prima : TuesdaSeptember
Votefor JoAnneSimon.Democratic
Friendsof Jo Anne Simon
389 Court Street- 2nd floor
Brooklyn,NY 11231
mffieer
Why
theElectlon
for[emocr
Dlstrlct
Leaders
lsInr0rtan
Ulto'spowergrab
Here it comes.folks - an editorial
abouta districtleaderrace....
For once,a contestfor the obscure,
unpaid,rarely challengedjob of statecom-
mittee memberis actually important this
year....
If we don't fix the bottom rung of
electoral politics in this borough, we'll
never solvethe truly big problems...
Here'sthe situation:Eachparty hastwo
district leaders- a man and a woman - for
eachAssemblydistrict in the state.These
district leadersdon't do much exceptpick
poll workersandhelp getcandidateson the
ballot - oh, and they alsohelp rig the polit
ical gameagainstanyonewho might chal-
lengethe county'sparty chairman.
For the Dernocrats,that's the thug-
gish Assemblyman Vito Lopez.
LnWz is solid on legislationinAlbany.
Buthis real gameis consolidatingpower1o-
0n theDemocratic
Primary
ballotDistrict
Leaders
arecalled
StateCommittee.
JoAnneSimonforStateCommitte
14th
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cally so he can have a say in who ges the
patronagejobs, which contractorsget the
city contracts,and which developershave
to kowtow to the non-profit groupsthat he
controls.
But in order to do all that, LoPez has
to remain county boss - and for that he
needsdistrictleaderswho march in lock'
step.
But Vito's problem is that two district
leadersin BrownstoneBrooklyn - JoAnne
Simon and Alan Fleischman- don't ask,
"How high?"whenhe says,"Jump."
Simon and Fleischmanbucked Lopez
when he picked party hacksfor the Surro-
gate's Court. They stood against Lopez
when he tried to get an unqualified person
on the Board of Elections.And they fought
him when he tried to put the scabrous
NoachDearon thebenchwith out ajudicial
screeningpanel.
Weelectonemaleandonefemale,
Frfirred standard
US Postage
PAID
Brooklyn,NY
PermitNo.757
That may not soundlike a big deal.but
no leader- from theWhite Housedown to
Vito Lopez's clubhousein Bushwick -
shouldsunoundhimself with loyalistsu'ho
aretoo afraidfor theirjobsto questionpoor
decisions.
But that'swhatLopezwants....Mal be
that's politics, but we'd prefer if Lopez
would find candidateswith morrcexperi'
ence than Hope Reichbach and Stephen
Williamson.
Reichbachis bestknown asthe spoke:-
woman for Lopez'sprotege,Councilman
Stevekvin @-Williamsburg),andfor har-
ing a fatherwho is a family friend of Lopez.
AndWilliamson isn'tknown at all.
But what doesLopez care if they har e
no real experience?He only wants peo-
ple cl,oseto him who owe their careers to
the Bushwick puppet master.
That makesa mockerv of democrao . . .