POLS IGNORE GAY GROUP In our endless quest to stir up trouble, we unearthed an item about Councilman Mike Nelson in the March 1999 newsletter of Lambda Independent Democrats, Brooklyn's gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender political club.

Lambda noted that Nelson had won the February 1999 special election without seeking the support of the gay organization. Nelson's opponents, Alan Sclar and Irma Kramer, also didn't visit the club, which responded by sending a letter to hundreds of residents of the district deploring the lack of "backbone" among the candidates as "pathetic." "The LID board settled on the tactic after deciding that in 1999 it is unacceptable-both morally and politically-for any candidate in any neighborhood in Brooklyn to refuse to embrace equal rights for lesbians and gay men," the newsletter explained. "We are hopeful that Councilman Nelson will follow in the footsteps of his predecessor (Anthony Weiner) and support the lesbian and gay community's struggle for equality. Time will tell."

Four years and several elections later, Nelson has yet to seek Lambda's endorsement. He's not alone. "The list of those who consistently snub us is extremely long," one Lambda member e-mailed us. But not so long that we can't print it here. According to club archivist David Shanton, snubbers of Lambda include, in the Assembly, Peter Abbate, Diane Gordon, Joe Lentol, Vito Lopez, Helene Weinstein, Frank Seddio, Dov Hikind, and Bill Colton. In the Council, Charles Barron, Kendall Stewart, Sara Gonzalez, Simcha Felder, Erik Martin Dilan, and in his last race, Vincent Gentile. In the Senate, Seymour Lachman and Carl Kruger.

Former Lambda President Alan Fleishman recalled, "The rest of the Brooklyn delegation has a spotty record at best. For example, LID was a major supporter of Annette Robinson when she ran against Enoch Williams in 1985. Now that she is in a 'safe' seat in the Assembly, she doesn't deal with us." Shanton remembered Assemblyman Nick Perry and State Senator John Sampson seeking Lambda's support when they needed it, then ignoring the club afterward.

Sclar, who lost to Nelson, doesn't remember why he didn't come to Lambda, but it wasn't because he opposes gay rights. "I am a huge supporter of Lambda and the gay community. I believe in the rights of gays to marry. I did not snub the club," he said.

YASSKY AT NORMAN'S SOIREE Councilman David Yassky, who has criticized the selection of Supreme Court judges over which Assemblyman Clarence Norman presides, turned heads by appearing at Norman's pre-election fundraiser at Gage & Tollner. Yassky said the event aids Democratic candidates, "most of whom I supported," except for the judicial candidates and Council hopeful Geoffrey Davis (Yassky backed Tish James).

The fact is, Yassky won't be able to skip many political shindigs as long as he remains a potential candidate for Brooklyn district attorney in 2005. "I think it's still wide open," he said of the race. Yassky said his internal polls showed him with a big lead in that hypothetical race, though his polls "have been limited to members of my immediate family and a few neighbors." On a serious note, he added, "We'll see if the incumbent [Joe Hynes] runs for reelection… I think that's very much an open question."

Hynes might be surprised to read that. His campaign consultant Morty Matz told us Hynes intends to run again.

WEINER WONKED Rep. Anthony Weiner was peeved when the Campaign Finance Board (CFB) proposed that he not be able to use the cash in his congressional campaign committee to run for mayor of New York City. The question now is whether the City Council will make it law. Speaker Gifford Miller, who plans to run for mayor himself, favors the bill, but he'll need 34 votes (of 51) to override Mayor Mike Bloomberg's promised veto. "If Gifford wants to pass this, he's going to," Weiner said. "I think it's going to become law."

Good-government groups have long sought a measure so "fat cats" (Weiner's term) can't buy an election. It's tough to think of Weiner as a fat cat, given that he carries sandbags to keep from blowing away on windy days, but he does have $1.8 million in his war chest. It's a far cry from 1991, when he won election to the Council by about 250 votes, in part because he was the first candidate to qualify for 2-for-1 matching funds from the CFB by virtue of having a big-bucks, non-CFB opponent, Michael Garson. On the other hand, it will take much more than $1.8 million to win the mayoralty.

