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Foul Treachery In The 40th Assembly DistrictA note for readers not familiar with Room 8NY. A prominent, and well-respected blogger, Gate-Mouth takes issue with the fact that I praised Councilman Charles Barron for refusing to include indicted assemblywoman Diane Gordon on his palm cards on Election Day. The story begins with quotes from my article “Yvette Clarke & Charles” ------------------------- Yvette Clarke & Charles “Finally, once more, Charles Barron showed his integrity by refusing to carry an indicted elected official on his palm cards. He did it in 2004 when he was the only elected official to support a challenge to Clarence Norman. And he did it again this year.” Maurice Gumbs (9/14/06) “The Daily News made the 40th AD election a contest between Ken Maurice Gumbs (9/10/06) ------------------------- GATEMOUTH RESPONDS BELOW TO MY COMMENTS: ------------------------- Actually Maurice, my position on this race was similar to that taken by Barron. I refused to endorse, so did he. Maybe this was an act of integrity; maybe it was an act of cowardice. Here’s what Rock Hackshaw had to say: “Charles Barron is not supporting Ken Evans. He never has. Last time Ken ran against Diane, Barron took a pass even though Evans did his petitions in 2001. This is one of the reasons why I called Barron a COWARD publicly. It's also one of the reasons why I haven't returned any of his phone calls in over a month. The DA called Barron in to view ALL of the Gordon tapes (I will say no more on this). I am getting out of this game because it STINKS.” I don’t know who’s right about Barron; my inclination is that you are both wrong, but regardless, one thing is clear. You cannot hail Barron for not taking sides, and then excoriate me for doing the exact same thing. If anything, Barron, an elected official who seeks votes from the public, must be hold to a higher standard that I. I look forward to your carefully nuanced explanation. I look forward even more to Rock’s response. Submitted by Gate (not verified) on Fri, 09/15/2006 - 7:34am. I'd still like to here your response, but I just picked up this great tidbit from Errol Lewis, which makes the whole argument a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing: "I was also interested to see, on a visit to Barron's headquarters, stacks of Diane Gordon palm cards just waiting to be picked up and distributed by Barron's volunteers." Please correct your article accordingly. ------------------------- AND BELOW IS MY RESPONSE TO GATE-MOUTH: Gates. Glad you are still concerned about your position on Diane Gordon and Charles Barron. In attempting to justify it, you have probably made it worse. Let’s start with Errol Lewis. I am assuming that this Daily News reporter told the truth about seeing stacks of Diane Gordon palm cards just waiting to be picked up and distributed by Barron’s volunteers. I wonder why Errol would want to leak this information through you rather than present it himself. If Errol gave you one of those palm cards I would like to see what it looks like. Or maybe Errol himself can scan those palm cards and can indicate here just when he saw them at Barron’s headquarters. Errol can also state whether he knew for a fact that the cards were waiting for distribution by Barron’s volunteers, or not just left there to be thrown in the garbage. And again, ask Errol tell you on what day and around what time he saw those palm cards there? That would be helpful. As you know I spent a couple of weeks in the 40th, including Election Day. Candidates distributed many variations of palm cards. However, I am not aware that Barron distributed the palm cards you refer to. I assume that these “stacks of Diane Gordon palm cards” carried not only Diane Gordon’s name, but also Barron’s. Otherwise, it would be absurd for Barron’s volunteers to be asked to carry them. Correct? No one to my knowledge reported sighting a Gordon/Barron palm card on Election Day And although it is possible that Gordon may have generated such a card, no one reported seeing Barron’s workers distributing it. If Errol can produce evidence that Barron distributed pro-Gordon cards, I will most definitely condemn Barron. If he cannot, then I think you will agree that this is a dastardly attempt to smear Barron, and both you and Errol will need to apologize. It is true that Charles Barron did not endorse Ken Evans. I met Charles at a candidates forum one morning, and he informed me that he would not be endorsing any of the Assembly candidates