The first time I met NYC councilman David Yassky it was at a candidate’s forum at St. Francis College in Brooklyn. This was back in 2001; he was running against a quality field of democrats in a primary. He was quite impressive with his knowledge of political issues and public policy; but then, after all, he did work once with Senator Charles Schumer; just as Anthony Weiner-the current congressman and mayoral candidate- did at one time. These are two bright individuals folks; albeit, little cocky and arrogant at times (both of them). Yassky is much humbler than Weiner though, but they are both: smart, talented, educated and articulate.
Weiner went from City Council to Congress, replacing his boss with each step; then in 2005, he ran for mayor and did well for himself; to the extent that he is now the democrat’s front-runner in the upcoming 2009 mayoral primary. Yassky moved around a bit-trying to find the right location to launch his bid(s) for public office- and eventually won his seat in a somewhat surprising victory. He wasn’t the favorite for his race in 2001; Mr. Cohn was, if I do recall.
Then last year, David Yassky got himself involved in a contentious race for the 11th congressional district; you see, the demographics of this seat didn’t favor a liberal white Jew, and as such, many detractors thought that Yassky was being opportunistic, in moving to the district and jumping into a race where four blacks were already entering.
I remember getting my ass blazed for defending his right to run (even though I didn’t support him, nor did I endorse him for this race). Caribbean-Americans were at my throat for publicly coming to his defense; and Afro-Americans also took me to task on the issue. I stand firmly behind my position, even to this day: David Yassky has (and continues to have), every right to run for this seat. We must escape this imprisoning racial predisposition to things political, folks; eventually we have to. Most of us tend to look at political things through these race-prisms, which are really prisons enclosing our wisdom, common sense, decency and understanding.
For a fleeting minute back there it looked as though David Yassky was on his way to Congress, but then one of the four black candidates withdrew from the race. I remember making Yvette Clarke the favorite when this happened, and stating emphatically that it was her race to lose at that point. My detractors on these here blogs dumped on me: something fierce; they didn’t understand my commentary. I wonder what they say about my political analysis now that Yvette Clarke won.
I eventually endorsed Chris Owens, but that’s because I thought he was the best candidate in the race; not because I thought he was the pre-race favorite. David Yassky came in a respectable second in that race out of four candidates. I have no doubt that he would have won if Nick Perry had stayed in. Poor David couldn’t catch that break in that race; but he was close/lol.
So with New York’s eight year term limits bringing his city council tenure to an end in 2009, Yassky had to look around for another vehicle for his political ambitions. At first it was rumoured that David yassky would run for the Brooklyn’s District Attorney position; that rumor quickly evaporated. Then it seemed as though David had caught a break; he was mentioned as the possible successor to Marty Markowitz (Brooklyn Borough President). Then that rumor fizzled out because Bill DiBlasio jumped right into the race, and ostensibly beat him to the spot (as they say in basketball/lol). You see, as far as my sources are telling me, Bill DiBlasio will have Bertha Lewis and Acorn, plus the Working Families Party, plus the Bilary Clintons, plus some of the progressive political clubs in Brooklyn, plus umpteen trade unions, with the endorsements of many electeds (black, white and Hispanic), all supporting him in this race. He will be a formidable candidate; even better yet, if he gets Lew Fidler aboard.
Then apart from DiBlasio, there were possible runners like the enigmatic NYC councilmember Charles Barron, black state senators Velmanette Montgomery and Eric Adams, the Jamaican-born assemblyman Nick Perry (again), Nick’s fellow-country girl Yvonne Graham (Brooklyn’s Deputy Boro Prez), well known political activist Chris Owens (again), councilmember Mike Nelson and/ or state senator Krueger. Where was poor David Yassky to go? The race was getting stacked like a fugitive’s backpack.
Then it was said that David Yassky may run for Congress again in 2008- in a one on one against Yvette Clarke. That too fizzled out, and rightly so: Yvette would have whipped him like he was butter or cream; or worse yet, whipped him like he was a thief. Back in the day, and back in the Caribbean, we would severely whip someone who steals something from another-once they are caught by the public first, and not by the cops. You could lose your life because of vigilante justice folks. If David Yassky were to run against Yvette Clarke next year, he would be politically dead after the primary. As weak as Yvette is at present, she would beat Yassky into a pulp, in a one on one race; unfortunately the demographics there have never been good for David Yassky. Only Chris Owens can take out Yvette next year, but Chris doesn’t feel it in his gut; so she will probably get a free ride.
Everybody then knew that Yassky was now down to two choices: ether run for Public Advocate or NYC Comptroller. He chose the latter. He announced this recently and even started raising the money to be competitive; something he has been successful at in the past, since David Yassky is a good fundraiser. At first glance it seemed that his chances of winning this position were fair enough; after all, the declared entrants at that point weren’t all that formidable. Assemblyman Jim Brennan is a very nice man (and I have met him many times over the years) but he is no political heavyweight; despite a fight or two here and there. He is only known in his district, plus downtown Brooklyn and also in Park Slope. Melinda Katz has the feminine thing going for her (as the only woman in the race), but she too isn’t the most well known person in the town square. Councilman David Weprin of Queens comes from a large political family, but outside his borough you couldn’t even single him out of a police line up. There were two other names mentioned as possible candidates; councilmember Simcha Felder and assemblymember Frank Boyland jnr.,altogether these were the declared runners: until today.
Then this morning Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion declared that he was running for City Comptroller in 2009, after deciding not to pursue the mayoralty at this point in time. This was a wise decision on his part; and one that has tremendous impact on the make-up and outcomes of both races. For openers, and relative to the comptroller’s race: you can stick a fork in all the other runners; they are done. For closers, and relative to the mayoral race: Billy Thompson just got some mouth to mouth resuscitation for his moribund mayoral campaign; and he needed this like a breath of fresh air.
As for poor David Yassky; well he is out there somewhere today, running around in the snow and holding his head up trying not to shed real tears. I could swear I heard him grumble under his breath: “when am I going to catch a fucking break”? (Lol).
Stay tuned-in folks: politics is the only game in town.