Charles Barron

 

City Councilman and Obama supporter Charles Barron thinks Barack Obama was wrong to denounce Jeremiah Wright.  read more »

Inez Barron, wife of outspoken City Councilman Charles Barron, just kicked off her campaign for State Assembly, and, while vowing to be an independent voice for change, hasn’t ruled out seeking the support of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

“No I have not been in touch with Shelly Silver -- our campaign is a grassroots campaign,” she said.

When asked if that meant not seeking Silver’s support, Inez replied, “I didn’t say that.” So, would she? “I might.”  read more »

The rally to launch the state assembly campaign of Inez Barron, Charles Barron's wife, just got underway on the steps of City Hall.

In the audience right now is Charles Barron's controversial chief of staff, Viola Plummer, and MTV star-turned-hip-hop writer, and now Brooklyn congressional candidate, Kevin Powell.

Mrs. Barron is seeking Diane Gordon's assembly seat, after Gordon was convicted on bribery charges. 

Al Sharpton just finished a press conference with friends and family of Sean Bell, saying they hoped justice would be dispensed by the trial judge, who will announce a verdict Friday.

Sharpton also refuted the notion that their supporter need to be reminded not to act violently if they are unhappy with the decision.

He went on to say that it was the police who acted recklessly when they approached and fired on Bell and his friends without just cause.  read more »

So, in case you hadn't heard, rapper Foxy Brown was released from prison today.

And who picked her up at Rikers?

Charles Barron.

From Reuters:  read more »

About 100 people turned up at a rally in Harlem on Saturday aimed at blocking the Bloomberg administration’s plan to rezone 125th Street to allow for denser residential and commercial development. But the rally quickly turned into an omnibus protest about everything from Columbia’s Harlem expansion to Robert Mugabe’s teetering government in Zimbabwe.

The Coalition to Save Harlem planned to create a human chain stretching across 125th Street from Second Avenue to Broadway. In the end, “Hands Across Harlem” only spanned about one block of the area to be rezoned, from Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard to Lenox Avenue, though we heard one organizer remark that it was a “pretty good turnout.”  read more »

Charles Barron isn't the only member of the City Council who regards Christine Quinn's discretionary-fund shell-game as a grave offense. Barron is generally outspoken and has been critical of Quinn in the past, but another member, who has had a considerably more collegial relationship with the speaker, said on background that her conduct was pretty much indefensible.

"The story is, you know, there's like no other budget code [for setting aside money]," this member said.  read more »

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A congestion pricing measure before the Council just passed, 30 to 20.

Domenic Recchia, who is planning to run for Congress, took a pass on voting the first time around, but eventually voted yes. Eric Gioia, who had told the New York Times on March 8 that he was voting no, also voted for it. Comptroller candidate Melinda Katz voted no, but her likely rival David Yassky voted yes. The two candidates for Brooklyn brough president, Bill De Blasio and Charles Barron, both voted against.  read more »

Inspired by the ado over Barack Obama's use of Deval Patrick's phrasing, and similar use by Hillary Clinton of at least one Obama phrase, I emailed a few quotable people in New York for them to give them the opportunity to put a catchphrase of their own on the record.

Here they are:

Simcha Felder:
“Do not place unsolicited advertising materials on this property."

Brian Ziff-Levine:
“It’s the undecideds, stupid.”

Joe Mercurio:
“Silence is an incredibly stupid communications strategy. No wait I actually stole that from Frank Luntz.”

Doug Muzzio:
"'If a frog had wings he wouldn't be bumping his ass on the ground' (cribbed from my father-in-law, Darrell Saunders)."

Phil Anderson:
"No reform, no raise."

Charles Barron:
“The renter's rebate. Rock Hackshaw gave me that idea when I was running for mayor in 2005. The next thing I know, Gifford Miller is talking about it, and now, Christine Quinn is."

More after the jump.  read more »

Here's City Councilman Charles Barron's take on Speaker Christine Quinn's State of the City address, which he suggested was a thinly disguised mayoral stump speech.

