There have been times over the past six years of engaging these blogs, when I have wondered if it's even worth it. I had hoped that local races -hardly covered by mainstream media- would be dealt with on the blogs, by local electeds, staffers, community activists, and the sort. I had hoped valuable info would be disseminated to the voters in time to further inform the choices being made. Alas, I have come to the conclusion that this hardly ever happens: too many people come to the blogs to ridicule rather than inform. To them, all this blogging stuff does, is just give them opportunities to display their mental illnesses and/or character flaws. Plus, I get the sense that there aren't too many good writers around anymore: where are Maurice Gumbs and Colin Moore when you need them?
Recently I did a column highlighting the fact that there will soon be a special election in Brooklyn's 54th AD; given that Darryl Towns will be resigning soon, in order to pick up high positions in the Cuomo administration. I came up with three of the names being bandied about as possible entrants to this special election; two of whom I spoke to personally. A colleague on the blogs arrogantly implied that it was a horrible column. Okay.
All I did then was report on what I had quickly collected pertinent to the upcoming race, in order to start the ball a rolling (or to push it along further), relative to media (and blog) coverage. One can hardly find falsehoods in my column; if any. Yet, the implication was that I should have vetted the candidates as to residency requirements. How frigging silly! Am I a sitting judge?
Over the years I have written about what I find as too many arbitrary and/ or ambiguous decisions coming out of local courts, relative to residency challenges. Thus I have left issues around residency to the courts: and not the court of public opinion.
I know of an elected official who once when challenged in the court over residency, admitted under oath that an extraordinary number of people lived (and were registered) in the small two-bedroom apartment from which he too was registered to vote; and yes: some eyebrows could surely be raised- based on this fact. He also admitted than when he came down from Albany, he slept in the bathtub: the lease was in his mother's name by the way. And yet, the judge left him on the ballot. I also know about insurgents who were kicked off ballots, even though they had proof of residing in places for as much as thirty years. So go figure out the facts around residency rules; and that's why I leave such matters to the courts, the lawyers, the judges and the political power-hitters. On this issue, they all know very well, what time it is. Furthermore; I wonder why some of my colleagues haven’t written extensively on Vito Lopez’s penchant for sleeping most nights in Queens while representing a Brooklyn AD? (SEE N.Y. DAILY NEWS IN-DEPTH COLUMNS ON THIS).
In my column I didn't highlight my knowledge as to how these specials go since I didn't think it was necessary. I know that the county committees make decisions as to who would get the Dem's party line in any special election for the state legislature: been there with candidates before; done that. In fact, I was given a copy of the names and addresses of the 54th AD county committee (don't ask how and why I got it/PLEASE). And yet, the critique implied I was ignorant of all this. Welcome to the usual silly and trivial stuff from my detractors, and even from colleagues in this writer's colony. One fellow-member recently wrote that I was stupid. That person also said that I am the only one who doesn't know how stupid I am: so congenial; so insightful; so wonderful!
What my critics didn't know is how much I left out of that column; so let me now give up some more (and also some new) information on this upcoming race. When I write columns, often times I don't give up less than five percent of all the juicy stuff. You can see by this example.
This district (54th AD/Brooklyn) has had its share of political chicanery, intrigue, treachery and subterfuge: for years. In the last column I refused to get into all that because I didn't deem it necessary. Apart from the three main names I had posited in my column (Junior Dilan, Manny Burgos and Farouk Samaroo), the initial rumors were that Assemblyman Darryl Towns (54AD) will be replaced by either his wife or sister. Then it was either NYC council member Erick Dilan or his wife. Later rumors said it was a staffer from that said council member's office (Espinal). Then the name of Darma Diaz came up. Then over time, another name came up that I am still not free to divulge. By the way: in races like these, this is not unusual at this stage.
Then there was a question of the Democratic Party's district leadership, since the resigning Darryl Towns also held that spot in this AD. Rumors were that the younger Dilan was taking it; then maybe one of his cronies; then I was told that Congressman Ed Towns wanted it (although he held it before). Then it was suggested that there will be trade-offs between the Towns and Dilan camps. Then there were rumors that Ed wanted to eventually challenge Vito Lopez for leadership of the party (Brooklyn) at some point. And that there were many district leaders already lined up behind him who were white; and all Ed had to do was get a few black leaders to fall in line: then Vito will be toast.
Then there were rumors of wars over judgeships opening up in Brooklyn this year; and that there was a lot of juggling going on; and positioning; and bargaining; and stuff like that. And the names of some district leaders were infused, with implications of infighting and charges of race-stuff. I am told that Darlene Mealy, Jesse Hamilton and Walter Moseley (all black district leaders), have been selected to head up a committee to find the single black judge allocated for Supreme Court this year. It is said that there are those who find this regular mode of “race-quota” selection of judges in Brooklyn, quite insulting, and quasi-racist. There is more to all of this. I have promised one source that I will deal with it at a later date; and so on; and so on; and so on: just another day in Brooklyn's politics.
