saying, 'Buy me, buy me'…I'm really disturbed that some of our Democratic elected officials have bought into that."

Days later, Geller's High-Way Democratic Club on Avenue U endorsed Pataki and was thanked by the governor in person. The club also endorsed Golden over state Senator Vinny Gentile, a Democrat, and Geller wrote a letter supporting Republican Al Curtis over Democratic state Senator Seymour Lachman. (Geller's Democratic club was the first to endorse Rudy Giuliani, in 1993.) "I know it sounds corny, but I'm really looking for the best guy," Geller said. Geller said Pataki's leadership after September 11 earned him the club's endorsement. We wonder whether New York City schoolchildren would prefer Pataki's leadership or the $300 million in education funding he denies them every year by maintaining an inequitable school funding formula.

Borough Politics Archive

2002
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2002
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2001
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2000
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1999
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