Before Marty Markowitz gave his State of the Borough last night in Brooklyn, his deputy borough president, Yvonne Graham, gave her own address, which sounds a lot like a kick-off stump speech for her much-discussed, but undeclared, bid to succeed Markowitz.
 read more »

"White America will not allow Barack Obama to say, ‘I’m proud to be black and I want to make history as the first black president of the United States of America,’” City Councilman Charles Barron told me this afternoon.

To help get that message out, Barron told me he’s printing 10,000 of these fliers and distributing them all over East New York and the rest of the 10th Congressional district, (home of Representative Ed Towns, a Clinton supporter).
 read more »

Here’s Charles Barron complaining about a previous investigation by Eliot Spitzer of a black-owned charity based in Harlem, the Black United Fund. “He investigated. Now, where they had their office, is a bar. So, you’d rather have bar up in Harlem than the United Fund?”

Barron sees a pattern.

“He did that, and he did the same thing to Hale House, which is a black organization. I don’t see him doing the same thing to the white organizations, to some Jewish organizations that had some questionable dealings. But when it came to the black organization, he destroyed it.” [the video cuts out in the middle of the quote]

When asked if Spitzer has a problem with the black community, or with black elected officials Barron said, “Not black elected officials, because they suck up to him.”

Barron and others sent out an advisory that they will protest the issue on the City Hall steps next Tuesday.

A Spitzer spokesman referred my initial question to a press release Spitzer issued at the time of the investigation, in 2003, and questioned why the issue is coming up now.

I left messages for Barron, the contact person for the press conference, and one of the people removed from the Black United Fund, and have not heard back yet.

 

In preparing for my reporters' roundtable, which will air on Friday, I spoke to former Black Panther and City Councilman Charles Barron, who is one of the major candidates for Brooklyn Borough President.

He gave me a good rant, not about police brutality (that came later), but about affordable housing and development.
.
“Right now, developers are fat cats who are getting over tremendously, particularly with not having to do affordable housing, and using eminent domain and using other state and city powers to gain access [to] subsidies. They call it subsidies, but it’s really corporate welfare,” Barron told me.

He went on to say he “would scrap the 421a housing program.”

Any other insights or things to keep in mind about this race, let me know.

 

Barack Obama just picked up the endorsement of Councilman and outspoken black activist Charles Barron, who fended off questions that Obama represents a less militant, less aggressive form of black nationalism than Barron.

Barron, on the City Hall steps just now, told reporters:

“He came from the South Side of Chicago. That’s a black community where he took care and fought for black people on the South Side of Chicago. He’s introduced racial profiling legislation in the state of Illinois. His pastor, Jeremiah Wright believes in black liberation theology. He’s done a lot. He’s speaking about poverty now.”

When asked about the differences between Barron and Obama’s approaches to black nationalism, Barron replied:

“He said he supports the black community. He’s said he’s been black all his life. You said he’s against black nationalism. He never said that. Matter of fact, he goes to a black liberation theologist church where they believe in a black Christ. So, he is for black people."

Buried inside this recent Courier Life article about Michael Nelson, the Councilman from Brooklyn who spent an unusually high amount of city money on local advertisements, is this interesting factoid:

“Nelson is now a candidate to succeed Marty Markowitz as Brooklyn borough president.”

If that's true (Nelson's office didn't return a call for additional information), that would make three candidates for the seat so far. The other two are Bill de Blasio and Charles Barron.

Anybody else making a stealth announcement?

UPDATE: Nick Perry is in the race. 

Here is Councilman Charles Barron, who once invited Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, to City Hall, saying another controversial leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, should be allowed to visit Ground Zero.

"If anybody wants to mourn that, let them do it," said Barron.

Everyone’s favorite cast member of The Real World, Kevin Powell, is making another run for the 10th congressional seat in Brooklyn, currently held by Ed Towns.

Powell aborted a short-lived race in 2006, but is kicking off his current campaign with a music filled fund-raiser this Friday at Five Spot Famous Soul Food. (No RSVP required!) Powell, according to his site, already has a staff that includes a campaign manager and a "national finance director."

