Jo Anne Simon Wins 52nd AD Democratic Primary, Will Face Guitar Playing GOP Challenger in November

By on September 9, 2014 11:07 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Election 14

Jo Anne Simon won the Democratic nomination in the 52nd Assembly District Tuesday with opponents Pete Sikora coming in second and dark horse candidate/Brooklyn Heights resident Doug Biviano third. Simon was the winner of our Readers’Endorsement poll.

The Brooklyn Paper and the Brooklyn Eagle have different spins on Simon’s victory:

B’Paper’s headline: Dem machine holds strong in B’Heights Assembly race
Brooklyn Eagle’s headline: Complete Brooklyn primary results: Vindication for Simon; Hamilton over Dorancy; Barron is back

Simon will face GOP nominee John Jasilli who made headlines last year when he faced NYC Councilmember Steve Levin:

Metro: Councilman Stephen Levin, currently running on the Democratic ticket for re-election in the 33rd district, had just had dinner with a friend at Fornino’s at Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. They were strolling through the neighborhood and happened to pass Montero’s, a little bar on Atlantic Avenue.

“I heard blues coming out of the bar and I thought that it was the juke box playing because it sounded like real, authentic, professional blues,” Levin recalled.

He had heard that his opponent, Conservative candidate John Jasilli, plays guitar there, he said.

“So I peeked my head in and there was a guy, he was playing kinda down-home blues with a slide guitar and he had a couple friends with him and it was excellent,” Levin enthused.

He and his friend decided to go in and take a seat. Levin still wasn’t sure that the star musician was his opponent, until a mutual friend of both him and Jasilli came in and said, “You know, that’s your opponent playing.”

“So they invited me up to jam with Jasilli!” Levin exclaimed.

We officially extend an offer to Simon and Jasilli to faceoff in a debate sponsored by BHB before the election in November.

Besides the 52nd Assembly District contest, Andrew Cuomo, the man who by some measures is responsible for closing Long Island College Hospital, defeated upstart challenger Zephyr Teachout.

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  • Quinn Raymond

    Congrats to Simon!

  • petercow

    I have no problem with her wininng. She’s a hard worker.

  • Ernie

    As the mutual friend…any debate will be fun

  • Jorale-man

    Teachout did pretty respectably considering she had little money and such a late start. Anecdotally, Doug Biviano certainly gets points for ground-level visibility – he was out around Borough Hall during rush hour for much of the campaign, including yesterday morning. But congrats to Jo Anne Simon for the win.

  • Doug Biviano

    Dear Jo Anne, Congrats in your victory from the Bivianos. May the people of the 52nd always be your top priority.

  • Doug Biviano

    Thank you Jorale-man for the mention. We worked hard and I truly believe we forced and shaped the debate back on the issues that are harming our neighborhoods (they were MIA until we forced the debates) and matter to the voters, we educated the public in lobbyist/machine relationships to special interests that cut out the public and we exposed and challenged the press in their abdication of informing the public by protecting elected officials no matter the harm they do to our community. What we did will play-out beneficially to our district in the years to come.

    Thank you to all of our supporters. Those of you who made phone calls, volunteered at the polls yesterday and contributed financially — Thank you – Thank you!

    To the people of the 52nd, it was an honor. But more of you have to vote! Don’t give up on a cynical system overrun by dirty money, take it back.

    I did make a promise to the members of Citizens Defending Libraries that I would continue to help in saving our library, win or lose the election. This I intend to keep and call on the press and other attorneys (Rosen is a lawyer) in our community to continue to expose the unethical client relationship of Berlin-Rosen representing de Blasio, Lander, Levin, Squadron, Forest City Ratner and the Brooklyn Public Library. This is very troubling.

    I also ask that Jo Anne Simon, in good faith, return the $3,500 contribution from Brooklyn Public Library trustee board member (and Brooklyn Bridge Park board member) Henry “Hank” Gutman (also a lawyer) so that there is no appearance of influence or impropriety going forward.

    Sincerely,
    Doug Biviano

  • Doug Biviano

    Dear BHB Readers and Voters,

    Congrats to Jo Anne Simon in her victory. May the people of the 52nd always be her top priority.

    We worked hard and I truly believe we forced and shaped the debate back on the issues that are harming our neighborhoods (they were MIA until we forced the debates) and matter to the voters, we educated the public in lobbyist/machine relationships to special interests that cut out the public and we exposed and challenged the press in their abdication of informing the public by protecting elected officials no matter the harm they do to our community. What we did will play-out beneficially to our district in the years to come.

    Thank you to all of our supporters. Those of you who made phone calls, volunteered at the polls yesterday and contributed financially — Thank you – Thank you!

    To the people of the 52nd, it was an honor. But more of you have to vote! Don’t give up on a cynical system overrun by dirty money, take it back.

    I also want to thank a good friend of mine who many of you don’t know about. His name is Gary Tilzer. Gary has helped me grow over the years and truly understand the harmful interests entrenched in NYC and NYS government. For decades, Gary has been an important part of the reform movement and good journalism. Not only has he pushed the press, he has been a champion in helping elect great and diverse judges and the lions among us like the late and Honorable Congressman Major Owens. Gary was there, in an election stolen over 30 years ago, to fight for Major Owens and they won. A book can and should be written about Gary Tilzer.

    http://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/23/opinion/new-york-stealing-an-election.html

    Currently, Gary continues the good fight in his hard hitting blog that many press outlets rip-off his stories from day after day and was a huge source of facts in my campaign:

    http://truenewsfromchangenyc.blogspot.com/

    I did make a promise to the members of Citizens Defending Libraries that I would continue to help in saving our library, win or lose the election. This I intend to keep and call on the press and other attorneys (Rosen is a lawyer) in our community to continue to expose the unethical client relationship of Berlin-Rosen representing de Blasio, Lander, Levin, Squadron, Forest City Ratner and the Brooklyn Public Library. This is very troubling. Berlin Rosen also did the Dark Money LICH Mailer for deBlasio’s Citizen Union like PAC, One NY in an attempt of deceive the voters (Mary Frost of the Brooklyn Eagle deserves recognition for her incredible investigative journalism throughout the LICH saga — Thank you Mary!!!).

    http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2014/7/15/alarm-raised-about-%E2%80%98dark-money%E2%80%99-de-blasio%E2%80%99s-lich-fortis-letter

    I also ask that Jo Anne Simon, in good faith, return the $3,500 contribution from Brooklyn Public Library trustee board member (and Brooklyn Bridge Park board member) Henry “Hank” Gutman (also a lawyer) so that there is no appearance of influence or impropriety going forward.

    See you in the neighborhoods.

    Sincerely,
    Doug Biviano

  • marshasrimler

    thank you

  • marshasrimler

    doug was out there all day and deserves help in retiring his debt

  • marshasrimler

    the story about Stephen Levin is interesting.. but.
    what is he doing to save the Brooklyn Heights LIbrary?
    He is always talking out of both sides of his mouth lately