I thought to myself, "is he really that dumb to put something like this out there for the public to read???"

I steadied myself and remembered that this was from Kevin Powell. But there are people that read things online and accept facts and figures verbatim, and worse, four (at last count) Facebook persons that marked the post as "like" and one that left a comment of amazement.

Someone at the FEC needs to pay attention to what's going on in the 10th Congressional District race.

This week, as part of the New York Daily News' standard investigative reporting into all candidates and incumbents for any elected office, it was revealed that candidate Kevin Powell had not done his required financial disclosure reports (click here for the link), and also that his personal finances were in disorder (click here for the link).

Kevin Powell, candidate for New York’s 10^th Congressional District, has been of late bombarding readers of the Huffington Post with an angry tirade against the incumbent, Congressman Ed Towns. Through tags this post will appear on the Huffington Post; some readers of Huffington know me from posts here on Room 8, and I’ve been comfortable expressing my opinions and fact finding here. Up to now, I’ve focused my writings solely on issues of policy: proper reporting of crime stats, Hispanic issues of the day, and an essay about being a District Leader that has become (arguably) the de facto job description used by many political clubs around the state when vetting candidates for that job. However, I believe now is the time to break away from the relatively safe position of criticizing policy—not candidates—and that’s because what is potentially at stake: not just losing our local congressman, but also the chair of the powerful government reform and oversight committee, and his seniority that is matched by few in the House of Representatives.

It's that time of the year again: NATIONAL NIGHT OUT! Tuesday, August 3, 2010. Location: EVERYWHERE in the United States.

Not sure where your local celebration is? Call your local police station or your elected officials. If there is no NNO celebration near you, DO YOUR OWN! Call you neighbors and friends, buy a big bag of charcoal and fire up that grill! Bring the kids out to play openly in the streets. Celebrate being good neighbors that look out for each other and say NO to violence, NO to crime, and NO to thinking that things can never get better.

It's also a great night to THANK your police partners and remind them that THEY ARE NOT ALONE in this fight, and that they absolutely need your help to achieve the true goal, which is not higher arrest rates but the ABSENCE of crime, something that you currently can't download and read on a CompStat report. Our goal must be to solve problems, and community partners are needed for that to happen.

It's Sunday evening now, and today Puerto Ricans around the city spent the day celebrating their heritage, culture, family, and history. We are New York City's largest parade, attracting over 2 million persons each year, which also makes it one of the country's largest gatherings as well. This year's celebration takes on far greater significance because of the question of status recently reintroduced to Congress and taking center stage today in many circles spanning all levels of education, income, lifestyle, creed, gender, and race. You see, we are a beautiful people, and come in many colors, shapes, sizes, and personalities. In Twilight of the Idols, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

The fact that two have appeared in the Daily News in under six months calls for closer scrutiny. Let me start with the crime stats themselves. CompStat reports are available to the public, and they take only a few seconds to download and another few seconds to read.

Much has been written about the status of Puerto Rico by people probably smarter and more articulate than me. Academics have written scholarly essays on the subject. Newspapers have written editorials about it. So have guest writers penning op-eds. More recently, bloggers have written on the subject as well. All of these people have taken up the cause to continue to make sure the issue of status remains in front of Americans at one time or another.

Yet where are we? We've gone from colony to commonwealth (think "Colony 2.0") or as it is referred to in Spanish, Estado Libre Asociado ("Freely Associated State"), with plebescites held every now and then, drawing voter turnout unmatched anywhere in free voting societies in the world, and as of July 25th of this year, 58 years will have passed and the island remains a Commonwealth/Freely Asociated State.

This week I read an article in Tuesday's Daily News titled, "Numbers show Brooklyn is safer than it's been in years, but residents still afraid of crime".

I have to say the article really bothered me a lot because it singles out the 75 Precinct and East New York. I live in the area covered by the 75th Precinct for 40+ years, and I've seen similar articles like this over the years, so while not surprising, it still bothers me all the same.

It's Election Day. Today we as voters have an opportunity to elect a new mayor, but, perhaps more importantly, show why we are a democracy. I can only speak for myself, so here are the many reasons why I am voting for Bill Thompson, and also my reasons why I will not, now or ever again, vote for Mike Bloomberg.

Two more ads surfaced today calling into question Councilman Charles Barron's record. This ad comes hot on the heels of the previous ad featured in my post CLOWNING AROUND IN THE 42ND COUNCIL DISTRICT.

The first of the two new ads accuses Barron of taking credit for things that he didn't do, with the first being his claim on Gershwin Park. According to the ad, funding for the park's makeover was allocated during Councilwoman Wooten's days, and part of the city budget under Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Click here to download this ad.

I got an interesting piece of lit in today's mail, something that was long in the making: an attack ad about Councilmember Charles Barron, aka "Homie the Clown".

It calls into question his record on delivering for the district. If you listened to the audio from last week's 42nd council district candidates forum, you heard Barron speak about what he says are his deliverables to the district. Click here for the post that has the link to the audio.

I know that many persons testifying at today's City Council hearing on term limits will be speaking mainly on the past 2 voter referenda, why it is self-serving for term-limited council members to try to change this legislatively, etc.

I do believe the stronger argument is to attack the reason for the proposed extension of term limits: the economy.

The Wall Street Journal did the work that the local daily newspapers could not be bothered with. Pick up a copy of today's Journal and in the Op-Ed look for "New York Will Survive Without Bloomberg". For those of you that subscribe to the online edition, click here for the piece.

***UPDATED***

The NYC Board of Elections is conducting a special voter registration initiative this week. Please spread the word if you know someone that isn't registered yet!

Saturday, October 11th, from 12pm - 9pm.

There are NUMEROUS locations to visit throughout the city. Just drop by, fill out your voter registration card, and leave it with them.

There's time to get this info out to the many community based organizations around the city to put flyers up, knock on doors, etc.

For more information call 866-VOTE-NYC or 311, or if you'd like to download the list of locations, click here (note: link will open a PDF file in a separate window).

Results from this year's primary election day are now available!

Recaps (totals only) are available on the NYC Board of Elections website.

Detailed results by election district are available by contacting your county BOE office or the city's main BOE office at 32 Broadway.

Save a tree and a few quarters by requesting a free email copy!

A few years ago I got a call from a friend running for district leader. I don't want to mention names or even genders, as it's not important to this post.

S/he was concerned that s/he would lose because the opponent was well-known for an annual turkey giveaway in the community, and other social service related activities. My advice was to not run for the "Community Social Worker" but to educate the masses about what a district leader does, and make sure they remember who helped them understand what exactly they were voting for. (and by the way, that's not a pot shot at social workers; I love them and they do much-needed work)