Hakeem Jeffries

 

Here's Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn inadvertently igniting a "Yes we can" chant during a rally for Barack Obama on the steps of City Hall yesterday.

How many black elected officials from Brooklyn were at the rally for Barack Obama on the City Hall steps this afternoon?

Enough that State Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem muttered to himself at the podium, “Oh man, we’re going to have to mix this up a bit.” He then introduced state Senator Eric Adams--who's from Brooklyn.  read more »

Football at presidential debate, shunned by Democrats, Governor Spitzer has become political pariah of party; Roger Stone gleeful, Anthony Weiner stressed out.  read more »

Roger Stone doesn’t think much of the suggestion (based on my reading of a Weekly Standard story) that he had any role in drumming up a controversy over the fact that Eliot Spitzer’s father and MTA nominee Dale Hemmerdinger were members of the racially un-diverse Harmonie Club. Hemmerdinger's membership became a contentious political issue after an angry letter from Democratic Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries.

Stone emails:

Azi
Just for the record, I never spoke to Hakim Jeffries, never spoke to his people and never asked anyone to speak to him. In fact, until I read the story I never heard of him.

He also said, “I admire what Jeffries did.”

In another email, Stone wrote:  read more »

A new Weekly Standard profile of Roger Stone has a suggestive nugget implying that he is still playing a quietly active role in a broad-based anti-Spitzer coalition.

From the story:  read more »

Hakeem Jeffries, the freshman Assembly Member, was once accused of being a toady for the developer of Atlantic Yards, Forest City Ratner. But he had gradually become more critical, and the last minute carve-out in the 421a housing incentive bill that The Observer reported on Wednesday made him fairly seethe at the project's cost to taxpayers.

“The Atlantic Yards project has feasted on government funds for far too long,” he said in a statement this afternoon. “Enough is enough. There is absolutely no justification for treating Atlantic Yards better than any other development project in New York, when Forest City Ratner has already received $300 million in government subsidies.”

Mr. Jeffries, along with five other Assembly members, voted against a technical amendment to the 421a reform as a protest. He missed a vote yesterday morning for the main 421a reform bill, which greatly expanded the number of neighborhoods in which developers will have to include low-income housing in new apartment buildings in order to qualify for tax abatements.  read more »

I'm up in Albany for the New York State Democratic Committee Spring Business Meeting at the Desmond Hotel, a few miles away from the capitol.

Since the first meeting I was hoping to attend--the Council of Black Elected Democrats-- is closed to the press, I figured I'd post notes from chat with two Assembly members I spoke with yesterday.

The two officials, Assemblyman Keith Wright of Harlem and Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn, have something in common. Unlike some Democrats -- Eliot Spitzer, Sheldon Silver, Andrew Cuomo, David Paterson and Malcolm Smith, among others -- they won't be endorsing Hillary Clinton on Monday.

Jeffries said he would probably make his decision sometime in June, along with Brooklyn lawmakers Rep. Yvette Clarke, State Senator Eric Adams and Assemblyman Karim Camara.

Wright, by contrast, doesn't seem to be on any timetable at all.

“So far, I don’t have any plans,” Wright told me. “I haven’t had my chat with Hillary. I know she’s busy. And lord knows I haven’t had any talks with Barack.”

I asked Wright if he was more disappointed in not getting a call from Clinton or from Obama.

“I’m not disappointed in either,” he said, laughing.

“I remember in ‘92, Clinton was calling people left and right. I just haven’t heard from any of them, if you will,” he said, referring to the 2008 candidates. “I’m not making anything of it.”

And, based on the line of questioning about black officials in New York still holding out on their endorsements, he also offered me the following:

"It sounds like you’re going to write a story. I love it. I love it. Make us important with our unimportance.”

Yes, sir!

Hakeem Jeffries, the state Assembly member-elect for the 57th district, which is ground zero for Atlantic Yards, did not sign on to his future colleagues' demands to scale down the Forest City Ratner project, but he is speaking to Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver about it.

Jeffries told The Real Estate on Tuesday that he had a conversation about a week to 10 days ago to express many of the same concerns as Assembly members Jim Brennan, Joan Millman and Annette Robinson did. In the order Jeffries mentioned them, his concerns are: building more affordable housing early on as part of the project, the lack of transparency regarding the project's financing, the lack of public involvement, and, upon prompting, its density. Jeffries said that he would speak with Silver again soon.

Jeffries is known to be hard to read (some would say slippery) on Atlantic Yards, and he refused to compare his position with that of Brennan's camp.

"I have always felt that eminent domain is one of government's most exceptional powers. I don't believe that a private developer should be able to use it to build a basketball arena." But he also said that the courts should be allowed to decide the issue.

That, of course, is axiomatic: you don't need a first-term assemblyman saying that one should obey a court order. He clarified: "If they decide it is constitutional, then we have to find out other ways to make it tenable to the community."

Jeffries, like his colleagues, does favor slowing the approval process down, starting with the Empire State Development Corporation. "I'm not particularly clear they have done all they were supposed to do to make sure they included all the public comments."

