Hey, choose your favorite upbeat catchphrase, cause things are DEFINITELY heating up around here politically. Sylvia Kinard, she of last year's attempt to dethrone our rep in Congress Yvette Clarke, has announced she's running for Mathieu Eugene's seat. She's a semi-seasoned vet of politics and former wife of mayoral candidate Bill Thompson who clearly wants to be elected
something. But she ain't the only horse in the race to unseat the so-called "Haitian Sensation."
Saundra Thomas, a longtime community affairs VP at WABC-TV, is also running for the Council seat. This means we have at least two strong candidates to upset the incumbent, and it'll be fierce I bet before it's over. Oh...Kinard's tag is "A Better Brooklyn For Everyone" while Thomas is going with "Together...For A Better Tomorrow." Already I prefer anyone with the guts to use ellipses in her catchphrase. If she had added a hyphen she'd already have my vote.
Here are a couple of snapshots of the Flatbushians running for your favor, first Saundra then Sylvia:
Much more to come on these two women and the man they hope to fire. I've gotten to know Eugene pretty darn well, and Saundra pretty well too. I have no canards to share about Kinard, and no reason to be doubting Thomas, so let's just sing along with Glen Frey now - "The Heat is On!"
16 comments:
So Rep Yvette Clark will face no opposition? She is an embarrassment to the her district and a stain on the institution of US Congress. A casual Google search will reveal a series of blunders and ignorant statements by Ms. Clark
Yvette Clark is an incumbent Democrat. So unfortunately she'll always get reelected. But what we don't want is for her to run for any other office higher than the one she's in again using the cronyism and nepotism that got her into office in the first place. If that happens then all the blunders and shortcomings and ignorant statements need to be covered heavily. Stop electing and promoting unqualified people in Brooklyn. Buffie, Yvette, Mathieu. It's an embarrassment indeed.
People, it's called voting. No one cronied Clark into office. She was opposed by qualified people -- Chris Owens, Yassky -- who simply couldn't match her turnout machine. She keeps getting re-elected, despite criminal investigations, despite lying about graduating college, because people don't vote.
If I'm not mistaken, Rep. Clarke ran for re-election last November. Because the token Republican opposition was a complete unknown, the election was nearly invisible. I think Clarke got 85% of the vote without even campaigning.
I basically agree with The Snob. But while maybe Rep. Clarke wasn't "cronied" into office but she certainly got a good leg up from her well-connected mother Una, who she succeeded on the City Council. You have to asume some debts were called in on Yvette's behalf.
And voter apathy is only half the story... there's also the increase in redistricting specifically to favor incumbents.
As far as our next City Councilperson, our slogan should be "Anyone But Eugene." (Well, maybe not Buffie...that comment thread is just wild!)
For what it's worth, Yvette Clarke and Mathieu Eugene were elected by the same machine - that of Una Clarke, a PLG resident and the first Caribbean-American woman elected to office in NYC, as the City Council Member for this district. When she retired, it was only natural for her to hand the position down to her daughter. And when Yvette wanted to run for Congress, all her mom's supporters turned out to vote for her. Originally, Mathieu Eugene was not Yvette's designated successor, but she quarrelled with the person who was, and switched to Eugene, who won that special election even though he didn't live in the district (and still may not, although he did eventually produce a lease with his name on it). He ran for re-election with little opposition and, with hardly any voter turnout, won again.
The moral of the story, as Snob says, is that if you want things to change around here you've got to exercise your civic duty, as my mother called it, and get out there and vote - in EVERY election!
Really, really hoping that people have woken up to the (deliberate) incompetence that surrounds us and will actually bother to go out and vote this time!
Having campaigned for someone in the district last year (and having the exciting experience of going door to door gathering signatures to put them on the ballot) I cannot overstate the amount of apathy about politicians in the area. Even from people you would *think* would care. Basically a democrat is a democrat is a democrat, was the message I got. It was pretty painful. Although it did enable me to become a member of the Brooklyn Democratic County Committee, and all of the glory that entails.
The Snob is correct. I remember when I went to vote (for Owens), there were just three or four others in the voting station with me that morning.
Thanks for filling me in on Yvette Clark's 'background.' Nothing like having a leg up from a parent to start your 'career'
It happens all over the place. I've seen it ions of times in the private sector as well as public sector.
She never graduated from Oberlin?
She did not graduate from Oberlin, although she claims on her website that she did--both amazing and bizarre.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/almanac/2010/person/yvette-clarke-ny/
Here is an article about it from the Times.
http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/08/23/yvette-clarkes-oberlin-education/
"A democrat is a democrat"....it is very hard to fight the Brooklyn machine. There are a few good apples, but you'd be hard pressed to spot them. Then you've got the Republicans, and all that baggage, and the Independence Party. Who are, I'm sorry, a cult.
It's about time we had a little competition for our votes. At any rate anyone is better than our current council man Mathieu Eugene.
If the MACHINE determines the Dem candidate and the Dem candidate always wins, then you have to go to the machine.
1 - Register as a DEM
2 - Coalesce w/ other DEMS who want change (I propose calling it THE Q CITIZENS COMMITTEE)
3 - Raise funds (target $5k - $50k)
4 - Tell the MACHINE the funds don't go to them unless the Slate changes
It's not a total wasteland. These guys are trying hard, but not so much in our neighborhood:
http://www.newkingsdemocrats.com/
There are these guys:
http://www.brooklynyds.com/about-us/executive-board/
Just an FYI- It should be noted that Tish James endorsed Mathieu last week during his poorly attended fundraiser which took place at Afrika house on Bedford Avenue. I wonder if she will , if she hasn't already, come to regret this.
County Chair Seddio and Councilman Weprin, who can be spotted at events across all 5 borough's as he hopes to be council's next speaker, also attended.
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