Last year, Charles Barron challenged Towns and came surprisingly close (considering the fact that a third challenger basically split the opposition vote) said he’ll run for Borough President instead.

UPDATE: A fund-raising email for Powell is after the jump.  read more »

On July 6th, a lawyer for the City Council sent out a request to members asking them to preserve all documents related to "VIOLA PLUMMER "AND THE PROPOSED CO-NAMING OF STREETS FOR SONNY CARSON" because of a lawsuit that Plummer -- the chief of staff to Charles Barron who was recently dismissed from her job by Christine Quinn -- filed against the Council Speaker.

Yesterday, according to sources in one member's office, City Council staffers went looking for those documents.

Aides to one City Council member in the Bronx said that computers in their district office were searched yesterday by members of the “computer services” division of the City Council. Those same aides said they expected to have the computers in their City Hall office searched today.

Plummer filed suit to overturn Quinn's decision to terminate her employment with the Council for saying that a Councilman who opposed a plan to rename a street after black nationalist Sonny Carson should be "assassinated." Plummer said afterwards that she was referring only to killing the Councilman's political career.

I'm still waiting for a comment from Quinn's office about the computer searches.

The email is after the jump.  read more »

Viola Plummer's brief-but-triumphant return to the City Council chambers was greeted with, well, a lot of police.

I got there just after a welcoming committee of officers escorted Plummer to the balcony, since, technically, she doesn't work here anymore. I caught up with Plummer and her boss, Charles Barron, as they were leaving. Barron told me he thought the whole incident was "totally disrespectful" and that the Speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, "has lost her mind."

At a boisterous campaign rally on the City Hall steps Sunday, Charles Barron announced his candidacy for Brooklyn Borough President. He was introduced by one rally organizer as “our comrade, our leader, our teacher, our god, our motivator, our inspirer.”

“We're tired of complaining of ineffective leaders. It's time to replace them,” Barron said. “That's why when we say operation, you say ‘POWER!’”

And then came the campaign promises. “Am I gonna be a borough president for all the people? Absolutely. But I'm letting you all know now, I'm taking care of black folks."

Also in attendance was Al Sharpton, who said, “I’ll do whatever we gotta do to elect Charles Barron the president of the borough of Brooklyn.”

Later, in an interview with Observer super-intern Andrew Mangino, Barron had this to say about the coverage of his run: “Most media outlets are run by white, male editors, correct? There's no way in the world that, 99 percent of media outlets controlled by white males, that there's not going to be no hint of racism in it? I mean that's unrealistic."

Then, he added, “The Post, I think, is a racist newspaper, because anybody who is pro-black they consider controversial. The Post is racist. FOX 5 is racist. You know, I think there's racism in everything."

So much for that endorsement.

Charles Barron is announcing his bid for Brooklyn Borough President this Sunday, with Al Sharpton by his side.

Barron’s campaign put out word of the announcement, and Sharpton’s attendance, just moments ago. It’s a departure from Barron’s original plan, which was to challenge Rep. Ed Towns, who he almost defeated in 2006. Barron spoke to me earlier about his change of plans, explaining that he feels it simply takes too long to do things in Congress.

The public statement Barron’s campaign sent out includes information about how much money he’s brought into the district. But voters, and opponents, will likely be talking about some less substantive but considerably more volatile stuff: Barron’s support for renaming parts of Gates Avenue after black nationalist Sonnny Carson, and his continuing support of his chief of staff, who suggested a pretty extreme means of dealing with an opponent of the street renaming.

A federal judge ruled just now that the City Council can move forward and fire staffer Viola Plummer if she does not sign a statement promising to behave herself. Plummer, who works for firebrand councilman Charles Barron, landed in this trouble after making outbursts during a Council meeting in May, after which she expressed the hope that someone would "assassinate" one of her opponents. After Council Speaker Christine Quinn moved to punish Plummer last week, the city employee filed a lawsuit.

