Lew Fidler has finally officially announced his bid for the March 20 special election to replace the corrupt Carl Kruger. And let this be my official endorsement of Fidler and my call for my fellow reform and progressive Democrats to give him a hand.

Current City Councilmemer and candidate for State Senate Lew Fidler has intrigued me for some time. He and I are often on the opposite side of some of the divides in the Brooklyn Democratic Party, but his ability at times to bridge those divides and at times be a better spokesperson for the reform side than I am has impressed me. At two County Committee meetings in a row he was one of the strongest reform voices and the one most critical of the machine despite his machine ties. Of course it put at risk his machine ties, but he had no fear of that risk and preferred standing on principle rather than take the easy route. Not sure he ALWAYS does that, but it is clear that he has little fear and does not care too much about the easy route.  read more »

New York’s city council member Lew Fidler (D/46th council district/Brooklyn), stood on City Hall’s steps today (MLK Day), to announce that he will be accepting the nomination of both the Democrats and the Independence political party, to contest the upcoming special election for Brooklyn’s 27th senatorial district. This vacancy was recently created when the previously elected state senator (Carl Kruger) pleaded guilt to federal bribery charges.

Fidler was first elected to the council in 2001. He is a lifetime resident of the East Flatbush/Midwood area. His parents were well-known community activists with good connections to the black and Caribbean-American community. His father was once vice-president of the community board. His mother was an active PTA member and quite politically active.  read more »

I have my differences with Lew Fidler, but sometimes he really hits the nail on the head. And this is one of those times. This is from the Daily News: (hat tip to a fellow blogger)

...Mike Bloomberg is the largest contributor to the Republican Party in our city. He bankrolled the State Senate Republicans and has gifted $50,000 a piece to each County Republican organization."

"More importantly, he shares the economic views of George Herbert Walker Bush. While he has been okay with raising the sales tax and real property taxes on working people, the only tax he went against voraciously was raising the income tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers. Why? Because 'they spend the money in restaurants'.

"The last time I checked my thesaurus that was 'trickle down economics'. And if that is not George HW Bush, then I don't know what is."  read more »