Page 117 - Demo

Off the Record BY Jen ClnerFace to FaceThe candidate%u2019s night last a tCollege Commons, the new communitysponsored Mitchell-Lama co-op in Fort Greene, was the scene of the first face-to-face showdown between Congressional candidates Fred Richmond and Bernard Gifford. The candidates shook hands, but they did not exactly come out fighting. The meeting was not so much a debate as an elaboration of their respective campaign themes: Richmond, the incumbent, running on his record of what he calls %u201ccommunity service and activism%u201d ; and Gifford on his background in the community and on criticism of the Carter Administration. The candidates did debate briefly on federal wage and price supports, Richmond for, Gifford against.There is one issue that could have been controversial%u2014except that both candidates seem to agree. The issue is the MoynihanPackwood bill that would give tax relief to parents paying private-school tuition. Many residents in the 14th Congressional District send their children to private schools%u2014be they Catholic schools, Yeshivas, or %u201c prep%u201d schools%u2014so the issue may be important to them. It is also important because Senator Moynihan has let it be known that he is going to help Gifford in the campaign. But Gifford, like Richmond, is against the tuition tax credit bill, although he favors other types of assitance that are %u201c Constitutional.%u201d Gifford fears that the bill would lead to segregated schools in the South. The school tuition may therefore be an issue for Irving Grossor Owens Augustine to seize upon, if they can stay on the ballot.Gaining Steam?In the meantime, the Gifford campaign has the appearances of picking up some steam. Gifford last week was endorsed by Rabbi Chaim Stauber, a Chasidic leader in Williamsburg, where there is a large bloc of primary votes. He also got the nod from the Kings County Democratic Coalition (KCDC), the reform umbrella group in Brooklyn, and by a large margin.Last week Gifford also announced that he was being endorsed by Bronx Congressman Robert Garcia. Garcia, through a press spokesman, however, said that he had not made an endorsement in the race. %u201c Bobby Garcia told me personally that he was endorsing me,%u201d Gifford said last week. %u201c He has not done so formally,%u201d he insisted. Gifford may also have pulled one would-be supporter from the Richmond camp. Last June, Bruce Llewellyn, the head of 100 Black Men, a group of black leaders, was listed as one of the hosts of a Richmond campaign fund-raiser. But Gifford announced last week that Llewelyn is now supporting the former Deputy School Board Chancellor. Llewelyn could not be reached for comment.Every Big Bit CountsAnother candidate to appear at the College Commons candidate%u2019s night last week was incumbent Assemblyman Harvey Strelzin. Strelzin is facing challenges from three candidates in the Fort Greene/ Boerum Hill/Williamsburg district. Noneof the others showed up, which is surprising considering the healthy number of votes that are at stake in the co-op%u2014 about 500 families.One of Strelzin%u2019s opponents, Virginia Apuzzo, landed what might%u2014or might not%u2014be a major endorsement. Lieutenant Governor Mary Ann Krupsak Monday made a surprising gesture and endorsed in a local race. She endorsed Apuzzo.%u201c Harvey Strelzin has proven himself to be a dedicated, consistent public servant,%u201d Krupsak said Monday. %u201c However, it is time for a change. Virginia Apuzzo represents new fresh community-oriented leadership. I endorse her candidacy.%u201dDouble IdentityIs it the Big Sleep all over again? Two years ago, Park Slope Assemblyman Joe Ferris, a Democrat, got knocked off the Liberal line even though he received that party%u2019s official designation. And it seems Ferris, who is facing Beatrice DeSapio in the Democratic primary, might get the heave-ho again. His address is listed as 292 Windsor Place on the Democratic petitions. His address is listed as 974 47th Street in Borough Park on his Liberal Party petition. Everyone knows he used to live on Third Street, at least before he was gerrymandered out of the District by Albany Republicans.In any case, Ferris is likely to get lopped off either the Liberal or Democratic line, depending on his legal voting address. Forget about where he lives. Ferris could not be reached in time for comment but anaide said that he was registered at the Windsor Place (Democratic) address. Lightning strikes again? 1 don't think n sfate this time.For the RecordCongressman Fred Richmond (D-14th C.D.), last week urged a House panel to block an Administration proposal to transfer child nutrition programs from the US Dept, of Agriculture to a proposed federal Department of Education, saying that the transfer would jeopardize the nutritional quality of school meals...more locally, the Congressman wrote Sanitation Commissioner Anthony Vaccarello with a %u201c novel%u201d pooper-scooper suggestion: placing small metal containers in selected locations throughout a community for dog refuse. Richmond noted that the containers could be attached to signs or other kinds of poles in order to prevent theft...Richmond%u2019s Democratic primary opponent, Bernard Gifford, has received the endorsement of the citywide chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists...Councilman Abe Gerges%u2019 Subcommittee on Funding of the Criminal Courts System heard testimony this week on Central Booking and Prearraignment systems in regard to cutting down unnecessary police overtime in the processing of arrests...Calvin Williams, who is challenging A1 Vann for State Assembly in the 56th A.D., is launching the campaign effort with a %u201c Kick-Off-Buffet%u201d on August 12. Williams says he is running because, %u201c Our community has regressed over the past four years.