Dave Freedlander at City Hall News lays out a preliminary roadmap for the District Leader Races in Downtown Brooklyn.
The big surprise? Longtime 50th District Leader Steve Cohn may be having second thoughts about facing a challenge from Lincoln Restler. Freedlander posits that Cohn's son Warren, a staffer in Congressman Ed Towns' office, is positioning himself to succeed Cohn. Here's Warren's oblique quote:
“It’s a possibility,” the younger Cohn said. “I feel like I can bring some youth and enthusiasm to the district. I have a good relationship to [local Assembly Member] Joe Lentol and to many of the other elected officials there.”
The other surprise is that Esteban Duran is thinking about mounting a District Leader challenge in the 53rd Assembly District... against Vito Lopez. Not running is Rob Solano, who vehemently denied challenging Lopez for the post. Here's Duran's less than oblique quote:
“The reason I would run is I would like there to be new leadership in the Democratic Party,” he said. “I would like to see the Democratic Party here locally look into expanding into different areas that have been overlooked in some ways.”
(Correction! Former) Reyna Williamsburg aide Barbara Medina's name is getting tossed around for the female DL seat in the 53rd District currently held by Maritza Davila. It is unclear whether Davila will run again, though Diana Reyna has repeatedly denied being a candidate for that spot.
The article notes that New Kings members are looking at that 53rd female seat as a possible pick-up because Diana won a close-reelection campaign in her district last year. Yet, it will be an uphill challenge because Maritza actually received more votes than Diana in the 53rd, but Diana made up just enough ground in the precincts in other assembly districts that are in her council district.
"No, I'm running for District Leader!"
Finally, the article notes the challenge in the 52nd, which will be ugly, but there's little context beyond listing the DL candidates (there are two other ones, Jesse Strauss and possibly Chris Owens).
One other thing to keep in mind. These names will change. Maybe a lot. Steve Cohn could conceivably decide to give the DL run another go, and that would not surprise me. Seeing Steve Levin jump into this race would not surprise me. Seeing a Greenpoint leader like Teresa Toro, Christine Holowacz, Susan Albrecht or Katie Naplatarski take on Linda Minucci in the 50th would not surprise me. Seeing Death Bear jump into the race would surprise me.
4 comments:
Just a note AS. Reyna was female district for the 53 before her election to the council. She was FDL and council member for some time, but she declined to rerun for FDL.
Teresa Toro for District Leader? She'd be awesome! How do we get her on board?
Steve Cohn couldn't even win what was SUPPOSED to be his shoo-in victory for City Council in 2001, when David Yassky - an unknown in the 50th AD - cleaned his clock. The reason? Cohn was so arrogant and overconfident about the Brooklyn Machine's capacity to deliver the Council seat to him, he barely bothered to campaign in the 50th. The old-timers might know who he is (that is, those remaining few who haven't died or moved away), but if you don't go to the Seneca Club's annual lovefest at the Polonaise, you definitely haven't seen him around. Ever.
The community is likely to support someone who IS around, who's actively participating and in touch with local issues and raising awareness with political leadership. And Democratic party members should find that highly desirable. The average person on the street probably doesn't know who our district leaders are or what they do, but they might actually have HEARD of Lincoln Restler. With Cohn, the answer is much more likely to be "Steve who?"
One thing I am wondering is- how long will it take Lincoln Restler to sell his soul to one of the Hasidic factions?
Post a Comment