Scandal-scarred Assemblyman Micah Kellner is burning more bridges. He’s running for City Council on the Working Families Party line even though the party has disowned him.
Kellner lost the Democratic primary for Manhattan’s Upper East Side council seat last month after it was revealed that a young female staffer had accused him of hitting on her.
He apologized for inappropriate e-mail exchanges, but the damage was done. Municipal unions and political leaders rescinded their endorsements and threw their support behind his opponent, Ben Kallos.
The Working Families Party is now backing Kallos. But because it’s too late to remove Kellner from the ballot, he will have the party’s line in the Nov. 5 election.
“The WFP is fully behind Kallos,” said a party spokesman. “He won’t have our ballot line on Election Day. But make no mistake, [Kallos] has the WFP’s proud endorsement, and we’re going to do everything we can to let our supporters know that.”
Also running is Republican David Garland.
Kellner will be the underdog in the heavily Democratic district.
“It’s very likely that Kallos wins. It’s very hard to win a race on a third-party line,” said an East Side Democratic leader.