Author: Rock Hackshaw

In Starrett City, Brooklyn, and in front of a few hundred adoring residents, Hillary Clinton was in fine form today.  She was at a rally, to support the passing of a bill by Democrats in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, which seeks to preserve affordable housing initiatives in the country. Congressman Ed Towns, who has introduced legislation that specifically deals with saving the affordability standards of the Starrett City housing development, was also on hand to speak to the concerned residents. Starrett City is the largest development of its kind in the nation. For the past two years or so, the residents have been embroiled in a battle with the old-owners, who were intent on selling the complex to a group of speculators.

Hillary Clinton has been somewhat scarce since the end of the democratic presidential primary, and that’s expected, I guess. After all, she had a hard fought primary and a tough and emotional loss. As an ex-candidate who lost, I can vouch for the sense of let down and failure after a political race. It“aint” easy folks. It can be very deflating. It’s like “Preparation-H” for one’s ego and self esteem. People who are courageous enough to run for public office need to be commended and applauded, more so than ridiculed. Most people underestimate how tough it is to run for public office.

During the past week, Kevin Powell’s supporters have been up on the blogs trying to discredit me, after I publicly and openly announced that I was an advisor to the Ed Towns re-election campaign. And believe me when I say that I am playing a minor role in this regard. Bill Lynch and Associates are running this campaign folks; all the congressman did was ask me as an old political acquaintance/friend to help out a lil bit. I consented for many reasons that I may eventually share. As I have said many times before: I like Ed on a personal level; he has always treated me well. We kid around a lot but it’s with respect and camaraderie.

As I said in a recent column, I am leaning towards supporting Comptroller Bill Thompson in next year’s mayoral race; but until I fully make that decision I will write some more speculative columns on who will be our next mayor. Some of these columns may even piss off one or two of my political friends; so what’s new/lol. 

At this point in time -and with a little over a year to go before the mayoral primary- there are six significant potential candidates for the democratic primary. These are: Congressman Anthony Weiner, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Councilmember Tony Avella, Public Advocate Betsy Gautbaum, City Comptroller Bill Thompson, and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. Although I think this group is a decent one -as developing fields go- I think there is one person not on this list, who could win the primary, or at least get into a runoff. That person is our Attorney General: Andrew Cuomo. 

There are 62 senators in Albany. At times it feels like many of them have been there since John Hancock disfigured the Declaration of Independence document; the overwhelming majority of them have never authored a single piece of legislation in all that time, so their embellished signatures have never been needed. But this isn’t aberrational, because many former senators who have now moved on to bigger things never authored legislation either. For example Marty Markowitz -the current boro prez of Brooklyn and possible mayoral candidate- spent about 20 years in Albany, and didn’t get a single piece of legislation that he authored pass that body. Thus yesterday’s passage makes Kevin Parker a legislative genius. 

You can easily recognize an election year once your July conversations with elected officials get strained, agitated, feisty, confrontational or curt. This year is no different. Earlier this week I had a conversation with NYC councilmember Dr. Kendall Stewart -something that isn’t abnormal for me- and after a few minutes, I asked him about the story I wrote a few weeks ago (“Congressman Ed Towns calls for Immigration Commission”), that exclusively appeared on both Room Eight New York Politics and the Daily Gotham blogs.  Now do note that Stewart is relatively dispassionate, he is not the most emotional person in the world, in fact he could be rather stoic somewhat. But when the conversation turned to “immigration” he sounded quite emotional.

This is not a column. It is simply a notice being afforded to those who regularly read Room Eight New York Politics and the Daily Gotham. Both of these blogs publish most of my columns on a regular basis. In order to fully disclose where I am in this upcoming primary election, I will vet myself. I will let you all know the candidates who are running this year with whom I have regular conversations and such.

I am now a paid advisor to the Ed Towns re-election campaign. I am also an advisor to the Cenceria Edwards campaign (I haven’t been paid in this capacity as yet). Plus I am a quasi-advisor to the Kendall Stewart, Ken Evans and Marlene Tapper campaigns. They are all friends who call me regularly for advice from time to time. I have no contract signed with any of them (including the congressman), so these are informal arrangements at this moment. 

Last week, three candidates filed at the Board of Elections to contest the race for the 21st Senatorial District. They are: Kevin Parker (incumbent); Dr. Kendall Stewart (City Council/45) and Simcha Felder (City Council/44). This is the first time in my thirty-five years of first-hand experience with New York’s politics that I can remember three present officeholders (all elected officials), contesting the same state senate seat.  If I am correct, then it means that we are witnessing history folks.   

Contrary to the persistent rumors being circulated for the past month or so, Dr. Kendall Stewart is running. He told me last week that he is in it to stay. He said that the rumors of his withdrawal were being driven by a panicking Parker camp. Dr. Stewart says that he is in it to win it. He is totally confident of pulling of the upset. He cites his sixteen years as an elected official (two positions) and his lifetime of community activism. He also cites over two decades of professional service to the community. He said that all this serves him in good stead and he expects to win. He also said that his support in this district is strong, wide, large and deep. 

Three years ago Marlene Tapper was one of two challengers against incumbent city councilman Hiram Monseratte; she came in second in that race. It was for the 21st council district (Queens). The following year Hiram challenged incumbent John Sabini for the 13th senatorial district, he was turned back. Marlene worked the streets very hard against Hiram and Sabini prevailed. The margin of victory was about three hundred votes. Marlene was rewarded with a job on Sabini’s staff.

The relationship between Ms.Tapper and Mr. Sabini went south very early. She said he fired her; and he said she walked off the job. She said that Hiram Monseratte also contributed to her firing. You see he had lodged a formal complaint against her, based on some frivolous bullshit that his staffers claimed she said, at a supposedly public meeting that never actually took place. Ms. Tapper says that Sabini took it much too seriously.  

Before I get into this column, let me preface it a bit. At this point in time, I am strongly leaning towards supporting Bill Thompson in next year’s mayoral race. I finally got to that place while I was in Miami for a wedding, about two weeks ago. Some political friends that I respect convinced me to come aboard the Billy Thompson train; so I am heading there. I must also confess that although I still have a weak spot for councilmember Avella, I am realistic enough to recognize when a candidate will not be competitive unless he can raise much more money than Avella has. I have had my share (and fill) of symbolic runs at public office, if I support a candidate now he or she must have a realistic shot at winning. I am getting too old for all that insurgent “protest” shit.