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Revisiting the 21st Senatorial District: Ignore the Rumors
Last week, three candidates filed at the Board of Elections to contest the race for the 21st Senatorial District. They are: Kevin Parker (incumbent); Dr. Kendall Stewart (City Council/45) and Simcha Felder (City Council/44). This is the first time in my thirty-five years of first-hand experience with New York’s politics that I can remember three present officeholders (all elected officials), contesting the same state senate seat. If I am correct, then it means that we are witnessing history folks. Contrary to the persistent rumors being circulated for the past month or so, Dr. Kendall Stewart is running. He told me last week that he is in it to stay. He said that the rumors of his withdrawal were being driven by a panicking Parker camp. Dr. Stewart says that he is in it to win it. He is totally confident of pulling of the upset. He cites his sixteen years as an elected official (two positions) and his lifetime of community activism. He also cites over two decades of professional service to the community. He said that all this serves him in good stead and he expects to win. He also said that his support in this district is strong, wide, large and deep. Stewart believes that the negative press emanating from the arrest of two of his staffers who allegedly stole city money, will not subtract from the fine work he as has done representing the 45th council district. He says that the voters know he had nothing to do with these allegations (otherwise he too would have been arrested), and he expects his core support to stay in tact. Some supporters of Kevin Parker have been suggesting Stewart leave the race, once it was announced about two months ago, that Felder would run. There were internet rumors that Governor Paterson was going to give Stewart a high-profile job, just like he has recently done, for Senator Sabini, Assemblyman Lafayette, and some other elected officials. At least one key political operative from Harlem has already held discussions with Stewart as to what can persuade him to leave the race. Stewart is adamant that he is not leaving. He said that he has been preparing for this race for almost two years now, and that he is set to go, convinced that he will win. In 2001 Stewart convincingly whipped Kevin Parker in the race for the 45th council district. That was when 8 candidates ran to replace then outgoing councilman Lloyd Henry. Supporters of Stewart have been claiming that he has whipped Parker before, and he will do it again. They seem to be relishing the prospect of a Parker v. Stewart 2. There seems to be a lot of bad blood towards Parker. I remember directly telling Kevin many times over the years, that he needs to mend quite a few fences; he never listened to me. Reaching out to people (to bury the axe) isn’t something that incumbents do well; sometimes they pay a price for their folly. Meanwhile many others in the district seem to believe that the seat is at risk for losing a black representative. Some have intoned that Felder is nowhere as controversial as Noach Dear, who came close to whipping Parker twice in three attempts. They say that Felder will get more raw votes than Dear did, which makes him extremely dangerous in this race. Simcha Felder -the white Jewish candidate- up against two blacks in a district where the black population is over sixty percent, is also confident of victory. Sources tell me that Felder expects to win even if he is in a one on one race. Felder’s camp appears to be supremely confident that the voters of the district will respond to his campaign. What is distressing for me personally is the fact that quite a few blacks have been angry at my public position, which in essence is that Felder (like David Yassky/two years ago), has every right to contest this race. I will say it again: no one racial, ethnic, tribal, religious or nationalistic group has a lock on (or ownership of) any seat. I am amazed at the fact that so many don’t get this. In this race I have made a five hundred dollar bet that I know who the winner is; I will reveal it to you all in a column on Election Day (morning). Please don’t try to second guess me in the thread of this column/lol. Stay tuned-in folks; this race is far from over. Betting On Elections
I believe it's illegal and even Gatemouth stated this in a previous blog.
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 What, am I that disrepuatable? It's not even Gatemouth, it's only Gatemouth who stated this on a previous blog. And, yes, it's a felony, even if it is the stupidest law ever enacted. Hope, you have friends in the DA's office, Rockwell. "Felder is nowhere as controversial as Noach Dear, who came close to whipping Parker all three times he challenged." How is the 61% - 39% drubbing that parker gave to Dear in 2006 "close to whipping" him? I guess it shouldn't surprise me that someone who can't even get himself on the ballot thinks a 22-point loss is "close" to a whipping. Parker also beat Dear with Sharpe in the race in 2004. While Stewart barely beat Sam Taitt when he ran for re-election in 2003. There's no way in hell that Kendall breaks 20%. That may give the seat to Felder, who is capable of getting 41%, but Kendall has no chance of winning. You just bend the facts and only give statistics relevant to proving your point while ignoring the truth if it doesn't fit neatly into the argument you're trying to build. And by the way, the 20th Senatorial District is represented by Eric Adams. The district that you espouse you know so much about is actually the 21st. You're an embarrassment.