in the 40th AD. That was no surprise to me, and in fact I felt this was a decision that was completely acceptable by Evans. Ken Evans had been affiliated with Ed Towns for many years and had been a loyal supporter. In fact, both Ed and his son Darryl referred to Ken Evans as family. All of this was fairly public information. And the fact is that Evans never asked Charles for his endorsement because it would have been ludicrous under the circumstances. Up to a few days before the election, Ed Towns was in contact with Evans assuring him(and me) that he(Towns) would not be carrying Diane Gordon on his palm cards, and urging Evans to include him (Towns) on all his palm cards. And the fact is that I myself did a little project for Ed as part of inducement to support Evans. Ed Towns was carried on every single one of the palm cards that Ken Evans distributed on Election Day. And in addition, Towns, after switching from Robin Sheares and Pia Woods, persuaded Evans to carry Earl Williams and Jacqueline Williams on his palm cards. Towns used Evans to win some points with the County Leader. As a reward for his absolute loyalty to Towns, Ken Evans was stabbed in the back. Diane Gordon was carried on the official palm card distributed by the Ed Towns campaign. I have a copy in my possession. It says “paid for by the Committee To Elect Ed Towns.” The truth is that if Evans knew that Towns would have been supporting Gordon, he never would have gone into this race. It was bad enough that Evans was expecting substantial support from the Congressman, and received virtually ZERO. As for me. Had I known that Towns would carry Diane Gordon on his official palm card, I would have aggressively urged support of Barron. It was absolutely ridiculous for Evans to be carrying Towns on his palm cards(that Towns didn’t pay a penny for) when he (Towns) was carrying Diane Gordon. The real story here for Errol Louis is that Congressman Towns made a complete sucker out of a candidate that the Daily News endorsed. This was a complete Towns con-job. As for you comparing yourself with Barron, Gatey… you can only identify yourself with Charles Barron if you had something of value to gain by endorsing Gordon, and something to lose by remaining neutral in the matter. To my knowledge you had no material investment in Gordon’s success or defeat, did you? You had nothing to lose. On the other hand, Charles Barron had much to lose. The default mode is for incumbents to support incumbents even when they are indicted. The County Leader expects this and demands this. Just before Election Day, we understand that Vito Lopez read the Riot Act to all incumbents on this matter. Charles evidently chose to defy the County Leader. That was an act of Courage. He showed the same courage in 2004 when he supported a candidate who was not a real threat to Clarence Norman. Just on principle. He endorsed that candidate, and worked hard for him. I believe he would have done the same for Evans this year. But I think you recognize that it would have been absurd for Barron to endorse Evans when Evans was supporting his opponent. I repeat this. Charles Barron could not endorse Evans when Evans was carrying Towns on every one of his palm cards. I am positive that you can and will find other issues on which to challenge Charles. So may I. But I don’t think Courage is one of them. You may take Rock as your guide and guru on the matter of Charles’ character. But you know I absolutely condemned Rock’s statements when they were made. And by the way, I am at a loss to understand why you(or someone else) would refer to Charles as the “Black Barron.” Can’t we just leave it at “Barron.?” Innocent adjectives can often be misinterpreted as pejorative. This is an unfinished story, Gate-Mouth. My prediction is that Diane Gordon will be convicted at her first trial in less than 6 months. There will be a Special Election to replace her. My information is that Charles Barron defeated Towns in the 40th AD. Charles should choose and elect the new Assemblyperson in the 40th AD. And it won’t be that difficult. As long as he doesn’t threaten to slap someone for his mental health. Moreover it will be the first leg of his 2008 Congressional campaign. Foul Treachery In The 40th
If what you say is true concerning your conversation with Towns, then he has personally committed a felony violation under McCain-Feingold.
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Is there a jail sentence for this felony violation? Cute if Gordon and Towns could be in jail at the same time.
