Ford Gearing Up In the last few weeks, congressional candidate Barry Ford has picked up three endorsements that should provide him with a solid group of foot soldiers in his battle with incumbent Rep. Ed Towns. And perhaps more importantly, Ken Diamondstone, who ran against Ford and Towns in the 1998 primary and got 12 percent of the vote, is not running this year, setting up a one-on-one race for the 10th Congressional seat. Ford got the nod from the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, the LAMBDA Independent Democrats and ACORN in the past three weeks. Of course, he had all those endorsements in his losing 1998 bid, but they take on an added significance now that Diamondstone is out. In 1998, Towns won with only 52 percents of the vote, while Ford got 36 percent. Counting Diamondstone's 12 percent as essentially votes against Towns, most of which could swing over to Ford, this year's race could be extremely close.

One of Towns' aides privately said that much of the congressman's trouble in 1998 was due to the fact that he was experiencing rocky relations with the county organization. Additionally, Towns has said that he was concentrating on supporting his son, Assemblymember Darryl Towns, who was facing a tough reelection bid. This year, Towns has smoothed out his problems with county and is focusing on his own race, which will clearly help him against Ford. And Ford, a resident of Clinton Hill, has another problem: he has little name recognition in the southern reaches of the district. "I'm just going to work on it," said Ford, who has taken a leave of absence from the Manhattan real estate law firm where he works to devote himself full time to campaigning. "Really, just travel there and go to as many street fairs and block associations and tenants associations as I can. I've got to work it. That's really the emphasis in the district."

Lena Challenged If Assemblymember Lena Cymbrowitz thought she was going to have an easy summer, unencumbered by the bother of a primary, she'd better think again. Michael Hizme, an Orthodox Jew who lost in 1996 to Assemblymember Helene Weinstein by an appalling margin (91 percent to 9 percent) has now stepped up to challenge the neophyte legislator in the 45th A.D. Hizme's main issue is the "lack of a child's right to be loved by the so-called non-custodial parent," he said. In other words, he advocates for divorced parents who do not have custody of their children. Cymbrowitz sparked his ire when she did not take up his cause in the state legislature after he had appealed to her to back legislation for which he was lobbying. "Lena Cymbrowitz blew off that problem," he said.

The issue is also personal for Hizme, who has not been alone with his son since 1993, when his ex-wife "abducted" him, he said. Although Hizme's wife secured an ex-parte divorce in civil court, he has not given her a get, or Jewish divorce, in the bethdin, or Jewish court. In Judaism, only the man can give his wife a get, and Hizme's refusal to do so has cost him some support in the Orthodox community, say sources. He maintains that he is precluded from giving the get because he is being pressured by others, and a get must be given of the man's free will. He also points to nutrition, the rights of handicapped and mentally ill people, and job development as his other issues. "What I'm trying to do is eliminate needless suffering," he said.

Josh Losardo, spokesperson for Cymbrowitz, was diplomatic in his remarks. "We're happy with the work we've done, and we welcome the democratic process," he said. "We expect our record of achievement to lead to another victory." But Lew Fidler, district leader in the 41st A.D., did not pull his punches. "Frankly, if I'm Lena Cymbrowitz-other than the fact that no one wants a primary-this is probably a good one to have. She's going to beat him silly," said Fidler.

Noach Crashing Grand Old Party Councilmember Noach Dear's acceptance of the Republican ballot line in his race against Rep. Anthony Weiner raises some interesting questions about whether Dear will be able to hold onto a Democratic base while gathering Republican votes, or whether the attempt to do so will alienate voters from both parties. Harris Leitstein, Dear's campaign manager, said that Dear's acceptance of the Republican line does not signal a shift in ideology for the Borough Park councilmember.

"He's still a Democrat," said Leitstein. "That's not changing. (The nomination) was offered to him-he took it. I wouldn't read into this more than what's there. This doesn't mean that he's going to go out and become a Republican tomorrow. The Republicans understand that he's been a Democrat all his life and they made their decision understanding that fact. It's just another (ballot) line."

But Weiner's camp did not see it that way. "Dear has always voted like a conservative Republican on issues like choice and funding for education, so it seems appropriate that he would make his Republican leanings official," said Serena Torrey, Weiner's spokesperson. "It also makes me wonder, what are the core beliefs of a person who runs in the Democratic primary and also embraces the conservative platform of the Republican party?" Leitstein called Torrey's remarks "disingenuous."

The move could also be viewed as a way for Dear to guarantee his survival beyond the primary. In 1998, he lost to Weiner in a four-way primary, finishing third. In a smaller primary field against an incumbent, his chances would be further diminished. The Republican parties of Brooklyn and Queens are giving Dear the nod because they have no viable candidate.

Hackin' Away Gloria Hacken, president of the Good Government Democrats, is challenging again for district leader in the 46th Assembly District. She will be running with Rodney Knight, who is also a member of her club. Incumbent District Leader Paul Podhaizer has decided not to run for reelection. The Hacken/Knight slate will square off against incumbent District Leader Marsha Rapaport and Martin Bromberger. Hacken said that she decided to run because of many appeals for her to do so.

"I have never had such an outcry and such begging me to do this," she said. Hacken, who held the post from 1994 to 1996, also took a shot at Rapaport and Assemblymember Adele Cohen, who held the post from 1996 to 1998. "In 1994 through 1996 I was instrumental in doing so much that anyone coming in would be a letdown," said Hacken, who added that people have told her that since she has been out of office "no one has done anything for us." Podhaizer said that he was not running again because the job was taking too much time from his family life. "The sun did not affect my decision," quipped Podhaizer, responding to a comment made by Hacken a few months ago, when she said that Podhaizer, with whom she was feuding at the time, had gotten too much sun during a vacation to Florida. "This is strictly a family decision."

Chuck Endorses Major He may have been an hour late, but Senator Chuck Schumer was not a dollar short in his ringing endorsement of Rep. Major Owens. "He's a man of his word, a man of integrity, a man of principle," said Schumer after arriving late to Owens' town hall meeting in Midwood, just a few blocks from where Schumer was born. "He's been a fine, fine congressman. There is no reason to replace him. He's represented all the people of his district. I'm going to do everything I can to reelect Major Owens. He brought (Una Clarke) into politics, and now she's running against him because of term limits. It's wrong," said Schumer.

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