Two citywide referenda, one to return term limits for city offices to two instead of three and the other to make administrative reforms to city government, both appear to be passing overwhelmingly.

Two statewide races, for Attorney General and Comptroller, remain in doubt. In the AG race, with 54 percent of the precincts reporting, Democrat Eric Schneiderman appears to have a comfortable lead over Republican Dan Donovan. With 57 percent of the precincts in, the Comptroller race between incumbent Democrat Tom DiNapoli and Republican challenger Harry Wilson is very tight, with DiNapoli holding a slight lead.

Update: Millman, DiNapoli and Schneiderman are now all winners.

Photo: T.K. Small

The Huffington Post: By 9:00 a.m., there were already 132 voters at a polling place in north Brooklyn near Borough Hall, which Politico’s Maggie Haberman calls “an impressively high number that early in the morning for a midterm race.” HuffPost reader Tim B. in Brooklyn Heights also reported that when he voted at 10:30 a.m., it was “more crowded than I have ever seen it. … It’s gonna be crazy tonight!”

HuffPo also reports some difficulties with the new voting system, as described by a reader from Williamsburg. Reports from Erie, Pennsylvania and Chicago also tell of higher than expected turnout. If this pattern holds nationwide, it could bode well for Democrats.

NY Times: Recent hate crimes, the same-sex marriage debate and anti-gay statements from gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino have galvanized lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual voters in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill — as well as straight voters who support them — to go to the polls on Tuesday, and to cast their ballots for Andrew Cuomo.

“This election, I consider so dangerous,” said Dierdre Ann, a lesbian from Brooklyn Heights. “It’s far too dangerous not to vote.”

Brooklyn Daily Eagle: With Tea Party victories across the country during recent primaries, St. Francis College and the Manhattan Institute come together for a special event on Thursday, Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. for a debate between Steve Malanga of the Manhattan Institute and Jacob Weisberg, editor-in-chief of the Slate Group, on the topic: “Are The Tea Parties Good For New York?”

Malanga, a senior fellow of the conservative Manhattan Institute and editor of the City Journal, will presumably argue for the affirmative of this proposition while Weisberg, editor-in-chief of Slate, the on-line magazine founded by Microsoft and now a unit of the Washington Post, will take the negative side. The event is free. St. Francis is located at 180 Remsen Street, between Clinton and Court.

The New York Times: Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez, a long-serving Brooklyn Democratic leader who is widely viewed as the borough’s patronage king, is at the center of two separate federal investigations, according to several people briefed on the matter. A third inquiry, by the city’s Department of Investigation, those people said, is focused on a network of nonprofit groups Mr. Lopez controls.

All three investigations focus to some extent on the nexus of politics, nonprofit groups and real estate developers in Brooklyn, the people familiar with the inquiries said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

More bad news came to Lopez today as Lincoln Restler, a member of the insurgent New Kings Democrats, was as reported by The Brooklyn Paper, declared the winner in the race for male district leader for the 50th Assembly district, prevailing over Lopez-backed candidate Warren Cohn. In addition, as also reported in The Brooklyn Paper, a former custodian in a building managed by Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, a not-for-profit organized by Lopez which has as its housing director Lopez’s girlfriend, Angela Battaglia, claims he was fired for supporting an anti-Lopez candidate in last year’s City Council election.

Last week, the Governor signed into law a bill introduced by Assemblywoman Joan L. Millman. The bill, A. 8692 (in the Senate, S. 5447), gives local boards of election the authority to ensure poll sites have an adequate amount of voting machines, poll workers, and other resources. As the new voting machines can tabulate multiple official ballots and print out separate and distinct election totals, this law allows individual boards of election to create, consolidate, divide or alter election districts as needed. The law requires any such adjustment must provide sufficient resources for the poll site, based on the number of registered voters.

Ms. Millman noted that the introduction of the new, electronic voting machines, used for the first time in the primary elections this month, made this reform “especially relevant”. “While there were reports of some problems on election day,” she said, “I am confident these problems can be solved.” She will testify concerning the implementation of the new machines on October 4 before the City Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations.

Following the rally, NKD members and supporters marched to St. Francis College, site of the Committee meeting.

After the meeting, one of the attendees reported to your correspondent that because of the number of proxies held by Lopez, the only substantive item of business considered was a proposal by Lopez to expand the unelected membership of the Democratic Executive Committee from five to eleven, which was opposed by the NKD because it gives the County Leader more slots to which he can appoint cronies. City Council Member Lew Fidler and Jo Anne Simon spoke against it; nevertheless, it passed easily. My source characterized the NKD as “completely not prepared for the meeting, There was obviously no planning.”

Update: This in from Sarah Baker of NKD:

I take issue with the last sentence of the post. To give you some background, Vito’s hundreds of proxies (and thus his ability to carry or kill any motion he pleases) was no surprise to NKD. We knew what we were walking into because we’ve walked into it before, but this time we took reporters from almost every major paper in the city with us to see the farce and get the word out that there is nothing democratic about the operations of our local Democratic Party & there is an urgent need for Brooklynites to engage with this situation. NKD prepared and presented resolutions aimed at making the County Committee more active & democratic, and thus forced a public dialogue among leaders about issues of accountability and operations within the Party.

Immediately prior to the Brooklyn Democratic Party’s biennial meeting, elected officials, good government advocates, members of New Kings Democrats, and dozens of protesters will lay out their 3 point platform for reform in Brooklyn’s Democratic Party on the steps of Brooklyn’s Borough Hall. Members will then walk over to St. Francis College and present it to the Party.

WHERE: Brooklyn Borough Hall Steps
WHEN: TONIGHT @ 6:30pm

For more information on New Kings Democrats, see their website.