Why would Ed Towns want to play games around a man who writes well and is known as a truth-teller. This is ugly for Towns and his son which ever way you slice it.
WOW Mo! If I knew my every response to your postings would lead to gossip so good, I'd respond to you far more often. Beyond that: 1) If I'd known about the Evans-Towns stuff I might possibly have evaluated the race differently, you wouldn't even have had to post it; my homepage lists my email (gatemouthnyc@hotmail.com). Feel free to drop a line; as you are aware, I print corrections and even re-evaluate endorsement, even on the advice of sworn enemies (not that I consider you one). 2) Since you also posted on this on Ben's site, you must now be aware that the information about the Gordon palm cards was posted there by Errol Lewis; I did not speak to him about it; I'm not sure I've ever spoken to the gentleman, which is probably my loss. 3) The "Black Barron" stuff requires a little explanation. The original thread I'd posted it on was a silly piece noting that Bill Batson was the secret identity of the comic strip superhero Captain America. As a joke, I attempted to come up with comic book names for all the DDDB candidates (it was a takeoff on "The Red Baron"). In context, this was obvious, and I don't think anyone took offense at the time. Frankly, while I know I sometimes dance on the Razor's edge, I think this is far from the most offensive thing I've ever written, and the intent was not at all malicious; just goofy. However, your point about "innocent adjectives" is well-taken. As to the point in your final paragraph, it bears an eerie resemblance to a point I made earlier to you: "Mo: It would be hard to get to the right of paper that endorses Phil Smallman; perhaps next year Tilzer can run Alito; I hear he's free from scandal. As to the 40th; if there's a special, no matter who the Dems nominate, Barron wins in a walk. Then, given the way the press covers Albany, I'll never have to read another word about him again unless he gets himself arrested. Plus, he'll drive Shelly Silver stark raving mad. Those who find this alarming should perhaps consider alterntive scenarios. Perhaps Bubba will read this and bundle a few quick large checks to Evans posthaste." As always, a pleasure; but I'm not sure responding to me justified an entire post (although the Towns story might). Whatever happen to all the nasty and name-calling we loved and enjoyed? What's with the facts and the respectful disagreement and courtesy between Mo and Gatey. Next thing you know these two will be making babies. Good genes for future bloggers. Yes. But where's the fun. Can we bring back Ravi and Tilzer and EnYC to kick around?
All the jobs and contacts for Andrews backers gone down the drain after they invested so much money in him. So Evens Help Smallman and Seperico get on the ballot by collectiong petitions for them. Even was going to put Woods and Sheares on the palm card until Towns and Vito con him into supporting Douglas and Williams and your telling everyone Evens is a good guys. Seems to me that your con artist just got con by another con artist, the master con artist Congressman Towns. What kind of good guy is Evens if his endorsement for judge is based on what is good for him or to pay for him to get on the ballot. Is this the way your ending coruption in the Brooklyn Courts by supporting a political whore like Evens?
Gate I think the hero should be called the Red, Black and Green Barron btw the Billy Batson was the secret identityof Captain Marvel SHAZAM!!!
Maurice, It seems that Ed Towns is a real creep. He should not be surprised when Barron whips baby Towns' ass. Think he'll wait like Major did? I don't think so. He'll put baby in his spot real soon. But Barron is positioned right. He did an amazing job.
6:48, You called for Tilzer, and here he comes howling like a kicked dog. I guess Tilly was working with Sheares and Woods and got squeezed out of rent money. But didn't Smallman at least give him money for groceries?