 Firstly: yes; there are errors in my column which I have fixed. I was in a hurry to get out of the door this morning and I submitted to my editors, a piece that I did not proofread. I am only human I do make mistakes sometimes.
Secondly; you attack me for this but you don't show your cowardly face (name). Why don't you do better. Write your own column and discredit my views; at the same time you can expound on yours. But you can't because you are a coward; so you hide behind the anonymous label and come up here and talk shit.
Now here is the most interesting thing of all: everyone of you detractors who come up here to attack me, continue to read my stuff. You guys are so fascinated by what I write that you can't get enough. At near every political event I go, for the past three years or so/even upstate or out of state), I encounter people who come up to me and compliment me about my writings and political insights. I wonder why? Meanwhile other media outlets publish my stuff; and radio and television producers ask me to appear on their programs. I wonder why? I must be very embarassing to them; no? I think you are a stupid ass and didn't know that. So now you know. Why don't you just stop reading my blog. IT IS THAT SIMPLE.
Stewart is going to win. Even though political officials are wavering in their support of him. The fact that Stewart can't be controlled (i.e. Eugene) is a problem for his endorsees. He is in to win. the DN has an article stating that someone that is close to the governor spoke to the Stewart suggesting that he drop out of te race and try to get an administration job. But as you probably know, the doc threw that to the fan. I suspect that is was the minority leader, seeing that he gave the post of minority whip to parker. I believe he has the experience in working and running campaigns. He also has key people with experience to come out on top. So I wouldn't be surprised if i hear Parker talking behind closed doors to get support for his council seat.
I'm giving you CREDIT because I never knew that you can be arrested and charged with felony for better on elections and I wouldn't want to see Rock put in jail. You on the other hand.....
Listen up students, here's another lesson in logic and debating from Prof. Rocky: When challenged on valid points of your original argument (the facts are different what you argued, the SD you're talking about is wrong), the best way to rebut these arguments is to resort almost immediately to ad-hominem attacks ("You are a coward" "You are a stupid ass") and puffing yourself up on completely unrelated statements (I'm on TV and radio so I'm important, even though it's just local public access.) With these two tactics, you are now ready to respond to every single person who ever disagrees with your ideas. Remember, and this is important, NEVER respond with a real response to the valid arguments of the other party. Bonus points if the only reason to call the person a coward is that they post anonymously. Good luck on your debating career. You are just another fool on this site JP. I have been exposed to media since I was ten years old. And I have had more than my share of it consistently ever since. I don't need anymore media exposure and I sure don't go looking for it beyond Room 8 and Daily Gotham. You miss the point because you are another stupid fool who operates here with impunity. I was not showing my importance, I was showing that this "embarassment" that commenter claimed I was, sure gets a lot of media quotes and invites. Now why do you think that happens? And no it wasn't just on local access. I have been on WNBC and other large mediums (visual, audio and written); so of course you can keep trying to put me down. It's only fitting because I guess you are still hurting. My candidate Obama won, and your candidate (Clinton) lost. And that happened, despite your horrid and slanderous attempts to smear me. You attacked my credibility, substance, insights and analysis. YOU FAILED MISERABLY. So now, let it go. You don't merit another response from me. Why are you so intrigued with my stuff that you have to read it? I have told you many times just don't read what I write. that way you won't have to make assinine comments that only demonstrate openly your stupidity. You are another friggin coward and you know it; that's why you come up here trying to terrorize me all the damn time. USE YOUR FULL NAME. GET SOME BALLS LIKE WONK.
Obama won because Rock is a more effective debater than JP. Thank you for clearing that up. It is one thing to criticize Rock Hackshaw when he deserves it. It is another thing to make ridiculous comments like the last one. Speaking for many here I enjoy everything Rock has to say about politics. That's why I come to Room8.
