Although I am back from vacation, the lab I work in just moved from downtown NYU to the NYU Medical Center (where I used to work!). So I still can barely catch up politically.

But since I have been following the Brooklyn Surrogate judge race, I want to remind people that when Vito Lopez suddenly pulled Shawndya Simpson out of thin air to run against Diana Johnson (the candidate endorsed by reform and progressive democrats), many speculated (myself included!) that Vito's real goal was to split the black vote so that Leo Beitner (seemingly a more logical ally for Vito) would win with the white vote. When I proposed this, I pointed out that there were clear ways in which this can be disproven prior to the primaries. One was was if Beitner drops out.

Rumors of his dropping out circulated before, but one always has to be careful of such rumors because false rumors of that sort are a typical tactic in Brooklyn politics. But I have been informed that Beiter did not file petitions, which means he dropped out. Which means it is down to Diana Johnson and Shawndya Simpson. Which indicates that the "split the black vote" theory is disproven.

UPDATED AT BOTTOM

There has been much speculation as to who Vito Lopez, head of the corrupt Democratic Party machine in Brooklyn, would back for surrogate judge this year. For those who don't know him, Vito Lopez was the choice to succeed Clarence Norman as head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party after Norman was convicted of corruption and sent to jail. Lopez was not an outsider during Norman's corrupt tenure, nor is he free of corruption himself, as I wrote about some time ago (see a run down of Loepz's most obvious corruption here).

Now Vito Lopez, our Corrupt Leader, has decided to weigh in on the Surrogate race.