Borough President’s Race
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams will probably not get a Democratic Party Primary Opponent.
That after former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz told KCP this week that his chances to run again for the borough’s top political job are slim to slimmer.
“There’s nothing for me to share,” said Markowitz, when questioned on the rumor he would challenge Adams. “You never say never in any business, but it’s so remote. It’s so remote is the best way to put it. You look ahead and you can’t look back whatever looking ahead means.”
Meanwhile, Republican and Brooklyn Tea Party Candidate Glenn Nocera said he is exploring the idea of running for Borough President and has even spoken to some of the borough’s Republican leadership about running.
“We need at least two voices in this (democratic) process,” said Nocera. “Even though he’s from a different party, Marty was a good advocate for the borough.”
Speaking of the Brooklyn Tea Party, they are holding their monthly meeting from 1:30-3:30 p.m., this Sunday, Jan. 8 at the Kings Highway Library branch, 2115 Ocean Avenue off of Kings Highway. The guest speaker is former State Sen. David Storobin.
Brooklyn DA Race Scorecard
KCP believes that interim Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez is still the candidate to beat in the DA’s primary come September, but the field is getting a bit more crowded.
Besides Gonzalez the other attorneys that have already announced are former assistant DA’s Patricia Gatling and Ama Dwimoh.
Another possible candidate is New York criminal defense lawyer and legal analyst on Fox News Channel Arthur Aidala, who is holding a high-powered fundraiser in Red Hook on Monday.
Others said to be eying the position is term-limited City Councilman Vinnie Gentile and former ADA Anne Swern, who is also the female Democratic District Leader in Brooklyn Heights.
Several Kings County Judge Races On Tap
Come the September Democratic Primary, voters can expect to find a bevy of lawyers vying for four Kings County Civil Court judeships.
That after four current Civil Court Judges are moving up to the Supreme Court. They are Reginald Boddie, Shawndya Simpson and Peter Sweeney, who will all give up their countywide bench seats in Civil Court and Katherine Levine, who is bumping up to the Supreme Court leaving her 6th Municipal District seat up for grabs.
Holding a large sway over who will win the judgeships will be Kings County Democratic Party boss Frank Seddio and the county’s Democratic district leaders. But least reform minded Brooklynites start crying foul, they should also know that as recently as this past November one of the County’s judicial candidates, Consuelo Melendez, lost to Odessa Kennedy.
Calling Peter Abbate & Bay Ridge’s Arab Community
Assemblyman Peter Abbate Jr. has not returned several phone calls after telling KCP that he will decide if he’s running for term-limited City Councilman Vincent Gentile’s seat between Christmas and New Years. Perhaps it’s the debacle from when he sent Christmas cards to Bay Ridge voters, or he’s getting cold feet about the race or it’s some grand political strategy to get his ducks lined up in a row before announcing or to see how the rest of the field shakes out before he makes his next move. Either way, a certain amount of transparency would be nice.
Ditto for Linda Sarsour and Pastor Khader El-Yateem. KCP have called and in Sarsour’s case texted them numerous times without any response. While KCP founder/editor Stephen Witt is Jewish and has let it be known he strongly supports Israel, he has asked Sarsour numerous times to present her views, unencumbered or edited, to be posted on Israel. He does believe that Palestinian rights and that diverse Arab points of view, particularly in Bay Ridge, should be part of the overall conversation in the citywide discussion involving Israel/Palestine.
Ditto for Father El-Yateem. KCP strongly believes his views on the Middle East should have little or no bearing on how he would represent the best interests on Bay Ridge residents in the City Council. KCP is very open to presenting his views on how he would do that.
KCP also believes that the Bay Ridge GOP should not write off the Arab community in the neighborhood as there are a number of Arab small business owners, who like many immigrants in Brooklyn, believe in self-reliance and hard work – core principles of Republicans.
Fake News On Clinton Running For Mayor
The New York Times, supposedly the newspaper of record, continues to slide into the realm of fake news.
KCP began to realize it after it relied mainly on its coverage of the recent presidential election. Stories leading up to that election had Hillary Clinton winning by a landslide and Donald Trump‘s campaign in total disarray. KCP swallowed these stories like a bluefish swimming in Sheepshead Bay – hook, line and sinker – which in retrospect was nothing more than shoddy reporting.
In regards to covering the city, the Times never struck KCP as having their ear to the ground in the first place and realized early on of a strong bias in favor of Mayor Bill de Blasio. Still, it took all this with a grain of salt until today’s highly speculative story about Hillary Clinton considering a run for mayor. The Times should cast a skeptical eye on de Blasio and take an earnest look at some possible real candidates. Instead they did this puff piece that served to elevate both Clinton and de Blasio. And there was nothing tongue-in-cheek about the story. It made the front page of the Times.
Message to the Times, “Yo, stop being so fake!”