Now; how would one separate faction from fiction? Especially with all the gossip from the rumors and innuendo. Can you write all this without the resources to put reporters on various aspects to check for veracity and such? I don't get paid for writing these columns folks: remember that.
And there is more. For example it is said that Junior Dilan has ambitions for higher office, and that he is looking at either a run for Brooklyn Boro Prez, or some city-wide race in 2013; or even for county leader in the near future (likewise his dad). There are also rumors that the old feud between the Towns folks and the Dilan folks never really died: it just subsided into an accommodation of sorts. Then there were rumors that Ed Towns may leave Congress and run for Boro Prez (remember he was a Deputy Boro Prez once). Look; let me caution you again, that some of these rumors may be way over the top: after all, I never promised you a rose garden.
And there is more. It has been said that either Junior Dilan or his father (Senator Malave Dilan) wants to challenge Nydia Velásquez for her congressional seat; and that Dems county leader Vito Lopez will back the play too (if either one was to pull the trigger on such a run).
So how much could I write? And what would have been the responses if I did go off on a “grapevines” type of column? More creeps coming up on the comment-section of these blogs, to try to discredit me, and to attack my integrity, political history, sources, analysis, writing ability, writing style, credibility, etcetera? Who the fuck needs this shit after six years of taking it? This is why I am so ready to move out of New York: people aren't serious about politics anymore. It is becoming a sad joke; meanwhile there are pockets within the black and Hispanic communities continuing to metastasize.
Look; I get enough grief when I write my “Vines” columns. That's why I have avoided them over the years; to the point where I now do just a few annually.
Getting back to the 54th AD: remember that in this district, there are more Hispanic residents, than any other nationalistic, ethnic or racial group. Darryl Towns has been the assemblyman since he succeeded Thomas Catupano. He has held this seat since January, 1993. It's almost two decades now folks.
There has always been some Hispanic resentment to the Negro Darryl Towns holding this seat. After all, too many politicians in NYC, are responsible for the creation (in their minds, and in the minds of their racial/ethnic/nationalistic/religious/ supporters) of the idea, that certain seats belong to certain groups of people. This is so so sad. The 54th AD is no different in this regard.
Many of the residents in this district have claimed that Congressman Ed Towns used his power to foist his son Darryl on them. They recall primaries where more than one Hispanic candidate will enter (surprise!surprise!) so that the Hispanic vote would be split, in order to allow Darryl a better shot at success: and he always did succeed. This comes right back to something I have written about many times on the blogs: too many black and Hispanic electeds are full of shit and totally contradictory in their actions and deeds.
In Albany, there is a not so quiet semi-secret. The Puerto Rican pols, and those pols of Dominican heritage (Dominican Republic) are in competition. This is further exacerbated by the fact that in many instances large black populations live in districts where Hispanics have a majority; thus Negroes inevitably are drawn in. Whenever we get to redistricting years (after census-counts), we see some of the stuff -which had been swept under the rug for a decade or more- start emerging: usually, just before lines are redrawn. Sometimes stuff spills out when there are special elections -like this upcoming one- and in races where racial, or ethnic, or nationalistic, or religious dynamics, have been percolating for quite a while.
Ed and Darryl Towns have been intelligent enough to hold on to solid Hispanic support in this district over the years. They have cultivated and nurtured this support with the kind of smarts for which they have been generally underrated by many of the two-faced Brooklyn pols and activists.
You see, this is why I am always attacked on these here blogs. I tell it as it is (or was). And that's why I felt that the black elected officials of Brooklyn -who in 2006, castigated David Yassky for running in the 11th Congressional District (since to them it was a “Black” seat) -were being rather disingenuous, given the representation of the 54th AD. And there are other seats too with similar dynamics by the way; and the same hypocrisy plays out daily; case in point: Brooklyn's 42nd AD.
Look; I have said and written this many times over: no one group, ethnicity, nationality, religion, creed or race, own the complete rights to any seat drawn at federal, state, or city/ local levels, anywhere in this country. And the people who attack me from behind their cowardly anonymous-masks, always try to defend what Al “Rip Van Winkle” Vann and other black electeds have openly done: tried to have things both ways. These guys have practiced reverse-racism for years and gotten away with it. Then they have the audacity to chastise Barron while speaking out of both sides of their mouth. If you are going to castigate Charles Barron for his many excesses, than look at your own backyard: the pot should never call the kettle black.