The NY Post runs a scathing piece today about Assemblymember/ Kings County Democratic boss Vito Lopez,  based on a 2005 recording of a meeting with “eight little old ladies.”   This report comes one day before he faces a challenge from the New Kings Democrats at the Kings County Democratic Committee meeting at St. Francis College.  Of particular interest in the article — in light of  Lopez minions Reichbach and Willamson claiming to have played a part in the relocation of  a North Heights polling place last Tuesday —  is the Boss’ riff on poll workers:

NY Post: Lopez uses strong-arm tactics, repeatedly mentioning two upcoming taxpayer-funded trips he hosts, suggesting only supporters can go.

“I want to take people on the trip who really don’t like me?” he says. “I mean, that’s stupid, right? That’s what I’m trying to say.”

Lopez then hints to one of the women, who had worked as a $225-a-day poll worker, that only Velasquez supporters will get the coveted gigs on Election Day. Poll workers are legally prohibited from trying to influence voters.

“If I put people in the polls to be poll watchers and the candidate that [Lopez’s political] club backs is not backed by those people, how can I do that?” he says.

Later, he says, “Either people are with the club or not with the club.”

At one point, Lopez suggests that if the votes for Velasquez fall short at PS 19, the polling site nearest the women, he will punish the entire neighborhood.

In the district leadership race in the 52nd AD, incumbent Democratic District Leader Jo Ann Simon soundly beat out Hope Reichbach with 2,645 votes to 1,657. In the same district, Chris Owens (son of former Congressman Major Owens) won the male leadership spot by 2,154 votes over 1,361 cast for Jesse Strauss and 771 for Stephen Williamson.

The Brooklyn Paper sums up yesterday’s election, including our district leader race in the 52nd AD.

Brooklyn Paper: Voters in Brownstone Brooklyn responded strongly to Simon’s message of experience and reform, choosing to back the woman who has served as the district’s state committeewoman since 2004.

But Reichbach’s polling of 37 percent was a strong showing for the first-time candidate whose family, including her father, judge Gus Reichbach, remains well-respected in Downtown, and even Simon conceded that Reichbach has a bright future in politics.

Reichbach, for her part, vowed to carry on.

“You know, I’m 22 and I got more votes than I thought I would need,” said Reichbach. “I’m not upset right now. I’m going out with my friends right now on Smith Street and I don’t have to wear a suit. I’m happy with that.”

Why does that quote get us thinking about Iggy and the Stooges?

Sure newly elected 52nd AD (male) district leader Chris Owens went to Harvard and Princeton, is a songwriter,  is known for work in the community, is a radio host, is sorta David Yassky’s personal “Newman“, but who knew his brother was Elvin Tibideaux from The Cosby Show?!  Even cooler – his actor brother Geoffrey was also in an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  Well not just an episode the original GREENMAN episode.

Meet your new (male) district leader in a YouTube video after the jump.

Incumbent Assembly Member Joan Millman easily withstood a challenge from Heights resident Doug Biviano to win the Democratic nomination for the 52nd Assembly District. With all precincts reporting, according to NY1, Millman has 6,828 votes, or 73.59% of the total, to Biviano’s 2,450, or 26.41%. In other significant local races, PolitickerNY reports that incumbent female district leader Jo Anne Simon appears to have won her race against challenger Hope Reichbach, and, in the three way race for male district leader, the winner appears to be Chris Owens. If these results hold, in both instances candidates backed by Kings County Democratic Party leader Vito Lopez–Reichbach and Stephen Williamson–lost.

Update: PolitickerNY (follow link above) now says it has confirmed Simon’s and Owens’ victories. Results of statewide races follow the jump.

Despite being a newcomer to politics and running a very low key, underfunded campaign, Brooklyn Heights resident Gail Goode managed to capture nearly 25% of the vote in her challenge to incumbent U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. In the general election on November 2, Gillibrand will face former Congressman Joseph DioGuardi, who won the Republican and Conservative Party nominations. Incumbent U.S. Senator and Brooklynite Chuck Schumer will face GOP primary victor Jay Townsend, a political consultant.

In the race for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General, State Senator Eric Schneiderman emerged victorious in a field of five. Incumbent AG Andrew Cuomo was unopposed for the Democratic nomination for Governor. Perhaps the most startling result of the night was the convincing victory of Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino, the “Tea Party” candidate, in the GOP gubernatorial primary to oppose Cuomo. The loser in the Republican primary, former Congressman Rick Lazio, has the Conservative nomination, which means there may be a three way race for Governor, in which Cuomo is now heavily favored.

BHB tipster/voter “Chris” send us this photo of the new paper ballots now being used in New York and comments:

Voted at 7:30 this morning with very light turnout (voter #7).  Staff seems to know the new process, but one of the ballot scanners was malfunctioning.  New ballot printed in VERY small type; wonder if Senior Citizens will have problems, even with the magnifying sheet.

Which gives us a great excuse to shoehorn in this totally unrelated video:

Millman with Parks Commissioner Adrian Benpe and Mr. Met

The results of our BHB poll in the 52nd AD Democratic primary are in and our readers have endorsed incumbent Joan Millman against challenger/Brooklyn Heights resident Doug Biviano.

Here’s the breakdown:
Joan Millman 354 58.22%
Doug Biviano 254 41.78%

R8NY: I like Hope Reichbach, I might even vote for her for something someday. But not in this race.

The Brooklyn Democrat’s Executive Committee needs at least a few members to raise questions and fusses, to keep the boys honest, and to, when necessary, raise a public stink when private ones don’t work.

This is what this District wants and expects from its District Leader. Jo Anne Simon can say honestly she has fulfilled that role and will continue to do so. The best Hope Reichbach can do on that score is to put out misleading literature which implies she will do the same.

