Newcomers crash Queens Democratic Party
Posted on September 23, 2009 by Stephen Stirling in City Council, District 19, District 20, District 25, District 26, District 28
Long-time community activist Jerry Iannece (r.) participates in 9/11 ceremony. Iannece was beaten in the District 19 City Council primary by Kevin Kim. Photo by Christina Santucci
Queens residents cut the cord that towed the Democratic Party line in last week’s primary elections, and while some say politics in the borough is in a state of upheaval, the long-dominant political machine says it is as strong as ever.
There were 10 primaries for City Council seats in Queens Sept. 15, six of which were competitive. As the dust settled on the night of the primary, four candidates backed by the Queens Democratic Organization — John Choe, Deirdre Feerick, Jerry Iannece and incumbent Councilwoman Helen Sears (D-Jackson Heights) — had been defeated — some badly — while a fifth, Councilman Tom White (D-South Ozone Park), led by a mere six votes.
The slate of Council winners in those races were propelled by varied sources.
Two, Yen Chou in Flushing and Kevin Kim in Bayside, were aided by an exceptionally high turnout among Asian-American voters exit polls show were primarily led by enthusiasm for Councilman John Liu’s (D-Flushing) city comptroller run.
Two others, Daniel Dromm in Jackson Heights and Jimmy Van Bramer in Sunnyside, were supported by the Working Families Party — a labor-backed political party that ran an aggressive, albeit legally disputed, get-out-the-vote campaign.
The final candidate, Jamaica-seat hopeful Lynn Nunes, is a political insurgent who ran a grassroots campaign against incumbent White in the southeast Queens community hit hard in recent years by the economic collapse and foreclosure crisis.
The primary also brought out only 11 percent of eligible voters, something Evan Stavisky, whose consulting firm the Parkside Group represented all 10 of the Queens Democratic organization-backed candidates, said could be to blame for the results.
“In a low turnout election anything can happen and usually does and this is an example of it,” he said. “In general, no matter what the circumstances are, you’re still better off being backed by the party than not.”
Stavisky pointed to the six contests Democratic Party-backed candidates had won and added “that’s still a batting average that would get you into the hall of fame first ballot.”
But Steven Choi, whose group YKASEC conducted exit polls alongside the Asian American Legal Defense Fund, said the victories of Chou and Kim indicated a larger movement is afoot.
“A lot of immigrant communities are growing quickly here and starting to organize these grassroots campaigns,” Choi said. “I believe that to a large extent this primary showed machine politics are not going to work here. I don’t think that the immigrant communities are as beholden to the Queens Democratic club.”
The primary season also saw the rise of the Working Families Party, which flexed its muscle as a major political player when its candidates for citywide races — Liu for comptroller and Councilman Bill di Blasio (D-Brooklyn) for public advocate — prevailed over the other two candidates and were headed to run-off elections Sept. 29.
Seven Council candidates supported by the WFP, including Dromm and Van Bramer, won their elections over incumbents or county organization-backed candidates.
“I think they’ve definitely emerged as a player and a rival in to any of the county organizations,” said Michael Krasner, a political science professor at Queens College.
Democratic sources say the party is uniting around its slate of candidates for the general election and contend the results do not represent a major hit for the party.
“It’s not like there’s been some big sea change,” one source said. “With a low turnout a couple hundred votes can make a difference. And in some of these cases, these guys have been active in the party for a while. Take Kevin Kim, he works for [U.S. Rep.] Gary Ackerman [D-Bayside]. It’s not like the party looks weak because he’s a Democratic insurgent.”
Krasner agreed that the Queens Democratic Party is not in complete disarray, but said the elections showed that hot-button issues like term limits can sway an election. The City Council voted in November to extend the number of terms a Council member can serve from two to three, a move that spawned much controversy in the months that followed.
“I think that’s a good part of what drove this,” he said. “The situation in the state Senate that I think has only served to further sour things … and sort of driven home the idea that the best thing you can do is throw the bums out and hope the new guy is better.”
I agree with Peter’s posting, WFP has gotten a taste of sweet victory and most probably would love for the 2 candidates (Lynn Schulman is one of them) that lost by a small margin in the primary to be victorious in the general on Nov 3. Ms. Koslowitz won her primary by a slim margin, this can be associated with low voter turnout and name recognition. Ms. Koslowitz was not the best candidate but given these 2 factors it played in her favor. It will be evident that though Ms. Koslowitz touted on the campaign trail that she “didn’t need a learning curve” and “could hit the ground running on her first day in the council”, well we shall see, Ms.Koslowitz lacks motivation and has little to no energy, so I’m sure she WON’T be doing “any running” during her upcoming 4 years in office. The council as we know it today is not the same structure as when Ms. Koslowitz was a member during her 10 years there. This is a more fast-paced council, where activist groups keep track of councilmember’s attendence records, voting records, and committee activities. It will be proven that IF Ms. Koslowitz does succeed in winning November 3rd, she will be the least effective councilmember out of her 50 colleagues. She has no idea how to use computer’s, she’s a VERY poor speaker, and most of all she DOES NOT drive a car. her ability to get to community events, meetings, committee hearings and stated hearings is hindered because she has to rely on someone from her staff to drive her to and from on a daily basis. It will be a sad 4 years for the constiuents of the 29th Council District because they truly will not have a VOICE in city government.
And the story isn’t over. Consider that the Working Families Party has its own line in the General Election in November, so for instance, although Lynn Schulman lost to Karen Koslowitz in the 29th District, she only lost by a little over 200 votes, and Lynn ‘s name will be on the ballot in November and people will still be able to vote for her. Considering the independents and republicans who will then be able to vote along with those who supported Lynn in the primary, and the Party might loose another favorite.