The CFB proposal would force Weiner to raise money more aggressively for a city race, so he doesn't see how it reduces the influence of money in campaigns. "You're doubling the amount of money in the system, not reducing it," he said. It also might accelerate his entry into the race, so he could begin fundraising, Weiner added.

If the CFB proposal becomes law, Weiner would likely spend his $1.8 million running for reelection to Congress in 2004, in order to boost his name recognition for the mayoral race the next year. That way, when the first mayoral poll comes out in 2005, he might not find himself way behind fellow Democrats such as Comptroller Billy Thompson and Miller.

A better showing in the early polls would help Weiner's fundraising. If Weiner sits out the race and another Democrat becomes mayor, Weiner would have to wait until 2013 for another viable shot. So we think he'll run in 2005. If he loses, he could keep his seat in the House.

THE RUMOR MILL SPINNETH How do rumors get started? Usually with conversations that mutate as they are retold. Other times when people float them to hassle and discredit people. One of those happened after Chris Owens called Daniel Botnick of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council following a CHJCC breakfast at which Owens's father Rep. Major Owens was among the honorees.

The younger Owens asked to meet with the community council to discuss his work with AmeriChoice and hear the Lubavitch community's needs in the area of health care for the uninsured. They talked about Brooklyn hospitals' unfair reputation as inferior to Manhattan's.

And at some point, apparently, the subject of Owens's desire to succeed his father in Congress came up. Within days, wags were calling reporters and claiming that Owens had revealed his father was going to resign within the next three months, and thus Chris was asking for the CHJCC's support in the next election.

Advice for the wags: if you're going to float a rumor, at least make it plausible. This one wasn't. But other gossip about the race to succeed Major Owens is true. For example, former Assemblyman Frank Boyland is aggressively courting support for his daughter, Tracy Boyland, against Major, who's running for reelection one last time in 2004. Tracy Boyland apparently isn't waiting for Major to quit.

At the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club's annual holiday dinner December 15, the elder Boyland (accompanied by his daughter and campaign adviser Peter Weiss) was seen asking Democratic district leaders Alan Fleishman and Lori Knipel to back his daughter. When Fleishman said he'd think about it, Boyland shot back, "That's not an answer." Fleishman apparently thought he was being harangued, because he reportedly replied, "That's the answer you're getting."

Boyland, sources said, also had dinner with Brooklyn Democratic leader Clarence Norman, his former Assembly colleague, on December 10 to advance his daughter's candidacy. Norman, according to one story we heard, said he'd support Tracy only if his friend State Senator Carl Andrews didn't run. Another rumor, whose accuracy is dubious, is that Rep. Ed Towns has decided to back Councilwoman Yvette Clarke to succeed Owens. We doubt Towns would play his cards this early. But the rumor was inevitable because many felt Towns secretly supported Clarke's mother, then-Councilwoman Una Clarke, in her race against Owens in 2000.

Also, Chris Owens might have defeated then-Councilman Enoch Williams in 1989 had Towns not supported a third candidate in the race. Owens is sure the third candidate cost him the election. But he still hopes to have Towns's support next time.

VITO TORPEDOED Enemies of Rep. Vito Fossella took devilish pleasure in Daily News columnist Richard Schwartz's excoriation of the Republican congressman. Schwartz labeled Fossella "the invisible man" and "the Paris Hilton of Congress: looks good, gets attention, but has he really done anything?" "Fossella still seems unsure of what he wants to be when he grows up," Schwartz added.

Among those who delighted in Schwartz's column was Councilman Vinny Gentile, a Democrat who represents part of Fossella's district. "Boy, oh boy, it's about time. Somebody finally revealed the true colors there," Gentile said.

VINNY DODGES DEAN With waves of New York City politicians endorsing Howard Dean, Senator Joe Lieberman, or General Wesley Clark for the Democratic presidential nomination, Councilman Vinny Gentile picked one out of left field: Rep. Dick Gephardt. Gentile told us Gephardt is best suited to his constituents in southwest Brooklyn. In supporting Gephardt, Gentile chose not to kiss up to Council Speaker Gifford Miller, who's behind Dean. Miller recently assembled 20 councilmembers at City Hall to endorse Dean, including Tracy Boyland, Sara Gonzalez, Domenic Recchia, Kendall Stewart, and David Yassky.

