For those who didn’t notice, we had a primary election in Brooklyn on June 27, for which the results are now finalized. On the Democratic side, with one exception, the results in the contested races are almost certainly be game, set, and match, with November a mere formality. By contrast, on the GOP side, the races were all in (at least theoretically) November battlegrounds.
Given this paper’s readership base is primarily in Greater Brownstone Brooklyn and Sunset Park, that means that for most of us that, like most of the primary races, the November elections are going to basically be a spectator sport, although I’ve no doubt that many local activists will be making the trip to the Boro’s southern reaches to provide assistance.
Meanwhile, here’s a summary of what just happened, as well as, in some cases. a bit of a preview of what’s going to happen in November. Unless otherwise indicated, the primaries I’ve listed were amongst those candidates who claim to be Democrats (with varying degrees of accuracy),
Civil Court: In a race, virtually no one but the pros (and not even all of them) cared about, the County Organization’s Turquoise Haskin faced off against Linda Wilson (endorsed in my June column), who was backed by most of the Party’s reform elements.
Wilson had more political support in the Brownstone areas, which normally generates the highest turnout, but there were no local races in those areas, so the question was s whether those voters would turn out in an election which was almost by invitation only.
County was pinning its hopes on the fact that what usually determines which voters turn out in a countywide judicial race is whether they live in areas where there are local races on the ballot; this year, the lineup of such races, and who the local pols in those area supported, was supposed to be a factor in Haskin’s favor, as was the fact she spent more money.
In the end, however, Wilson pummeled Haskins nearly everywhere amongst the few voters who bothered to show up.
Council District 34 (Parts of Williamsburg, Bushwick, Greenpoint, Ridgewood): Incumbent Jen Gutierrez (full disclosure: she’s my client) a member of the Progressive Caucus, was also supported by virtually every extant faction in the area, no matter what their ideology, and easily pummeled street-entertainer-who’s-jumped-the-shark Paperboy Love Prince, who was supported by gadfly Theo Chino (perhaps most noteworthy for creating faux astroturf groups with names that sound extremely similar to real ones), who is widely regarded as the political equivalent of a mosquito.
Council District 41 (Ocean-Hill Brownsville) : If showing up is really 80% of life, then incumbent Darlene Mealy’s 32% Council absentee rate, the highest among Council members who were still actively running for re-election, should have been a sign she was in trouble, especially given the significant forces (amongst others, Assemblywoman Latrice Walker and the Working Families Party) in support of her strongest opponent, Isis McIntosh Green (the other two candidates seemed mostly to be there to provide amusement value, though neither was as funny as Paperboy Prince).
Nonetheless, it should be noted that the one day Mealy never misses is Election Day, and Brownsville’s political burial grounds are littered with the political corpses of those who’ve prematurely predicted Mealy’s political demise. And such was the case this year as well.
Council District 42 (East New York): There were signs of late that Afrocentric Marxist Charles Barron’s political family (which overlaps with his biological one) had finally worn out its welcome, and his political adversary, Assemblywoman Nikki Lucas, was loaded for bear to beat him, in the manner she’s recently beaten nearly all of Barron’s proxies.
That said, Barron’s strongest challenger, Chris Banks, had been on the ballot so often that he seemed as likely as Barron to be the victim of incumbency fatigue .
Of course, the same was once said of Lucas, and what was true for her proved true for Banks.
Ironically, Banks is a two time Bernie Sanders supporter of left inclinations, who used to post the most delusional sort of Sandernista Kool-Aid on social media, but is now being portrayed as the voice of moderation in the same manner that Cornel West pal Yusef Salaam is being depicted in Harlem.
Council District 43 (Parts of Bensonhurst, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights Gravesend) : For the Dems, this race was basically a proxy fight between Brannan World (loosely, Councilmember Justin Brannan, State Senators Andrew Gounardes and Iwen Chu, Former Assemblymember Peter Abbate, and District Leaders Joe Bova, Victoria Kelly Burhans, Chris McCreight, Mark Hanna, and Lenny Markh) which supported Wei-Yee Chan, versus Colton World (loosely, Assemblyman Bill Colton, Republican Councilman Ari Kagan, former Councilman Mark Treyger, and District Leaders Dionne Brown-Jordan, Charlie Ragusa, Nancy Tong and Margarita Kagan), which supported Colton protégé Susan Zhuang. Political outsider Stanley Ng was in the race as well but apparently could buy neither a vote nor a vowel.
