The grapevine has it that Councilmember Charles Barron and political operative Michael Roberts, almost came to blows at a recent event, at Africa House on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. It is said that Roberts (former editor at Carib News, who is deep in the camp of Una and Yvette Clarke/ some say deep up their respective asses too), took umbrage with Barron’s support of Gerry Hopkins in the special election for Yvette’s replacement on the NYC council. It is said that Roberts even threatened to run candidates in East New York (Barron’s turf), since he was pissed at Barron’s intrusion into the Caribbean-American political arena. Fact is however, Barron has been supporting candidates over on this side (Flatbush/ East Flatbush) for some time now. Three years ago, he supported Michelle Adolphe over Rhoda Jacobs, for the 42nd Assembly seat. He also supported Ed Roberts over Clarence Norman in the 43rd Assembly race. If you go back to 2002, you will find that he also supported Frances Purcell in the special election for the state senate.

Over the years, Barron has supported his fair share of Caribbean-American candidates, said a spokesman from his group (Operation Power). The spokesman stated that over the last decade, Charles Barron has supported more Caribbean-American candidates in this area, than Una and Yvette combined (they are willing to bet on this as a fact). It was pointed out that Barron supported Jamaican-born Omar Boucher in 2002 (21stSenate district) when the Clarkes failed to do so; the same Boucher who was instrumental in many of their political victories, who has not only supported them, but also worked hard for them over the years, going all the way back to 1991. The spokesman further added that this is the same person (Boucher) that the Clarkes have treated like a dog over the years, and never supported in any of the three races that he ran. The spokesperson also added that Barron supported Yvette for congress twice, but that the Clarkes have never reciprocated and supported Barron for anything: ever. WOW!

The pumpkin vine is saying that Una Clarke “lost it”, at a recent event where many Acorn members were in attendance. It is said that Una went ballistic and was berating everyone in sight. It is said that this came about since Acorn decided to endorse and support Jennifer James for the 40th council manic district. Una seemed “only slightly put off/lol” at the fact that they were coming in to “her” district (original words, I am told), and endorsing her reject (James). Interestingly enough, the Clarkes are endorsing the reject (Eugene) of the Haitian-American consensus forum/process, much to the chagrin and consternation of many Haitians. Interesting!

There are lots of whisperings that Yvette Clarke will be challenged during her first term in office. Many people are expressing reservations about her close victory. They are saying that she doesn’t have a lock on this seat. The grapevine is saying that Jennifer James lost the endorsement of the Clarkes because she is perceived as a future threat to Yvette‘s long term political survival. It is said that Jennifer James has a doctorate as compared to Yvette’s high school diploma. Is this true? Do let Cousin Rocky know people.

It is also being said that if Chris Owens had any balls he would challenge her right away, since he does have a Caucasian base to start with, plus he could add the Haitian-American vote, plus Brownsville, plus all the anti-Clarke caribbeans, plus some afros; and that when combined, all this could add up to make him very formidable. They say that if you add the votes that Chris Owens got, with the vote that David Yassky got, Chris will already be within range of whipping Yvette Clarke. Charles Barron confided that while running around the district for Gerry Hopkins, he was surprised to find the many voters he did, who were disenchanted with the Clarkes after all these years. In fact he claimed to be rather shocked by this awareness. BTW, his candidate Gerry Hopkins was ruled off the ballot by the Board of Elections today. Also ruled of were Ms. Mozell Dunstan Albright and Ferdinand Zizi. With exactly three weeks to the special election, there are now ten candidates left in the race folks.

People are saying that Eliot Spitzer’s administration is as white as usual. They say it is starting to resemble a Republican convention. They say that beyond Patterson, there have never been any blacks in the top tiers of Eliot’s inner-circle of advisors from the “git-go”. They are even saying that Patterson was a calculated risk on Eliot’s part, to lock up the “black-vote” and cut off Tom Suozzi at the pass. They say Patterson has little or no juice. What do you think peeps?

Some folks called me up to discuss my article on Clarence Norman last week. Many agreed with me that the way this thing has gone down, it now reeks of selective-prosecution and racism. They think that Charles Hynes needs to be investigated for all this and other things. What do you think? They are saying that Tessa Abrams-Mason has been around for years, and that Charles Hynes has never put her in front of a grand jury, to tell what she knows about the sale of judgeships in Brooklyn, given how up-close and personal she has been involved. Lew Fidler seems to think I should lay off Hynes; fact is I have never been on him. Hey Lew, I am just telling it as I hear, feel and see; that’s all. If I am wrong then I stand to be corrected; but the facts speak for themselves don’t they? At the end of the day and night, it seems like only one man-who just happens to be black- is going to prison. Did he do all this by himself? You folks out there need to comment on this; is Cousin Rocky wrong here?

