Last week I took a deserved "spring break", since being out of the city for a bit is always re-invigorating. Thanks for the e-mails and phone-calls from those of you who missed me here and were concerned. I am fine , except for a lil hypertension- which is genetic. I must admit that I was surprised (and no, Gatemouth wasn’t one of them), it tells me that people are reading "Room 8". So let’s take our hats off to Ben Smith and Gur Tsabar. Real pioneers in this day and age.
I walked right in to the poll showing Spitzer still leading big, and yes I am a bit taken aback that Suozzi hasn’t cracked the twenty- percentile as yet. I am still hopeful though. I hate coronations even more than I hate royalty. I like a good old- fashioned horse race. After all, in November we democrats will be all lining up behind our nominee, to ensure that another Republican like Pataki ( "Potato-head") doesn’t trick us anymore.
Relative to the congressional races in Brooklyn (10th & 11th ), I heard from 3candidates running in them. Nick Perry is still in folks, contrary to persistent rumors that he will be dropping soon- like Brad and Angelina’s baby. Heard from Chuck Barron too ( nothing new). If you win a race based on "up-beatness", then Towns is dead-politican-walking. Charles is very excited about this race, and stated emphatically that he is 100% running, despite the silly rumors to the contrary. In fact his filings are now on-line with FEC.
While on the 11th Congressional, here is food for thought. Una Clarke ( Yvette’s mother) ran for this seat in 2000; Yvette Clarke ran for office in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005. Now she is running again this year ( 2006), which means that the Clarkes (combined) will be running 6 times in 7 cycles. The question is: can you hit up the same fundraising-base that much, that quickly?
Lots of other races are warming up in Brooklyn. In the 20th Senatorial ( Carl Andrews), word is that District Leader (43) Moses "Musa" Moore has now pulled back. Eric Adams has declared, and both Anthony Alexis and Elizabeth King are said to be looking at this race. Alexis was a staffer for council-woman Tracey Boyland, and King worked for both Markowitz and Andrews in their respective district offices. Guillermo Phillpots is also said to be eyeing this- for whatever that’s worth.
In the 43rd Assembly ( Clarence Norman’s old seat), word is that former school-board member Jesse Hamilton will challenge. Plus there are rumors that a "Davis" will emerge.
In the 58th Assembly ( Nick Perry), Wellington Sharpe and Abu Abu have already announced. Speculation is that District Leaders Weyman Carey and Gale Barnett-Reed are interested. Some are saying that NYC council-member Kendall Stewart is running for something this year. Omar Boucher, Asquith Reid, Russell ( C.B.17), and a few other names are also being mentioned. Expect this to be crowded folks.
In the 42ndAD ( Rhoda Jacobs), you can round-up the usual suspects: Zachary LaReche and Michelle Adolphe. Both of these Haitian-Americans are said to be running. And rumor has it that James Conolly keeps his "eyes on the prize", so to speak.
In the 55th Assembly District ( Boyland jnr.), word is that Uncle Roy is coming back , and so too Reggie Bowman. Stanley Kinnard is undecided, and rumor has it that there will be a 2009 city-council-race preview, when Tracey Boyland re-emerges to challenge Lisa Kenner for her leadership. Word is that Darlene Mealy ( yes, the council-woman ) is also running in that race.
In the 21st. Senatorial ( Kevin Parker), word is that Noach Dear is coming back to challenge for the third time. It has been floated that Vaughn Toney ( or his uncle Joel), may emerge to be the third candidate.
In the 40th ( Gordon), Winchester Keyes and Ken Evans are taking on the incumbent. But the real fireworks may come in the races for the leadership positons. Barron- protege Andre Mitchell takes on Earl Williams (incumbent). Mitchell is very energetic, and comes from that hip-hop generation. He started up a community patrol organization called "Man-Up", and in this district has organized many basketball tourneys during past summers. He is also a member of the Community Board.
There seems to be no challenges in the 18th ( Montgomery) and 19th ( Sampson) Senatorial Districts. Rumor is that Ada Smtih finally gets a challenge ( THANK GOD). No challenges in the 56 th Assembly( Robinson), unless perennial runner Richard Taylor shows up as usual. None( as usual) in the 41st ( Weinstein). In the 59th ( formerly : Seddio), both Francisco Hall and Tamara Grandoit are undecided.
In the 57th ( Roger Green), we have two declared candidates ( Batson and Jeffries), and lots of rumored candidates. For example, there was a strong rumor that Jitu Weusi’s wife wanted to make the race. This rumor followed the one that Roger Green’s wife also wanted to make the race. Then there were a few "un-named" women who were said to be interested.
That’s it for "black"/ "caribbean-american" Brooklyn, for now. Stay tuned folks.