Metro

David’s next move?

David’s next move?

Birthday party!

Now that Councilmember David Yassky (D-Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights) lost the race for City Comptroller, twice, many pundits are wondering what the retiring elected official will be doing next.

Yassky has indicated that he would be spending more time with his family and finishing his expiring Council term before making a decision. Some political observers believe Yassky would be a good fit within the Bloomberg administration, assuming the current mayor wins a third-term, while others believe the former attorney could be heading toward a lucrative field in private practice or even heading to Washington to work with his mentor, Senator Chuck Schumer.

On Columbus Day at a press conference announcing a new bill to act on stalled construction sites, Yassky gave little indication of what the future holds for him.

“I’m going to my daughter’s birthday party,” said Yassky, dressed in faded light-blue jeans and white sneakers that often resembled Jerry Seinfeld at the height of his television career. “We’re making individual pizzas. I bought the dough for it.”

True religion

Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson met privately last week with community leaders in Borough Park, at the private Sukkah of Rabbi Moshe Leib Rabinovich, Grand Rabbi of Munkatch, the ultra-Orthodox community’s most influential rabbi in governmental affairs in New York, according to a source.

According to http://www.vosizneias.com, Thompson said Mayor Mike Bloomberg has shown a “tin ear to the needs and concerns of Jewish New Yorkers.” While the rebbe wished Thompson mazel tov, the comptroller didn’t leave with the prized etrog — an endorsement that could deliver thousands of votes in a bloc.

High-powered circumcision draws pols

For being only eight days old, little Joshua Zev Greenfield showed the kind of political clout at his circumcision that would be the envy of many a power broker.

It didn’t hurt that Joshua’s father, David Greenfield, executive vice president of the Sephardic Community Federation, is one of the most respected and well-liked people in both Brooklyn’s Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish communities.

Among those in attendance at the bris on Ocean Parkway was Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign manager Bradley Tusk, Borough President Marty Markowitz, U.S. Rep. Michael McMahon, Assemblymembers Alan Maisel, Alec Brook-Krasny, Dov Hikind and Karim Camara, City Councilmembers Vincent Gentile and Leroy Comrie, longtime District Leader Bernie Catcher, Branford Communications President Ernest Lendler, Carl Kruger’s chief of staff, Jason Koppel and his wife, Batya Storch, who is on maternity leave from U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner’s office.

As for the bris, it came off with compassion, and many commented on the mohel’s fine job. Afterward, all in attendance feasted on excellent pastries, salad and fruit.

Calm before the storm?

So far, so quiet in the City Council race in the 43rd District.

The first debate between Democratic incumbent Vincent Gentile and his Republican challenger, Bob Capano, was held earlier this month by the Bay Ridge Real Estate Board, and a more gentlemanly exchange it would have been hard to imagine.

Capano, indeed, several times acknowledged Gentile’s efforts, and said he would have done the same, while at the same time urging his listeners to vote for change – a far cry from the hair-raising debates of seasons past, in at least two of which the promise of a fistfight in the back of the room was an indication of the ardor of the supporters of the candidates in the only part of Brooklyn where the two-party system appears to operate.

It certainly seemed that the participants didn’t need the caution enunciated by moderator Aldo Iemma at the commencement of the debate, when he urged them “to display a certain level of mutual respect.

“I certainly have been here long enough to enjoy a few feisty exchanges, name-calling, a little excitement,” Iemma went on, whereupon Gentile laughingly interjected, “We never threw a chair, right,” clearly remembering some of the more combative interchanges that had occurred in the course of his political career.

Stewart: Beaten but

unbowed

There’s one thing you can say for sure about City Councilmember Kendall Stewart: He is not going gently into that good night of political oblivion.

After being trounced in a six-way Democratic primary last month by insurgent candidate Jumaane Williams (Stewart got only 24.67 percent of the vote to Williams’ 36.96 percent, but over 75 percent of those who turned out voted against him), Stewart is now pinning his hopes, however slender, on the Independence Party line.

Indeed, Stewart – who was badly damaged politically when two aides pleaded guilty to embezzling city funds, as well as by his vote in favor of extending term limits — has already sent out his first campaign mailing.

Stewart’s message on the front of the mailer is telling. Replete with grammatical errors, the flyer tells the electorate in the 45th Council District, “A vote for me on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, means keeping control of our resources in the community and not having them controlled by Acorn and Working Family Party, who has imposed and tricked our community in voting for Jumaane Williams who moved into the District June 1, 2000 and voted for the first time Tuesday, September 15, 2009.”

Williams, for his part, told this paper, “He has every right to run, but I think it would be better suited for us to sit down and have a smooth transition. I have never met someone who had a harder time understanding when the community spoke.

“It blows my mind that he’s going so negative,” Williams went on. “It all seems like a waste of resources. I think it’s definitely another example why he shouldn’t be in the City Council.”

Stewart’s charge that Williams moved into the district recently to run, Williams dismissed. While, he said, there have been times when he lived in other places, he has spent much of his life in the district, and done most of his work in the district, though, he added, his mother’s home was at some points a block outside it. He didn’t move back in just a few months ago, Williams added. Rather, he said, “I voted for Obama in the district.

“I guess they’re grasping for straws,” Williams went on. “I guess that’s what you do when you’re desperate.”

But, he added, he would continue to work hard. “I’m not taking anything for granted,” Williams averred.

Berardelli jackpot

Some may say community activist Gene Berardelli is in way over his head challenging incumbent Lew Fidler for the 46th Councilmanic District seat. But, still, he’s been a pretty lucky guy lately.

After all, Berardelli actually managed to secure start-up money to build a new park at Brigham Street when others told him the project was little more than a lawn-covered pipedream. And just this weekend Berardelli won a $1500 Knights of Columbus raffle at Family Day festivities in Gerritsen Beach.

“I wish I had that kind of luck in my election,” Berardelli conceded.

The Republican challenger says he promptly turned over his winnings to KofC officials.

“One good thing that came out of my campaign, if nothing else, the K of C benefitted,” Berardelli said.

The political newbie wasn’t without a consolation prize, however. That came in the form of an official endorsement last week from none other than Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“Gene Berardelli has been a dedicated civic leader and would be a great Councilmember,” the mayor said in a statement.

The GOP hopeful still says he wants an apology from Fidler for calling him anti-Semitic.

“He should not only apologize to me, but the whole community,” Berardelli said. “Something like that is so divisive and poisonous to the community.”

Still for sale

Community Board 13 is still selling t-shirts to raise money for office expenses.

The board, which represents Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Gravesend, Homecrest and Seagate, needs the extra cash because of city budget cuts in response to the faltering economy.

“We still have 100 more [shirts] to sell,” Community Board 13 Chair Marion Cleaver said at the group’s recent meeting.

The T-shirts, emblazoned with “I heart Community Board #13,” are being sold for $20 a piece.

Cleaver expects the money to come in handy if additional budget cuts are implemented.

To purchase a shirt, contact 718-266-3001.

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