Last night was the first of three Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID) endorsement meetings. It was a full house and a late night. Personally I was mostly in the back with Jacob, talking to Rock Hackshaw, Norm Siegel and their respective campaign people. So I don't have as many personal observations, but I can combine my limited observations, my wife's obsevations, the candidate questionaires the club received, and the final outcomes. You can find the candiadte answers to the club's questionaire on the CBID website.

The short story is that CBID as a club has basically gone through the same calculations I have personally gone through on these three races.

Let's start with mayor. Tonly Avella was the personal favorite of many, but Thompson did well, too. Personally I am not as much of a fan of Avella as some, finding a few stands of his that seriously bother me. For example, his support for religious displays on public property is a big problem for me. However, on most issues I agree strongly with him. My wife liked him, but like me she doesn't think he has a chance. When I heard Bill Thompson at IND recently, I definitely liked him more than I expected. My wife had a similar reaction when she heard him at CBID. While he might not be our top choice for mayor, we both liked him and are comfortable supporting him. His answers on the CBID questionnaire were detailed and seemed honest. I appreciated the details of his answers and the kind of wonkish approach he takes. I just hope he can translate that wonkishness to inspiring voters.

And then there is Anthony Weiner. He was asking the club to postpone its mayoral endorsement to accomodate his wanting to focus on national issues for now (while visiting local clubs to get their support, it seems) and put off running for mayor. He seemed to actually blame the club for endorsing so early, chastising them for not waiting. My wife found this a bit insulting. I was trying to figure out just what he is up to. I was not convinced by his claim that he personally just thinks he needs to do his job in Washinton. No one really seemed convinced. It seems a calculated move, but if so it doesn't seem a very good one.

The club considered delaying their endorsement vote as per Weiner's suggestion but rejected that idea. However, support for Avella and Thompson was pretty evenly split. Most people actively LIKED Avella, but had no real objections to Thompson, so for practical reasons, were willing to suppot Thompson. However, since the support was split, the club effectively did not endorse. This is not the same as an official "No Endorsement" vote. It is a non-endorsement which leaves open a new endorsement vote at a later date. Although on the surface this seems to help Weiner because he was asking for a delay, I think in reality his postponement of his decision and his wanting everyone else to postpone their decisions worked against him and eroded whatever support he might have had at the club.

My prediction: In the end the club will endorse Thompson. But it would help if Thompson could do some serious campaigning in the district both to better connect with CBID members, but also to solidify support in a very high voter turnout neighborhood.

Turning to Public Advocate, Bill de Blasio came off worse than I expected. No one seemed impressed with him at all. I think his nice guy persona that has been able to hold him support despite really awful stands is starting to fail him. Not that he is any less personable. It's just that people are no longer so willing to overlook his basic money dominated approach to things. His $10,000 bribe to WFP to get their endorsement rubbed people the wrong way. Now I know this is how WFP works. They support the money candidate whenever they can. I know this from internal debates within WFP that are regularly reported to me, and I know this from watching who they endorse. But it still leaves a bad taste in people's mouths, particularly at CBID. On the one hand, no one really expected de Blasio to fare well at CBID. On the other hand, since it is his own turf, it looks bad that he made such a bad impression.

Eric Gioia struck me as a phoney. But this may be due to the fact that I know his progressive demeanor is tarnished by the help his family gave to Adler for judge. Since Adler was about as conservative as you get for Brooklyn, and he had some ethics issues, this support for Adler from the Gioias made a very negative impression both at CBID and IND. I don't know if this came up at the endorsement meeting, but I know many people mentioned it to me over the months after the 2008 primary. That said, Gioia had a good relationship with CBID in the past as I understand it. But that didn't get him much support in the endorsement meeting.

So it really, for me, comes down to Norman Siegel vs. Mark Green. Almost unanimously the club prefers Norm Siegel, and there is no question that he has the absolute best experience for the job, as is amply demonstrated in his questionnaire answers. But there was discussion of his chances of winning. This is a clear case of the best person for the job not necessarily having the qualities it takes for a candidate to win. So Mark Green was also considered. People mostly think Mark Green did a good job as Public Advocate in the past, but no one really LIKES him. In the end, Norm Siegel won. Norm Siegel's endorsements now include Democracy for NYC, CBID and Senator Eric Adams.