But Hope Reichbach won’t do the same; at least not under this County Leader, and we should assume that this County Leader will remain such for the foreseeable future.

Moreover, if there is a leadership fight, we already know where Hope will be, no matter what the at the time circumstances may justify.

The only thing we don’t know is the answer to the question of when the time comes that Vito again decides to endorse someone other than a Democrat, will Hope violate her fiduciary duty as well? But given she works for Levin, and Levin worked against Councilwoman Diana Reyna even after Reyna won the Democratic nomination last year, I think we can assume what the answer will be.

In addition, Jo Anne Simon has been an outstanding civic activist for decades, pro bono. By contrast, Hope has been a decent civic activist for about a year, for a salary.

Over the weekend,  many Brooklyn Heights residents who usually vote at the under-construction P.S. 8  received a postcard telling them that their polling place was now 250 Cadman Plaza West and not 38 Water Street in DUMBO as announced earlier.   Also in the mail that day (at least for us) was a letter from district leader candidates Steve Williamson and Hope Reichbach.  The dispatch claimed responsibility for securing  the new facility after “[you] asked us to find a better polling site location.”   The letter states that Reichbach and Williamson worked with City Councilman Steve Levin to set up the new polling site  at 250 CPW.   Makes sense since candidate Reichbach works for Levin as his communications director.  Confusing? Yes.  Misleading? Maybe.  Totally blackwhite newspeak?  Well, read the full letter here and make up your own mind.

Incumbent (female) district leader Jo Anne Simon and (male) candidate Jesse Strauss issued this statement in response this afternoon:

When Assemblywoman Joan Millman and District Leader Jo Anne Simon were informed of the unavailability of P.S. 8 as a polling site for tomorrow’s Primary election they immediately sought a more convenient polling place than the one originally announced by the Board of Elections.

In response to the false and misleading accusations by the Lopez–Reichbach–Williamson team and District Leader candidates Hope Reichbach and Steve Williamson regarding the last minute moving of several polling locations in Brooklyn Heights, Independent Democratic candidates Jo Anne Simon and Jesse Strauss released the following statement:

It is deeply disappointing that Bushwick political boss Vito Lopez’ hand-picked candidates Hope Reichbach and Steve Williamson are so desperate they are lying to voters about their role in relocating several polling sites.These lies by the Lopez–Reichbach–Williamson team are just more of their shameful attempts to distract voters from their lack of community involvement.The polling sites in question are being moved temporarily due to construction at P.S. 8, a school that has undergone a renaissance due to the hard work of elected officials like Joan Millman and other community leaders. Neither Reichbach nor Williamson lifted a finger to help make P.S. 8 the wonderful school it has become. Now they are using the renovations there to spread lies and make themselves appear to be involved in the community.

We are confident the voters will not be misled by the Lopez–Reichbach–Williamson team’s attempts to mislead them.

Tomorrow is primary day in New York and our local races are interesting to say the least. Catch up on what’s happening and a video on how to use those new voting machines, after the jump.

52nd Assembly District Primary
Joan Millman profile [BHB]
Doug Biviano profile [BHB]
Biviano Bashes Millman [Boropolitics]
Millman vs. Biviano Debate [Brooklyn Paper]
The Media Reports on the Media Not Covering Biviano’s Campaign [BHB]

52nd AD Democratic District Leaders
Jo Anne Simon guest blog [BHB]
Hope Reichbach guest blog [BHB]
Orwellian Mailing in the 52nd [AYR]
District Leader Races Why They Matter [BHB]

Roundups
Challengers Target Longtime Brooklyn Officials in Primary [Brooklyn Eagle]
NY Daily News on District Leader Races [NYDN]

Double check your polling place location at the Board of Elections website.

Voting machine video via yournabe.com

"I know you are but what am I?"

The NY Daily News writes about the heated race for Democratic district leader in the 52nd AD.   However this clip seems to explain what’s at stake and the level of discourse just as accurately.

NY Daily News: But upstart challengers have also emerged from Lopez’s camp. Hope Reichbach, 22, an aide to Lopez protégé City Councilman Steve Levin, is challenging JoAnne Simon for the seat in Brooklyn Heights and Boerum Hill.

The race has gotten heated: Simon’s co-leader filed an ethics complaint against state Supreme Court Justice Gus Reichbach, charging he improperly participated in his daughter’s campaign, though the judge said he got the required clearance.

And Simon’s husband sniped in an e-mail to a Reichbach supporter that among the young candidate’s few virtues, “she is rather engaging [and] has good legs”.

Hope Reichbach responded that Simon is “nervous” because “I’ve outworked her.”

“She screams reform. I can’t tell you one thing that she has reformed. It’s really easy to say, ‘I hate Vito’ in downtown Brooklyn, because people hear the name and they recoil.

“She can scream and scream that she’s running against Vito Lopez. She’s not. She’s running against Hope Reichbach.”

Simon has a ready retort to Reichbach’s claims of independence. “That’s, I’m sure, what she’s been told to say,” she said.

Simon sees the challenge as retaliation for being a thorn in Lopez’s side on the party committee and running against Levin last year.

“When decisions are being made essentially in a back room – because there isn’t a front room – you want somebody who has the ability to be independent,” she said.

We also received this letter from the Willamson/Reichbach district leader campaign informing us of the polling place move.
Williamson Reichbach

To be sure of where your polling place is  call 1-866-VOTE-NYC to double check.

And for some reason, all of this has us thinking about this:

Assemblywoman Joan Millman

Joan Millman has been a teacher, a librarian, a district leader, and for the last 13 years, an assemblywoman. Though the educational jobs preceded the political ones, she sees little difference in the skills required for success in both.

“I think without even being aware of it, teachers do a lot of things that are really helpful in political life,” she said recently over coffee at the Park Plaza Restaurant.

