David Greenfield, the City’s new Councilmember hailing from Borough Park, got into it with Administration for Children’s Services commish John Mattingly yesterday during a Council hearing. Greenfield, who led a Brooklyn delegation last week in condemning the elimination of Priority 7 childcare vouchers and the closure of 16 ACS daycare centers, prefaced his remarks by saying “if this was the cartoon, you would see steam literally coming out of my ears.”

By the end of the hearing, we didn’t have to use our imaginations. After complaining that the cuts are “disproportionately impacting racial and religious minorities,” Greenfield went out firing at the commish with raised voice:

Do you have any idea how many kids in my district are going to be displaced? 1,330 children. That’s more than all these children [affected by the other ACS closures] combined. And so for me, it’s an outrage. And I can’t come to the City Council and have a nice, polite conversation when you’re coming into my district and you’re telling 1,330 children, “Tough Luck, The Economy Is Bad.” That’s simply unacceptable. And so I will reiterate, the obligation is on the agency, the obligation is on the Mayor, the obligation is on the City to do what they can to fund these kids because you cannot tell 1,330 kids in my district, which is a larger number than all other childcare centers in New York combined, go to heck.

The money rant starts at the 9:30 mark. More at Yeshiva World and the NY Daily News.

David Greenfield will become the newest member of the City Council after winning the 44th district by a 2,200 vote margin, out of over 12,000 votes cast. From the victory speech:

This sound that [the people of Brooklyn are] hearing is a fight for the good of the community as a whole, instead of fighting for the personal gain of a select few individuals. It’s the sound of people rejecting politics as usual, rejecting the threats, rejecting the intimidation, it’s the sound of taking political leadership from the status quo, and we’re bringing it back to the people, where it belongs.

The NY Times reported this as a surprisingly easy win for such an intense race, with Joe Lazar having the backing of established Hasidic organizations (as has been widely reported elsewhere) and Greenfield having the support of younger Jewish voters (with the lack of reliable polling data, this appears to be reported mainly by Greenfield himself). (Vos Iz Neias, NY Times)

Hmm. 12,225 votes cast, out of a district that should have roughly 150,000 residents. I think speculative reports of a high turnout “for a special election” may have been premature!

Today is the day of the special election to replace Simcha Felder on the City Council, and I still haven’t decided who to vote for. Speaking generally, I find myself highly disappointed with our City- and State-level politicians, and the Council race for District 44 has been no exception.

It’s basically a race between two machine candidates. The names might say “Joe Lazar” and “David Greenfield,” but it really comes down to “Dov Hikind” versus “Vito Lopez.” Ah, Vito Lopez, the man who makes me embarrased to be a Brooklyn Democrat. (Well – him, and Carl Kruger… who is ALSO supporting Greenfield.)

The fact that I’m considering voting for the Lopez-machine candidate speaks volumes for how little regard I have for Lazar.

I finally figured out what it is I don’t like about him. He’s too damn smug. After hearing all these press accounts about how arrogant David Greenfield is supposed to be, I’ve realized that Greenfield ain’t got nothin’ on Joe Lazar in terms of conceit.

This pretty much sums up Lazar. After telling a debate audience that he thinks that constituents should always be able to get in touch with their Councilman… after telling them that they should vette all statements made by all candidates, including himself, he demonstrates his commitment to openess and availability to the New York Times, the largest (by circulation) daily in the City he wants to represent:

Mr. Lazar declined several interview requests.

Oh, and I don’t mind taking extra steps to reach out to ethnic and religious leaders in the community, but Lazar’s overt ethnic pandering really turned me off as well. If the Grand Rebbe collector cards weren’t enough, there was systematically going out to the Chinese business on 18th Avenue that had posters supporting Jonathan Judge (who was removed from the ballot) with posters printed in Chinese, with a photo of Lazar shaking hands with Comptroller John Liu. Gee, I wonder what his campaign platform is?

And then there’s Greenfield. It never bothered me that his former boss, Dov Hikind, hated his guts. It bothered me a lot more that Michael Bloomberg, Joe Lieberman, Carl Kruger, and Vito Lopez love the guy. That’s the company he wants to keep?

Oh, and Ken Rice (R) is on the ballot as well. When I checked at the time of the debate (which Rice did not attend), it appeared that the entirety of his campaign was a Facebook page. Now, I know he had people handing out brochures last weekend, but it’s a little late to try to get my attention. I’m sorry – but if you’re running for a Council seat, you have to try harder than that.

I’m more inclined to write in Judge – the other Republican in the race – than vote for Rice.

Hell. At this point, I’m inclined to write in myself.

The day is almost here – the special election to fill the City Council seat vacated by Simcha Felder is tomorrow, March 23. Polls are open from 6am to 9pm. The candidates on the official ballot – which keep changing every single time I look – will be David Greenfield (D), Joe Lazar (D), and Ken Rice (R).

Not sure if you live in the 44th District? Check out this hyper-detailed district map. Better yet, you can enter your information using a search form provided by the state Board of Elections (Council Districts are the same thing as “wards” on the voter information page). You can also use the state web site to find your polling place.

I will chime in with my final thoughts on this race tomorrow at 6am – when polls open 2pm. See you then!

Contrary to popular misconception, Orthodox Jews are not the only voting bloc in Council District 44. This one seems to be breaking toward for the Republican.

I guess they weren’t won over by the Joe Lazar Jingle (mp3).

