Page 503 - Demo

Off the Record b y Jon CinorElizabeth Holtzman, it seems, is not going to let all of that Watergate-television exposure go to waste. There has been a lot of talk that her aides are putting together a state-wide operation to start her campaign for U.S. Senate in 1980. One of her aides, Stan Collender, denies it. %u201c That%u2019s just not h ap p en in g ,%u201d he said. %u2018%u2018T here%u2019s no Holtzman for Senate campaign. She is making a lot of upstate appearances acting as a surrogate to the Governor at the Governor%u2019s req u e st.%u201d One of those appearances will be as a speaker at the Syracuse County Democratic Dinner this week, which will also involve a meeting with Syracuse Mayor Lee Alexander. Holtzman will also be campaigning for Democratic Congressman Stan Lundeen in western New York.So Holtzman may not be on the stump yet for herself. But her ersatz role as Governor certainly won%u2019t hurt her if and when she makes her own upstate swing in 1980. Observers think it%u2019s the right move, in any case, and speculate that she will probably need some more media representation upstate if she is to embark on a serious campaign for Senate.On The GoAnother Brooklyn elected official who may be moving up in 1980 is State Assemblyman Albert Vann. Vann achieved a stunning victory in the Democratic primary when he won convincing races over regulars Carl Butler and Calvin Williams for District Leader and Assemblyman respectively in the Bed-Stuy 56th A.D., making him the premier black vote-getter in Brooklyn. Vann toyed with the idea of running for Congress this year against Fred Richmond but decided instead to hold on to his Assembly seat. But that doesn%u2019t mean he isn%u2019t looking elsewhere. He was certainly the politician on the go recently when he spoke in front of the United Nations on the issue of political prisoners, denouncing the South African and Rhodesian governments and backing up U.N. Am bassador Andy Young%u2019s statement earlier this year that America had its own share of political prisoners. AVann nrp%u00ab%u00ab: rf%u00bbiease %u00ab?>ys that his statement %u201c caused some consternation among members of the U.S. delegation,%u201d a point that the Assemblyman certainly is proud of.Vann is still very much the maverick these days, and mavericks only seem to speak out when they know they have some power.O %u2019Donnel GoesIt may be an ominous note for Perry Duryea. Harry O%u2019Donnel, with no explanation, has left the GOP ticket as director of communications. O%u2019Donnel is a veteran of the Rockefeller years. If you recall, Governor Carey%u2019s campaign for the Democratic primary seemed to have taken off shortly after Mary Ann Krupsak%u2019s press coordinator Hank Scheinkopf departed from the campaign. And in the final weeks Duryea will need all the help-media help, that is-that he can muster. Scheinkopf, incidentally, has been pounding the pavement since leaving Krupsak. The Brooklyn-based political publicist reportedly was going, to connect with the CareyonmnnioM Knt fUof foil tli rail rrK norli one w %u00bb>%u00bb%u00bb%u00ab%u25ba*%u00bb%u2022 w%u00bb*%u00ab **5%u2018 *ibecause of his previous employment. Who knows? Scheinkopf would not comment.Golden BoyBrooklyn Borough President Howard appears to be interested in running for City Comptroller, if Jay Goldin moves on up and out to State Comptroller next year. With a solid block of Brooklyn votes behind him, Golden could have a shot at winning a special election next year for the city-wide office, although he is still considered something of a long shot. Nevertheless, the BP%u2019s would-be successors are already lining up: Fort Greene councilmember Abe Gerges, who wanted the job three years ago when Sebastian Leone resigned to take a judgeship; Flatbush Councilmember Leon Katz, who also expressed some interest then; Edolphus Townes, the Deputy Borough President, who could be Brooklyn%u2019s first black BP; and Marcy Feigenbaum, a district leader and the $16,000 director of Community Planning Boards for Golden.C opin g b y Jody LinscottOne of these days it%u2019s going to happen, I%u2019m convinced of it. I will be squashed flat like a sticky noodle between two cars. I will be so squashed and I will deserve every bit of my unfortunate fate.I am defying the gods. I am an educated person and I know I won%u2019t get away with it. One day I will pay for my sins. Because every time 1 walk between two parked cars I remember that childhood adage: %u201c Never walk between two parked cars.%u201dMy parents, poor dears, never knew (or so I generously believe) what trauma they implanted in the efficient execution of their good offices. They undoubtedly had only my best interests at heart. Nevertheless, if I took their solemn admonitions to heart (and I did, see above) I would be in a pretty rotten and frazzled state today. As it is, I%u2019m not in great shape.Everybody is stuck with them; it%u2019s just a matter of form versus content. I have yet to find the fellow adujlt human who isn%u2019t imbued with a reverence for %u201c looking both ways%u201d : what it means is that you cross without looking anyway, gambling that you won%u2019t get hit and sure that if you do, you asked for it. We%u2019re all lapsed Catholics in this regard. Guilt, if not obedience, will follow us to the grave.On the other hand, many of life%u2019s little rules and regulations vary according to upbringing, or, as some would have it, %u201c breeding.