Political Arena

Heated race to finish line

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In a tumultuous weekend leading up to the Tuesday primary, the nine Democratic candidates vying to replace Rep. Charles Rangel in New York’s 13th congressional district attacked one another on Twitter and in news media.

Assemblyman Keith Wright, who won the endorsement of the 46-year incumbent Mr. Rangel, came under fire for incendiary comments by his supporter Rev. Al Sharpton at a rally in Harlem.

“They want to suppress us. They want to distract us. They’re going to hire them some outsiders, going up on television with commercials,” Rev. Sharpton said at the rally. “You’re supposed to be attracted to Negros you ain’t never seen before. I mean, they must have a laboratory to just create these Negros.”

The only candidate in the race airing TV ads was Clyde Williams, a former political director for the Democratic National Committee, but Rev. Sharpton did not refer to him by name. He did, however, single out another contender, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, accusing him of trying to suppress black voters.

In his diatribe against Mr.  Espaillat, Rev. Sharpton seemed to reference a June 21 memo by the senator’s political consultant, Chad Proudlock, which reportedly predicted the senator would win if he  “prevents or suppresses the White Progressive and African American vote for Asm. Keith Wright by 5% points.”

Tyrone Stevens, a campaign spokesman for Mr. Espaillat, sought to put a distance between the senator and the consultant’s memo.

“Our campaign denounces this email,” Mr. Stevens told Politico New York last week. “Adriano Espaillat has always fought to protect the voting rights of all New Yorkers. Keith Wright’s dishonest attempt to tie this to our campaign and gin up racial tensions is deplorable and shameful.”

In a phone interview with The Press, Mr. Williams — who worked for the Democratic National Committee under presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — accused Mr. Wright of “regrettable” attempts to draw racial divisions.

“It shows how my opponent Keith Wright sees that things are not going well,” he told The Press. “This is a very diverse district and people want someone who is going to bring our community together, not tear it apart.”

On June 24, about a dozen of Mr. Espaillat’s supporters protested in front of Assemblyman Guillermo Linares’ campaign headquarters. Both Mr. Espaillat and Mr. Linares were born in the Dominican Republic, and each is seeking to become the first Dominican native to be elected to Congress. 

Protesters sent a letter to Mr. Linares, urging him to drop out of the race. Mr. Linares’ bid was hurting Mr. Espaillat’s campaign among Dominican voters, the letter argued.

“The undersigned ask Assemblyman Linares to desist his contention for the nomination,” the letter, written in Spanish and signed by three of Mr. Espaillat’s supporters, said. “This petition is based on [Mr.] Espaillat’s greater possibility of winning the nomination.”

A spokesman for Mr. Espaillat declined to comment on the protest.

Espaillat demands monitors

State Sen. Adriano Espaillat urged the Justice Department to post federal monitors at precincts throughout New York’s 13th congressional district, according to an open letter sent on June 24. 

Mr. Espaillat invoked the city board of elections’ handling of the New York presidential primary in April, when the names of more than 100,000 voters in Brooklyn were purged from voter rolls, according to news reports. 

“The New York City board of elections has repeatedly failed to execute its primary responsibility to ensure all duly qualified voters can fully participate in our democracy,” the letter read. “As a candidate in a congressional district where 55% of residents are Latino, this disenfranchisement is especially worrisome.”

Mr. Espaillat urged the Justice Department to use the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to deploy federal monitors to oversee voting sights and ensure that the same problems would not occur during the Tuesday balloting.

“Until it was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2013, Section 4 of the voting rights act required review by the Justice Department before election procedures, polling sites, and district boundaries could be changed,” Mr. Espaillat said in his letter. “As a resident of this district, my neighbors and I need the return of these protections.”

Victims Act fails

The Child Victims Act, which would amend statute of limitations laws for cases of child molestation and sexual abuse in New York State, once again failed to pass before the state Senate before the June 18 end of session.

Efforts by the bill’s supporters to get the amendments approved have been hindered in recent years by opposition from major organizations including the Catholic Church, which object to the bill’s provision that includes a one-year window during which old cases could be heard in court.

“I am certain that this will at some point pass, because there is just too big a tide in the general public understanding and a much more organized coalition,” said Peter Brooks, a prominent activist seeking justice over years of sexual abuse at Horace Mann School. “That being said, when Albany politics can’t even do a good job on ethics reform after indicting both its speakers, it’s sort of hard to understand the mechanics of the legislature as a representative body to even fix its own problems, much less the problems of the state.”

Northwest Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz sounded off on the bill in a phone interview last week, expressing his discontent that it could not pass.

“One should not assume that the Catholic conference was the only opposition because it just wasn’t,” he said. “I think it’s a shame [considering] that there was certainly a lot of effort made this year… Considering that the Assembly bill had so many sponsors, I was hoping there would be an agreement, but we couldn’t get an agreement.”

New members join CB 8

The office of Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. released a list of newly appointed members of Community Board (CB) 8 this week.

Diomarys Escano, Diego Santiago, Tao Moran, Eric Bell, James Santiago and high school student Shalva Gozland will join the ranks of CB 8 this year. They are replacing five members who did not run for reappointment along with Robert Press, who was not reappointed to the board.

“Community board appointments and reappointments are made at the discretion of the borough president, in consultation with the local City Council members,” said John DeSio, communications director for Mr. Diaz. “This office’s community board selections have been inclusive and reflective of the areas they serve.”

The members of CB 8 who did not apply for reappointment include Lionel Baez, Manuel Felix, Amy Miller-Moore, Dana Lennon, David Toledo and Arlene Feldmeier, who resigned from her post to run for state Assembly in the 101st district upstate.

Adriano Espaillat, Keith Wright, Rev. Al Sharpton, Clyde Williams, Child Victims Act, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Anthony Capote

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