By the way, relative to Lew Fidler; he is deeply entrenched in Wellington Sharpe’s campaign. I have seen this with my own two eyes; so this is not a third-person report folks. Talk of his support for Schiffman, has now been debunked s as far as I am concerned. Lew also happens to be a good technician apart from being an elected official, so expect Sharpe to be competitive in this race folks. Let me go on record (again) by saying that this race is up for grabs. I think Jennifer James made a big mistake by not going after all the other women in the race. Some of those petitions were weak; if she were the only woman on the ballot that would have made her quite formidable.

Former NYC mayor Ed Koch once called Charles Barron a “talented wordsmith”, and maybe just maybe Ed Koch is correct. Last weekend Barron displayed this talent when he was attacked (presumably) by the mayor Michael Bloomberg. You see Mr. Bloomers was trying to defend his police commissioner in wake of the post-Barron attack. Bloomy said that some council members don’t always have all the facts, when talking out on certain issues. Of course he was referring to the 50-bullet shooting of Sean Bell. Mr. Bloomers went on to say that some council members were seeking “headlines”. To this remark, Barron retorted that members were only seeking to see “heads roll” in the aftermath of this police killing. One thing you can say about Charles: he is never dull.

It seems that nowadays whenever I go to a political event, strangers walk up to me after I am introduced and state that they had read my blog. In fact, many claim to be great fans. My editor (Gur Tsabar) has said that thousands read my columns every week, and that Room8 has really “blown up’ (my words) over the past year. This was evident when I went to a few events last week. When introduced at one, there was a murmur in the crowd; at another, I was given a small ovation. At another event people were giving me their calling cards and wanted to talk to me about various political things, including my conditional support for Barack Obama for the US presidency. Now, where were the blogs when I was running for public office? On the subject of the upcoming presidential race, let me just go on record as saying that Giuliani and Pataki are dead men walking. Combined, they have zero chance of getting to the white house. They both have great chances of getting to some out house in Iowa or somewhere else in the boondocks; and that’s because they are both full of shit.

Black people are talking rather negatively about four black NYC council members. They are Tish James, Leroy Comry, Darlene Mealy and Larry Seabrook. In the middle of the council hearings on police brutality last week, police commissioner Ray Kelly wagged his finger at Ms. James, and admonished her for being two-faced. This came after Charles Barron took on the commish for his handling of the police department over the years. Barron actually called for Kelly’s resignation. Tish James, ostensibly trying to play to the gallery, attempted to jump on Kelly-much to his amazement. Kelly shut her up by saying; “don’t you come here talking this stuff, because in private (behind closed doors) you say something else to me”. WOW. She was “dissed”.

This brings me to something I have said a million times: that most black electeds are self-serving, shiftless, spineless, soporific, sly, dishonest, disingenuous, manipulative and unimaginative two-faced, bold-faced liars. Those are the ones who need to crawl into the nearest hole and never show their face again, given the pressing needs of most black people in this city and state; and given their glaring inadequacies and failures.

Larry Seabrook – apparently a solid member of the Ray Kelly fan club- has been an ass kisser for years. On the black radio stations he has been taking a beating for his ineptitude. On one particular Gary Imhotep Byrd call-in talk show, all three hundred or so callers had only negative things to say about him. Seabrook – who harbors congressional ambitions- epitomizes nearly all that is wrong with black electeds in this city.

Leroy Comry made himself look like a fool at these hearings, by being totally unprepared to begin with; he asked the kind of bullshit questions befitting a 5th grade student, and not a six year city council member. Now he wants to run for the Queens Borough president position. Good luck! If he had played a leadership role during this “Sean Bell” police-shooting, maybe some of us could have taken him seriously.

As to Darlene Mealy; at a recent community forum held in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, by Speaker Christine Quinn, the audience commented on Ms. Mealy’s inability to speak up/out on any of the many issues raised. Many people believe that Ms. Mealy is an empty suit. What is fascinating about this is the fact that Ms. Mealy was the unanimous choice of many unions combined, for the vacant council seat left by Tracey Boyland. Is this really the best the unions could have done? Councilmember Kendall Stewart (and his staff) should be commended for putting together a very good forum for community residents last week peeps. It was quite informative and lively.

Speaking of unions; Dennis Rivera is leaving 1199 for greener pastures. This comes on the heels of Jennifer Cunningham’s recent departure. Word out of that union is it that George Gresham is being pushed to succeed Rivera. Gresham is black. It is said that a person benefiting from all this is Patrick Gaspard. Patrick is a very likeable individual, but I really don’t know if he is aware of the magnitude of his total scope. There are lots of key players in this naked city, who could effectuate real change here, if they only could find the vision, the audacity and the team; he is one of those people. I wish him luck in whatever he does. They say he has replaced (or is replacing) Ms. Cunningham.

