A looming battle for female Democratic District Leader in the 60th Assembly District could either further strengthen local control or become a Waterloo for political power couple City Council Member Inez Barron (D-East New York, East Flatbush, Brownsville, Canarsie) and her husband, Assemblymember Charles Barron (D-East New York).
Rumors are rife in the district that Inez Barron will challenge incumbent female Democratic District Leader Nikki Lucas for the unpaid but powerful seat. Lucas, a protegé of U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Central Brooklyn, Coney Island, part of Queens), won the seat two years ago against the Barron’s protegé, Joy Simmons.
“I personally sat with Inez and asked to work with her and she told me no,” said Lucas. “She certainly is not trying to grow leadership and partner with community. At this point, I have to question her intentions as a leader.”
The Barrons have held either and/or both state and city political office in the East New York district since 2001, when Charles was first elected to the city council. Inez was first elected to the state assembly in 2009. When Charles was term-limited out of the city council in 2013, he and his wife successfully flipped seats following the 2013 citywide elections.
A Inez Barron campaign spokesperson said she just returned from vacation and didn’t know anything concerning Inez Barron’s rumored run and further calls were not returned.
Lucas has lived in East New York’s Starrett City (also known as Spring Creek Towers) since 1978 when she moved there with her parents. The complex, which is the largest federally subsidized housing complex in the nation , housing over 5,000 families in 46 buildings, also is a model of socio-economic diversity with about an equal amount of whites (mainly Russian and Polish Jews) and blacks (African-Americans, Caribbean-Americans and Africans), along with a sizable Hispanic and growing Asian population.
In her tenure, Lucas has been actively involved in the community, holding a number of community outreach events including senior and youth events, town halls and candidate forums.
“Inez hasn’t filed [to run for district leader], but I’m pretty certain she will run is the information I am getting from people in her campaign,” said Lucas.
On the male side of the Democratic District Leadership race, Chris Banks saw his expected challenge to incumbent Democratic District Leader Keron Alleyne suffer a major setback last week after he resigned from being president of the 75th Police Precinct Community Council due to a discrepancy in book-keeping.
Sources say that Banks utilized a community council debit card to purchase personal items. Banks said the problem occurred because he had the same bank and pin number for both his personal and the community council debit card, and that he paid the money back as soon as he realized the error.
Banks said precinct community council members and others loyal to the Barrons forced the issue and muddied his name for minor discrepancies that occurred several months ago because he recently let it known he was challenging Alleyne.