 

But losing this legal round didn't prevent Plummer and Barron, from leaving the federal court house in Manhattan with their arms raised in victory. Speaking to reporters after the judge's ruling, Plummer said: "I feel this is a continuation of white supremacy that began when we were kidnapped and brought here."

When asked about the "assassination" remark attributed to her, she said, "In my heart, I believe the words that I used are the words that I said. Straight up, okay?"

Barron, not for the first time, ripped up the apology letter that Plummer had been ordered to sign by 5 p.m. today. Although Plummer's lawyer said his client will likely be fired by the end of this afternoon, Barron predicted that she would be back to work starting Monday (and joked he may even ask her to work the weekend).

Plummer may not return to City Hall, but she will get a day in court, it seems. A jury trial for her civil case is set to begin September 24th.

As Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz considers a run for mayor in 2009, an interesting undercard race is shaping up for the office he is vacating. It’s well known that city councilmen Bill de Blasio and Charles Barron have an eye on the beep’s office. A third contender could be Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham.

Graham, who is originally from Jamaica, is participating in a Caribbean Heritage celebration in Brooklyn today, one of several similar appearances that seem designed to raise her profile around the borough.

Of course, Graham has a long way to go before she matches the ribbon-cutting prowess of Markowitz. In an interview, she said no one should read too much into her heightened visibility. “Actually I’ve worked with diverse cultures ever since I landed in this country in 1979,” she said. When asked directly whether she was planning to run for the borough presidency, she replied: "Well, I haven’t ruled out anything.”

“I have not yet made a decision,” she added, “and that’s all the information I have at this time.”  read more »

The unofficial street renaming for black nationalist Sonny Carson is going forward in Brooklyn this Saturday at 4 p.m., according to a City Hall source. And leading the unofficial event will be Charles Barron.

The fact that the City Council already rejected this plan isn't stopping supporters. In fact, I'm guessing this is going to end quite well, politically speaking, for Barron and the Carson supporters: The event is going to draw a crowd, and reporters. The attention could be used to strengthen supporters' claims that the will of the people is being crushed by City Hall. And the (inevitable?)images of the sign being removed by city officials or the police will only add to that perception.

That is, unless Barron's chief of staff Viola Plummer steals the show. Again.

The City Council is beefing up security for two Council members who were the subject of separate (but related) death threats, Christine Quinn told reporters at a press conference earlier today.

The first threat was directed towards Leroy Comrie by Viola Plummer, who is the chief of staff to Charles Barron.

The second was directed at Barron by an anonymous commenter on a popular police chat board.

Quinn said, "We are taking both of these sets of statements incredibly serious. In both matters, we have spoken to the Council member in question. My director of security has spoken to both Council member Comrie and Council member Barron and offered them whatever additional security they believe they need. We’ve offered to do security assessments of their offices."

Quinn said she's spoken to top police officials about whether a police officer may have made the comment about Barron. As for Plummer, Quinn said they are looking into whether she, as an employee of the City Council, can be punished.

"We are researching what our legal options are as a speaker and as an institution to take action," Quinn said.

“If it takes an assassination of his ass, he will not be borough president in the borough where I live.”

That was the chief of staff to Charles Barron speaking about another City Council member, Leroy Comrie, who is black and voted to abstain today on a failed proposal today to rename a street after black nationalist Sonny Carson.

The chief of staff, Viola Plummer, was speaking outside City Hall to a group of reporters and advocates for Carson. When asked about her comments, Plummer later said, “So, to assassinate Leroy Comrie’s ass, because that’s what I said, means his whole stuff, his whole run for Queens Borough President.”

When Plummer was asked by a reporter to identify herself, she first indicated that she lived in Queens and ran a community program in Brooklyn. Later she identified herself as a Council employee.

Plummer’s “assassination” remark was very much in the tradition of the sort of militant language employed by Carson himself. (“I’m not anti-Semitic, I’m anti-white,” he once said.) Carson's supporters have said that it's unfair to judge his entire life by his most extreme comments.