Hispanics would love to see this seat (54th AD) fall into the hands of an Hispanic elected official. As I have said before here, one of the quiet little semi-secrets in Albany is the many chasms that exist between elected blacks, elected Puerto Ricans, and electeds of Dominican ancestry (heritages). I am talking about the Dominican Republic -so don't confuse it with the Caribbean island called Dominica.
In the next redistricting go-around, there is word that the 54th will be pushed west into Brownsville and East New York. It is said that East Indians from the Queens side of the border are pushing for an assembly seat, and that lines may be drawn in such a way as to appease them, and/or to maximize their chances of electing someone of their ilk. It is also being said that in order to payback Charles and Inez Barron for their many indiscretions, that the lines for Inez Barron's assembly district (40th AD) will be pushed all the way back into parts of Queens (near the Conduit ). One observer told me that the 54th AD will be pushed into Brownsville and East New York in order to shed some Hispanic population.
So again: how do I write all this stuff? Well: I just did. And it is up to you readers to figure out whether or not there is any validity to some of the things I have said here. Oh, I know the attacks will be launched in the comments-section of this column: you can make book on that. But what's new? LOL.
So now, do you want to hear the latest about the 54th AD?
Well, word is that Ed Towns is going to run his daughter in the upcoming special election. And word is that the Dilans will be running Mr. Espinal. Meanwhile Farouk Samaroo is still pushing forward with his run. Manny Burgos has publicly stated that he has no intention of running in this special election; and there is no sign of any other candidates openly seeking to run. Eventually we will all see who is serious, and who has been bullshitting. Thank God that there are always deadlines in elections.
Sometime during the next few weeks, Darryl Towns will resign the seat to take up his new post. Then the governor will announce a date for the special election (probably sometime in April or May); by then all this may work itself out behind the scenes as these things usually go. If not, then look for a special election in a district where voter-turnout is perennially low. Five hundred votes in this special can get you a winner folks. I am not kidding.
I recently spent about 6 hours in the company of assembly member Darryl Towns. He held some Black-History Month activities/events which I attended. At one point while I was in Darryl's office, the congressman called. I asked -via his son- for a “scoop”. Ed was trying to be cute with me when he said that the only scoop he has for me is that he (Ed) is running for re-election (as if I didn't know this/LOL). Well, let me scoop Ed here: there are some people seriously gunning for your seat bro. At least three if not four. Some of them are even bullshitting you as to their aims.
I know that there will be the usual rounds of denials from many folks once this column hits. I also know that some folks will say I fabricated most of this; and some will deny talking to me; and others will say they “don't know where the fuck Rock gets his shit”; and so on; and so on. When you have been involved in NYC politics for almost 38 years -like I have- you develop many sources, resources, contacts, friends, and also enemies (often, for no other reason than you are who you are).
Look, there are more political rumors floating around Brooklyn: there was a heavy one out there that Yvette Clarke's congressional seat will be gone after re-districting. Then there was one whereby she will surely be challenged if the seat survived the cuts (the candidate has already been recruited). Then there is the rumor that this is “DEFINITELY” the last term in office for Rhoda Jacobs (42nd AD). I had to tell the carrier of this specific piece of information that I have been hearing this every year since 1992. I will believe Rhoda Jacobs has left when she is gone: not before this.
Then there is the rumor that Brooklyn “MUST” pick up at least an assembly, and also a possible senate seat for (in) the Brooklyn/Queens new lines -if only because they will have to count over one hundred thousand prisoners in their home districts of both boroughs.
Then there is this: if senator Kevin Parker (21st SD) is taken down, either Nick Perry or Weyman Carey will replace him. And that Dr. Kendall Stewart wants to make a comeback to politics. And that Jumannee Williams is trying to hard to impersonate Charles Barron; and Charles Barron is trying much too hard to impersonate himself. And that Eric Adams is going to run for mayor, since Billy Thompson's candidacy is going nowhere fast. And that too many punky blacks are scared to tackle Charles Hynes -who is ripe for the taking. And that Ed Towns is very very vulnerable because of “Towns fatigue syndrome”in the tenth congressional district and environs: but that Hakeem Jeffries is unknown beyond the 57th AD. And that Charles Barron is fighting with Alton Maddox big time. I even got a (supposed) Maddox e-mail for proof. And that Maddox is fighting with Al Sharpton (as usual).
Look; I could go on and on: but enough with the rumors. You readers sort all this shit out; and you electeds too (who read my columns religiously but lie about that).
Folks; I don't fabricate these things; sometimes I have to speculate a bit, in order to get pieces of the puzzle to fit: but that's it. I may pay a big price for this column but then c'est la vie. Those involved know what I am talking about. The rest of you will just have to figure out that one.
Stay tuned in folks.