- Matthew Schuerman

New York State politics is cankered and corrupt.  read more »

Atlantic Yards opponents are trying to forget all the bad things they said about Hakeem Jeffries, the winner in the 57th Assembly race, like that he was a duplicitous panderer who wanted to have it both ways on the 22-acre arena-and-housing complex. It is time to make nice, after all.

"If you tally up [Bill Batson's] and Hakeem's votes, 88 percent of the vote went to two candidates who opposed the use of eminent domain, according to their stated positions," said Daniel Goldstein, the opposition's main spokesman.  read more »

Not surprisingly, the race for the 57th Assembly district in Brooklyn looks like it's going to hinge on an argument over the Atlantic Yards project.

It's just not clear who's arguing for what.

Bill Batson, whose opposition to the project has formed the centerpiece of his campaign, has a new TV ad reinforcing his stance.

Meanwhile, Hakeem Jeffries, who has previously criticized aspects of the project without actually opposing it -- he told the Times that he would be "more inclined to support it than not" -- is now blitzing the district with a new flier (posted on the Atlantic Yards Voter Guide) that appears, to all but the most careful readers, to put him in the anti-arena camp as well.

From the flier, in big red letters:

"NO eminent domain abuse"

"NO skyscraper city"

"NO backroom deals"

Dirty pool, smart politics or both?

—Nicole Brydson

Commenter 57th AD Realist reveals a little-known fact about Assembly candidate Bill Batson, whose main opponent, Hakeem Jeffries, was endorsed by the NY Times yesterday.

"Of course, when I named Hakeem's opponents, one neighbor asked me whether "Billy Batson" wasn't the real name of superhero Captain Marvel.

"Apparently, it is."

So it's the NY Times endorsement versus a super hero. Now that's a race.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Christine Quinn has chosen a horse in the race to replace Roger Green out in Brooklyn. And it is---wait for it---Hakeem Jeffries.

Full release after the jump.  read more »

Christine Quinn has chosen a horse in the race to replace Roger Green out in Brooklyn. And it is---wait for it---Hakeem Jeffries.

Full release after the jump.  read more »

As Ben points out, Hakeem Jeffries has included Jeff Feldman on his vacancy committee. Eric Adams also included Feldman and five people listed at the same address, two by the same name.

The petition in question also includes Carl Andrews and two Civil Court candidates. A comparison of Andrews 2004 petitions--which also carried Major Owens in some areas--to the current one shows William Boone notably absent from the 2006 edition. The question remains that if Andrews does not have Boone or Feldman on his committee in order, presumably, to eliminate additional ties to Clarence Norman, why would Jeffries associate himself with the indicted party leader?

—Nicole Brydson

The latest from sister site The Politicker shows to what degree state Assembly candidate Hakeem Jeffries is straddling the fence on Atlantic Yards: a Forest City Ratner's spokeswoman worked on a previous campaign of his and appeared at his recent announcement. On the other hand, a prominent opponent and someone we are calling a critic endorsed him too. -Matthew Schuerman

This past Sunday at Hakeem Jeffries' City Hall press conference announcing his third run for the State Assembly's 57th district, four supporters were present to endorse his campaign. Errol Louis reported in last Friday's Daily News that they were to include activists Marilyn Moseley and Katie David and Michael Gaspard, former campaign manager to Roger Green.

One other supporter was spotted in the crowd, Dan Klores Communications employee and Forest City Ratner spokeswoman, Lupe Todd, a friend of Mr. Jeffries' who worked on his 2002 race for the 57th district, prior to working for DKC.

When reached at her office, Ms. Todd had no comment. Mr. Jeffries could not be reached.

Activists opposed to the Atlantic Yards project are dismayed at the connection between Ms. Todd and Mr. Jeffries. Daniel Goldstein, activist resident of the 57th district and supporter of Jeffries' opponent, Bill Batson, emails over: "The community and district need advocates it can trust. Mr. Jeffries' campaign's association with Ms. Todd, one of Bruce Ratner's 'Atlantic Yards' PR reps and lobbyists, is troubling. It raises serious questions about the infusion of private, billionaire interests into Mr. Jeffries' assembly race."

Mr. Jeffries has not taken a position on the project but to tell the Politicker back in February that he believes the community can come to "a principled compromise that recognizes that there are legitimate arguments being made on both sides of the equation."

—Nicole Brydson

UPDATE: Hakeem Jeffries calls in to point out that the endorsements made at the press conference included Eric Adams, candidate for the neighboring 20th senatorial district, and Reverend Clinton Miller, of Brown Memorial Baptist Church, both critical of the Atlantic Yards project.

"I'm friends with Eric Adams, I'm friends with Lupe Todd, I'm friends with Reverend Miller, those three apparently disagree with each other about the merits of the project, but they do agree on one thing: who is the best candidate for the 57th Assembly District," he said.

Our sister site The Politicker discovers that Bill Batson, an aide to David Paterson and a member of the Prospect/Crown Heights community board, will announce for the 57th Assembly District Sunday, the race for which is shaping up as a test of the community’s feelings towards Atlantic Yards, which would be located in the district's boundaries.

Batson, who The Politicker notes has opposed the project, will be challenging its chief booster in the legislature, incumbent Roger Green (if he runs again) while Hakeem Jeffries, another challenger, has stood on the fence, at least officially.

Batson’s website is here.

-Matthew Schuerman