Today, Father's Day, is one of Brooklyn's biggest street fairs: Seventh Heaven, all along Seventh Ave.
My wife and I live just off 7th Ave on Garfield. We were hoping, after I put in a bit of time at work in the morning, to do some petitioning if we could hook up with folks with petitions for candidates we wanted to help. One of our biggest problems was keeping our baby, who really wanted to be out in it, cool enough in the heat. So we had to take it in stages, stopping at home or at a supermarket to cool him, and us, off. Finally he started to look sleepy, so we just now took him home.
We never did hook up with anyone representing Chris Owens or Eric Adams, the two candidates we want to help whose districts include at least parts of 7th Ave. Bill Batson is outside of the district, so we didn't expect to meet up with his folks. But we were surprised not to meet a single person petitioning for Chris or Eric.
My wife and I only covered the distance from Flatbush to 10th St. The fair does indeed extend further south and it is quite likely that other candidates were covering the southern part of the fair. But for the northern region, only two candidates were out that we could see and they were out in large numbers: David Yassky running for Congress and Sean Patrick Maloney, running for Attorney General.
So here's the thing. Seventh Heaven is PRIME petitioning territory and the northern end is perhaps extra prime territory. I am pretty sure both the 20th SD and 11th CD include much of that northern section of the fair. So where were the candidates?
David Yassky, for all I differ with him on issues, knows how to run. He also has the bucks to get people on the streets with glossy pamphlets. Hell, not all of his volunteers bothered carrying petitions. Some just handed out those glossy pamphlets. Yvette, Carl and Chris: you ceded some prime territory to David today. I wish Joy and I had gotten petitions in advance for Chrs Owens and Eric Adams. We would have been able to cover some of that territory. But, we didn't and so we are part of the problem.
The other candidate out there in force was Sean Patrick Maloney. Rivaling even Yassky in numbers and enthusiasm. No sign of Green. And, of course, Cuomo would have no reason and no interest in actually soiling his hands with the people. Hell, he could barely stomach dealing with most of our district leaders and State Committee members, let alone you and me. But Maloney was raking in the signatures. Interestingly, my personal observation was that most people refused to sign Yassky's petitions while most people agreed to sign Maloney's. I certainly didn't see anywhere near a reasonable sample size, but it really seemed that Maloney's people were getting a better response. Both Sean and David were out there. Yassky saw us and waved. I am glad my recent more harsh criticisms haven't prevented him from continuing his cordial relationship with us. I am souring on him more and more as a politician, but I still like him as a person.
Given the attention race is getting in Brooklyn politics, I can't help but comment on this. Yassky's volunteers were almost 100% white. I believe I did see one black volunteer. But most were young, affluent-looking, fresh-faced whites who were genuinely eager for their candidate. In sharp contrast, Maloney's volunteers covered the entire racial spectrum, including Muslims with headscarves, whites and blacks. They too were enthusiastic as could be. I hadn't realized that Maloney had popularity among such a diverse group. I found it extremely refreshing given the racial splits over CD-11.
In 2005 I bemoaned the failure of the grassroots to get out there for the best candidates. I know the grassroots are more together this year than last, but if Seventh Heaven and my recent conversations with various exec board members of various clubs and organizations is any indication, this year may be another failure of the grassroots. We have several excellent candidates this year who are depending on the grassroots: Chris Owens, Bill Batson and Sean Patrick Maloney being the three main ones. There are others as well, though Eric Adams, for one, doesn't need the grassroots to win, from what I can see. Of all the grassroots candidates I am excited about, only Maloney seems to have the actual bodies out there. Why? Where is the disconnect within the grassroots that prevents the excellent candidates and the enthusiastic activists from getting together? People wonder why IND is the top club. It is because they deliver the most petitions with the most valid signatures. The grassroots rarely reach the level of effectiveness that the clubs manage. How can great folks like Bill Batson and Chris Owens win without people doing the footwork? They can't. And if the grassroots falls flat, it is money and machine politics that wins elections.
Am I drawing too many conclusions from observations of just one end of one street fair? I don't think so. Because my observations today match what I saw in 2005 and they match what I am hearing from the grassroots organizers. Folks. If you want to win the game you gotta put in the effort for the candidates.
