Author: Rock Hackshaw

No folks, I am not gone (at least not yet/ if I ever do go/lol); my time hasn’t been good for blogging lately, but I thought I would slip in a grapevine column during downtime this weekend, since stuff is always going on in Brooklyn’s politics. Especially on the other side of the tracks where I peregrinate. So here goes.

There is serious in-fighting going on behind the scenes, to find the replacement for Yvette Clarke in the City Council. This will be after she goes to Congress; since we all know that the only way she loses in November, is if she is caught having sex with a dead boy or girl. Yes, in politics, necrophilia is more fatal than resume-padding. Anyway since that is not going to happen, I will give you a list of ALL the names (replacements) that have been floated since her primary win last month. Before I do this however, let me just say for Yvette’s supporters –who have been verbally beating up on me- that I have said on this site: the people have spoken. I do wish Yvette well in her new endeavour. Her supporters need to let it go. I called the race the way I saw it. As an educator I couldn’t endorse her, not after her faux-pas. As I always say: I tell the truth the way I see it, then I duck. She has won; now move on. I have.

Many will argue against what I am writing here and they will give a variety of reasons as to why; that’s expected and that’s fine. In any polity there is a marketplace for ideas; lately the blogosphere (whatever this is/ lol) has been slowly moving to corner a segment of that market. That too is fine, since to me, the more segments to that market the better- even with all those conspiracy theories about “nine-eleven” flying around the internet. Today is Sunday 1st October, 2006; it’s exactly the 216year and 8months anniversary of the first sitting of the US Supreme court (2/1/1790). Its structure was created by the first bill introduced in the US Senate (Judiciary Act of 1789), allowing for a Chief justice and five associates. That bill also created 13 districts with three divisions (East-South and Middle).

In retrospect, the year 2002 can be seen as the year that the black vote in central-Brooklyn grew up a bit. That was the years that Delores Thomas and Margarita Lopez-Torres won countywide judgeships in the county of Kings (and wannabee political-kingpins). These achievements of Delores and Margarita were phenomenal; coming after many years of Clarence Norman, Howard Golden and company, discouraging and/or blocking the challenges of minority candidates, for borough-wide slots. The central argument from those power players was that the votes just weren’t there for minority victories. These ladies sure proved them wrong. Then in 2003, Chadeya Simpson won another of those county-wide judgeships as a black woman; that was when many people started taking notice of the black vote in Brooklyn: especially in the democratic primary elections.

In less than three years time, a democratic primary winner in Brooklyn will most likely become the borough’s next president. History shows that all of Brooklyn’s Borough presidents were white men (you can correct me if I am inaccurate); but is this about to change? Given the potency of Brooklyn’s black primary-vote, any viable black candidate in the upcoming race for this office will have a serious chance of winning; especially when you consider the victories of black judicial candidates in borough-wide races, over the past five judicial primaries in Kings County. With that in mind, let’s examine the possible black candidates in the upcoming primary.

On the Friday before the Tuesday (Election Day), the Christian Cultural Center located on Flatlands Avenue, near Starett City, Brooklyn, held a candidates forum. I am told that this church of Rev. Bernard has a membership list of about twenty thousand people; thus as could be expected, many candidates showed up. All those running for Congress in Districts 10 and 11 were there, with the exception of Ed Towns. I am also told that this wasn’t the first time that Ed Towns refused to debate his opponents in a race, that it happened in 1992, 1998 and also in the year 2000. He was re-elected in all those races. Does Ed know something that we don’t? What do you think?

I know that there are fifty days left to the general election, and I know that many would say that it is way too early to make an endorsement; but here I go. I am going to endorse Jeanine Pirro for Attorney General. I am going to vote for her and I am also going to try to get everyone I know to vote for her.

Why endorse Pirro? The answer is simple: she is much better qualified for this job than Andrew Cuomo. Case closed. And yet it’s more than that. We have never had a woman as AG in New York’s history; and here we have a highly qualified, highly successful, and very articulate woman, so let’s make history. In this male-dominated world (state) we don’t know when next we will get this opportunity. So let’s do it now.

By now most of you readers know that I have endorsed the following candidates:

Chris Owens (11th Congressional), Eric Adams (20th Senatorial), and Terry Hinds (58th AD/ Male District Leader); and since today is the infamous “Thursday before the Tuesday”, let me lengthen my endorsement list before it’s too late to make an impact / lmao. I will save the gubernatorial race for last.

Upballot: vote for Sean Patrick Maloney for Attorney General. Even though Mark Green is better suited to this job than Andrew Cuomo (and it’s not even close, so don’t even try debating this), it’s really hard for me to vote for Green. I don’t think that I have to go into the reasons beyond saying: 2001. Cuomo reminds me of the guy who proposed marriage to this fancy uptown chick (gubernatorial run), and after being rejected fell back on the girl next door for solace (AG). Maloney has done surprisingly well (to me) in the debates, and I think it’s time for new blood.

This is my penultimate “Grapevine” column, as I tie up loose ends here on Room Eight; and as you know, I try to bring you the stories and speculation that you won’t see, read, hear or find, in the mainstream media. So here goes an abbreviated version.

In the 11th Congressional race I took only slight ragging for endorsing Chris Owens. Some Caribbean-Americans thought that I could have cut Yvette Clarke some slack, after the story broke about her not having a B.A. degree, and also not graduating from Oberlin College. I had to explain that as an educator I couldn’t take that stand, since it would have been contradictory to my general educational objectives and philosophical viewpoint. I also had to explain that if anyone working in the public or private sector, had been caught embellishing their college records, fudging on their qualifications, or lying about their true credentials, that such a person would have deservedly been relieved of their position, and/or at least disciplined in some way, shape or form.