Last night was the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID) endorsement meeting for two city council races: the 33rd and 39th City Council districts. Previously CBID endorsed Norman Siegel for Public Advocate and John Liu for Comptroller.

I did not attend the meeting but got a rundown from my wife who is an officer of CBID. Overall her impression of the candidates was a good one, which matches my own impressions. Steve Levin not only didn't show up (the second major district event he missed) but didn't even bother turning in a questionaire on time. THAT is called dissing the district. I guess he expects his boss, Vito Lopez, to carry him through the race. All the questionaires for the races covered by CBID (including both of these City Council races, Comptroller, Public Advocate and Mayor, with more to come) can be found at the CBID website...including Steve Levin's late homework...I mean questionaire. I will make reference to these questionaires but please go to the website for details because I will not be quoting from them.

Let me start with the 33rd Council District:

My wife did comment on a few candidates. She didn't dislike Isaac Abraham as much as she expected. He is definitely the most conservative of the candidates for the 33rd City Council district, has the most narrow base of support, and, from what I see on the questionaires, has the lowest fundraising except for Ken Baer and the newcomer Doug Biviano. Together, these three have noticeably anemic fundraising. In my book, that doesn't rule a candidate out for my support, but it is a sign of a problem campaign in many cases. Isaac Abraham listed no endorsements in his questionaire, another sign of a weak campaign.

Doug Biviano comes off a bit out of his depth...but he is an earnest (this is the word used by several people I know) candidate who could, if he keeps at it, become a force in Brooklyn progressive politics in the future. I urge him to spend some serious time getting to know the scene, working with a group like DFNYC, CBID, NKD or one of the other alphabet soup organizations, or maybe for specific candidates and get to know the lay of the land. And that would also allow everyone else get the sense of him. All that said, both last night and in a recent forum sponsored by CBID and IND, Biviano did make an impression as having some great ideas, even if those ideas are viewed by many as not really specific enough. So far Biviano lists no endorsements.

Ken Baer, the other candidate with anemic fundraising, is among the most liberal of the candidates for the 33rd, but everyone I talk to finds him too disorganized. He has some great ideas but so far has not been a strong candidate in this race. Baer lists several endorsements including Chris Owens, Joe Ferris, Lucy Koteen and Eric McClure.

Ken Diamondstone is a close friend of CBID, so he was the first of any I have mentioned who really had a shot at an endorsement last night. He is the most anti-Vito Lopez of the candidates (with the possible exception of Ken Baer who is probably equivalent), and this is often his main card to play. Problem seems to be that he overplayed this card recently vis a vis Jo Anne Simon. Simon is, in Diamondstone's view, too willing to compromise with the Vito Lopez machine. But many others see her as being part of the main opposition to Lopez. To me both are true. She HAS been among the only voices standing up to Lopez, but she also has not done this enough or as strongly as I would like. In this sense Diamondstone is a more reform candidate than Simon. But Simon is STILL a viable reform candidate and has a better shot at winning. Diamondstone lists Norman Siegel, Major Owens, the League of Humane Voters and Olanke Alabi as endorsements.

Evan Thies is the guy I know the least in the 33rd. My wife and several others say he reminds them too much of the uber-weasel David Yassky. I thin the term used was "the shadow of Yassky hangs over him." But Yassky has not endorsed Thies, somewhat distancing Thies from his sleazy mentor. Looking over his questionaire, and from what I hear from others, he doesn't sound that bad. There is the real concern that he is exactly the way Yassky was when he was running for City Council, with strong potential but may ultimately becoming the same sell-out that Yassky has become. CBID found him too reminiscent of Yassky with all his baggage. I have the same bias, but I think this might not be fair. In my book, the fact that Yassky betrayed him is a plus for him. Thies lists the Smolenski Democratic Club (which I have not previously heard of but am intrigued by) Teamsters Local 805, Broolyn Vision (again new to me), and several others as endorsements. After Simon and Diamondstone, Thies seems to me a reasonable candidate.

Which brings us to Jo Anne Simon. I have been referring to her as the probable frontrunner for some time. So far Simon has received the endorsement of Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez, State Senator Eric Adams and Velmanette Montgomery, Assembly members Joan Millman and Jim Brennan, Councilwoman Tish James, and many, many others.

I expect Simon will get the IND endorsement with little problem. But the CBID endorsement was not a given. She has a history with CBID but so do others, and this was an endorsement she needed to earn. And yes...she got it. CBID endorsed her with both some hesitation and some genuine affection. I will quote from Jo Anne Simon's press release:

Jo Anne Simon, civil rights attorney and community activist, won the endorsement of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID)...The CBID endorsement is the the first major democratic club to endorse a candidate in the 33rd City Council race.

Jo Anne Simon, the current female District Leader for the 52nd Assembly District, issued the following statement after learning of her endorsement: “It is an honor to have the endorsement of a club known for their support of progressive reformers. For over twenty years, I have challenged the status quo and created space to bring together diverse perspectives to work towards real reform and solutions.” She went on to say, “From traffic calming to development in our neighborhoods, we changed how communities approached the issues that mattered most to them. I look forward to bringing my record of reform to city council and giving a stronger voice for all the communities of the 33rd District.”

Assemblyman Jim Brennan, a member of CBID and who also spoke in support of Jo Anne in the endorsement meeting, said, “Jo Anne Simon is a class act. I’ve worked with her for years and she has the leadership capacity, organizational ability and the integrity to be an outstanding member of the city council and that’s why I’m supporting her.”