The bile belongs to the person or persons who made the deal with Towns and played with which civil court candidate to support. Is telling the truth more important than the act here. If it is why blog at all? Last year Towns agreeded to produce 250,000 flyers for a fee from the candidate running for Surrogate. Maybe 5,000 flyers hit the streets. Nobody could find that flyer, not even Evens who traveled the 40AD and his sons 54AD that day. So why believe Towns this year after last years experience? Tilzy, cough it up. You was the campaign manager so you known what Towns agreeded to produce and what the fee were. Speak truth, Tilzy. Are you saying that Ed Towns stole a bundle of money from Surrogate Court Judge Margarita Lopez Torres? We knowed Ed and Darryl had nobody on the streets for Judge Lopez on Election Day, but we didn't knew he ripped her off with flyers too? Blog on Tilzy. You can't get money, but you sure can get respect and revenge.
Ed Towns and DeCosta Headley(his neighbor)taught Diane Gordon what she knows about politics. And making money. Gordon talks. Towns walks. Headley is a developer. Gordon's attorney is the husband of a judge Gordon supported. BTW Word on the street. Gordon's already ratted on Headley and Towns to the DA but gave no evidence as yet. BTW. Word on the street. Gordon demanded Towns to contribute big bucks to her lawyer's fees. Stay tuned folks. Something may be about to blow.
AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER ED TOWNS HAS BETRAYED AND DOUBLE-DEALED EVERY POLITICAL CANDIDATE IN BROOKLYN. HE DID ME MORE THAN ONCE. THIS IS GOOD.
Several Black ministers who supported Ed Towns and his son in the past are now furious and disgusted. Towns had made a commitment to carry two judicial candidates who had the backing of major churches. Towns even had his posters put up with these judicial candidates all over the district. And word is that the two judicial candidates paid for the postering. At the last minute Towns dumped the two women and replaced them with the County Leader's two candidates. In exchange, Vito Lopez, the County Leader promised to support Towns' son Darryll in a Special Election for Congress next year.
Wow!! Would it be another McCain/Feingold Felony violation if Towns postering was paid for by the two judicial candidates whose posters were put up with his? That would be Pia Woods and Robin Sheares. And that would be either Tahaka Robinson or Musa Moore who did the postering. And who gets these McCain/Feingold violation complaints. Somebody post the address or telephone number. Please.
Ok, if that WAS Tilzer writing that comment about Evans switching sides, my gosh, for the first time I can remember, the guy is RIGHT. I did not see anyone challenge him on the merits of the comment....just that he, of course, does have his own mercenary axe to grind.
Mo, palm cards are printed in the days before the race is over. So, even if they were not distributed, why would there be bunches of Barron Gordon palm cards in his HQ? Was Gordon not indicted months ago? PERHAPS, and more likely, Barron and Gordon were working a deal which either fell thru, or which had Barron conning gordon. Is he not above that suspicion? Least likely...Errol Louis made it all up. Barron has nothing to fear from the county Leader. Neither would piss on the other if the other was on fire. This changes nothing.
If Barron were to run for the Assembly in the 40th, those of us who are subjected to him in the city should not only cheer, but help. He would be even more harmless in Albany...hey in fact he would be a fun pain in shelly Silver's ass....