This did not stop State Supreme Court from tossing Judge’s name of the ballot for the March 23 special election. As reported by YourNabe.com, the Board of Elections had ruled 786 of Judge’s 1,221 petitioning signatures to be valid – just above the 765 threshold for a spot on the ballot. But the David Greenfield campaign took the matter to court, which threw out another 36 signatures. Judge is the second candidate thrown from the ballot, following the removal of Avraham Shlomo Tischler.

BK Southie awaits word from the Judge team regarding the next steps for the campaign.

Photo: Brian Hedden

(From left: David Greenfield, Jonathan Judge, Joe Lazar, Avraham Shlomo Tischler. Photo credit: Brian Hedden)

The Jewish Press organized a debate last week with the participation of four of the candidates running for the empty 44th City Council seat (click here for their coverage). The Orthodox news site Vos Iz Neias had video produced of the entire two-hour function (their analysis is here). All 12 video clips are reposted below.

And of course, I was there as both a resident of the 44th, and as the South Brooklyn blogger!

One of the participating candidates – Avraham Shlomo Tischler – has already been dropped from the ballot, following successful challenges to the meager number of signatures on Tischler’s petitions.

The Daily News portrayed the 18-year-old Touro College student as the truth-to-power candidate, as some sort of modern-day David striking fear into the Goliath campaigns of David Greenfield and Joe Lazar. It’s stories like this that make it hard for me to take the Daily News seriously.

Tischler’s performance at the debate was beyond dismal – he definitively demonstrated that he was not, in any way, even remotely qualified for the job of City Councilman. He even said at one point, “I will have a well-trained staff that I know will guide me through each and every step of the way… I will learn becoming a Councilman the right and proper way” (video clip 4 below the fold, 6:05). Actually, he said that a lot. As if voters were somehow looking for an intern to fill the vacancy in the 44th.

As for the grown-ups in the room…

Read more »

Reminder: The Jewish Press is organizing a debate between the candidates for Council District 44 (Simcha Felder’s old seat) this Wednesday, February 24th. Those candidates are (at last count) David Greenfield, Joseph Lazar, and Jonathan Judge. The debate will start at 7pm, and will be held at the Borough Park YMHA, located at 4910 14th Avenue.

The special election to replace Simcha Felder – the outgoing Council Member from the 44th District – will be Tuesday, March 23. The Jewish Press will hold a debate between the four candidates – David Greenfield, Joseph Lazar, Jonathan Judge, and Nachman Caller – on February 24 at the Borough Park YMHA. Greenfield and Lazar are already piling on their celebrity endorsements from the likes of Ed Koch (Greenfield) and Bill de Blasio (Lazar).

Candidates previously considered to have an interest in running are Ezra Friedlander, Moishe Oiring, Pinny Ringel, and Brooklyn Civil Court judge Noach Dear.

Greenfield and Judge were both spotted pressing the flesh at the 18th Avenue N-train station in the past eight days.

Four new potential candidates have emerged in the race to replace outgoing Councilman Simcha Felder in the 44th District. Confirmed candidates David Greenfield and Joseph Lazar, and rumored candidate Noach Dear may be joined by Ezra Friedlander (second-generation Borough Park native and the CEO of a government affairs-oriented PR firm), Pinny Ringel (a 13th Avenue businessman), Moishe Oiring (a former aide to Borough President Markowitz), and Jonathan Judge (president of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club).

Felder’s resignation is to be made official on January 31, at which time Mayor Bloomberg will set a date for the special election.

UPDATE [Jan-21-2010]: Add Seymour Lachman, author of the Albany exposee Three Men In A Room, as a potential candidate for this seat.

Simcha Felder was one of the leading proponents of rewriting the term limits law to allow third terms for the City Council, and now, just a week into that third term, he’s leaving the job to join John Liu’s team in the Comptroller’s office.

The Daily News says: “Thanks for forcing a $350,000 special election.” (Not.)

That special election – for the 44th District representing Borough Park, Midwood, and Bensonhurst – was initially seen by The Jewish Week as a potential three way race between David Greenfield (founder of NYS Teach and the current Director of the Sephardic Community Federation), Joseph Lazar (former regional director the the NYS Office of Mental Health), and Noach Dear (18-year veteran of the pre-term limits Council, and a current judge on the Brooklyn Civil Court). Greenfield and Lazar were already gearing up for a run in 2009 before the term limits law was changed – neither opted to take on Felder, who won his short-lived third term uncontested.

But wait – Vos Iz Neias reports that Dov Hikind, a member of the Assembly and a power broker in the Borough Park Jewish community, has been clear in his opposition to Greenfield (his former chief of staff), and wishes to dissuade either Lazar or Dear from running against him.

Greenfield has already declared that he will run for Felder’s seat, and is seen as the strongest candidate in Council district’s neighborhoods outside of Boro Park. If multiple Boro Park candidates run against Greenfield, this would give Greenfield a leg up in the special election, Hikind said.

Greenfield served as Hikind’s chief of staff from 2001-2004. But political insiders say Greenfield is more independent of the Boro Park political establishment than other potential candidates in the race and represents a threat to Hikind’s influence.

“Dov has a tremendous disdain for the fact that Greenfield does and says whatever he wants,” said one political insider in the neighborhood, who is not affiliated with any campaign.

Neither of the three candidates currently live in the district – they will need to move there before the election date, which is to be set by Mayor Bloomberg.