Category: News and Opinion

A Referendum on Mayoral Control of the Schools

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“There’s no question that mayoral control has done really positive great things.”—-Dan Squadron

“We need to get parents back in the process in a real way; we need to empower them. I feel the legislature was mislead by this Mayor…”—State Senator Marty Connor

As Mike Bloomberg moves towards creating a Charter Commission to extend his tenure in the Mayor’s Office to lives in being plus 21 years, by expanding the public‘s right to return him to office, he does nothing to allow voters to actually express their opinion on the real issues that impact their lives.

Next year, the legislature will vote on the crucial issue of whether to extend the experiment of absolute monarchial Mayoral control over the public school system. And yet, in all the City there is only one opportunity this year for voters to express a clear cut choice on this matter of monumental consequence. As such, it is likely that all eyes will be on the race for State Senate between incumbent Marty Connor and upstart Dan Squadron to gauge whether the much ballyhooed public anger over the manner in which school are run is really of much political consequence. 

What’s The One Thing That State Senator Kevin Parker, Dr. Kendall Stewart and His Fell Council Member Simcha Felder Agree On?

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You all know that incumbent state senator Kevin Parker (21SD) is in the fight of his political life, as he tries to fend off challenges from council members Stewart and Felder in what is turning out to be a relatively quiet race so far (surprisingly). Parker is being tested again because he doesn’t how to not make enemies; while Stewart is testing whether or not the fallout from the legal woes of two of his staffers is politically fatal. Felder is just testing the waters; trying to turn a single hit in 2001 into a double in 2008. He is looking to steal second base so to speak. In baseball terms: he is running both fast and hard. 

Another Brooklyn Political Story: The 40th Assembly District; why won’t they support the best candidate for the seat?

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Okay; so Congressman Ed Towns may fire me from the present campaign after he reads this column; that’s not my intent, but I have always been one to call a spade a spade and at this stage of my life I don’t see that changing. In the 40th Assembly District both Congressman Ed Towns and New York City councilmember Charles Barron have done someone wrong. And it didn’t start with this year’s race. The person wronged is Kenneth S. Evans. 

Does this mean that I no longer support Ed Towns for re-election: hell no. Towns is the superior candidate this year; and it isn’t even close. That’s the main reason why I accepted his offer to join his campaign this year. From my qualified position, he is the better candidate: period. Kevin Powell is not ready. Plus; during these fiscal hard times do you really want a rookie in Congress? Ed Towns has brought home billions of dollars for Brooklyn over the years; he will continue to do so: Powell is not the answer.

Was that an attack on Inez Barron last week? You be the judge.

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In the 40th Assembly District in Brooklyn they are searching for a replacement to former assemblywoman (and also former district leader/female) Diane Gordon. The last time we looked Diane got 2 to 6 years in prison, for attempted bribery and other things. And right now there are six candidates in the upcoming democratic primary vying to replace her. They are namely (with odds); Earl Williams (the male district leader/ 2to1), Inez Barron (the wife of councilmember Charles Barron/3to1), Kenneth (Ken) S. Evans (the former head of the NY Urban League/6to1), Nathan Bradley (the former chief of staff for Diane Gordon/10 to1), Winchester Keys (the former chief of staff to the former assembly member Ed Griffiths/15 to1), and a newcomer named Donizetta Brown (who remains somewhat of a mystery up to this point/50to1). 

Ed Towns versus Kevin Powell: it’s time to choose up a side; left wing bloggers need to come clean or be strip-searched

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For years, some Brooklyn loudmouths on the left of the political spectrum have been using Congressman Ed Towns as a whipping boy of sorts; despite the fact that Ed Towns voted against the Iraq invasion and all subsequent wasteful defense spending. He has also gotten a 100% voting scorecard from groups like the National Abortion Rights Action League and Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, so you would think that some lefties would be pleased at his recent ratings; but I guess not, since I don’t see those left-wing endorsements coming in for Towns.