Interesting that Tara Martin is Howard Dean's political director for New York state, yet hasn't persuaded her former boss, Councilwoman Yvette Clarke, to endorse him. Nearly shut out of the endorsement game has been the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has the backing of Rep. Ed Towns but few others.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS Someone mailed us the invitation to Flatbush Democratic district leader Lori Knipel's December 18 holiday party, which she is co-hosting with her club, the Brooklyn Independent Democrats, and the Lefkowitz family at its Palm Beach Home. Attached was a Post-It note asking, "Any idea why the Lefkowitz family and the Palm Beach Home pay for Lori Knipel's holiday party every year?"

We asked Knipel, who said she asked the home and the answer was yes. Knipel's aunt has resided in the Sheepshead Bay old-age home for three years. "There is nothing beyond that," she added. Ironically, the Palm Beach Home donated a whopping $5,000 to the 2002 State Senate campaign of Noach Dear, who was running against Knipel and may be her least favorite person on Earth.

Adult- and nursing-home operator Israel Lefkowitz of 48th Street and 17th Avenue was once convicted of bilking Medicaid, according to a May 2002 Village Voice article-a revelation that caused State Senator Seymour Lachman to stop taking donations from him. (Lefkowitz had given Lachman's committee $2,000.) Knipel said Israel Lefkowitz is not involved in her holiday party.

MEMORY TRICKS We recently assisted a woman from Sheepshead Bay who had just finished teaching seniors in Park Slope how to improve their memory. She had forgotten where she parked her car.

POLITICAL TIDBITS Three Civil Court judges were working the room at the annual Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club holiday party December 15: Donald Kurtz, Wayne Saitta, and Loren Baily-Schiffman. They apparently don't care that politicking for next year's Supreme Court seats cannot begin until January. But hey, what's a little ethical violation for a Brooklyn judge? Par for the course, perhaps…

Speaking of violations, the state Board of Elections has voted to pursue charges against Assemblyman Roger Green's campaign committee for election law violations related to aid it got from the prison-services firm CSC. It's unclear how that would affect Green, whose lawyer insists he did nothing wrong, but the Post's Fred Dicker wrote that it could lead to criminal charges against Green himself. Meanwhile, a grand jury empanelled by the Albany district attorney still hasn't decided whether to indict Green for collecting reimbursement from the state for traveling expenses incurred by CSC. Should Green be forced to resign, Hakeem Jeffries would be an early favorite to replace him…

Councilman David Yassky can't be happy to hear of the emergence of two more potential challengers to Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes, namely former NYPD Deputy Commissioner Arnold Kriss and former School Board 15 President Mark Peters. Yassky would have a better shot at beating Hynes one-on-one than if several others are on the Democratic primary ballot in 2005…

Assemblywoman Joan Millman's latest constituent newsletter notes her authorship of a law allowing fines to be levied against windshield-flier advertisers. "We should be penalizing people for the most annoying offenses, like handbills left on cars, rather than penalizing pregnant women for sitting in subway stations." Don't go out on a limb there, Joan…

The Carroll Gardens-based Independent Neighborhood Democrats has a Web site but no one to manage it. We clicked on the link for the latest IND newsletter and up came the edition from August. That would be August, 2002. "We are ready to win the governor's seat in November," declared Greg Atkins, then chairman of IND's executive committee, in announcing the club's endorsement of Carl McCall. The online newsletter also asks for fundraising volunteers to contact Carl Peek, who died August 23, 2002…

Political gadfly Maurice Gumbs wrote in his online political column that Democratic presidential candidates better steer clear of the indicted Brooklyn Democratic county leader. "Photos of Clarence Norman in handcuffs, or with his heavy gold chains and his pimp-size diamond rings and bracelets, could put a hurting on any Democratic hopeful who gets caught in contact with the county leader," Gumbs opined.

Contact Brooklyn Politics at (718) 399-3693.

Borough Politics Archive

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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