Traits like honesty are key, Millman insisted. “You don’t lie to kids, because they know right away,” she said. Also important: the ability to prioritize, and to look people in the eye when speaking to them (which, for the record, Millman did for the duration of our chat).

The pension she derives from her teaching career has led Doug Biviano, who is challenging Millman in the Democratic primary on September 14, to accuse her of double-dipping, which she adamantly denies. “I worked in the school system for more than 27 years, and I received a pension,” she said. “And I paid into that pension. I paid taxes on that pension. I earned it.”

Though she retired in 1996 with no other job, Millman had the option to rescind the pension when she was elected to the Assembly in 1997, but chose not to. “It’s a common practice,” she said. “It’s not like you can never work again, and it shouldn’t be that way.”

Since she came to office in a special election following the death of Eileen Dugan, Millman has helped put women and minority-owned businesses on an even playing field, and worked hard to ensure LICH stays right where it is. She’s also effected change for some of the most overlooked members of society.

In 2005, the Assembly passed Billy’s Law, named for a severely disabled child who was abused and neglected at the treatment facility where he lived in New Jersey. Millman was inspired to introduce the legislation after Billy’s father visited her and described the awful conditions in which his son was living.

Prior to Billy’s Law, out-of-state facilities attended by New York State children were not carefully inspected. Now, teams from the Office of Mental Retardation an Developmental Disabilities, the Education Department, and the Office of Children and Family Services regularly evaluate programs that serve children from New York.

Some teams have already discovered substandard conditions at facilities around the country. “As a result of that, we brought 1,000 kids back,” Millman said. “Each of those kids had run the taxpayers $200,000 a year in their care.”

In her view, passing legislation like Billy’s Law has been difficult since Governor David A. Paterson came to office in 2008. “We have a governor who didn’t want to be governor,” she said without hesitation.

Millman is looking forward to returning to Albany and working with “a guy who wants the job,” speaking, of course, about Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. “He’s surrounded himself with some pretty top quality people,” she said. “So my thought and hope is that he will continue that trend.”

Here at home, Millman is most concerned about maintaining good transportation options, decent housing, and quality schools in her district, which spans Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Columbia Waterfront, DUMBO, Fulton Ferry Landing, Gowanus, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, and Vinegar Hill.

Tobacco Warehouse

Also important: green space, something she thinks the entire borough lacks. Which is why Millman, and what seems like the entirety of Brooklyn Heights, is so focused on the rollout of Brooklyn Bridge Park.

“You always feel pressure to do the right thing,” Millman said about the park, where she’d like to see more restaurants open up and maybe even an ice skating rink. As for the Tobacco Warehouse and Empire Stores projects within the park, Millman thinks one of the historic spaces should house a performance venue, but she stressed the importance of doing the RFP (request for proposal) for Tobacco Warehouse and Empire Stores simultaneously. The Bloomberg administration wants Tobacco Warehouse to be decided first.

If Tobacco Warehouse goes to a not-for-profit, she believes a potential revenue-producing stream will be lost. “Maybe a not-for-profit could lease space, or be housed at Empire Stores,” she suggested.

Developer David Walentas, who has built up much of the area around the park, will likely bid on the project, and Millman said he often feels entitled to area projects. “But a lot of people feel entitled,” she stipulated. As for whether Walentas will get what he wants, she said, “I think it seems to be wired that way.”

Though Millman hopes she’ll be reelected and return to Albany, she admitted the state legislature is broken, to a certain degree. “The Times said the other day that any incumbent should be defeated,” she said. “You’re putting me in the same bracket as Pedro Espada? I’m not a crook.”

She feels good about the upcoming primary, but takes every election seriously. Biviano’s lack of public service prior to his run for City Council last year troubles Millman, who has always been interested in politics.

“I didn’t just wake up one day and decide to be interested in it,” she said. Some of her early successes as district leader, including lobbying for the B51 bus line and bringing the TKTS booth back to Brooklyn, have inspired her to keep working.

“It’s very empowering,” said Millman. “You keep pushing the envelope, and I’ve been doing that all along.

Atlantic Yards Report looks at the area district leader races and asserts that some in the battle for the 52nd district leader post seem to be using Newspeak:

Atlantic Yards Report: Yesterday, I just got a rather Orwellian mailing from the joint campaign of Williamson and Reichbach, which not only pledged they’d work on education, parks, transportation, and environment–as if they’re Council candidates, work outside the scope of the unpaid job–but also claimed:

For years the 52nd Assembly District has suffered because its District Leaders were more interested in old party politics than new ideas. Hope Reichbach and Stephen Williamson are about energy, passion, independence, and fresh progressive thinking.Really?

(Well, here’s Reichbach’s response to Simon’s blog post, criticizing the incumbent for ignoring some issues and claiming Simon was, until recently, “pro-Atlantic Yards.” As a commenter states, that’s false. Simon, as a BrooklynSpeaks stalwart, was in the “mend it don’t end it” camp, which isn’t support.)

After months of campaigning and with Election Day fast approaching, I would like to take the opportunity to thank so many of you for opening your doors and sharing your time with me throughout my grassroots campaign for Female District Leader. I’ve run a positive door-to-door campaign. Over the last several weeks, Jo Anne Simon’s rhetoric has grown increasingly negative. Unfortunately, instead of engaging with the community on the issues that are important to all of us, my opponent Jo Anne Simon, has relied solely on vicious attacks against me and my family

I’m running for District Leader based on my record and accomplishments, not by slinging mud at my opponent’s character and family.
On this blog, Ms. Simon asked “What is a District Leader?”A very important question, but one that a six year incumbent like Ms. Simon should have answered for her constituency long ago. A District Leader should be a known entity. She should be an accessible leader. As Communications Director to Councilmember Stephen Levin, I work hard every day to ensure that constituents know how to access government resources to help solve their everyday problems.

