Kendall Stewart, Kevin Parker and Nick Perry are all elected officials in Brooklyn. They are all black democrats. NYC council member Kendall Stewart (45th district) was born on a tiny Caribbean island called Union. I am told that he grew up in both St. Vincent and Trinidad; he is a podiatrist by profession. As far as I know, state senator Kevin Parker was born in the district he represents (21st Senatorial) in East Flatbush/Midwood; he is a college lecturer by profession. State assembly member Nick Perry was born in Jamaica, West Indies; prior to getting elected he worked for the state in some type of civil service capacity (if memory serves me right). I believe that he is a graduate of Brooklyn College (B.A.); he is the eldest of these three electeds. They are all political animals. At different times they have been allied politically; next year they will be fighting like cats and dogs.
So, what is this fight over? Is it political-power? Is it some old grudge? Who really knows? Some don’t even care. What we do know is that Kendall is intent on challenging Kevin for the senate seat. Some people are saying that it’s all because of term limits; you see Kendall has to hit the road in two years, because of term limits in the city council. One report says that Stewart gave Parker an ultimatum: “switch seats with me or else face my challenge.” Kevin-who I know from experience, hates to be dared- is said to have told Kendall in no uncertain terms: fuck off. Well, maybe he didn’t say it exactly like that, but you catch the drift.
Last week the Wesley McHolder political club (Stewart’s) held its monthly meeting, whereby war paint –a la native Indian style- was applied to the face of its core members, in anticipation of this K vs. K showdown next year. This club has among its core members, people like Asquith Reid, Omar Boucher, Wellington Sharpe, Douglas Alleyne, Cisslyn Boucher and Gale Reed-Barnett. All these aforementioned people are Caribs, except for American-born Gale Reed-Barnett. It’s when you look at this core you realize how deep this fight will go. It’s when you examine this core that you realize this: politics make s strange bedfellows and temporary alliances only. Let me explain further.
Last year, Nick Perry ran a female candidate against Gale Reed-Barnett for the female leadership of the Democratic Party (58thAD); Nick’s candidate won (Melba Brown/ Caribbean-American). It was the second attempt by Nick to unseat Gale; in 2004 Nick unsuccessfully ran Ms. Gordon against her. This was another one of the many times that Nick has pissed off this core group. Do note that Nick was instrumental in getting Gale the leadership in the first place. She had replaced Edith Wingfield, who had in turn replaced Marietta Small- this was back in the days when the New Era Club controlled the female side of the leaderships. This was when the New Era club was much stronger as an operation within the 58th Assembly District, as say, compared to today. I know; I was once a member of this club-just as I held membership in the Wesley McHolder political club at one time. However the genesis of Nick and Kendall’s strange political relationship (with its integral in-fighting) goes back to 1992.
Back in 1992, the lines for a new assembly district in Flatbush were drawn, creating the 58th AD. Nick Perry ran for the umpteenth time; the difference was that this time he won public office. So when you hear Nick attacking Wellington Sharpe for running too much, Nick is being somewhat disingenuous; prior to 1992, Perry ran more than Dr. Richard Kimble. Story goes like this: in 1992 he went down on his knees and begged his wife to allow him to run “one last time”, prior to winning. I always felt that Joyce was the smartest and best looking Perry/ lol; she gave him permission.
I remember Nick’s 1992 campaign quite well. It was a very good campaign; some of the best Caribbean-American (primarily Jamaican) food that you could eat, was supplied every night. I know; I was there. That summer-after leaving a campaign that I was managing- Denise Niger Campbell deputized me to work with her on volunteer co-coordinating for Nick. I had supported Perry in 1988 when he ran against Rhoda Jacobs, so I knew him pretty well. He was carrying with him and this campaign, the goodwill, hopes and aspirations of many a Caribbean-American political activist looking for empowerment and such. Niger and I used to call up volunteers for subways, lit drops, canvassing, events, stuffing envelopes, etcetera, and etcetera. Nick’s lovely wife (Joyce) had brought in all her sisters and other relatives for this full-court press to victory. I must admit that Nick worked very hard for it. He was driven.
It is also said that in order to secure his victory, Nick made more deals than Howie Mandel; even ending up in bed with Senator Howard Baboosh, county leader Clarence Norman, Assemblyman Anthony Genovese and the Thomas Jefferson political club. They even say that the devil was on the phone on standby/lol. Nick was willing to sell everything for this win. It is said that Nick had run for some type of office at least half a dozen times before; that might just be true; I know of at least three races (based on recollection) including a city council run in 1991.
