Back in February, Bouldin observed that this year may be the year of challenging the entrenched and out of touch political establishment in NYC. Bouldin focused primarily on Paul Newell's challenge of perhaps the most entrenched politician in New York State, Shelly Silver. I want to expand upon what Bouldin wrote by covering some other races as well.

There is no question that Paul Newell is going up against the biggest bully in NY State, something that takes considerable guts. Let me let Paul introduce himself to you (though he has already done so here on Daily Gotham several times):

Bouldin also discussed another challenge to an overly entrenched and out of touch politician: Dan Squadron's challenge of State Senator Marty Connor. In this case I don't quite agree with Bouldin in that I am not sure I would call Squardon a challenge to the establishment so much as one part of the establishment (the Chuck Schumer machine, if you like) challenging another part of the establishment. I don't currently have a stand on this race because neither candidate is really quite ideal in my book.

There are two new challenges I want to mention, one a challenge to an entrenched Congressman and the other a challenge to the Brooklyn Democratic machine itself.

Jerrold Nadler has generally been a politician I have liked. By and large a progressive, I have also liked his gruff style. But since the Democratic takeover of Congress, those of us who expected the bulldog-like Nadler to act like a bulldog have been disappointed. He has been weaker than expected on standing up to Bush on Iraq. Though his initial bill on Iraq withdrawal was brilliant, even though it didn't get far, and although I really would like to see that bill get reintroduced into Congress, since then he has been too quiet on Iraq withdrawal even as some freshmen Congressional reps in more conservative districts are taking bolder stands. Still, I think Nadler was one of the first to propose a good plan for withdrawal and fundamentally is on the right side. But many are disappointed not only in his opposition to impeachment proceedings, but his arrogant stand towards those who support impeachment. His fellow New Yorkers, Anthony Weiner and Yvette Clarke...and even Ed Townes, have come out in favor of impeachment. But Nadler has become increasingly hostile not just to the idea of impeachment but towards those who advocate for it. As I have written, I think Nadler is very mistaken in his stand and he should be at the forefront of the impeachment movement.

The impeachment movement has become quite angry at Nadler in particular, and so have produced a challenger to him. Carla Nordstrom, an impeachment advocate, is running for Congress in the NY-8 district against Nadler in an attempt to bring impeachment to the forefront. Nordstom is a member of the New York Democratic Country Committee, a Judicial Delegate, and has served on the Executive Board of the Chelsea Reform Democratic Club for three years. She is a founding member of AskNadler2Impeach.org. Carla's explanation of why impeachment is such a key issue goes like this:

...impeachment is a touchstone [that] sums up all the problems we currently have with our government. If Congress is unable to hold the President accountable for all the misdeeds he so willingly acknowledges, how can we expect them to act on any of these other pressing issues?

As a teacher who has supervised children in a school yard, I know how one out-of-control bully can create havoc with the play of the other children. There are times when the only effective way to restore order is to remove the bully from the playground. We may have just a few months to go before the end of the term, but the damage George Bush has done is great, and he will continue on the same path until the end of his term. Impeachment is not the only action that is needed to respond to the concerns of the American people, but it is an action that would set us on a better course.

Finally, there is a new political club in Brooklyn that is specifically challenging the corrupt Brooklyn machine on County Committee and their first meeting is coming up:

New Kings Democrats (”NKD”) is a new, grassroots organization in Kings County (Brooklyn), New York whose primary mission is to recruit and prepare individuals to run for Kings County Democratic Committee. NKD hopes to achieve the goal of an inclusionary and participatory democracy by making it easy for individuals to run for local, elected office. NKD will serve as a training ground for individuals seeking higher office, and hopes to build and nurture a new group of Brooklyn Democratic leaders.

*** Important Meeting ***
Come out to learn more about NKD and how to run for County Committee.
When: Thursday, May 15th, 2008 - 7 pm to 9 pm
Where: 70 Wyckoff Ave, Apt 3G (off the Dekalb L Train Stop)

I am not familiar with the people founding this club except that they seem to bring together Kucinich and Obama supporters. Running for County Committee is one of those things that I think is important (and Joy and I have been on County Committee since 2004), though it is a long term project. Right now reformers are weak on County Committee so our role is almost non-existent. But for change to happen, we do need more reformers on County Committee and, one hopes, running for District Leader spots. Currently the main clubs running reformers (more or less) for County Committee are the Independent Neighborhood Democrats (I am on their Exec Board) and Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (Joy is an officer for this club). IND and CBID mainly focus on the 52nd and 44th Assembly districts, the supposed heart of the reform movement. NKD hopefully will add other districts to the mix and not just more letters to the alphabet soup of clubs. Reform clubs don't always work well together, unfortunately. But if IND, CBID and NKD can cooperate, the Brooklyn machine may start feeling real heat. And I think now is the time for that since the machine has taken several high profile defeats in recent years, solidly losing BOTH Surrogate Judge spots. What we have to beware of, however, is a resurgence of the old Clarence Norman machine. Both the Norman and Vito Lopez incarnations of the Brooklyn Machine have been pretty disgusting, though I have known good people who were associated with them. What we need is true reform, not merely back and forth shifts between rival elements from within the established machine.

So welcome to NKD and let's hope you can help us challenge both the Norman and Lopez factions.

What will be the result of all these challenges to established power? Well, let's be real. Established power is notoriously hard to dislodge. And challengers tend to be underfunded and have an uphill battle. However, change does not happen without challenges and even if progress is slow, these are necessary steps along the way to change. No one outside of the inner sancta of power in Brooklyn and Albany would disagree that reform is desperately needed. How we can succeed is still an open question.