Special election called for 44TH Council District
The special election to fill Simcha Felder’s seat is set for Tuesday, March 23.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg set the date following Felder’s official resignation effective Feb. 1, to work as Deputy City Comptroller under John Liu.
The open election thus far will feature Democrats David Greenfield and Joe Lazar, and Republican Jonathan Judge.
The district includes Borough Park, Bensonhurst and Midwood.
Pol’s son loses pants!
“Pants on the ground! Pants on the ground! Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground!”
Seems like State Senator Velmanette Montgomery has the same complaint as “American Idol” sensation Larry Platt.
At a community meeting about parenting, the pol admitted that her kid is just another teenager wearing his waistband around his thighs.
“When he’s home, his pants are up,” Montgomery told a packed house at Long Island University. “When he goes back to college in Atlanta, his pants are hanging down and he lives like a slob.”
Maybe Montgomery should borrow another line from Platt’s tune – “Get it up, hey! Get your pants off the ground!”
Harold Ford Comes Back for Seconds
Looks like Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. can’t get enough of Williamsburg’s Italian food.
Neither can Kings County Democratic Party leaders.
State legislators, Council members, and district leaders from across the borough came to the table at Cono’s O’Pescatore Restaurant (301 Graham Avenue) on January 29 to meet Ford and determine his worth as a prospective Senate candidate with their own eyes.
Borough President Marty Markowitz, State Senators Eric Adams (D-Park Slope), Carl Kruger (D-Mill Basin), and Martin Dilan (D-Williamsburg), Assemblymembers Karim Camara (D-Crown Heights), Hakeem Jeffries (D-Clinton Hill), Joan Millman (D-Boerum Hill), and Council members Steve Levin (D-Williamsburg), Domenic Recchia (D-Coney Island) Erik Dilan (D-Bushwick) and Jumaane Williams (D-Flatbush) joined Assemblymember Vito Lopez (D-Williamsburg), who hosted Ford at the Williamsburg restaurant for the second time in a week.
While few declared their commitments towards a candidate who has not even formally announced his own intentions to run for Senate, by the end of the lunch, Lopez was beaming.
Though he did not rule out sitting down with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at a later date, Lopez said that Ford performed at a “98 out of 100” in front of Brooklyn’s political leaders. He also secured a commitment from Ford to come to the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Center, which Lopez founded, at Thanksgiving to help serve meals to several hundred seniors later this year.
“One way or another, on Thanskgiving, I’ll be serving the seniors,” said Ford.
“Oily” lunch
It seems that Ford didn’t wow everybody at Cono’s during Friday’s lunch.
As the would be U.S. Senate candidate hobnobbed with Brooklyn legislators at the famed eatery, LGBT activist Jon Winkleman — who was lying in wait the entire time — jumped up and started screaming at Ford about his sudden change of heart on gay marriage.
“Anti-choice, anti-gay, snake oil Harry go away,” Winkleman screamed as he held up a homemade placard.
Winkleman was paying homage to the “snake-oil salesman” monicker given to Ford by former Empire State Pride Agenda executive director Alan van Capelle, who questioned how the Tennessee congressman could vote twice for the federal marriage amendment (which put up a roadblock against gay marriage) and now say is he’s for marriage equality.
Ford didn’t go away. Rather, it was Winkleman who was thrown out of the restaurant. And while Ford said nothing to the protestor, the guard that “escorted” Winkleman had a lot to say.
“Get the f–k out of here…I knew you were up to no f–king good you f–king hard on!” the man screamed as he grabbed Winkleman and kicked him to the curb.
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
The press surrounding Borough President Marty Markowitz’s recent purchase of a home in Windsor Terrace seems to be getting to him.
“Don’t I have any right to privacy?” he asked an apparently sympathetic Community Board 7 last month. Markowitz, the board’s newest local celebrity resident went into a short diatribe, blasting the press for daring to detail how he was able to pay for the modest home.
He even offered a warning to freshman Councilmember Brad Lander who was in attendance: “If they find anything… anything they can use against you, they will use it against you.”
Afterwards, the usually press-friendly beep tempered his comments: “It’s only the bottom feeders — those I feel sorry for,” he said.
Who says borough presidents don’t have feelings?
Eaton: Lazio’s my man
Former Rep. Rick Lazio is one step closer to getting the Brooklyn GOP’s endorsement for governor.
Last week, Craig Eaton, the chair of the Kings County Republican County Committee, gave his endorsement to Lazio. The endorsement of the entire party will have to wait until February 9, when the party’s executive committee will vote.
“We need someone who will bring sweeping change and reform to Albany and Rick is the only candidate in the race who will do just that,” Eaton said in a statement. “He stands up for what he believes in. He always supported lower taxes and lower spending, and he opposes civilian trials for terrorists in New York City. I am excited to hit the campaign trial for Rick and I am confident he will be our next Governor.”
Lazio spoke to the Brooklyn GOP earlier this month, asking for their endorsement. So did Erie County Executive Carl Collins, who, apparently, didn’t impress Eaton.
Golden campaign parachute
As he prepares to fend off two democratic challengers in the upcoming election, State Senator Marty Golden, Brooklyn’s lone Republican state legislator, has some — but not a lot — in his campaign war chest.
Recent campaign filings show the Bay Ridge legislator with nearly $318,000 to fight off potential challengers Ken Kiernan and Mike DiSanto.
If one thinks that Golden’s war chest would dry up after the senate lost the Republican majority, think again. His January, 2010 filings are just $10,000 less than they were in July, 2009, according to published reports.
Speaker fight blowback
Why did Brooklyn Councilmember Charles Barron lose the chair of the Council’s Higher Education Committee?
Barron – who ran unsuccessfully against Christine Quinn for the post of Council speaker – contends that retaliation was the motivation behind the move, which was conveyed to him, not by Quinn in person, but by her chief of staff.
“What a cowardly act!” Barron contended in a harshly-worded statement issued after he learned the news.
“The speaker did not have the courage or respect to call me in for a face to face meeting and explain her reason for removing me as the chair. That’s because there are no justifiable reasons. Speaker Quinn’s removal of me is unacceptable, unconscionable and a blatant display of a raw abuse of power.”
Contending that he had “by far been the most effective, productive and active chair of the Higher Education Committee the Council has ever had,” Barron then listed his accomplishments in the post, and accused Quinn of “Running City Hall like a plantation.
“I may not be the Speaker’s Chair, but I will always be the People’s Chair,” he concluded. “My voice is only going to get louder; my determination to fight for liberation will only get stronger.”
By press time, the City Council press office had not responded to a request for comment.
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