Which brings us to Comptroller. While most people I know clearly prefer Norm Siegel for Public Advocate over anyone else and merely wonder if he can win, there is no clear favorite for Comptroller. No candidate has inspired a great deal of enthusiasm, though some have inspired outright disgust.

David Yassky made his usual faux-passioned plea that once seemed genuine, but now seems so hollow to almost be caricature. People well know my once liking for boy-wonder Yassky, as well as my complete disillusionment with him. CBID still holds past actions against Yassky. I don't. I find ample reason from his PRESENT actions to oppose him. What gets me most about Yassky is that it is clear that he KNOWS what the right thing to do is...yet, if his own self-interest calls for it, he will eagerly do the wrong thing then rationalize it to the point of ridiculousness...and expect everyone to go along with it. His convoluted excuses for trying to channel taxpayer money to people who endorsed him (as in the DiBrienza scandal) or his convoluted excuses for backing the Bloomberg Putsch and thus insulting voters and the democratic process, have convinced no one except Yassky himself. And yes...I think he is genuinely convinced of his excuses. But no one else is. Sad thing is, and it really is sad, is if he would just stick to what he knows is right and not betray his and our ideals time after time, he almost certainly would have been a far more successful politician. But he hasn't learned that key lesson, and by now it is too late. When I saw his support even at IND turn to disgust after his term limits vote, I knew he has little shot for Comptroller, an office I once was ready to support him for. He has his backers. But he has little credibility left. I think soon the tragedy of David Yassky will be at an end and he will fade into obscurity, brought down by his tragic flaw of being able to rationalize any violation of his ideals and voter trust in the name of self-interest. It was also noted by some that his answer regarding Atlantic Yards on the CBID questionnaire was an outlight lie. But I am sure he rationalized that lie to the point of believing it.

Melinda Katz is someone I have not trusted for a long time. The amount of money developers pour into her campaign makes me highly suspicious. But from what little I overhead of her speaking at the endorsement meeting she sounded pretty good. I found myself liking her. And I thought she was making a good impression. Apparently I was wrong. My wife's immediate comment when I asked her her impressions of the candidates (I didn't even mention Katz) was: "Melinda Katz is SO full of shit." That seemed the consensus. No one spoke in support her candidacy.

So it came down to the same two candidates I was drawn to, largely by default: David Weprin and John Liu. Katz and Yassky are two weasels who will do anything for money and self-interest. It is not so obvious that Weprin and Liu are in the same category. They definitely have far more applicable experience for the job of Comptroller. Katz and Yassky have no real experience that shows they would be good Comptrollers, as opposed to legislators. In fact David Yassky's continued inability to see what was wrong with his out-of-district use of taxpayer money to support DiBrienza's fake non-profit suggests his abilities are singularly ill-suited for the job. This was a clear case of his being able to catch a misuse of money but not only didn't he catch it, he actively participated in that misuse and defends it to this day, even though there is not one ounce of evidence that DiBrienza ever helped a single sports team. "Where did the money go?" is a question I was asked at the CBID dinner by a political insider, and it is the question Comptrollers are supposed to ask and the question Yassky doesn't seem able to ask.

Liu and Weprin both have appropriate experience for the job of Comptroller. Weprin is more conservative than Liu. Both are trying to demonstrate that they are running clean campaigns though both have some evidence of exchanging political favors in return for political donations. However neither do this to the degree that Yassky and Katz do, so by comparison Weprin and Liu are running relatively clean campaigns. For very different reasons I like both of them, but don't completely trust either of them. CBID members seem to have the very same feelings about these two candidates. I have had many discussions about this race with people and generally have convinced people that Liu is the better of the two. And the club came to the same decision. Liu did win the endorsement over Weprin, with Yassky and Katz way behind. I am comfortable with either Weprin or Liu as Comtroller, but I am more comfortable supporting and endorsing Liu.

Next CBID endorsement meeting will cover city council races. With that in mind I noticed Rock Hackshaw circulating at CBID introducing himself. And I think he made a good impression. I am willing to support the Caribbean Kojak against Mr. Doctor, and I think, despite some differences on issues, Rock has a shot at CBID's endorsement in the 40th.