I haven’t done a “grapevines” column in ages so here goes. Too many people are saying that David Paterson needs to step gingerly out of the upcoming gubernatorial race: too many people. I wonder why? If I were David I would be gearing up to run by giving them all the finger; which I suppose he is doing right now. This whole mess was handled wrong from the day Eliot Spitzer selected him for LG. Even though I am not sure David Paterson will get elected as governor, I still think he should run.
I hate it when the so-called “powers that be”, stifle competition amongst candidates and leave the voters with little or no choice (like they have now done with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand). By the way, do you know what Paterson said when he found out that he was selected to be Lieutenant Governor on Spitzer’s ticket? In his trademark jocular manner, I am told he said something to the effect: “surely, they couldn’t have vetted me”. He was right, wasn’t he? LOL.
I ran into Congressman Ed Towns during the month of August. He was attending an office opening for Billy Thompson’s mayoral campaign. The office is located at Nostrand Avenue and Montgomery Street in Brooklyn. Ed Towns is nothing short of a frustrated comedian folks; and he is good too. Listen up. At this event, Charles Barron walked up to him and said: “Ed, how could you support one of my opponents (Winchester Keys) over me, in the race for the 42nd council district?” Without missing a beat -and with a straight face too- Ed Towns replied: “I am not supporting anyone who voted against term limits Charles”. (Try to get this one folks: it’s deeper than you may think).
Assemblyman Nick Perry was also there. Nick needs to start checking his brain cells before he opens his mouth folks. He is evolving into a jackass. First off, he complained about my challenge to Councilmember Mathieu Eugene. He said that “we Caribbean-Americans” shouldn’t be challenging each other. He raised the specter of the “crabs in the barrel” syndrome. It was a rather insipid remark: suggesting that people shouldn’t be challenged because of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, nationality, or such. Nick is one of those electeds who has gone into the “entitlement” mode since winning election. It is as if he forgot he was an insurgent once. One we all supported to booth. I wish there were more public forums whereby electeds can be debated by insurgents long before election time. This would help expose some of the clowns in this continuing circus we call New York politics.
Then he said I should be challenging Rhoda Jacobs instead of Eugene: another stupid remark coming from another intellectually-challenged black elected. In 1998, I did challenge Rhoda Jacobs. Nick Perry didn’t support me. In fact there were ways in which he hurt my campaign (but that’s another political story). I asked him: “where were you Nick? When I ran against the same person you now say I should be challenging: where were you?”
Imagine this guy? Now he has the unmitigated gall to suggest to me who to run against. And even if I do run against her, we all know he will take a powder on me. Una Clarke once said that some black electeds in Brooklyn (like Nick) have no backbone; she was absolutely correct.
Remember that when he challenged Ms. Jacobs in 1988, I supported him. I also supported him in 1992 when he won his current seat. And by support, I mean this: I attended fundraisers, bought and sold tickets, worked pro-bono on his campaign (Deputy Volunteer’s Co-coordinator), joined his political club, spread the word on his behalf to all corners of the district, worked the poll-sites for him, etcetera. I even went up against one of my country men (Trinidad-born Abu Abu) who was also a candidate in that 1992 race. Sometimes electeds suffer from convenient amnesia; don’t they?
Then Nick Perry went for the hat trick: he made another ridiculous remark. He said that he is always being challenged by Caribbean-American political insurgents (implying that I lead them of course). And this remark came from an elected who last had a primary in 1998. As far as I am concerned, they should all be primaried every election: especially Nick Perry. He has evolved into another pompous elected. If I had spent more time talking to him I would have had to vacuum his brain. Well; maybe there is a vacuum already there.
Word out of Nick’s district (58AD) is that Kendall Stewart will challenge Perry, once he (Stewart) officially loses his council seat to Jumanee Williams next month. It is said that Nick didn’t lift a finger to help in Kendall’s failed primary last month, and that Stewart is pissed off. This wouldn’t be the first -or last- time that Nick and Kendall square off in some political tiff. They are like an old married couple folks: they break up and make up, more times than Joan Rivers has facelifts.
A related rumor has it that Wellington Sharpe will challenge Kevin Parker (again) for the 21st senatorial district. Some are saying that Kevin may go down (like Hiram Monseratte/expectedly) when his current assault case is called. If this were to happen, then look for Simcha Felder to jump into that race; no? What do you think?