As a lifelong resident of Boerum Hill, I have never known our District Leader to be accessible to members of the community. Instead she has been disengaged all these years, The District leader has never informed me of a community event, an opportunity to participate, or even of an upcoming election. In many areas of Brooklyn, the District Leader is an important community leader. Unfortunately this is not the case in the 52nd Assembly District.

Over the past five months, it has been a privilege to knock on over 3,000 doors and amazingly, few know who their District Leader is or what they do. This is a depressing reality in the 52nd Assembly District. It is time for a change. It is time for the District Leader to work hard, be available, and encourage involvement in local elections and local politics.

Ms. Simon, a self proclaimed progressive, boasts that no one has run against her club in over forty years. As an actual progressive in the Democratic Party, I’m appalled by her sense of entitlement to holding elected office in this district. I believe democracy thrives on competition, choice, and elections. Ms. Simon is upset that voters have a choice this year. We have a choice between her club and a change.

Unfortunately, Ms. Simon has continually showed that she has no interest in hearing the voice of voters in this district. A District Leader has enormous influence in the location of polling sites in her district. However, voters all over the 52nd Assembly District are disenfranchised by inconvenient polling locations. In most New York City Housing Authority developments, the residents vote in the community center of the development. The residents of Gowanus Houses, a development with over 20 buildings, vote almost half a mile away while a sadly underused community center (due to budget cuts, some of which I have successfully fought against) lays dormant on election day. Why hasn’t the District Leader demanded that Gowanus residents be able to vote in a convenient location? Maybe it is because those residents don’t traditionally support the District Leader, or maybe it is because the residents of Gowanus don’t have the economic means to have a strong voice given the current elected officials in our community. Whatever the reason, it is inexcusable.

This year, the residents of the 123rd electoral district in Brooklyn Heights were shocked to find that their polling site had been moved to DUMBO. This electoral district has a large population of senior citizens. Suddenly, these seniors were faced with the task of traveling over a mile, up and down hills, over and under construction, across intersections without crosswalks, to cast their vote. Where was Ms. Simon? Why was this polling site moved with no notification just days before the election? My running mate, Stephen Williamson, and I worked tirelessly to find a solution to this obvious disenfranchisement of hundreds of voters. After negotiating with the Board of Elections and local community centers, Congregation Mt. Sinai has offered to open up their sanctuary so the residents of the 123rd electoral district can access the polls. Mr. Williamson and I have not been elected, but we worked day and night to ensure that voters can vote. Where was our District Leader?

Ms. Simon claims only she can provide progressive leadership, but her “progressive” agenda can be difficult to follow. Ms. Simon has claimed to be a progressive, independent leader. However she had no problem endorsing a pro-life, anti-marriage equality candidate in the 39th Council District. At one point, she was against housing in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Apparently though, after discussion with the bosses in her democratic club, her position has changed.

Up until recently, she was pro-Atlantic Yards. Suddenly, when it seemed politically beneficial, she became a crusader against Atlantic Yards. Ms. Simon has a picture of herself holding a “traffic calming now” sign on her website. Several years ago, a prominent civic leader worked tirelessly to apply for a grant from the Department of Transportation for a traffic calming study. Ms. Simon, and her cronies, forced the Community Board to reject money the DOT had offered the community. You read that correctly. Ms. Simon advocated for the community to reject city funding for a study on this issue.

Ms. Simon has also changed her mind about my father. At the beginning of the summer, she told the Daily News that my father is an “excellent judge” (Daily News, May 5th 2010). Last week, as retribution for me daring to run against her, Ms. Simon and her cronies filed a confidential complaint against my father with the Judicial Ethics Board and then proceeded to leak the confidential complaint to the press. Ms. Simon claims she wants to take the politics out of the Kings County judiciary. Apparently this doesn’t apply when the daughter of an “excellent judge” gets in her way.

Ms. Simon continuously notes that she is the “reform” candidate. I have seen no reforms in the democratic process or the Democratic Party in the 52nd Assembly District under her watch. The judicial panel she heralds as her major contribution to reform was the brainchild of the man she obsessively attacks with half-truths and outright lies, Vito Lopez.

We need real reform in our district. We need District Leaders who want to be involved in a democratic process. We need Leaders who will be a resource to every community in the district. We need leaders that don’t just appear out of the woodwork a week before Election Day, year after year. We need independent leaders who will fight hard for our community. Leaders who will always support candidates that represent our interests, and will work hard to give everyone in our community a stronger voice. We don’t need personal attacks, lies, and dirty tricks. We need new leadership.

Please allow me to share with you a video I just made explaining why I am running for District Leader, the problems in our district, and what I have already done to work towards a better community.

Daniel Squadron (Brooklyn Eagle photo) and Jesse Strauss (mcbrooklyn photo) at P.S. 8 on Wednesday

The first day of school at P.S. 8 yesterday drew many local candidates who know the power of the pre-teen vote. Or somethin’. In attendance yesterday were our man in the NYS Senate Daniel Squadron, Democratic district leader candidates Jesse Strauss and Steve Williamson as well as Democrat/P.S. 8 parent Doug Biviano who is challenging Assemblymember Joan Millman in Tuesday’s primary.

1) Tuesday, September 14th, is Primary Day.

Everyone who lives in Brooklyn Heights should vote! The welfare of our neighborhood rests with an active and aware citizenry because our elected representatives feel more accountable to the communities who vote in the greatest numbers.

If you need help locating your polling place, call the BHA office at
718-858-9193 or go to: http://gis.nyc.gov/vote/ps/index.htm and enter your street address.

2) The new voting machines are complicated. PLEASE, PLEASE attend a demonstration of the new machines this Friday, September 10th from 5-7 PM at St. Francis College in the Callahan Center,180 Remsen Street.

