In November I reported a rumor that Chris Owens would step up to the plate and challenge Angry Clown Markowitz for Brooklyn BP. Chris has neither confirmed or denied this rumor, suggesting he is keeping his options open. At the same time I have thought he has been too happy with his current job and his radio program on Air America radio to run for office at the moment.

Well, it seems Chris' Air America program, Black Politics, is coming to an end this Sunday, Dec. 14, as reported on Air America's website.

Which leads me to wonder if Chris is clearing his schedule for a run for BP as the November rumor suggested. Personally I would love for someone to take on Mr. Anger Management Problem Marty Markowitz. Used to like the guy when he was clownish but nice. When he turned clownish and mean I had no use for him.

[UPDATE: Seems today's Daily News has confirmation that Nydia Velasquez is a front runner to replace Hillary Clinton should she be elevated by Obama (Cabinet or, possibly, Supreme Court). Don't know about you, but I heard it first at CBID!]

Tonight was CBID's (Central Brooklyn Independent Neighborhood Democrats) dinner honoring the Brooklyn for Obama people who worked so hard both locally and nationally to elect Barack Obama. It was held at Bogota, the excellent Colombian restaurant on 5th Ave. Those who know me know that I paid particular attention to the food, so let me get that out of the way, then I will mention some of the rumors that came my way today both at the dinner and by email after I posted my "Defeating Tsar Bloomberg and his Trained Surrender Monkeys" diary.  read more »

The judicial convention is one of the ways corruption can best thrive in Brooklyn's machine dominated political landscape. Yet most Brooklynites have no clue what the judicial convention is, why we have it, or what needs changing about it.

Apparently Chris Owens, President of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, wants to do something about that. His efforts have created something of a stir because he is raising money as part of his run for delegate to the judicial convention. This raised eyebrows because no one could imagine why you need money to run for an uncontested party position. I held off commenting for the most part because I suspected there may well be a plan behind Chris Owens' fundraising, and I suspected I knew what it was since I had similar ideas (which I never followed up on) regarding County Committee.  read more »

No, not for that, most unfortunately, but Chris Owens just threw his hat into the ring - to run for Judicial Delegate from the 52nd Assembly District in Brooklyn. Via Facebook:

While my role as a Judicial Delegate will be limited by law and archaic, scripted procedures, this position provides a platform with which to continue the crusade for progressive reforms such as a more transparent and fair judicial selection process. Reformers have already been waging this fight for a few years -- everything from press releases to street protests! To get the Democratic County Leader to listen, we need to make noise on the inside.

And, through this campaign to become a Judicial Delegate, I am furthering my work as President of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID), Kings County's premiere reform political organization.

In 2006, we needed hundreds of thousands of dollars to run our Congressional campaign.

This year, however, I only need to raise $10,000.

If you would take a moment to go to my website, and make a one-time contribution of $25 -- no more -- then we will quickly be empowered to prosecute a strong campaign against Brooklyn's Democratic Party machinery. We don't need big money -- just 400 contributions of $25 each.

You can also send a check to Chris Owens for Brooklyn, 328 Flatbush Avenue, #333, Brooklyn, NY 11238-4302.

Yours for new Brooklyn leadership,

Chris Owens

So what on earth is a Judicial Delegate?

This last weekend Joy and I attended two events of political interest to New York. First I want to mention that on Saturday Joy participated in the 3rd annual Center for Anti-Violence Education's Punch-a-thon held in a very wet Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park. The Center for Anti-Violence Education (CAE) teaches women, children, teens, and LGBT individuals verbal and physical strategies to protect themselves and break cycles of violence in their lives and communities. CAE has a commitment to serving low-income families and offer our violence-prevention courses on a sliding fee scale. Courses for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault are free of charge, and free childcare is available at all classes. The annual Punch-a-thon raises money to pay for self-defense and violence-prevention courses to those who can't afford it. I sponsored my wife in this event and she, like most of the participants, did 1000 punches. In all the event raised $5000 to date with more hopefully coming in. The political angle was that several elected officials had promised to show up.  read more »