BTW: where is Terry Hinds while all this is going down in his neck of the woods?
I must say that as much as I have congratulated Jumanee Williams on his convincing victory against Stewart, I do feel badly for Sam Tate. Sam has paid a lot of dues in this neck of the woods, and now he has lost for the fourth time in a row. He came in third.
Dr. McKenzie ran a spirited race for a rookie runner and came in fourth -with a little over a thousand votes. Haitian-American political activist Ernest Emanuel was a distant fifth; and Guyanese-born Earlene King ran last.
Up to last week, the result for the 41st council district (Darlene Mealy/incumbent) primary was in dispute, with all three losing candidates in a Brooklyn court challenging the election night returns. These challenges were based on technicalities and voting irregularities. However, I was told over the weekend that Tracey Boyland, Tulani Kinard and Tony Herbert (Mealy’s opponents) all withdrew their challenges. This means that Ms. Mealy should be elected as a democrat come next month. Tracey Boyland came in a solid second to Ms. Mealy, losing by about two hundred votes. Ms. Kinard came in third with about 1500 votes. I get the feeling that they will all be back running for elected office again. And to all those who didn’t like my “Tracey Boyland” column of last summer, let me just say that’s too bad. I apologize to no one for that column or its content. What the heck is wrong with me saying that I think Tracey is “hot”? Geeze. It was a compliment. Get over it already.
There are two persistent rumors out there concerning the 10th and 11th congressional districts. One has Hakeem Jeffries going against Ed Towns in 2010 or 2012. The other has Eric Adams going against Yvette Clarke next year. I am just telling you guys what I am hearing: that’s all. I cannot attest to the veracity of these persistent rumors: but they are real and persistent. Many pundits are saying that neither of these two (Jeffries and Adams) have the gonads to stomach a congressional challenge. What do you think? Do tell Cousin Rocky. And what about Chris Owens? Is he ever going to run for public office again? Ditto for Eric Blackwell.
There are more rumors out there that both Senator Velmanette Montgomery (19SD) and Assemblyman Junior Boyland (55AD) will be getting challenges next year. The same is being said relative to Assemblywomen Inez Barron (40AD) and Rhoda Jacobs (42AD). I have made no secret about being interested in the 42AD seat. However, I will not run in a crowded race: three’s company, but four (or more) is a crowd. Word on the street is that Michele Adolphe is also interested in running for this seat again.
Then, there are also rumors of many challenges for male and female leadership positions all over Brooklyn (including the white and Hispanic areas). I do hope this materializes. The time is way overdue for such a county-wide challenge. The big problem for insurgents here will be (of course) the lethargic voting patterns of democrats in recent primaries.
Let me publicly congratulate one of my recent political opponents Dr. Mathieu Eugene (40th council district), for running another successful campaign. His base of Haitian-American voters sure came out in an otherwise lackluster day of voting. He also ran a decent campaign, in the sense that despite many provocations from the other candidate in the race, he kept it clean all the way. I had an opportunity to first meet this man during the debates and found him to be a very amiable chap. I look forward to working with him on unique issues facing the Caribbean-American diaspora, as well as other issues facing all folks in this district, borough and city.
Congratulations also to Tish James for her fabulous showing on election night. In my estimation her result was never in doubt. On Election Day I saw her and told her she will get between 70 and 80 percent of the turnout. Tish has turned out to be a pretty decent council woman. I would have voted for her to be speaker if I had won.
Congratulations are also in order for the Bill Lynch crew from Harlem, on helping to deliver John Liu (Comptroller). Bill Lynch, Kevin Wardally, Luther Smith, Darryl White, and the others, should be proud of the fine job they all did. It was a late start but a great finish (not that I truly cared for how it all came to be). David Yassky must be one of the ill-fated politicians of this era. He did run a very good race though. I suspect that he will be back. He is a brave soul.
