Allen Roskoff

On the surface, the story is a familiar one.

A young insurgent, Dan Squadron, decides to challenge an entrenched incumbent, Marty Connor, in a State Senate race, in a year when public antipathy towards the ossified ways of Albany is greater than it has been in recent memory. The line between underdog liberal reformer and entrenched proponent of the status quo should be clear.

But a couple of unusual things have happened. Squadron, 28, has acquired the trappings, at least, of the establishment guy. He has raced out to a lead in high-increment fund-raising -- he has spent heavily but still has nearly $300,000 on hand, whereas Connor has barely spent $2500 and has only $83,000 -- and has gained support from some powerful labor entities like UNITE HERE, the Communication Workers of America and the union-backed Working Families Party.  read more »

Here are the highlights from yesterday’s press conference where a number of gay activists from Brooklyn criticized Republican State Senator Marty Golden for joining a lawsuit to block state agencies from recognizing same-sex marriages performed outside New York.

At the event, activist held signs calling Golden a “bigot,” and accused him of “homophobia,” primarily for signing onto this lawsuit.

They also announced a plan to put pressure on six legislators from Brooklyn -- Dov Hikind, Nick Perry, Steve Cymbrowitz, William Colton, Peter Abbate, and Annette Robinson -- who voted against same-sex marriage last year. (Two legislators, Alec Brook-Kransy and Carim Camara, abstained.)

As the clip above seems to show, those six legislators won’t get hit with the kind of rhetoric that Golden got hit with (although activist Allen Roskoff tries.)

Malcolm Smith, whose evolution on gay issues seems to have occurred around the time he become the Democratic leader in the state Senate, is hosting a “Salute to Pride” event in City Hall on October 11.

The RSVP contact person: Allen Roskoff.

Roskoff is a gay rights activist who has been on the scene since the 1980s (ask him what he thinks of Ed Koch!) and he takes his politics pretty seriously.

During the 2005 mayor’s race, Roskoff attended a candidates’ forum at NYU featuring Freddy Ferrer. He proceeded to pepper the candidate with questions about a vote Ferrer cast when he was in the City Council, in 1986. Talk about a memory.

But Roskoff isn’t holding anything against Smith, who at one point had some difficulty explaining whether he personally supported gay marriage. At a press conference on the City Hall steps announcing he’d be the new minority leader, Smith simply balked at a question on the subject. Later that same day, he turned up at a Pride Agenda event with state Senator Tom Duane at his side and said he was for it.

Writing for Gay City News City Hall News, gay activist Allen Roskoff had a column about the Empire State Pride Agenda dinner and calls out Democratic Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein for stalling legislation to legalize gay marriage.

During the night, people are now talking about Assembly Member Helene Weinstein, who heads the Assembly Judiciary Committee and has kept the Richard Gottfried-sponsored marriage equality bill buried in her committee. She is listed by ESPA as having a "position on marriage equality for same-sex couples unknown or unclear." She must come out for the bill, and have it passed in her committee, or her position is totally unacceptable. Perhaps her friends in the Assembly need to hold her accountable and stop covering for her. I am told that she does not go to LGBT endorsement meetings or events or return questionnaires. Hmmm, what is this all about?

It's another example of how gay activists are increasingly comfortable with the 'with us or against us' argument on the issue of gay marriage. Nathan Riley makes the same case, with less acidity, over here.

-- Azi Paybarah

The closer the race, the greater the temptation to campaign the day before the primary -- September 11th.

At a press conference today, I asked Yvette Clarke, whose congressional race in Brooklyn looks like a toss-up, about campaigning that day.

"I don't believe it's a day for active campaigning," she said.

It should be pointed out that, as of this morning, Clarke had a fundraiser scheduled for Monday. (Text of the invitation is after the jump.) Shortly after the press conference, I was told that she rescheduled.

Meanwhile, Chris Owens is campaigning, sort of: he'll be receiving a visit from Rep. Maxine Waters, an outspoken anti-war critic, to attend a "remembrance" event. Which is kind of a statement in and of itself.

Carl Andrews, according to a spokesman, will be "attending a couple of memorial services but will not be campaigning."

An aide to David Yassky said he'll be going to his synagogue and is not scheduled to attend any public events.

As for that other potentially competitive race, Andrew Cuomo's spokesman said he will "be attending memorial services and 9/11 related events. The campaign will not be holding any public events or doing any street campaigning."  read more »

Mark Green's campaign manager said Green will be doing "very little" that day, but added the following: "We might do a quick endorsement presser around noon."

-- Azi Paybarah

Granted, Al Sharpton has always had a knack for attracting publicity, but we didn't know he was that kind of celebrity. Friday, Rush and Molloy (second item from bottom) spotted him chatting with Giff Miller and Brian Ellner. Today, Page Six has him singing (singing!) with Allen Roskoff and Corey Johnson.  read more »

The Politicker turned up at a mayoral forum at NYU last night in full force (2.5 of us attended), along with several reporters from more reputable publications, to hear Freddy answer an ancient grudge some in the gay community hold against him.

After an introduction from Melissa Sklarz that we can't resist reprinting: "Freddy Ferrer is a graduate of NYU. We should tell him that the current crop is so nervous and stressful that all of our windows are locked," Freddy spoke and took his first question from veteran activist Allen Roskoff.

"You were one of the people who voted to weaken the gay rights bill on March 6, 1986," said Roskoff, who appeared to have brought the original documents. He criticized Ferrer for not sponsoring the original bill, though he voted for it, and quoted Ruth Messinger as saying at the time that the amended bill "would make our community into second-class citizens" by reducing certain housing protections.

Freddy came prepared, and his answer was received with more applause than anything else at the sparsely-attended event. The bill in question, he said, was really a "side agreement" necessary for the passage of an earlier bill that protected gay rights.  read more »

"Just so we know what this question is all about, it concerns the side agreement to that landmark anti-discrimination law, a law that I helped champion 19 years ago. Now that amendment was part of helping to keep together a fragile coalition that we needed to make that law the law. I want to call your attention -- since you all have great memories -- [to] an editorial in the New York Times, in May 3, 1986 that said exactly that. Now, writing about the amendment, the Times said, and I will quote, 'a fragile coalition for passage was thus preserved.'

"Choices aren't always perfect, but I'm proud to have played a role not only in that coalition, but in preserving that coalition."

Allen Roskoff caught U.S.  read more »