%u201d My own puritan background translated m anners to sensibility, or %u201c ta s te ,%u201d in the sim plest life system possible: good and bad. This, folks, is the Calvinist tradition wiped clean of theology.The training ground was the dinner table,and it started with coming when you were called-promptness was upheld as a virtue, oddly enough, in a family habitually late for other life events. One was forgiven only on the basis of sound excuse. (It took me a long time to learn to be fashionably late, when I learned it with a vengeance, along with a fine flair for elaborate fabrication.)Other rules of the game, with their hidden morals, learned in the proximity of roast beef: do not brandish your silverware and take the nearest, not the biggest; the meek shall inherit the earth. Do not blow bubbles in your milk; boorishness will get you nowhere. Eat your spinach; life is not easy and we will all suffer. A lot of the things I heard had to do with language: the universal %u201c may I%u201d versus %u201c can I,%u201d as in %u201c yes, you can eat more cake, but you may not have any more,%u201d always with those same damn inflections, usually followed by lesson number two: adults (like customers) are always right. %u201c Why can%u2019t I have any more?%u201d %u201c Because I said so.%u201d Oh.I am only beginning to learn that some of these rules have real life applications and some of them don%u2019t.One rule we didn%u2019t have that a lot of others did, was the washing of hands before meals business. In the puritan ethic, cleanliness is not next to godliness. Avoiding %u201c scene%u201d is. In the dinner table code, that included several absolutes: never sing, shout or otherwise evidence a lack of control at the table; do not lunge over your sister for the bread basket, for she will punch you and a scene will ensue. Never talk with your mouth full, it isn%u2019t-ahem -delicate. The subject of burping never came up. As far as we wereconcerned, people don%u2019t burp. Attempt not to speak unless spoken to (my parents were liberals, and a little lax on this one) but when addressed, respond in clear and cheerful tones in complete, grammatically correct sentences. Attempt at all times to maintain a pleasant but low profile.Assertiveness training it wasn%u2019t. I still have a hard time telling the man who%u2019s just cut in front of me in the movie line to buzz off. On the other hand, we develop looks to kill.To be avoided at all costs, so to speak, was the vaguely distasteful subject of money, the logical extension of which was %u201c never put money in your mouth.%u201d Which makes sense, of course, though it caused no end of trouble later when I discovered that you %u201c can%u2019t eat promises.%u201d Logic would then suggest that you are stuck. (On the other hand, I have been blissfully free of any commitment to putting my money where my mouth is.)All these regulations, of course, were developed to make the world safe for children, and in a sense they did; in our case, unfortunately, they were designed for a lifestyle compatible with fire, brimstone and Jonathon Edwards. We had a hard time adapting.The outer world translations included: do not eat or drink on the street; do not snap your gum or blow bubbles (better yet, do not chew gum. To chew sugared or sugar-free was not ever the question). Do not point, which is rude (this quickly led to further refinement of our eye movements including a hideously fine-honed rolling). Do not talk to strangers, unless they are old ladies asking directions (this one waspretty universal, and smart. To this day, 1 am delighted not to talk to strangers, although strangers seem hell-bent on talking to me). In our case, since we lived in %u201c the country,%u201d that rule more often translated to %u201c never accept a ride from a stranger,%u201d which, since we were not what you would call a close-knit extended family once led me to self righteously refuse a half-mile ride from a suspicious looking woman who, once home, metamorphosed intoftny Aunt Meg. It was assumed one would suffer occasional embarrassment at the hands of the Higher Code.%u201c Do not accept candy from strangers%u201d was another one, which perversely enough led to a firm belief in %u201cyou don%u2019t get something for nothing,%u201d and a justifiable aversion to the alleged popcorn and such handed out by Moonies, Hari Krishnas and other suspects (after all, who knows what the hell they%u2019ve put in there?).On the other hand, 1 am doing pretty well at unlearning some of the more useless stuff, like apologizing for unintentional body contact. After three years spent in New York being sorry for being slammed into, my toes trampled on and my ribs elbowed, I am beginning to learn that I am not always accountable for my brothers%u2019 sins. I mean-hey, we%u2019ve all got problems.Anyway, I have had a recent revelation which justifies a repaving of my straight and narro I am not living in Boston. I am living in New York. That%u2019s no salvation for the Italian or the Jew, but the Irish and I are rolling in clover. I have seen the Fallen City and it doesn%u2019t count.Eureka. We%u2019re off scot free.Com m w nity ForumA B ig D e c is io n fo r P a n e l a n d P u b licBY SHOLOM SCHWARTZOn November 7, Election Day, you will have the opportunity to vote for eight candidates for State Supreme Court. The facts of life are that the Democratic candidates will win, because the Democratic Party claims the loyalty of the vast majority of voters in Brooklyn. Therefore, while you are in the voting booth, you might want to pause a second to look at the names of the eight men running on the Democratic line. These men will be sitting on the bench for the next 14 years, helping to set the tone of justice in our city.Being that the Democratic candidates for State Supreme Court always win in Brooklyn, extra care should be taken by the Democratic Party to see that it does not nominate unqualified candidates.THE PROCESSThe Democratic Supreme Court candi-%u00ab%u00bb*VVUP VliVUVU