%u201dCoping By Jody UnsconMixing and MinglingNew York%u2019s City Hall is not a particularly pretentious place.. It%u2019s a nice little building in its way, but no great shakes. The wonder is that it%u2019s so hard to get inside there when some big cheese comes to town%u2014and that so little happens once you%u2019re there.In this case the big cheese was President Jimmy Carter and the occasion was Tuesday%u2019s signing of the Federal loan guarantee bill for New York City, that piece of paper that with any luck will keep us all in clover for 30 years from now.By the time I elbowed my way through a muggy crowd for Tuesday%u2019s big event, it was the third time I%u2019d been to City Hall that day, and only the first time, I should point out, that I was there by invitation.A brief history of how this came to be is in order here. It all started Monday morning when a Mailgram arrived explaining how to get press clearance for the event, which arrived at our offices 36 hours after the message said the time for applications would be closed. Next was a series of phone calls to sources identifying themselves as %u201c White House advance%u201d who, by the end of the day Monday, had decided we late-comers couldn%u2019t cut the mustard, so to speak, on the dubious argument that the CIA or the FBI or the Secret Service or whoever needs 24 hours notice to establish us all in favor of God and country and federal loans. A series of 11th hour calls tb the Mayor%u2019s press office (which had sent the invitation in the first place) produced: 1) assurances that it waswith the Big Cheese%u201c the White House%u2019s ball gam e%u201d ; 2) assurances that %u201c we have confirmation that Western Union delivered all Mailgrams on time%u201d (i.e., we can%u2019t help it if you let your mail sit around for three days); and 3) a suggestion that I show up at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning %u201c and see.%u201d Just what I was showing up to %u201c see%u201d wasn%u2019t clear, but it seemed worth a try.At 10 a.m. Tuesday, I dutifully show up, clutching copies of my newspaper, official identification and written assurances that I am who I say I am, at least as far as anyone from this office can tell. They are surprised to see me there in the %u201c Blue Room%u201d at City Hall and assure me that %u201cnothing can be done.%u201d At this point I%u2019m not sure I care, but it is my job to pretend I do, so I argue myself a ticket. Tickets (not to be confused with press clearance, which allows you to hang around in the bleachers and look cynical with all of the other press guys) will be given out starting at 10 a.m., I am told, at 250 Broadway. I do not point out that it is already 10:15. (Part of the bureaucratic thinking holds that time is never what it appears to be, and I respect that.)Needless to say, no one is giving out tickets at 250 Broadway, and after several false starts and Chock-Full-O-Nuts versions of coffee, I present myself two hours later at what appears to be an operating ticket table. Needless to say, I am not %u201con the list.%u201d A carefully coiffed woman with that determined %u201c I-am-totally-out-ofcontrol-but-I-will-not-admit-it%u201d look on herface scrambles through several lists, reconfirms the spelling of my name several times, and reconfirms that as far as she is concerned, I do not exist. We stare at each other until she hands over a ticket, saying with an air of helpless resignation that %u201c you look honest.%u201d As if it%u2019s my fault.So four hours later I am there, by invitation of the City, the State and God. There are many more people outside of the ropes around City Hall%u2019s steps than are inside, courtesy of the Secret Security entourage (easily spotted since they exude a stronger air of self-importance than other people, with the possible exception of City Hall aides).I haven%u2019t seen Ed Koch on these steps since his inauguration; he%u2019s gone now from modest acceptor of the crown to graceful host (since he%u2019s by nature neither modest nor graceful, neither role particularly fits him). He gets up and shouts (why does he always shout?) about what a great day this is for the city and the country and emphasizes how grateful he is to Governor Carey and President Carter and how New York won%u2019t forget them. Governor Carey gets up and says what a great day it is for New York City and the state and how grateful he is to Mayor Koch and President Carter. President Carter gets up and says what a great day it is for everybody and what a great job Governor %u201c Keery%u201d and the Mayor are doing. Senator Pat Moynihan, who gets his share of accolades, doesn%u2019t get up and doesn%u2019t say anything, but looks like he%u2019s been in the sun too long. It%u2019s hard to keep track of them all: losing sight of one head you%u2019ve identified is like losing track of the ball in a tennis match,and therefore losing track of the game.The game is being amplified, since a contingent of the Black United Front, headed by Brooklyn%u2019s Rev. Herbert Daughtry, is making noise behind the police barricades. The louder they go the louder the amplifiers go, which is just as well since Carter is not what is known as a %u201c strong speaker.%u201d (The United Front, a Crown Heights-based black group, claimed Carter had ignored their requests to meet with him over the recent racial disputes in their neighborhood. Their chants of %u201c All fired up, can%u2019t take no more%u201d produced what some might call the real liveliness in a fairly slow afternoon.)Then it was all over, amidst a tinny rendition of %u201c Give My Regards top Broadway,%u201d while Carter, Carey, Koch, et al. hovered over what was presumably the signing of the document. Then the crowd inched (literally) into City Hall to inch (literally) up the stairs to the City Council Chambers to shake everyone%u2019s hand. Everyone, meantime, is hot and sweaty and pretending that they don%u2019t know what%u2019s at the end of the line so that we all won%u2019t know that what everyone really wants to do this'afternoon is shake hands with Carter, Carey and Koch, who are lined up like the three Muppets, their choreography intact. Rosalyn, of course, moves her mouth and pretends to talk, but actually whispers; the others don%u2019t say anything either, but they are in seemingly blissful harmony.%u201cThank you for coming,%u201d says Carter. %u201c Thank you for coming,%u201d says Carey. \Hey, no problem, guys. Anytime.Inklings By Bone SuchmaSE E . D O C .., TS ukj 8/y ih im ' a Tcovey is l a n dIt. .. a c c id e n t a l l y FELL.SO U N D A S l E E P . , .ca%u2022S IG H I U t %u2022SLC PT\H IG H T ID E %u2014August 10,1978, THE PHOENIX, Page 5