In 1992 Asquith Reid was the campaign manger for Nick Perry; as far as I know Omar Boucher was the director of field operations. When the campaign was over Nick and Omar were in court over money; and there too lies another strange hot and cold relationship: Nick and Omar. Nick refused to support Omar for senate in 2002. In all three races Omar Boucher has so far run for public office, Nick Perry has never supported him; not once; even though Omar was instrumental in Nick’s initial victory, in both the foreground and background. As far as I know, Omar has always supported Nick over the years-whenever Nick ran for office since 1992.
Here in 1992, I was caught up in a race where a fellow Trinidadian (Abu Abu, formerly Ernest Matthews) was running against Nick; I didn’t play into this selfish nationality thing, so I supported Nick. Even though Abu and I are relatively cool as political friends now, he still hasn’t forgiven me for this; trust me. Also running against Nick was one Everett (Mo) George -former district leader of the now 40thAD. Everett was being backed by the well-known Attorney Bernard Mitch Alter. To fill out a ticket, Mitch, being shrewd as he is, went out and recruited a popular Caribbean-born podiatrist (Kendall Stewart) to run for male district leader. Kendall excited the Carib base that year; probably as much as (if not more so than) Nick Perry.
That year, I think Mitch also recruited another popular community-activist (Hazel Younger) to run for the female leadership. She controlled the votes in Jamison-Gorman (I think that’s how it is spelt) – a large housing complex on Linden Boulevard, where the voter turnout is usually high. The ticket itself was a thing of beauty; but only one member of it won: Kendall Stewart.
In terms of politics, Kendall was a neophyte then; and yet, he would argue you to death on political issues. He still does this and I am always amazed. Kendall may be a nice person on a human (personal) level, and he is quite likeable- more so than Kevin and Nick in my estimation- but his political IQ was in single digits then, and even now it is still struggling to get out of the teens. He will never believe this however, and I must admit that he has grown a bit as years have gone by. Lately, he is even trying to be a council member with some of the good stuff he has been attempting. What Kendall calls “political independence”, I call: dense. He seems to have no philosophical underpinnings to his politics.
Let me just clarify something: I don’t dislike Nick or Kevin. In fact there are areas where I admire both; just as there are areas where I do admire Kendall’s accomplishments. Nick and Kendall both represent the consummate Horatio Alger sucess story (or is it Alger Hiss/lol). Kevin may be the brightest of this trio, but they are all cunning political animals. I just think they lack creativity in their political thinking. I also think that their tenures in office have been (generously speaking) mediocre, and that their collective performances have been lackluster at best. But then what can you expect from me? I know that the NYC cops are called “New York’s finest”, and the teachers are called “New York’s brightest”; I also know that they call the firefighters: “New York’s bravest”. My term for New York’s black elected officials (collectively/ not individually), is: New York’s dumbest. They are a sorry motley bunch in my estimation; but back to the issue at hand/lol.
In 1992 Nick Perry was part of a team of three. Marietta Small and Weyman Carey were the other two people rounding out the team. They were both running for leadership positions. Weyman Carey faced off against Kendall Stewart and lost. Marietta Small chained smoked her way to a victory that night; talk about nail-biting.
Kendall’s win presented a problem for the New Era club: they didn’t control both leaderships. Because of this split control with the leaderships, the Election Day jobs had to be shared between the Wesley Mcholder and New Era political clubs. There was an accommodation of sorts that stood in place for years; grudgingly. Some of Nick’s people say that Kendall actively recruited people to run against Nick; somehow that never materialized. Some of Kendall’s people say that Nick actively recruited people to run against Kendall; they also said that he even contemplated running against Kendall himself, in order to control the male leadership. That too never materialized.
Sometimes they both supported the same candidate (like judge Reynold Mason/ first Grenada born judge elected in Brooklyn/1994); other times they fought over things as mundane as school board memberships and community board slots and sluts/lol. One time Kendall’s crew turned back Kevin Parker for a big position on the community board; and just last year they were fighting again when Kendall took out Nick’s people from high positions on the board. Then came 1996; they all supported Feinberg for Surrogate Court. After Feinberg won, Marietta Small got the prestigious Public Administrator job within said court. Many people say that she wasn’t even qualified for the position. Some suggested that she didn’t have a high school diploma or even a GED. I don’t believe this. Marietta paid a lot of dues in politics.