Congratulations to Bill DiBlasio for winning the public advocate primary. I didn’t think he could win until I started getting tons of early mail from him, and had this gut feeling that he had gotten into the hunt. Then later, when Charles Barron made that faux-pas at Rev. Youngblood’s church by attacking Bill and his black wife, I felt it was a blessing in disguise for DiBlasio. I think I was right about that. John Liu worked very hard as a candidate -he was here, there and everywhere-, but DiBlasio probably ran the most effective campaign of all the city-wide candidates. DiBlasio must have gotten the most minority voters in that specific race. I was sorry that Norman Siegel lost. Norm is more than worthy of this job, but alas, he couldn’t convince those who showed up to vote, that he was the best choice. I can relate to that/lol.
Mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson won an expected primary victory, and now is the time for all good democrats in this city to rally behind Bill, so that we can pull off an upset over Mayor Bloomberg next month. Believe me when I say it can be easily done if we mobilized and motivated enough democrats. Bloomberg has hit the wall of diminishing returns folks: study your economics. No matter how much more money he spends, his numbers will continue to inch downwards. He is going to spend over 100 million dollars this time around, and we need to show him that New Yorkers aren’t for sale.
I hope that the voters in the 36th council district (Bed-Stuy/Crown Heights) elect Mark Winston Griffith next month. Depart from the democrat’s line for a minute folks. Let’s elect Griffith over Al Vann. It is time for Vann to retire. It is way past his bedtime. Mark is running on another party-line, but please look for his name and then pull the lever next to it. Do give him your vote. It is time for Mr. Al to pack his things in a van and get out of elected office. It is way past time.
Last but not least, let me say thanks to all who supported my failed effort for the city council this year. Despite the end-result, I must say that I enjoyed the perpetual challenges of this campaign; frustrating as they were. As an old-hand in this game, I must also confess that I learned a lot.
Thanks to the Caribbean Life and Flatbush Life newspapers for their endorsements. Thanks to Jitu Weusi for the surprise late endorsement also. Special thanks to my daughter Reeza, her mother CJ, my brother Joel, my sisters Jane and Susan, my other brothers and sisters, and my many supportive cousins/relatives: you were all terrific.
Thanks to Wellington Sharpe, Horace Morancie, Maria Yudkevich, Gloria Church-Morancie, Manny Burgos, Joyce Stewart and her crew, Carlos Bristol, Daryl Smart and family, Marcia Messado, Abu Abu, Carol-Ann Church, Joanne Brusche, Gerry Hopkins, Johnathan Soroko, Helen Pereira, Pam and Tishawah Miller, Annie, Kerwin and his mom, Ed Roberts, Colin and Ela Moore, Dave and Karen Miller, and the many many other friends and strangers (too numerous for this space), for their involvement in my campaign: no matter how large or small. I do appreciate everything you did for me; all of you.
To my attorney Terry Hinds, and his assistant Merlin Hernandez (plus her son and daughter), let me say that I do appreciate your work and advice (most of which I didn’t take/lol). To Ken Evans, Marva Prescod, Randy Archbald, and the other friends I lost on this journey -who got so angry at me that we are now no longer on communicative terms- I offer my apologies for whatever roles I had in our fights and disagreements. Do forgive me. To the two young men who did my website let me say I was glad to give you rookies the opportunity and you did me proud; do stay in touch.
Every campaign on which you expend time, thought, money, effort and energy, happens to be different from all the others: no matter how many times you do this. This was the third year that I faced the voters (1998-2000-2009) and I don’t think it is my last. (Well; we’ll see. Who knows? Maybe it was).
Let me tell you what I do know (and this is for my many detractors): it is much better to try and fail, than to fail to try to make a difference. In this campaign, I encountered many knocks from people who never even ran for dogcatcher in a one-dog town. Anyway, attacks unfortunately come with the territory. I still have to retire some campaign debts, and I hope that those of you who promised to send me contributions and didn’t (and others who are yet to contribute), could come through just about now. I am desperate. I need help in this regard. Do make your checks or money orders payable to: The Friends of Rock Hackshaw. The mailing address is: P.O. Box 250638; James E. Davis Station; Brooklyn, New York, 11225.
Thanks to all those who commented on my detailed platform (www.rockhackshaw.com). Your comments helped me crystallize many an issue. I did work very hard to develop it. Any council member can liberally borrow from it: you have my permission. And if you are looking to staff up, please call me for any pertinent info. I am quite interested in working within the city council. Have ideas: will travel.
Is there any elected out there brave enough to hire me? I want to hear from you. My resume is posted on my website for your analysis and review.
Stay tuned-in folks.