Sonny Carson is being honored at 1 p.m. today with the renaming of a park on Linden Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in Brooklyn.

Which is weird since a plan to co-name a street after him has stalled in the City Council. Did the Parks Department authorize the Carson renaming?

“No, we’re not waiting for approval,” Charles Barron told me today. “We’re exercising self-determination. We’re going to put up a sign and if they take it down, we’re going to keep putting it up until they leave it up.”

Barron also said he has the support of about twenty members of the Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus leading up to the May 30th vote to co-name a street after Carson in Brooklyn. There is also an amendment to remove Carson’s name from an omnibus co-naming bill.

Critics of Carson point note that the outspoken civil rights figure declared himself “anti-white” and played a prominent role the boycotting of Korean stores that polarized parts of the city.

“Let's say all of that is true," Barron said. "We still have a right.”  read more »

Practically every major Democrat in the city was at the corner of 14th Street and First Avenue yesterday afternoon to announce the formation of a what they say is the largest housing coalition in the city’s history.

The group, New York Is Our Home, includes labor and tenant groups, the Working Families Party and others.

The most heated rhetoric (video here) came from the Central Labor Council's Ed Ott, who said, “The price of housing in this city is effectively theft” and that affordable housing units, like the ones in Stuyvesant Town behind him, “are being stolen by the greed of developers and the market.”

Which drew applause and energetic head nods from the crowd of elected officials behind him.

In attendance at the rally were Christine Quinn, Bill Thompson, Betsy Gotbaum, Tom Duane, John Sabini, Ruben Diaz, Jr., Keith Wright, Jonathan Bing, Linda Rosenthal, Dan Garodnick, Eric Gioia and Charles Barron, among others. Most of them spoke but none matched Ott’s directness.

After the speeches, the group formed a human chain around Stuy Town, which is several blocks long, and marched down to Union Square.

Practically every major Democrat in the city was at the corner of 14th Street and First Avenue yesterday afternoon to announce the formation of a what they say is the largest housing coalition in the city’s history.

The group, New York Is Our Home, includes labor and tenant groups, the Working Families Party and others.

The most heated rhetoric (video here) came from the Central Labor Council's Ed Ott, who said, “The price of housing in this city is effectively theft” and that affordable housing units, like the ones in Stuyvesant Town behind him, “are being stolen by the greed of developers and the market.”

Which drew applause and energetic head nods from the crowd of elected officials behind him.

In attendance at the rally were Christine Quinn, Bill Thompson, Betsy Gotbaum, Tom Duane, John Sabini, Ruben Diaz, Jr., Keith Wright, Jonathan Bing, Linda Rosenthal, Dan Garodnick, Eric Gioia and Charles Barron, among others. Most of them spoke but none matched Ott’s directness.

After the speeches, the group formed a human chain around Stuy Town, which is several blocks long, and marched down to Union Square.

UPDATE: Adolfo Carrion, Brian Kavanagh and Adam Clayton Powell IV also attended.

Here's Council member and newly announced Brooklyn Borough President candidate Charles Barron yesterday on the City Hall steps, where I got the chance to ask him why he chose to pass up another run for Congress against Rep. Ed Towns.

His answer: it takes too long to do things in Washington.

“I mean, look at Harlem, it took Charlie Rangel what, 30, 40 years, and Harlem was still not transformed. Look at Jose Serrano and the Bronx. It took him all that time and Bronx still has 42 percent poverty in the South Bronx. I just think I can serve the people of Brooklyn and New York City better staying in the city rather than going five days a week in Washington.”

The John Whitehead who ran for City Council - as opposed to the one who got yelled at by Eliot Spitzer -- was fined $10,000 today by the city's Campaign Finance Board for “fraud and material misrepresentation.”

In total, Whitehead, who ran in the 42nd District in Brooklyn against Charles Barron in 2005, was fined $11,889.