Since Ms. Small had to relinquish her leadership post, a successor had to be appointed; Edith Wingfield got the nod. As decent a lady as Edith was, she was about to retire from her job at the Board of Elections, and her health was such that she could hardly climb four steps of stairs at Vanderveer estates where she lived. She should have never been appointed to the post; but the New Era club, Marietta and Nick wanted to control it, that’s all. So they appointed one of their lackeys instead of someone young and vibrant, who could have creatively used the position, to develop more citizen participation in the politics and civics of the community.
To watch someone fill out a scorecard of all those candidates for public office (including judgeships) who Nick and Kendall supported over the years, would be like viewing a three year old with building blocks. Nick and Kendall were all over the place, sometimes stumbling all over each other; sometimes going face to face and toe to toe; other times playing wily head games with and/or against each other. In 1993, Nick was instrumental in the stop Colin Moore movement, reneging on earlier promises to support Colin for city council; he supported Lloyd Henry instead. Kendall started off supporting Colin, and then flipped mid way during the campaign. This was in Kendall’s first year as a district leader; an epic of things to come no doubt; a sign of some inner weakness. In 1992 there were many members of Colin’s group (Marcus Garvey Political Organization) who openly and enthusiastically supported Kendall, in hope of some kind of reciprocity. They were all disappointed.
In 1997 Stewart challenged then NYC council member Lloyd Henry; Nick was on his own side they say; playing games along the way. In 2001 when Kendall first won his seat, Nick had supported Sam Palmer against him; Kevin Parker was in that race. In 2003 he supported Kendall against Omar Boucher, Sam Tate and Earlene King. In 2005 he turned around and supported Sam Tate against Kendall. Over the years and relative to Kendall Stewart, Nick Perry has been flipping like a pancake.
In 2002, he chastised Kendall for supporting Republican governor George Pataki against Carl McCall (Democrat) in the general election; but in the primary that year they both supported Kevin Parker against Omar Boucher. The thing about the joint Parker support that year was that both Nick and Kendall had initially pledged to support the winner of the consensus process (Omar Boucher); that was the year that I finally proved conclusively that they were both full of shit and lacking in integrity, relative to political arrangements and agreements. I was involved with the whole process; one of these days I will write about it. Maybe in their personal lives they hold more integrity (maybe), but in politics they are just animals. Parker also pledged as Nick and Kendall did; he too reneged.
In 2004, Kendall resigned from his district-leadership post, and was intent on turning it over to Asquith Reid- his current campaign manager (and chief-of-staff/also) – before Nick opposed the turnover/ maneuver. In the subsequent four way race that was forced on Kendall and his choice (Abu, Omar and Weyman rounded out the field), Nick supported Carey over his former manager Reid. I am told that Kendall was pissed over this, because Weyman Carey won, in a race where only three hundred votes separated first and fourth place finishers. It was that close folks.
In 2000 Nick supported Major Owens against Una Clarke, he also supported Major against Yvette Clarke in 2004. It is said that in both 2004 and 2006 Kendall supported Yvette for Congress. In 2004 Kendall supported Sharpe against Parker; Nick stayed home with Kevin. After all, Kevin is a protégé of Nick; having been in his employ in earlier years. In 2006 both Nick and Kendall supported Yvette for congress. Now they are saying that next year Nick is supporting Kendall over Kevin. We shall see. They say that Nick wants the support of both Kendall and Yvette for his 2009 Boro Prez challenge; thus Kevin will be sacrificed.
While all this political drama is unfolding in East Flatbush, the young thirty-two year old attorney Terry Hinds has his eyes on the male district leadership and/or the assembly seat (58), and/ or the senatorial seat (21), and / or council seat (45). Many people in these districts are pushing him to challenge some / or one these players; the argument being that it is time for new blood: young blood. Who can blame them? Last year Hinds ran in a three way race for district leadership, coming in second and defeating the incumbent Weyman Carey on the way. Some people say that Kendall only won that race because he had more name recognition. The consensus opinion is that Terry Hinds has a bright political future and that he should be encouraged and supported. I agree. He was one of the attorneys of record (Mitch Alter/ other), who successfully argued in federal court that Sharpe should be returned to the ballot for last week’s second special election. They say he was brilliant in this performance. They say he is working his way up the political ladder.
Terry Hinds was born in New York to immigrant parents from the Caribbean island of Barbados. Barbados just happens to be one of the countries in the world with a very high literacy rate. Terry’s father was a principal in School District 18- where integrating the district led to many a battle, both on the street and in the courts. The Hinds family is quite political. Judge Sylvia Hinds-Radix is Terry’s aunt. People are anxiously awaiting word from Hinds as to what he will do next year or the year after.
Stay tuned in folks.