I assume that Taharka Robinson was one of the posters here as well. Hard to type thru brass knuckles tho. He and Tilzer were destroyed in this election. Lopez did not threaten incumbents, merely made sure that they knew that there would be repercussions if after voting for people at an endorsement meeting, they turned to scum by selling palm card space and support on election day. Who sounds right here? Hmmmm, I'll go with Vito on this one. From: Maurice Gumbs. To: The Person pretending to be Gate-Mouth For those new to the thread. Here is the statement provided in a report by Daily News columnist, Errol Louis "...I was also interested to see, on a visit to Barron's headquarters, stacks of Diane Gordon palm cards just waiting to be picked up and distributed by Barron's volunteers...." Errol Louis is a professional reporter. He gets paid for asking questions and providing FACTS to readers. He understands the English language. And in fact, I understand Errol is now a lawyer. What Errol states above is not opinion or suspicion or belief. It is statement of fact. Errol has undoubtedly read the comments which his statement triggered. He does not need the explanation that GateMouth and now, you, offer for him. All Errol needs to do is to tell the truth and as a journalist he owes it to us. 1. Provide the day and time of day and actual office where the palm cards were discovered. 2. Describe the palm cards ie..the names on them, and who paid for them, if available. 3. Did you(Errol) ask Charles Barron or anyone on his campaign staff how the palm-cards happened to be there? 4. Were you(Errol) told that Barron's volunteers were going to distribute these Diane Gordon palm cards? 5. Do you(Errol) have any personal knowledge or evidence that these Diane Gordon palm cards were distributed by Barron's volunteers? Charles Barron told me personally that he would not be supporting any candidates for Assembly in the 40th AD. If Charles distributed Diane Gordon palm-cards or had these posters in his campaign office awaiting distribution by his volunteers, it means that he is a liar just as surely as Ed Towns was a liar. And I will condemn and repudiate Charles Barron as severely as I have done with Ed Towns. If Errol can only speculate and cannot assert as fact that Barron was in the process of distributing or had distributed Gordon palm cards, then he needs to apologize to Barron, and all those here who have taken his statement to be fact. My prediction has been that Diane Gordon will be convicted within 6 months. When that happens, the voters of the 40th Assembly District need to know which elected officials betrayed them.
Just for the record Tilzer was cut out of the Smallman and Serpico race after he got them on the ballot. He was not given the chance to run an anti-Vito county camp;aign that he told me he was going to do.
Did you candidate betray anyone by switching judicial candidates 3 times to make a deal with Towns and Vito?
Anybody ever notice that the same thing always happens after a candidate spends a month or two around this big cry-baby Tidzler. Get the child a diaper already. Russians, Jews, Latinos, Chinese. Brooklyn, Queens, Manahattan,it's always the same ending. He offers himself cheap for collecting signatures or for knocking candidates off the ballot. Then he starts boasting that he owns the candidate. Arghh. He gets bitchy and ugly. The candidate gets disgusted with him. In many ways. Phew!! Either they dump him or wish they could dump him. Ask Marty Markowitz and 27 other candidates. Tidzler..anti-Vito? Sure. Tidzler would swim across the East River in a Brooklyn second if Vito offered him hack-work.
Palm cards
Gentlemen, here is 100% of what I have to say on this subject.
Around 3 pm on primary day, while making the rounds, I stopped in at Barron’s Fulton Street HQ. Said hello and good luck to his wife; asked where the candidate might be (answer: anywhere); and found out where the party would be that night. I was out of there within 10 minutes from start to finish. There were half a dozen volunteers in the place, lots of bustle and optimism.
As I was leaving, next to the door were stacks of maybe 10 different pieces, clearly intended to go out with volunteers and/or get picked up by any casual visitors to the HQ. Two pieces caught my eye. One was copies of an article about Barron I wrote in 2005, “Why Barron Matters.” (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/279688p-239627c.html) The other was a Gordon-only palm card, blue & black with a photo of the candidate. I thought very little of it at the time, since I wasn’t following the who’s-with-whom drama in the 10th congressional.
I briefly posted my observation on Ben’s blog to support the idea that primary day palm cards, in Central Brooklyn at least, are a notoriously unreliable guide to political alliances. On that same day, I gathered a fistful of Sharpton palm cards in which he “endorsed” candidates on both sides of several races. This, again, has been the norm for at least a decade. I know for a fact that Clarence Norman allowed for boxes of palm cards to be printed and given to insurgents, even in races where County was grinding those same insurgents into the dirt. In nearly every case, the “unofficial” cards included judicial delegates or civil court candidates, which were the main focus of County’s efforts in those days.
I have no definitive speculation about Barron's relationship to Gordon or anybody else. And if I did, spotting a stack of palm cards would have little or nothing to do with my analysis.
