Councilman Simcha Felder is not getting into the city comptroller race, but he will run for the Brooklyn State Senate seat currently held by fellow Democrat Kevin Parker, according to a source.  read more »

Here are unofficial results from the city Board of Elections:

In the Staten Island District Attorney's race , with 92 percent of the precincts reporting back, incumbent Republican Dan Donovan got 17,523 votes (67 percent). Democratic challenger Mike Ryan got 8,527 (32.7 percent).

In the City Council race in Brooklyn, with 100 percent of the precincts reporting back, incumbent Democrat Mathieu Eugene got 3,024 votes (90.4 percent). Republican challenger Clarence John got 322 votes (9.6 percent).

In the civil court judicial race in Brooklyn, with 100 percent of the precincts reporting back, Democrat Noach Dear got 7,634 votes (65 percent). Republican James McCall got 4,106 votes (35 percent).

There are a more local election results here and here.

And here are links to more results for races in and around Dutchess County, Erie County, Mt. Vernon, Nassau County, Syracuse and Westchester County.  read more »

The New York City Bar Association has just come out with its rating of district attorney and judicial candidates in the upcoming general election, and it ruled that incumbent Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson is not qualified to hold office.

Johnson, according to the Bar Association’s press release, is “Not approved by reason of the candidate’s failure to affirmatively demonstrate that he possesses the requisite qualifications for the court for which he is a candidate.”

The group also found Brooklyn judicial candidate Noach Dear not qualified to hold office.

The decision on Johnson may have had something to do with the fact that he declined to meet with the City Bar Association, a process that most other candidates for legal positions submit to.

I'm still waiting for Johnson's statement on the rating.

The association's press release is after the jump.  read more »

Noach Dear, a judicial candidate who was panned by judicial screening groups saying he was not fit to be a judge, spent $61,918.68 on literature saying otherwise, according to Dear's 10 Day post-primary financial report.

Dear spent $35,000 on literature from Bottom Line Marketing on September 10th, with an additional $1,633 spent the next day (September 11th) on literature from Advertiser’s Edge. $1,340 was spent on posters from Poster Central, and $23,945.68 was spent, again, on literature printed from Bottom Line.

According to unofficial results from the city Board of Elections (they're certifying the votes later this week), Noach Dear got 3,776 votes to beat Karen Yellen, who got 2,554.

Which means that Dear spent roughly $16.50 on literature for each vote he got. Which is pretty economical, by Dear standards. In case you're counting.

Before winning a Democratic primary for a judicial post last week, Noach Dear ran for state Senator in Brooklyn in 2002, 2004 and 2006. He lost each time to Kevin Parker, who had this to say about Dear's qualifications as a public servant:

"I don’t think he’s fit, frankly, to serve anywhere. And I would rather had him lose his election and run against me every year and let me beat him every year, than have him serve this borough and this state in any capacity."

It was a split decision yesterday for Brooklyn Democratic County Leader Vito Lopez, who backed one winning judicial candidate (Noach Dear) and one losing judicial candidate (Shawndya Simpson) in yesterday’s primaries.

It was a mixed result in another way, too: Dear was panned by the New York City Bar Association and the New York Times, Lopez’s other judicial candidate won more support from those same institutions.

So, how should we interpret yesterday’s results, in terms of the Brooklyn party organization?

Democratic consultant Scott Levenson, who has won his share of races in that borough, told me last night,

“It’s not just machine politics in Brooklyn. Thinking voters voted for an under-funded candidate with less name recognition [Diana Johnson] because she was more qualified and not the machine candidate. Other insurgent candidates will take notice.”

Another observer of the political scene, who prefers to go by the name Kilgore Trout, emailed me this morning to say,

“I think that this proves that Brooklyn is completely up for grabs by the non institutional players. Neither the Times nor the party hold enough sway to be deciding factors these days.”

Also: after the jump is a roundup of how a handful of brave politicos did in guessing last night’s election results.  read more »

Buried deep inside Tom Robbins' article this week on the taxi strike was this interesting line about Noach Dear, a commissioner on the Taxi and Limousine Commission who is reluctant to discuss publicly his race for civil court judge:

“When the Voice recently tried to ask TLC chairman Matthew Daus what he thought about the massive amount of campaign funds that one of his commissioners, former city councilman Noach Dear, was harvesting from taxi companies, Daus ignored the inquiries.”

Here’s one small example of that I found in about five minutes of research. In June, Dear received a $200 donation from the “How Are You” corporation, whose address is 41-25 36th Street. At that same address is All Taxi Management, Inc., which donated $500.

A man who answered the phone at All Taxi told me there are indeed two separate companies at the address, but that All Taxi and How Are You are owned by the same person, Neil Greenbaum.

A reader in Brooklyn sent along this photo of campaign material for perennial candidate Noach Dear, now running for civil court judge. A local newspaper in Brooklyn, Courier Life, described the development this way:

He’s spent some time appearing before a judge. Now he wants to become one.

[skip]

Dear, who insiders describe as a “political addict,” has run for political office almost every election since he was term-limited out of the City Council in 2001.