Other fines levied today:

• Public Advocate candidate Jay Golub, $5,460, mostly for taking $27,800 over the contribution limit
• Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, $175, mostly for taking $500 over the limit
• Councilman Mike McMahon, $125, for taking a corporate contribution

Saturday

Noon. Councilman Charles Barron will march with a family alleging police brutality at 684 Thomas Boyland Avenue, between Blake and Sutter avenues, to the 81st Precinct on East New York and Thomas Boyland avenues, in Brooklyn.  read more »

1 p.m. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum will deliver Easter baskets to homeless families at Teresa's House shelter, 1975 Creston Avenue, in the Bronx.

Some members of the City Council were predictably outraged to learn this week—on the front pag  read more »

On the still-hot topic of the NYPD's undercover surveillance leading up to the Republican National Convention in 2004, I' got a couple of starkly different reactions from members of the City Council.

Charles Barron, who was one of three current or former Council members named in the police report, was outraged to have been the target of a spy operation. But Peter Vallone, Jr. told me, essentially, that he had it coming, saying that "any group Charles Barron is associated with" probably should be monitored.

-- Azi Paybarah

Charles Barron, one of three lawmakers cited in NYPD intelligence reports leading up to the Republican National Convention, has a suggestion for Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

-- Azi Paybarah

Former state Attorney General and current City Councilman Oliver Koppell, for one, doesn't think there was anything wrong with the widespread police surveillance conducted in the run-up to the Republican National Convention. The police surveillance reports, news of which has provoked a strong reaction on liberal blogs, included the names of three people who served in the City Council: Charles Barron, Bill Perkins and Larry Seabrook.

"Vigorous advocacy can turn into violent acts," Koppell explained.

-- Azi Paybarah

Not that anyone's going to notice, but anti-war Representative and Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich is deeply unimpressed with Hillary Clinton's health care plan.

Kucinich, who just wrapped up a press conference on the City Hall steps alongside Charles Barron, Gale Brewer and some activists, told me he thinks that Hillary's plan isn't sufficiently tough on for-profit companies in the health industry.

"What I'm saying is Hillary Clinton's plan is the same old same old. It keeps the insurance companies in control of our health care system and it means people will be tied to higher premiums, co-pays and deductibles. That's what it's all about."

Kucinich says that she's not the only one whose health care scheme is overly reliant on for-profit entities, mentioning John Edwards as another candidate who is failing to provide "leadership" on the issue.

Some of Hillary's health care positions are here.The Edwards plan is here.

-- Azi Paybarah

Council member and former Black Panther Charles Barron hasn't had any trouble making up his mind about who to support for President in 2008.

There is "no reason," in his opinion, for local elected officials to be flocking to Hillary Clinton.

"For me," he told me, "it's going to be Barack Obama or nobody."

Also, Barron does not buy the idea that Bill Clinton was the "first black President." Not at all. -- Azi Paybarah

Charles Barron is now vowing to lead the Sean Bell marchers to the United Nations.

The last time I saw Barron at the U.N., he was protesting in favor of Robert Mugabe, who is actually quite in favor of shooting innocent people multiple times. (Sorry, subscription required.) -- Andrew Rice

The City Council's Democratic Caucus is meeting right now in the member's lounge.

According to one staffer who almost got attend the members-only meeting, the agenda includes:

The police shooting; the new attendance policy; and upcoming land-use issues and bills for consideration.

The ever-outspoken Charles Barron has called for Ray Kelly's resignation. James Sanders, whose constituent was killed, said Kelly should resign if the police are found to have acted inappropriately.

Hiram Monserrate, a former cop, said it was a "questionable shooting and very problematic."

Speaker Quinn said in a public statement that "appropriate actions will be taken" after a full investigation.

-- Azi Paybarah

Before the public safety hearing ended, Peter Vallone, Jr. stepped into the hallway to vent about Charles Barron and the heated exchange they had during the committee meeting.

"He's part of the problem," Vallone said. "He incites racial tensions for his own political benefit."

It has become, he said, something of a routine.

"Charlie does this at every hearing, so I expected something like this. And I always give him time to put on his little show."

The two-minute clip is here.