"Controversial" photo from Reichbach's campaign website

The race for the Democratic 52nd Assembly district leader just got a little more interesting.

Crain’s NY Insider reports that a formal complaint has been filed against Supreme Court Judge Gus Reichbach claiming that he has “participated” in his daughter Hope Reichbach’s campaign against incumbent Jo Anne Simon.

Steve and Vito: Hope's Home Team/Aaron Short photo

Crain’s notes that the confidential complaint was filed by Simon supporter Alan Fleishman (a current District leader not seeking re-election). The paper adds that the complaint “gratuitiously notes that [Vito] Lopez backs Reichbach.”    Ms. Reichbach is currently a staffer for NYC Councilmember/ Lopez protégé & former chief of staff Steve Levin.

Fleishman’s filing alleges that Judge Reichbach “seriously violated judicial ethics [by] actively campaigning for his daughter.” The complaint says that the judge permitted his name and likeness to be used in a Hope Reichbach campaign mailing, on her campaign website in addition to attending an endorsement press conference. It adds that the judge, who was part of the 1968 student uprising at Columbia University, wore a Hope Reichbach campaign button, too.

Judge Reichbach tells Crain’s that he never wore a campaign button. As for the presser, he says he did not participate and that he has received an opinion from the Advisory Commission on Judicial Ethics allowing his likeness to be used in his daughter’s campaign. He tells the paper he was surprised by the complaint, adding, “These things are supposed to be confidential, so it’s interesting that the complaint was filed with the press.”

In 2004, I was elected the Female Democratic District Leader/State Committeewoman in the 52nd Assembly District. I am grateful to have had the strong support of our Assemblywoman, Joan Millman. Now, as I run for re-election and knock on doors and talk to voters I am often asked “why should I care about these unpaid party positions. Aren’t they “back room positions?” or “What is a District Leader?”

In a recent blog article Claude Scales did a fine job of laying out why it matters who the district leaders are. As I see it, one can use this party position to fight for reform; or do the Party boss’ bidding. Of great importance to the Party boss is the district leaders vote for the selection of the County Chair.

While the political backrooms are no longer smoke-filled County Democratic Executive Committee meetings are still closed to the public. This, in a nutshell, is why who your State Committeeperson/District Leader is matters. In the most reform minded Assembly District in Brooklyn (the Independent wing of the Democratic Party to paraphrase Gov. Howard Dean), the ability to be independent is critical. That’s something the Democratic voters in the 52nd Assembly District have historically wanted – someone who is unafraid to speak up when poor decisions are about to be made (like when the Party Boss decided to seed the executive committee with ad hoc members of his choosing). We have conscientiously repelled that brand of politics where the Party Boss’ thumb is always on the scale.

In fact, it’s been 40 years since a County chair tried to take over the 52nd Assembly District, something even the legendary Meade Esposito did not do.

The recent unrest in County politics has been punctuated by certain key races and who the 52nd supported. For example, we supported reform Judge Margarita Lopez-Torres for reelection to the Civil Court and two years later, for Surrogate Judge. This is only a bone of contention because years earlier, Judge Lopez-Torres refused to hire a newly-minted lawyer to be her law clerk – a position usually going to those with a minimum of 3-5 years of legal experience. The Party tried to intimidate her into making the hire. She wouldn’t; incurring the eternal wrath of the recent grad’s father – Assembly member Vito Lopez. (Read about this in New York State Board of Elections v. Lopez-Torres.)

But someone did hire her — Civil Court Judge Gustin L. Reichbach, who the following year was elevated to a spot on the NYS Supreme Court. Now, Reichbach’s daughter, Hope – fresh out of college – is running for District Leader. Who could doubt she would be a solid vote for Lopez? Progressive politics? New ideas? Not so much.

In 2005, when Brooklyn Surrogate Michael Feinberg, was booted off the bench as Surrogate Judge for financial shenanigans, Margarita Lopez-Torres ran for Surrogate Judge. The Party feared that Lopez-Torres would be elected and destroy the patronage mill that had operated out of the Surrogate’s court for generations. Boss Lopez prevailed on Gov. George Pataki to create an unnecessary second Surrogate position, and the state legislature voted for the deal. The deal included the appointment of Vito Lopez’ daughter, Gina Lopez Summa, to the NYS Court of Claims. Only three ethical legislators from Brooklyn voted against the Pataki-Lopez deal – Assemblymembers Joan Millman and Jim Brennan and State Senator Marty Connor.

Quick backgrounder: Lopez’ power emanates from the Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council (RBSCC), a multi-pronged social services network in Bushwick. Lopez founded the organization, and his girlfriend Angela Battaglia, a NYC Planning Commissioner, runs the housing program there. They have done a good job improving the lives and housing options of many residents in that area of Brooklyn. But, curiously, election day seems to bring out employees of RBSCC (a tax-exempt, 501(C)(3) organization) in droves. Lopez, the Kings County Democratic Chair, lives with Battaglia in Queens, but votes out of a Brooklyn address.

Desirous of a bench of only qualified judges, my reform allies and I have worked hard to eliminate the mysterious and embarrassing way in which Supreme Court judges are elected.  We lobbied for and succeeded in having instituted a Blue Ribbon panel on the election of judges, before which I testified. As a result the party created a new Independent Screening Panel whose members rotate regularly, to replace the old panel of “regulars.”

Now the County party is not permitted to endorse a judicial candidate who does not appear before the Screening Panel and receive a rating of “Qualified.” Despite this, a few years ago with Noach Dear and just last year with Pam Fisher, Lopez endorsed a candidate who had not submitted to this process – in Pam Fisher, he endorsed a candidate for civil court who had never even worked as a lawyer, but had worked at Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council (RBSCC). In other words, Lopez has endorsed candidates who were ineligible for the County Democratic Party’s support. If rules are in the way, break them.