We saw the lefties jump all over young ivy leaguer Barry Ford -when he twice challenged Towns a few years ago- embracing him like he was the prodigal son; and although in 2006 they were reluctant to support Charles Barron, “Chuckie B” still did surprisingly well in pockets of Brooklyn’s 10th congressional district where lefties reside (go look at the results). Now this year Kevin Powell shows up to challenge Towns, and lefties are surprisingly silent; I wonder why. 

A Salute to Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein (Really)

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“At twenty-one or twenty-two, so many things appear solid, permanent, and terrible, which forty sees as nothing but disappearing miasma. Forty can't tell twenty about this. Twenty can find out only by getting to be forty”

–Joseph Cotten in “The Magnificent Ambersons”, speaking the words of Booth Tarkington as adapted for the screen by Orson Welles, who was pretty close to twenty at the time (maybe if he were forty, he wouldn’t have taken off for Mexico and points beyond, leaving the studio powers that be the opportunity to lop  over a half hour off his masterwork).

I recently came to conclusion that I’d done the Kevin Powell thing to death, and that nothing good, and something bad (diminished readership) could come of wading in those muddy waters again. I was about to promise to refrain from posting any further Powell pieces, with one caveat–Powell would have to agree to do nothing stupid for the balance of his campaign. Given the campaign trajectory so far–even the left-centric “ Daily Gotham” is treating Powell as a joke, this was a hula hoop sized loophole. But hell, I was glad to cut Powell a break, especially after he promised to have Richard Pryor perform at his next fundraising event.

This is Crap and It Must Stop Now

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Yesterday morning Ms. Cenceria Edwards woke up to find human excrement at her door. It is another in a long chain of events, which have unfolded since Ms. Edwards started collecting signatures, for a petition to run against Assemblywoman Annette Robinson -in Brooklyn’s 56th Assembly District (Bedford-Stuyvesant). Not only did the shit stink and smell up the place, it also made another psychological impact on her two kids (daughters); again. It has been an emotional roller-coaster for the Edwards family since June folks. This is traumatic. 

This is so unfair; and all because one brave lady chose to run for the state assembly. Look people; seats are not owned by any clan or kin; not in Bed-Stuy nor in Bed-Room. It’s a democracy (at least that’s what they tell you in ivy-league universities). So why the heck is all this being allowed to go down?  

Speaking of Doom

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Readers may recall my alarm that the city and state pension funds were moving into “alternative investments” such as hedge funds right when those funds were likely to tank. Many don’t hedge at all; they just leverage investments with debt, meaning a small loss in reality is a 100 percent lost for investors, with the possibility of similar gains if things go well, and massive fees in either case. A knowledgeable person told me it was no problem, because legally pension funds may only invest a few percent in such risky investments.

But now I read that the state pension funds already have received permission from the state legislature to increase the share in alternative investments fromo 15 percent to 25 percent, and State Comptroller DiNapoli, undoubtedly encouraged by Wall Street, is asking the legislature to remove any limits at all. The reason — the pension funds don’t have enough money to pay the promised benefits, so they have to take more risks to increase the rate of return.

The Daily Doom and Theft

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Like most of the frequent posters here on Room Eight, I’m more interested in writing about the facts that aren’t generally made available and telling the stories that no one is willing to tell, rather than merely commenting on what is already being reported by others. I assume that anyone who actually reads my essays is also well read in what is being reported by the mainstream media, and is more interested in their own interpretation of those reports than mine. But today’s news has a number of items that I can’t resist calling further attention to.

The Wall Street Journal, in a front page article, reports something I have alluded to but do not have the facts to tabulate — that top executives are paying each other more and more money in pension income, copying the raid on the future perpetuated by public employee unions and state legislatures, to avoid taxes, disguise their outsized pay and, in the end, siphon off all the money from their companies. The New York Post reports a State Comptroller finding that “New York is wasting tens of millions of dollars annually by paying the medical expenses of thousands of former residents who have long since moved out of state, an explosive new audit has found.” That’s their interpretation. I’d bet they weren’t state residents to begin with. And according to Reuters, compensation experts expect Wall Street bonuses to fall by 30% to 40%. The special session of the New York State Legislature called by Governor Paterson is based on the disastrous consequences of a 20% decline. I expect 50%-plus, so with this report, we’re getting closer.