The race was about ugly as any in the City; for instance, in a letter, Colton outright called Chan, a long time ally of Jewish groups in Bensonhurst, an anti-Semite, because she accepted the endorsement of a the PSC, a CUNY union which once passed a pro-BDS resolution (which Chan disagreed with), even though Colton’s candidate sought the support of the same union (which also backed Jewish Caucus Chair Eric Dinowitz, a proud Zionist). Imagine what hijinks Colton would be capable of in a district with more that 100 Jewish prime voters.
All these candidates (and the two Republicans) had carpetbagger issues, and all loudly support the specialized school exam, and their concern for law and order, and none would likely pass the litmus test of even the most moderate Brownstone reformer, but the general perception was that Chan was the most liberal of the three Dems and Zhuang (who was caught telling voters she thinks more like a Republican than a Democrat) the most conservative. There may even be an element of truth in the perception, as Chan and Ng were both quoted agreeing with the controversial proposition that the 1st Amendment applies even to views they disagree with, while Zhuang wholeheartedly stated otherwise.
Certainly, when it comes to Party loyalty, there’s no doubt that Colton World, which pretty much took a dive on nearly all the local contested partisan races last year, while blowing kisses in the direction of the GOP, and seems ready to do the same, and probably even more, this year, is usually to the right of Brannan World, even if the differences and the spite often stem from matters other than ideology.
Ironically enough, Brannan World’s Joe Bova, though a loyal Democrat, is personally conservative enough to have run for office with Conservative Party backing, while Colton and District Leader Charlie Ragusa started out in politics as proteges of left wing Assemblyman Frank Barbaro, who never met a Communist Party front group he refused to join, although nowadays, the Colton-Ragusa club “The United (sic) Progressive (sic) Democrats (sic) of Bensonhurst” is clearly an oxymoron, and Ragusa betrays no shame in telling old friends that he supports Donald Trump, while Colton betrays no shame about practically anything.
There was also a GOP primary, in which Colton also seemed to have a horse, almost State Senator Vito Labella. Last fall, Colton was caught on video praising Labella to voters, and on primary day, campaign workers in Zhuang t-shirts were seen giving out Labella literature, as well as Zhuang’s. But despite his official GOP organization(and unofficial Colton organization) support, opponent Ying Tan had far more money and, irony of ironies, attacked the DINO backed Labella as a RINO. The ethnic factor cut both ways, as while the district is majority Asian-American, the GOP primary electorate may leaned more linguini than lo mein, but in the end, Tan pulled off a narrow victory.
As this seat went strong for Curtis Sliwa and Lee Zeldin, this race could be a real contest in November, but Colton has a history of swimming against GOP tides by swimming with them, and Zhuang is further advantaged by Labella’s insistence that he is going to continue to run an active race on the Conservative line.
Council District 44 (Boro Park, Midwood): This was a GOP primary between conservative Democratic Councilman Kalman Yeger, also supported by the Conservative Party, and Heshy Tischler, a convicted scam artist who most recently copped a plea to inciting a mob to beat up reporter Jacob Kornbluh, until Kornbluh required hospitalization. While the Brooklyn GOP normally has no trouble scraping from the bottom of the barrel to find a candidate, this was too much even for them, so they authorized Yeger to run in their primary.
Despite a tendency to shoot from the lip, Yeger, though fairly conservative, is also a pragmatist, who understands the social welfare needs of his community often ally with mainstream Democrats. That said, Yeger rarely runs afoul of the usually conservative views of the various Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sects within his district.
Normally, in a primary, those sects, which almost unanimously support Yeger, would dictate the results, but that normal is in a Democratic Primary.
In Brooklyn, Haredim usually enroll as Democrats, at the urging of their sects, because that maximizes their influence in the primaries which usually decide City elections. However, those same voters usually vote GOP in the fall. By contrast, the locals who enroll and vote in GOP primaries tend to be the real fanatics, so there was a real fear Tischler just might win the nod.
In general elections, Boro Park’s Dem electeds have tended to get cross-endorsed by the GOP and/or the Conservatives, and usually get more votes on those lines than as Dems, so, if Yeger lost the GOP primary, this could have been a real November contest.
As it was, Yeger pulled out a narrow victory and Tischler is now ranting on his radio show about the high cost of his election lawyer, Aaron Foldenauer, without whom he would likely have acquired neither ballot access nor matching funds.
Foldenauer’s client list constitutes a better rogues gallery than Madame Tussaud’s, with Heshy not even the scariest member, but if one lies down with hundts, one wakes up with voncen, so I guess Aaron is going to have to take his $50,000 and cry all the way to the bank.