Geez Rock, for such a veteran political operative, you sure show a lack of backbone in these comments. This has nothing to do with Obama v. Clinton (even though it is disheartening to see so many people be suckered in by this con-artist, see http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/21/080721fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=all ). While your disgusting Hillary article was the first one that made me realize what a coward you really are, to me it's in the past and I'm not paying any mind to it. The reason I read your blog is the same reason I read almost everyone's blogs on this site, because most of the time there is something of substance that I can learn from. My problem with you comes from this weak, defensive, paranoid and narcissistic personality you have when responding to comments on your posts. I can't understand how you haven't been able to comprehend that comments are meant to ENHANCE dialogue between the author and readers. Instead of setting an example for your students by demostrating how to answer VALID criticism of your articles (e.g. Noach Dear did not come close to defeating Kevin Parker, in complete contrast to your claim), you decide to go directly to the gutter and bring up completely unrelated personal attacks, which in turns demeans your own credibility. All I'm doing is letting you know that any potential good you're doing in your columns is greatly diminished by your petty, vindictive character in the comments. To make it easier for you, in this response I've called you weak, defensive, paranoid, narcissistic, petty and vindictive. This is relevant because the issue at hand is the content of your responses in the comments sections of your postings. This is why I hate engaging you JP:I have no respect for your intellect. I think you are DUMB. My "disgusting Hillary article" (your words) just so happened to be proven right over time. Near all my predictions came out didn't they? And we now know that her dirty tricks led to the stealing of New Hampshire. Where is the libel suit that you promised? Where are all the other bad things you predicted about my column(s)? What good did it do her by stealing the win in NH? You tell me. You owe me an apology, and until you do, I will not engage you here on this blog or anywhere else. You disgust me. You took lil snippets out of my column and lied. Then you misrepresented what I said (deliberately). And what you did was purposely sensationalistic. And to think you even had many here fooled into believing that I was being slanderous, libelous, etc. Even "Cynical Negro" (someone I respect here) actually fell for your crap. It's people like you who keep pushing me off the blogs. But as I have said a million times: when I do leave, it will be on my terms.
Name calling is so imature. Rock, you need to read the Art of Warfare because you fight (verbally) like a girl, with your eyes closed and arms flailing wildly. (No disrepect to girls intended.) I expect better from you, especially since there's no one else in Room 8 that I read.
Kendall Stewart is a longshot to engineer an upset, but it's doable. Stewart should define Parker now. Attack Parker not only on what he has failed to deliver, but on his fitness for office. That may sound risky considering the arrest & indictment of two of Stewart's staffers, but there are clear differences that Stewart can emphasize. Simply put, he can ask who voters would prefer in office: a person who has several documented emotional outbursts resulting in arrest (Parker), or a person who's worked hard for the community but was taken advantage of by greedy underlings (Stewart). Stewart needs to keep pace with Parker in the money race, especially because Felder will have so much to spend. Felder isn't necessarily going to opportunistically feed on a split black vote. And if Hikind is supporting Parker, then what will happen in the 48th AD that Hikind represents? Does this give Stewart a chance to take advantage of a split Jewish vote? Felder will be formidable, no doubt about that. But it's not like Felder can just sit back and watch Stewart and Parker bloody each other. Felder's got to mix it up, too. Should be fun to watch!
for what it's worth, I think Felder wins the primary, but loses the general to Parker.
I like to blog - sometimes using my name - sometimes using a blog name - and sometimes as anonymous. It's not cowardly - it's American. We have great freedom to do this. There are places in the world where anonymous political bloggers are sought after and arrested for daring to speak their mind. It's serious business - and so far in this country - a great freedom. I applaud Room 8 for allowing anonymous blogging. It's one of the things that makes this blog special. I usually find Rock's articles interesting and one of the stronger and better written columns - he seems like a real deal. I hope he stays. This thing will probably fall apart without him. And no, we are not friends, we have never met, and I don't work for any of his candidate choices - but it's fair to pay a compliment as easily as some seem to be ready to be insulting. To the last commenter: it's not that I don't understand the need of some to blog anonymously, it's just that I find it cowardly for people to perpetually attack another from behind the anonymous mask. Plus, if you go back to the comment sections of many of my columns (where I turned out to be quite correct in my analysis), you will see the irresponsibility of some of the commenters. In those instances it is easy to ridicule and put me down because at the end of the night and day no one will be held accountable. Some say things that are quite mean, hurtful and untrue. Others find pleasure in releasing their vitriol. I am responsible for what I write and I affix my name to my positions. I am always held accountable. There is something unfair about the way I have been treated by anonymous people. I don't mind fighting with the people whose identities I do know because you will see a certain level of respect and accountability. But thanks for the comments anyway. I do appreciate them.
and it won't really be close.
I still want to know who the unindicted co-conspirators are in the Stewart case.
Perhaps the voters will make their choice by the character of the candidates rather than the color of their skin.
If so, it will be Felder in a walk. I live in the District for over 4 years never saw Parker. Could someone tell me what he did as a State Senator? Who cares about Hikind in the last few elections every candidate he endorsed lost, so I don't see a split cause of Hikind. Post new comment |
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