Brooklynites now have a civil court judge who never even practiced law. Apparently that doesn’t matter to Boss Lopez.  It matters to me.  And it should matter to you.

The Screening panel members rotate based on recommendations from groups of district leaders.  Each group recommends 2 candidates and the County Leader picks one from each group. This year, my group submitted the names of two candidates that were acceptable to all 6 of the group’s district leaders. The Party later refused to tell me which one had been selected from my group. I was told it was confidential, despite the fact that I had forwarded the names to the party’s executive director. I later learned that a third person had been put on the panel as the representative of our group.  If rules are in the way, break them.

Lest this seem like sour grapes, I won’t discuss the securing of the City Council seat last year for his staffer, Steve Levin (formerly employed by RBSCC), except to say that Lopez secured the political support of a certain block of voters through a land use deal – Broadway Triangle – that is now in court because of what appears to be corruption in the awarding of site control to RBSCC and the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg. (For the record, I supported the diverse, community –based Broadway Triangle Coalition which sought a meaningful role in the project.) If rules are in the way, break them.

Last fall, Boss Lopez supported a challenger to his one-time protégé, Councilwoman Diana Reyna.  When Reyna won the primary and became the Democratic Party nominee, Lopez, chair of the Kings County Democratic Party, supported a candidate from another party – his current co-district leader, Maritza Davila, who happens to work at – you guessed it, RBSCC.

Simultaneously there was percolating in the Assembly a battle over a bill that would extend the statute of limitations for childhood victims of sexual abuse at the hands of education officials to age 26, including a one year window for those who were already over the current limit, age 21.  Because of its unpopularity with certain religious communities, one of which would later come out in force to elect his hand-picked candidate in the 33^rd council district, Lopez withdrew his prior support for the bill and floated a weak alternative.

On election day, to the consternation of many, the Bishop of Brooklyn made robocalls in support of Vito Lopez – who wasn’t even running for office – to the voters of the 34^th city council district where Lopez’ candidate Davila was running against Democratic nominee Councilwoman Diana Reyna. If rules are in the way, break them.

Just a few weeks ago, Vito Lopez again made headlines by pressuring a city employee to lie in court proceedings brought by Lopez to throw his Primary opponent off the ballot. If rules are in the way, break them.

The team seeking the support of Democratic voters for male (Steve Williamson) and female (Hope Reichbach) State Committee/District Leader is wholly supported by the Brooklyn Party Chair, Vito Lopez.  New Ideas?  New Leadership? With all due respect, this kind of new we don’t need. Because when rules are in the way. . .

Further down the ballot are two races that, if you’re not a New York politics wonk, may appear perplexing or inconsequential. These are for the female and male district leaders for the 52nd Assembly District, the district presently represented by Ms. Millman that includes Brooklyn Heights and nearby areas. Why are these races important? Read on.

There are two Democratic district leaders, one male and one female, for each State Assembly district. These are unpaid, part-time positions, but to be a Democratic district leader in Brooklyn, which is almost solidly Democratic, is to have considerable power. As this Atlantic Yards Report post explains:

What do district leaders do? Help pick the party’s chairman, help pick judges–a real opportunity for patronage–hire poll workers, and help get candidates on the ballot.

The incumbent female district leader for the 52nd A.D. is Jo Anne Simon, who was a candidate for City Council from the 33rd District, which includes the Heights, last year, finishing second in a field of seven. The winner of that election, Steve Levin, previously was chief of staff for Assembly Member and Brooklyn Democratic Party chair Vito Lopez. The candidate opposing Simon for female district leader, Hope Reichbach, works for Levin. Simon, along with the incumbent male district leader, Alan Fleishman, has a history of challenging Lopez’s authority. This May 14 Brooklyn Paper article quotes Fleishman on his and Simon’s record:

“Actually, [Lopez] considers us ‘Public Enemy number 1,’ ” said Fleishman, a 27-year resident of the district who has held the post for eight years. “We didn’t support his candidates for Surrogate Court. We fought him when he tried to get an unqualified person on the Board of Elections. And we bucked him when he tried to put Noach Dear on the bench without a judicial screening panel.

Fleishman is not running for re-election, and three candidates are vying for his office. The pro-Lopez candidate is Stephen Williamson. In addition to being backed by Lopez, Reichbach and Williamson have the support of Borough President Marty Markowitz. The two other candidates for male district leader are Jesse Strauss who, along with Simon, has the support of Assembly Member Millman as well as of the Independent Neighborhood Democrats (of which Strauss serves on the executive committee), and Chris Owens, who is supported by the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (of which he is a past president) and the Lambda Independent Democrats.

A tip of the hat to BHB reader and commenter “Publius” for urging coverage of these races.

Doug Biviano

Ask State Assembly Candidate Doug Biviano about himself, and the first thing he’ll say is he’s a P.S. 8 parent who was born and raised in Brooklyn. Then, almost as if to prove it, he’ll ask the waitress at Heights Café to bring him a Brooklyn Brewery beer.

A Cornell grad, civil engineer, husband, and father of three, Biviano, 41, made a brief sojourn out to Colorado before settling down ten years ago in Brooklyn Heights. Now the superintendent at 169 Columbia Heights, Biviano, whose preppy good looks seem well-suited for a career in politics, recalled fondly his campaign for city council last year.

“It was exhausting, it was exhilarating, it was intense,” he said between sips of beer and bites of pizza. “The highs were really high, the lows were super low. Every mistake you make is amplified.”