On the endorsements of the evening, Lucy Koteen, CBID president, gave the following statement: “I am pleased that on April 23rd, CBID endorsed Jo Anne Simon, who is running in the 33rd City Council district, and Josh Skaller, who is running in the 39th City Council district. Jo Anne is a long time community activist and is a known reform candidate and we look forward to her continuing to challenge the county leadership. Josh Skaller has worked for 20 years on local and national progressive politics and CBID plans to support his work in the City Council where we know he will continue to work for transparent effective government."

The CBID Club has a long standing reputation for advocating for reform and has recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. All candidates running in the 33rd District, except one [Steve Levin], participated in the candidate forum held at Camp Friendship in Park Slope.

I endorsed Jo Anne Simon awhile back and, though I realized she had strong competition and needed to prove herself, I predicted she would get CBID's endorsement. Congratulations!

Turning to the 39th City Council District:

John Heyer came off, from what I was told, condescending and slick. My guess is that this is partly because he was on unfamiliar and possibly hostile territory. Every conversation I have had with him was always very pleasant and enjoyable. That said, Heyer is not a good fit for the district since he leans anti-choice (I am told), anti-marriage equality (though pro-civil union, similar to Isaac Abraham) and opposes letting the EPA clean up the toxic Gowanus canal before allowing development. My own feeling about Heyer is he'd be a good candidate in Bay Ridge or Staten Island, but is on the conservative side for this district. Somewhat surprising to me is the fact that to date Heyer lists no endorsements. I know he is angling quite strongly for IND's endorsement, but he has considerable competition. It seems his connections with Marty Markowitz has not led to the endorsements I had expected for him.

Brad Lander also came off, from all I heard, as too slick. Slick is not my personal impression of him. I have always seen him as fairly down to earth, despite my problems with him. But slick is the word people used when describing him to me. He is a problematic candidate all around. A very respectable candidate with good experience and very personable (in my mind if not everyone's), but also the recipient of some very problematic donations. He says he does not receive developer donations, but he defines this so narrowly that it allows him ignore some very serious red flags. He also seems not to avoid conflics of interest in his donations because he accepts a very large donation from Josh Wolf-Powers of Blue Wolf Capital Management which is at the center of Andrew Cuomo's investigation of a major scandal involving the pension plans of several states (at first I thought it was only NY State, but in my national blogging I am coming across the same Josh Wolf-Powers-focused scandal across the country). Blue Wolf has as its stated purpose to get government involved in companies to turn them around and their executives ALSO make donations to candidates like Brad, which raises serious concerns. The bottom line is Brad is the recipient of some suspicious donations and, although he has returned some of these donations, he has defended others. Brad probably is in no way involved in the Blue Wolf scandal himself. But he has still been a part of the same corrupt culture, whatever his motives (good or bad...probably good), as Blue Wolf. He needs to face up to this and address it if he doesn't want to be viewed as accepting of the scandal that Josh Wolf-Powers is a part of. I want to emphasize that I am hoping Brad does the right thing here. He has, in essence, consistently insisted that he rejects dirty money. Yet this is one large donation he has yet to repudiate. Brad has a slew of respectable endorsements, mostly district leaders, which make him a very viable candidate. I just wish I could feel more confident about his integrity.

Gary Reilly is the candidate in the 39th similar to Doug Biviano in the 33rd: someone who has lots of potential but isn't making it just yet. Gary has more of an idea of what he is getting himself into than Doug, but still is at the beginning of his involvement in local politics. All the same things I said for Doug apply even more for Gary. If he can make some connections and show his worth, he could be a contender. But not yet.

Bob Zuckerman should be the frontrunner for IND's endorsement, though I suspect Heyer's backers are trying to muscle in on that. Gowanus canal issues aside (Zuckerman is largely cornered into opposing Obama's EPA on this one unless he goes against some of his former backers) Zuckerman strikes me as a good candidate. My gut feeling is he comes in third behind Skaller and Lander in this race. He is endorsed by a respectable group of people, including Alan Fleishman, the League of Humane Voters, and State Senator Tom Duane, but it doesn't strike me as quite making it within the district. I do expect he will get some more endorsements that will help him out, so I don't write him off. But he is definitely in third place for now.

Finally we come to Josh Skaller. I endorsed him long ago, before he even demonstrated he had a shot. I endorsed him because I knew he'd be exactly the honest and independent council member I wanted. What I am surprised by is the fact that Josh has a good claim on fontrunner status. While Brad Lander has considerable fundraising from corporate interests, like Josh Wolf-Powers, Skaller has refused all developer and corporate money, defining these far more broadly than Brad does to avoid any conflicts of interest. Yet Josh is still first or second in fundraising (I have seen numbers putting him or Brad in front). Having backed many grassroots candidates around the country, I can tell you it is EXTREMELY rare for a candidate like Josh to be doing so well in fundraising. But is it enough to beat Brad's somewhat more corporate and insider fundraising? Josh's main problem at the moment is that he needs to present himself better in forums and endorsement meetings. I have head this now from several sources. People warm to him immediately, but aren't always convinced by his presentation. Nail it down, Josh! Push the fundraising and get your presentation down and you could win this. Let either one slip and Brad is breathing down you neck. If Brad stumbles there are others who could take his place.

In the end, the endorsement vote for this race was no surprise since Josh Skaller was a former President of CBID. So he got the endorsement. He has also been endorsed by the extremely popular State Senator Eric Adams, Democracy for NYC, former Congressman Major Owens, Chris Owens, Norm Siegel, Eric McClure, and many others...including myself.

Again, I urge you to read the candidate statements for both these races, as well as Comptroller, Public Advocate and Mayor, on the CBID website. It will give you a good idea of who they are, where they stand, and how their fundraising is. But CBID and I both urge you to consider supporting Jo Anne Simon and Josh Skaller for, respectively, the 33rd and 39th City Council districts.