Clarke Wins Citizenship Challenge Councilmember Una Clarke's campaign for Congress got a boost this past week with a pair of election law victories over Rep. Major Owens and a boomlet of press coverage.

On Monday, July 31, the Board of elections dismissed objections raised by the Owens campaign about Clarke's voter registration forms and naturalization status. Public Advocate Mark Green and Councilmember Ken Fisher appeared at Clarke's side during a press conference before the hearing. Fisher had the harshest words for the incumbent congressman, calling his objections "a dirty political trick." "Shame on you, Congressman Owens," said Fisher.

During the hearing, Jack Carroll, a lawyer representing the Owens campaign, argued that Clarke omitted information on her 1989 voter registration and changed her name on her 1991 form. Carroll admitted that Clarke's 2000 voter registration was in order. The Owens campaign lacked any evidence to prove its assertions that Clarke had committed any type of voter fraud.

After the objections were dismissed, the Owens campaign stated that Clarke had voted in 1982, before she officially became a citizen on September 6, 1983. Owens said Clarke told him that she voted for him in 1982, when the two were friends. Clarke has denied voting in 1982, and the Owens campaign was unable to provide any evidence to the contrary. The following day, the Owens campaign withdrew its suit in Supreme Court. A press release from the campaign cited a lack of "conclusive documents."

Throughout the episode, Clarke, a Jamaican immigrant, has painted Owens as anti-immigrant and extended his objections to her citizenship as an affront to all immigrants. "They have just unleashed the immigrant spirit in my district and in the city of New York," said Clarke. "I came (to the United States) as a foreign student, I became a resident, I became a citizen. This is what America is all about."

The Owens campaign released a statement defending his record on immigration issues by citing legislation, like the Caribbean Basin Initiative Act, that he has authored or sponsored. In the statement, Owens called the objections "standard election procedure," and said that it was reckless to paint him as anti-immigrant. Clarke's attorney, Stanley Schlein, said that the Clarke campaign would contemplate a civil suit over the allegations raised by the Owens campaign, but thus far the Clarke campaign has only requested an apology.

Nydia, Vito Butting Heads Rep. Nydia Velazquez and Assemblymember Vito Lopez are sparring again, this time over candidates for district leader. Oddly enough, the main beneficiary of all the feuding may be Velazquez's opponent, Mildred Rosario, a Bronx teacher fired by the Board of Education for encouraging prayer at school. Velazquez is running her community liaison, Evelyn Cruz, for female leader in the 53rd A.D. Lopez, who is also the male leader, is running Diane Reyna for the female spot.

Lopez said that the feud was kicked off when Velazquez backed Jerry Dunbar for civil court judge over his candidate, Wayne Saitta, who eventually won. He also said that Velazquez was not engaged in his club or the local community. "Nydia Velazquez has basically not been very respectful of our Democratic club," he said. "It would, I think, be appropriate if the congresswoman would get down and work collectively on the issues in the community." Barbara Warner, a spokesperson for Velazquez, said that she had no idea what Lopez was talking about.

One insider said that Velazquez has declined to challenge the petitions of Rosario-who lives in Manhattan outside of the district-in an attempt to help draw more votes for Cruz. "That has not been discussed," said Warner.

Lopez is also trying to knock State Senator Nellie Santiago out of office. In a recent interview, he blasted her as an ineffective and absentee lawmaker. "Senator Santiago has not attended a community meeting in four or five years," he said. Lopez is backing Richard Velazquez for the seat. Santiago issued a statement saying that she has been to hundreds of community meetings in the past few years and has been successful in bringing money into the district and passing legislation. "It is unfortunate that Assemblyman Vito Lopez has chosen to attack the only Puerto Rican woman elected to the New York State Senate from Brooklyn," said Santiago. "But, it is clear that because I am an independent voice, which he cannot control, that he has chosen to attack me and try to replace me with his employee in an attempt to perpetuate his dictatorial ways in the 53rd Assembly District where he considers himself to be the equivalent of a dictator in a banana republic."

Gladys Santiago is also running, creating a logjam of names in the local races. State Senator Santiago did not return a call seeking comment.

The Road To Power Showing the growing political strength of immigrant groups, a trio of Caribbean-Americans has teamed together to form an all-Caribbean slate in the 42nd A.D. Zachary Lareche (Haiti) is challenging incumbent Assemblymember Rhoda Jacobs, Wellington Sharpe (Jamaica) is running against State Senator Marty Markowitz and Rock Hackshaw (Trinidad) is vying to become the male district leader. "We are hoping this is the way we're going to get to power," said Hackshaw. "The Caribbean voting block is the most powerful voting block in Brooklyn."

"I would agree that certainly the Caribbean vote, the Latino vote, the Chinese vote-the emerging majorities are certainly of great importance," said Markowitz, whose district contains a large number of immigrants. "There's no question that the future points to their greater activism." Markowitz said that the political rise of immigrant groups does not change his bottom line. "It means that if you have served the people who have elected you, you should do well," he said.

Legal Slugfest Between Weiner and Dear A bitter court fight between Rep. Anthony Weiner and Councilmember Noach Dear recently ended with Dear winning the right to run on Republican line. Weiner recently challenged Dear's Republican petitions on the grounds that they were invalid because some of the witnesses did not live within the bounds of the 9th Congressional District. Aaron Maslow, Dear's attorney, said that Judge Edward Korman, while ruling in favor of Senator John McCain, had invalidated that rule. Additionally, said Maslow, the petitions were slate petitions, and the witnesses lived in all the other districts except the Congressional District. It was illogical, he said, to accept them as valid witnesses for one office and not another office listed on the same petition. He also said that notaries don't have to live in the district to witness petitions.

Serena Torrey, a Weiner spokesperson, pointed out that McCain was running for president, an office that would be representative of any citizen who signed the petition, whereas a Congressional district has smaller boundaries, making witness residency a valid issue.

After Weiner lodged his challenge with the board of Elections, Lori Maslow, Aaron Maslow's wife, and seven other voters filed a civil rights suit against Weiner claiming that he is denying them the right to vote for Dear. Judge Korman put the federal suit in abeyance until and unless Dear is thrown off the ballot. The Board of Elections recently invalidated the signatures witnessed by people living outside the district, cutting Dear's number of signatures from 1,903 to 1,331. But Dear only needed 1,250, so Weiner dropped all pending challenges, including one in state court. "Mr. Dear is officially a Republican," said Torrey.

Lori Maslow is also the Republican candidate for Assembly in the 39th District. She is trying to run on the Working Families Party and Green Party lines as well, taking advantage of a burp in the law that does not require a Wilson-Pakula waiver the first time a party is challenging for an office. Neither the Working Families Party nor the Green Party has fielded a candidate for the seat, currently held by Assemblymember Frank Seddio.

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