Barron
Retiring Congressman Ed Towns endorsed former rival Councilman Charles Barron this week as his replacement in the rearranged 8th Congressional District.
The district is comprised mostly of Brooklyn, but it also contains Howard Beach.
Barron had been running to replace Towns before the Congressman announced in April that he would not seek reelection.
Barron had tried to unseat Towns in past elections as well and had been one of the congressman’s most vocal critics, so the endorsement on Monday surprised many.
Barron is running against Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries in the Democratic primary.
Jeffries had been regarded as the frontrunner in the heated race, holding a large fundraising edge and scoring the backing of the Working Families Party and
He dismissed the endorsement as smoke-and-mirrors politics.
“Charles Barron has emerged from the backroom to consummate a shotgun marriage with a sworn political enemy,” the campaign said in a statement.
Some media reports have speculated that Towns made the surprising decision as part of a feud with Brooklyn Democratic Party Leadership.
The party backed Jeffries against Towns’ daughter when she ran for state senate and supports Jeffries again this year.
On the same day Barron was receiving Towns’ backing, Jeffries appeared with Gov. Andrew Cuomo to advocate the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana in public view—a plan that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has also supported.
In the 6th Congressional District
As the primary on June 26 creeps closer, the three-way race for the Democratic nomination in the 6th District is staying heated.
Assemblywoman Grace Meng’s campaign seized on a campaign mailer Assemblyman Rory Lancman has been distributing saying Lancman is, “the only one who fought for the millionaire’s tax in the assembly so the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share.”
The Meng campaign touted this as misleading self-promotion that ignores behind-the-scenes work Meng has done, but the Lancman campaign fired back.
“If Meng was a leader in the fight for tax fairness, it must have been a top-secret operation,” a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Lancman landed the backing of former Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.
Meng also racked up support with endorsements from the United Federation of Teachers, the National Troopers Coalition (NTC) and the Police Benevolent Association of the New York State Troopers.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, the third Democrat in the primary, received the backing of Communication Workers of America Local 1101. The union represents more than 7,000 Verizon, AT&T Mobility, and other workers.
Republican candidate Councilman Dan Halloran is recovering after surgery to remove a benign brain tumor, but he apparently isn’t letting that keep him too quiet.
On Friday night he sent out a statement criticizing Bloomberg’s proposed ban on sugary drinks bigger than 16 ounces at food service establishments.
“Like everyone else, I am concerned about the health of New Yorkers, but it isn’t the government’s job to tell people how much food or drink they are allowed to consume,” he said.
By Jeremiah Dobruck
j.dobruck@theforumnewsgroup.com