I t would not surprise me in the least if Barron’s campaign (with or without the councilman’s knowledge) handed out a few Gordon-only palm cards along with their own in selected areas (e.g. Gordon’s home ED) where they thought it might help Barron. In the real world of last-minute GOTV, everybody is scrambling and making and breaking agreements. Only we pundits expect perfect loyalty, logic and consistency, even though most of us know the last place you will find it is on a Brooklyn palm card.
Tilzer has elected more insurgents in Brooklyn and defeated the organization candidate for Surrogate Court. Since people like Jeff Feldman still run Brooklyn politics and Silver the Assembly the ins have made it their objective to drive him out of poltiics. Lopez and his support for a Russian candidate had a lot to do with getting him fired from Cimbrowitz's job. Lots of other have been push out before him: Larry Douglas, phil freedman to name a few. These days when lobbyist run campaigns and elected officials use the CFB and consultants to kick back money to themselves you may call Tilzer's independence work style. You Blogers may call him the last of the Mohegan of independent politics in NY.
It is amazing how much hate is directed towards Gary Tilzer. He has proven himself by working with candidates no one would help and making them in to REAL contenders. Margarita Lopez-Torres was completely off everyones radar until the last few weeks of the election, who knew either Steve or Lena Cymbrowitz, who knew Ming, and YES-who figured out Vander Beatty's BOE slight of hand all those years ago. You don't have to like the guy, but you can't honestly ignore his track record. Tilzer may be a mercenary with an agenda, but his harping on corruption and COUNTY have been pretty accurate.
"Joe Hynes wouldn't piss down Andrew Cuomo’s throat if his heart were on fire (although he'd probably volunteer to do it for any other reason, or no reason at all)." Gatemouth (8/29/06) "Barron has nothing to fear from the county Leader. Neither would piss on the other if the other was on fire." Bozo (9/18/06) "As to the 40th; if there's a special, no matter who the Dems nominate, Barron wins in a walk. Then, given the way the press covers Albany, I'll never have to read another word about him again unless he gets himself arrested. Plus, he'll drive Shelly Silver stark raving mad." Gatemouth (9/10/06) "If Barron were to run for the Assembly in the 40th, those of us who are subjected to him in the city should not only cheer, but help. He would be even more harmless in Albany...hey in fact he would be a fun pain in shelly Silver's ass...." Bozo (9/18/06) Thanks Mo: Faux Gatey is exactly right. Bozo is fakin da funk, as is Brooklyn Fats elsewhere on the blog. Accept no substitutes; Gatemouth in 06! To Errol: From: Maurice. Final Comment I spoke to Stan Kinnard, Barron's campaign manager, this afternoon. Kinnard absolutely refutes your allegation that there were stacks of Gordon palm-cards waiting to be picked up and distributed by Barron Volunteers. Kinnard confirms that you visited Barron's Fulton Street office. He explains that the 40th AD operation was handled at Sutter Avenue by Barron's candidate for District Leader, Andre Mitchell. If there were stacks of any literature to be distributed in the 40th AD at 3pm on Election Day, those stacks would have been at Sutter Avenue. Kinnard affirmed my thought that it would be ludicrous for Barron volunteers to be distributing a palm card that just had Diane Gordon's name and face on it. He indicates that the campaign staff were distressed to hear the your allegation and met to discuss it. It was agreed that there were many different palm cards lying around the Fulton Street office, and that comes as no surprise. On election day workers pick up a palm cards from different candidates and bring them back to headquarters. Kinnard states that a thorough search was made through the office and they found no Gordon palm cards. He believes that at most you observed the typical stray card or cards. The campaign manager indicates that the only palm cards carried by Barron volunteers in the area were a generic Congressional card, and a 40th AD card with Barron and his 40th AD District leader on it.That has been confirmed by many people working in the 40th AD on Election Day. Kinnard understands, and I believe you understand that your allegation is not just about possible deceit, but about the matter of supporting a candidate who has been indicted for accepting bribe, and who faces other possible indictments. That is what makes it such a serious offense. That brings me to the end of this matter. Post new comment |
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