Though he lost that primary race to Stephen Levin, who went on to win the general election, Biviano made a name for himself in the neighborhood, and even secured an endorsement from Rep. Dennis Kucinich. He’s hoping to capitalize on that reputation by running again for office, this time on the statewide level as he challenges the popular Assemblywoman Joan Millman for the Democratic nomination.

“The fix is in—they’ve perfected a system,” Biviano said, voicing the common complaint that 98 percent of incumbents seeking reelection return to Albany each election cycle. Not only does this “system” protect the incumbents, but in Biv’s view, it also hurts the people.

As an example, he pointed to a recent debate between himself and Millman, where Millman, who ascended to the Assembly in a 1997 special election, defended a colleague who had failed to disclose additional income he makes as an attorney.

“She should be defending us,” Biviano observed.

Biviano with "Millman"

Another glaring flaw in his adversary: Millman, a former educator, is not only “double-dipping” he claims by receiving both her teacher’s pension and a salary for her position in the Legislature.  He also believes she lied in the debate by claiming she could not defer the pension payments, when in fact she can.

“Instead of Joan Millman setting an example, setting the bar…she’s at the core of what’s wrong with Albany,” said Biviano.

He’s garnered some attention of late for releasing a video complaining about the lack of media attention given those challenging “the bums” in Albany, as Biviano likes to call them. In fact, he noted that the Brooklyn Heights Blog was the only outlet to approach him for an extended interview.

With negligence like that, Biviano argued, “How do they expect anybody to throw the bums out?”

Though he’s quick to drop the names of local pols done wrong (Millman, Pedro Espada, Jr, Sheldon Silver), Biviano admires relative newcomer Daniel Squadron, the State Senator who fought off longtime incumbent Marty Connor in the 2008 Democratic primary.

“How do you effect change? I think he’s struggling with that,” Biv said of Squadron. “He could potentially become a target because I think he truly wants to reform Albany. I’d like to work with him.”

In Biviano’s opinion, the biggest problems facing the 52^nd Assembly District he hopes to represent are the economy; the MTA’s budget cuts; the development of Brooklyn Bridge Park; and the lack of middle school options in the region. He favors term limits for local politicians (“Eight to ten years seems reasonable,” he said), and is open to the idea of residential parking permits.

Biviano with Kucinich in 2009

On his website, Biviano lays out his plan to fix the MTA by refinancing its long-term debt and saving more than $700 million a year in interest. He also pledges to eliminate corruption in Albany by way of “active representation of the people,” and by forcing all elected New York State and New York City elected officials to fully disclose their income.

Admittedly apolitical prior to 9/11, Biviano was stirred to attention by what he realized was “a systematic failure of leadership we have in our governments.” He believes everybody needs a good dose of civics, and that getting involved in the political process can be empowering.

Having secured his spot on the primary ballot on September 14, Biviano promised he’d be a politician people could trust. “I am beholden to nobody,” he said. “I can go up there with complete independence.”

And this might be his last shot; Biviano has no plans to run for public office again. “Not if my wife has any say,” he added, leaving the door open, of course, as any good politician should.

The Brooklyn Paper’s recap of the debate and video after the jump:

Assembly candidate Doug Biviano blasted away at incumbent Joan Millman in a debate last week, hammering her for taking her pension even as she works as a lawmaker, lambasting her for backing transit cuts, and for flip-flopping on housing inside Brooklyn Bridge Park — but the harshest word he had for Millman was that she’s “nice.”

By our count, Biviano taunted his rival with the seemingly innocuous adjective six times during the hour-long debate in Community Newspaper Group’s Downtown studio, where the candidates in the Sept. 14 primary battled in hopes of attracting voters in the Brownstone Brooklyn assembly district.

Being repeatedly slammed as “nice” certainly didn’t faze Millman, who said she was more upset that Biviano called her a bum on his website.

“I don’t think ‘nice’ is a pejorative word,” she said. “I don’t mind being called nice because I am a nice person. But I’m also an effective person.”

Biviano certainly didn’t agree, slamming Millman (D-Carroll Gardens) on the issues — and for collecting her pension from her prior job as a city teacher while working as our elected representative in Albany. Biviano called that “double dipping.”

“I’m on the street and I talk to the people and they’re worried about their pensions,” Biviano said. “These people aren’t making six figures and on top of … another government pension. It’s an abuse of the pension system.”

Millman makes $92,000 as an Assemblywoman. She was elected to office in 1997 after she retired from her 27 years as a teacher and began collecting her pension.

“I had already put in my paperwork,” she said. “You can’t rescind it.”

The NY Post published a story by Courier Life writer Tom Tracy with the lastest in this saga:

The truth is that Millman could have deferred then -— and could still defer now. All she had to do was file a “Retirement Allowance Suspension/Resumption Form” with the Teachers Retirement System.

What Millman (D-Carroll Gardens) is doing is perfectly legal, but that hasn’t stopped her assembly challenger, Doug Biviano, from railing on her for more than a week since our debate aired on our website.

“Collecting of two government paychecks shows that Assemblywoman Millman is not only out of touch with the community, but cares more about her interests than those of the people she represents,” Biviano said. “She should be protecting the pension system and our over-burdened tax-payers, not abusing them.”

In the debate, Biviano likened Millman’s pension to Assemblymembers Rhoda Jacobs (D–Midwood) and Harvey Weisenberg (D–Long Island), Albany colleagues who collect their state legislator pensions while still serving in the job of state legislator. The loophole that allows them to do that has since been closed.

Millman’s camp has taken a flogging from Biviano since the debate, but Nelson turned it right back on the challenger.

“Doug believes she shouldn’t be allowed to retire, collect her pension — a pension funded by her money that she’s already deferred while she was a teacher in the public school system, mind you — and have a second career,” he said. “He’s sending a terrible message to senior citizens by telling them that once they retire they should just move to Florida because they’re not needed or welcome here anymore.”