-- Azi Paybarah

Insert the one-time Black Panther Charles Barron into a public safety hearing led by the pro-cop Peter Vallone, Jr. and well, you get some interesting exchanges.

Below is a short, rough transcript from one exchange during the meeting, which you can also hear over here.

Vallone: This is not your hearing, this is ours.

Barron: I'm not finished...In another two minutes, I'll be finished.

Vallone: You got 30 seconds.

Barron: I got 2 minutes. Those days are over, Peter.

Vallone: What days would those be Council member Barron? What days would those be?

Barron: Those days when you had the control.

-- Azi Paybarah

The always outspoken Councilmember Charles Barron, for one, thinks that asking Alan Hevesi to resign over chauffeurgate is a bit much.

When asked about Hevesi's misuse of state employees to drive Hevesi's wife, Barron told me, "Its absolutely wrong and there's no excuse for what happened and he has to be held accountable like everybody else. This speaks to some serious ethical questions."

But, he said, "I think something should happen but whether or not he should step down...I'm not sure whether that's the degree of punishment that is suitable to this kind of infraction. If it happened to others, if others had been tried and if others had to step down, then he should be treated the same as others."

-- Azi Paybarah

Gatemouth analyzes more primary election results and notes that in the race to unseat Rep. Ed Towns, the former Black Panther, Charles Barron, did pretty well among whites in Brownstone Brooklyn.

One of the surprises of this race was Barron's strength among white voters in the Brownstone areas. In the 52nd, Barron held Towns to a near dead heat (Towns 583, Barron 516) among a nearly all white constituency. But, reports are that the closer one got to Atlantic Yards, the better Barron ran. By contrast, in the Concord Village development located far from the yards, and largely composed of retired Jewish school teachers and struggling young families pretending to be Yuppies, Barron was beaten soundly.

So how much of a fluke were Barron's results this year, and how seriously should we consider Barron's promise to run for the seat again in two years? I'll leave that up to you, but Gatemouth's work could be seen as a road map for how to tweak Barron's message for his next race. (Assuming, for the sake of this exercise, that Barron would ever stand for a tweaking in the first place.)

-- Azi Paybarah

Rev. Al Sharpton says that Charles Barron's reports of his political death are greatly exagerated.

Barron argued that Sharpton's influence in Brooklyn had waned to nothingness because Sharpton's favored candidate in the race, the eventual winner, Ed Towns, failed to pick up a more than 50 percent of the vote. Or at least, that was what Barron claimed.

Sharpton said Barron needed a reality check.

"How was it a big loss for me? Who did I endorse? I didn't make any endorsement in that race...He said this was a defeat for me, Clinton, I guess the pope too," Sharpton said, adding "Barron has been making statements since we supported Freddy Ferrer against Virginia Fields. I'm not concerned about all that."

Sharpton said that he had only been to Brooklyn twice during the race and that his attention had been focused on Connecticut, where he supported Ned Lamont, and on other national races.

--Jason Horowitz

"He's got to be the angriest man on the planet earth," said Roger Green, talking this afternoon about Charles Barron. "He must wake up in the morning and just start taking swings at anybody."

According to Green -- who placed third, after Barron, in a primary against incumbent Congressman Ed Towns -- he was prepared to drop out of the race before he saw Barron make comments about him on The Politicker.

"Had he not made that statement, Charles would probably have been elected a Congressman," said Green.

"There had been a resolution and it blew up," he continued. "It was done as done could be done. All I had to do was communicate with people that made commitments to my campaign. I told him that."

Green travelled out to Chicago the weekend before Labor Day to attend a convention for the Nation of Islam and met Muhammad Ali.

"I went out to Chicago and spoke to Muhammad Ali to secure an endorsement in addition to other things I'm working on and one of Ali's associates asked me if I would really drop out. I said I probably hadn't raised enough money to stay in the race. He asked if the councilman was a hot-head and I said yes, but maybe we need some heat in Congress to stir the pot. And he said, 'Well, is it stirring the pot or will he blow the pot ove