Back to the race for the 40th district: Jennifer James is on the move. She has raised the most money so far, and has put together a fine campaign team. On the streets, she continues to be dogged about her true residency (address) and her lack of organizational ties to the district, but those who have met her seem to be quite impressed. Some even find her physically attractive, pleasant and charming. She has now emerged as the dark horse in this open race. She is said to getting the endorsement of Senator Kevin Parker, plus that of the Nostrand Avenue Merchants Association, and also an endorsement from one of the Pakistani merchant associations; quite impressive for a newcomer.

Joel Toney-another candidate here- fired off a salvo at Mathieu Eugene yesterday, when he issued a press release stating that Eugene is an imported candidate (of the Clarkes by implication). Joel, who has genuine claims to being a true resident of this community, is raising the issue of residential roots in a timely manner. He is quite correct in this regard. His claim that Mathieu Eugene doesn’t live in the district can be echoed to reach and affect other candidates here. Of course a person is allowed to enter these special elections without a qualifying residency requirement, and this is all legal folks; however, it does play well with voters when you raise the carpetbagger issue. Maybe Joel is on to something here. Maybe he is finally fighting back after being dumped by the Clarkes.

Still on Joel Toney: I also heard through the grapevine that he hired Terry Hinds to be his election attorney. This is a lil strange since Hinds signed off on Zenobia McNally’s petition sheets as a subscribing witness. Well, necessity is the mother and father of re-invention no? Rumor had it that Toney was dumped by attorney Paul Wooten earlier in this campaign. Now some are raising his attendance as a member of CB#14, as an issue in this campaign. Over the past few months, Joel has had more hits than Brittany Spears folks; but like a Timex watch, he just keeps on ticking. I have the feeling that if Joel was to win this race, he will never stop smiling. Last time I saw him, he was a lil pissed at some of those who have entered this race, after suggesting that they were supportive of his candidacy. He was also pissed at some of the operatives and technicians involved also. I think that brother Joel has found out the hard way, that in politics, gift-horses have bad breath. He may have also found out that race, nationality, ethnicity and self-interest transcend loyalty and friendships near all the time. Keep on trucking big guy.

Some people are saying that Karlene Gordon was surprisingly good at answering some of the questions thrown her way, during the recent candidate’s forum. They also say that Zenobia McNally has an outside chance of pulling off this race. District leader Jesse Hamilton is supposedly going to court, in order to knock Wellington Sharpe off the ballot peeps. Hamilton‘s beef is with the name Sharpe used for his registered political party for this race: “Family Values”. Hamilton feels that Sharpe stole the name from him. Sharpe in turn states that his attorney (Mitchell Alter) was the one to file the party-name and petitions. He said that Alter used the name before, when he ran another candidate in a special election many years ago.

Back to the petition phase; word is that former district leader Moses Musa Moore, was working with at least three candidates in this said race, while gathering petitions with his rentable petition-crew. They say that Moore has reinvented the word: “gumption”. Word is that only Sharpe and Shiffman were legally challenged over the petitions. It is said that many others displayed weak petition efforts, but survived because everyone was watching to see what everyone else was doing. It is also being said that Fernando Zizi has withdrawn from the race, leaving only one Haitian-American candidate (Eugene).

Relative to endorsements: does anyone know where are Nick Perry, Hakeem Jeffries, Eric Adams and Assemblyman Camara going in this race? Do tell Cousin Rocky, please. Word is that Nick is pissed off at me for some shit I wrote here on Room8. I have known Nick for over 20 years, and have found him to be touchy at times; but he knows where I am, and he has my number, so he shouldn’t be using 3rd parties to get to me: I am right here, “call me Harold/lol”.

And while we are on endorsements, let me officially endorse my friend of many years, Wellington Sharpe, for this race. I first met Sharpe in the political trenches of the King’s County Hospital battles of the nineteen-eighties. We later worked together in many political organizations and on many boards in the community. He was a member of the Harriet Tubman political club and also the Marcus Garvey political organization. We have served as members of the board of directors of many a community based organization, and I have also had an opportunity to observe his community involvement on the CB #17. Back in 1990 we were members of the Flatbush–Crown Heights Political Education Committee, where we registered hundreds of voters mainly of Caribbean-American extract; I have also worked with him on many a political campaign.

Wellington Sharpe has been involved in this community for over thirty years. No other candidate in this race can say this; and this is not to say that people like Jesse Hamilton, Joel Toney, Mohammed “Moe” Razvi, Leithland Tulloch and Zenobia McNally do not bring good community-involvement credentials; they do. It is just that in my estimation, Sharpe has been around longer; he deserves his chance to show what he can do for this district. He has picked up some key endorsements from a combination of elected officials, a few unions and some locals, community activists and the like. He definitely has a shot at winning this. I urge you to vote for him. Longevity has its place folks.

Stay tuned-in folks.