COUNCIL DISTRICT 47 (Part of Bay Ridge, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and points between and nearby): This is the real battle between Brannan World and Colton World, but, it will be fought in November rather than in June. Already allegedly Democratic District Leaders like Charlie Ragusa, Dionne Brown-Jordan, Nancy Tong and Margarita Kagan have refused to endorse Councilman Justin Brannan, the race’s only Democrat, and former fellow-traveler Ragusa has attacked Brannan for being a left winger, and for having a potty mouth.
The County organization seemingly indicated its sentiments by siding with Colton World against Brannan World in two races for judicial delegates (only one of which resulted in a primary; in the other race, the two sides knocked each other off the ballot) and by unsuccessfully (so far) trying to replace Ari Kagan as a Democratic District Leader with his pet rock, Igor Galanter.
Brannan is what old-school Bay Ridge looks like in the 21st Century; a Democrat of somewhat liberal instincts, but with the sort of caution old Bay Ridgers think of as common sense. His moderation is one of liberal instincts tempered both by politics being the art of the possible, and by the political realities of his own constituency,
By contrast, Councilman Ari Kagan, once a sometime Brannan ally, is a different sort of “moderate,” one without any real coherence or guiding star other than that of the law of the jungle. Kagan’s been willing to work for lefty Dems like Scott Stringer, as long as he was paid for it, while also opposing the right of Muslims in Sheepshead Bay to Build a Mosque, and demonstrating against including the LGBT community and the Roma in a Manhattan Beach Holocaust Memorial.
Recently Brannan, Chair of the Council’s Finance Committee, worked out a City budget deal, which, though restoring many of the items cut by the Mayor to libraries, public schools, cultural institutions, senior meals, NYCHA, CUNY, 3K, Fair Fares and Right to Counsel , ended up disdained by the progressive caucus, and supported by most of the Council’s Republicans, with the notable exception of Kagan, whose objections were all over the lot, some of them even echoing complaints made by Charles Barron.
Kagan’s allegiances seem entirely ruled by expedience, and after redistricting put him in the same seat as Brannan, Kagan became a Republican; whether this is cosplay or coming out of his closet, one can only guess.
Apparently, some Republicans guessed not. Avery Periera, already running against Brannan, could not be persuaded to exit. More seriously, Anna Belfiore-Delfaus entered the races, with some serious GOP support, including 48th CD Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, like Kagan, a former Democrat, but one much more enthusiastically embracing the full-MAGA.
But, let’s be clear, the Vernikov-Kagan battle seemed less about ideology than about rampant personal hatred.
Initially, it seemed hard to say who would win here; there’s a real organized GOP establishment in the Ridge, even though it is now the most Democratic part of the District, and they supported Kagan, but between Vernikov’s support eating at Kagan’s Brighton/Coney base, and the fact that, in Kagan’s bases area, GOP enrollment has not caught up with GOP performance, Kagan was thought by some to have some real worries, especially because of the ethnic element; in a GOP primary in this district, it seemed very possible that there were more voters who preferred linguini than there were who enjoyed luchshen.
But Kagan won big, creating a real race in November. Now, we will see, when push come to shove, whether the County organization will do anything to keep Colton World in line. My advice is not to bet the mortgage money on the proposition that it will.
CD 48 (Parts of Greater Sheepshead Bay and Midwood): Montezuma had his revenge and so did Kagan, as Councilwoman Inna Vernikov faced her own primary from Igor Kazatsker, like Kagan, an employee of Davidzon Radio, who was widely suspected of being a Kagan plant.
To put the icing on the cake, Kazatsker infuriated the ultra-Trumpy Vernikov by attaining his own line on the November ballot called “Team Trump.”
So, even after a Vernikov landslide, Igor rides again, possibly continuing to be puffed by the formidable Davidzon. In November ballot, both Republicans will be joined by Amber Adler, a fairly liberal Democrat, creating at least a theoretical path for Adler to make the race competitive.
Frankly, this would probably prove a longshot even for a seemingly more 48th compatible Democrat than Adler, and my personal opinion is that it would take a miracle for her to win, and that, in the very Trumpy 48th CD, the GOP has outlawed miracles, but, at the very least, Adler has a theory and a hope, which is more than most Republicans have in most of the County.
Judicial Delegate Primaries: The Dems had one in the 46th AD, which served as a proxy fight between Brannan World (Brannan himself headed his slate) and Colton World. In small consolation for the 43rd defeat, Brannan’s slate won all the Delegates and four out of six of the Alternates.
In the 54th AD, the primary was more an NKD v County affair, with the County slate including the Party’s Executive Director; County won five out of six in both the Delegate and Alternate contests. The GOP also had a delegate primary, in the 46th AD, proving no stakes are too small to provoke an internal Party snit.
