Page 65 - Demo
P. 65
Off the Record by Jon CinerD a f n r m M a o t .& o a in %u2022 %u00ab w I %u25a0%u25a0%u25a0 %u25a0 W %u25a0 w W fe * -g-g, ww %u25a0 %u25a0 %u25a0The Kings County Democratic Coalition (KCDC) of %u201creform%u201d clubs throughout Brooklyn will be meeting next month to consider endorsements for some late-toarrive candidates. New names no doubt will pop up at the Board of Elections next week after petitions have been filed and some mopping up is in order. Quite probably among the new late-coming candidates will be those circulating petitions in the 14th Congressional District: incumbent Fred Richmond, Bernard Gifford, Owen Augustine, Irving Gross, and Alan Drezin.Drezin is perhaps the latest of the late-comers, at least in terms of the public%u2019s perception of the race. But he says he decided to run %u201cfour or five months ago, before Richmond%u2019s troubles,%u201d that is, before the Richmond %u201cincident%u201d involving sexual solicitation became public. A member of the West Brooklyn Independent Democrats (WBID), Drezin did not seek his club%u2019s endorsement preferring a lowprofile campaign until petitions were filed. He is legal counsel for the Chopin Democrats in Greenpoint and is running on a slate with district leader candidates Mike Laskowsky and Florence LigarzewskiSmith in the 58th A.D.WBID is backing Gifford. WBID%u2019s ally in South Brooklyn, the Independent Neighborhood Democrats (IND), is backing Richmond. It is unlikely that Richmond will be able to capture the support of the whole KCDC delegation. The problem is whether the KCDC nod will go to Gifford or %u201c No Endorsement.%u201d Gifford is slowly lining up some reform clubs and insurgent clubs likethe Williamsburg-Greenpoint Independent Democrats and the Bedford Democratic Club (State Senator Vander Beatty%u2019s club).Office PoliticsRichmond, a millionaire industrialistturned-pol, seems to be marketing his campaign in a strange way. He has opened a campaign office on 32 Court Street in what was once a local loan office. And on the windows in red letters is the word %u201c MONEY.%u201d It may be a strange coincidence. It may also be a subtle reminder to any takers of one of the more practical factors in a political campaign.Getting AroundThe name Helene Weinstein is not exactly a household word, even in Flatbush/Canarsie. But the 26-year old attorney, who is giving Assembly Speaker Stanley Steingut his first primary in a generation, is getting around. Steingut%u2019s district does not run as far north as Albany, let alone Empire Boulevard. But the posters were there last week in downtown Albany%u2014%u201c Helene Weinstein for Assembly%u201d %u2014just outside the Wellington Hotel, where the Speaker usually stays. Does anyone have to remind Steingut that there%u2019s a primary?End Of An EraSal Ferraioli, district leader in South Brooklyn, last week filed his petitions through Democratic County headquarters, in true end-of-an-era gesture. During theprimary last fall, Ferraioli complained bitterly in Rodney Dangertield fashion abont getting no respect (read no inspectors) from the County leadership, even though he was the elected Democratic leader in the district. Now he%u2019s recognized as the %u201cregular%u201d District Leader after all, after peace was made between County%u2019s ersatz %u201cleader%u201d Leo Barrile, head of the old regular club, and erstwhile reformers.Alive and StaggeringThe Krupsak gubernatorial campaign is not staggering, the Krupsak campaign is not faltering. At least that is what the Krupsak campaign says. One indication of just jow much they are%u2014or are nor%u2014 staggering may be evident after petitions are filed today, July 27. We hear that there have been some petition problems%u2014at least enough to prompt a court challenge from the opposition, which could further sap the financial resources of a campaign that has not exactly snowballed in the summer heat.Governor Carey, in the meanwhile, is opening up a campaign office on 141 Livingston Street in Brooklyn.Tete-A-TeteF latb u sh /C an arsie A ssem blym an George Cincotta is expected to move on to a state commissioin soon. Running in his stead will be Molly Scheff, the 62-year old female leader in the 43rd A.D. Scheff will be opposing reformer Rhoda Jacobs in a rare instance in which two women are running tete-a-tete for public office.For the RecordA proposal by Congresswoman ElizabethHoltzman (D%u2014Flatbush) to help victims of insurance company redlining was overwhelmingly approved by a House of Representatives vote to retain the Holtzman language in the 1978 Housing Act. Holtzman%u2019s proposal requires that rates in the state%u2019s FAIR Plans%u2014pools which provide property insurance to those who have been denied coverage%u2014be no higher than rates in the private market. Congressman Fred Richmond (D%u2014Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene) joined four other area Congressmen to denounce the failure of the 1978 Summer Meals Program to provide food for thousands of New York youngsters. Richmond and the other representatives%u2014Weiss, Rangel, Green, and Garcia%u2014are seeking to determine why the Department of Agriculture is providing meals for less than 300,000 youngsters even though Agriculture officials informed Richmond at a March public hearing chaired by him here in New York that the intended figure was to be 900,000 children. Borough President Howard Golden has called upon Mayor Koch to rescind his endorsement of a proposal to permit paper pulp trays in packaging meat to protect 150 jobs at a Brooklyn plastics company, Favorite Plastic, which manufactures the plastic film molded to package fresh and frozen meat. The City Council is now considering an amendment allowing 70% transparent packaging on meat instead of the present 90%. Such a change would endanger Favorite and Brooklyn according to Golden.Coping By Judy LinscotfThere are any number of possible answers to that cold, old and nosy question: %u201c So why do you live in New York?%u201d So why do I?Besides %u201c I du'nno,%u201d%u2014tossed off with a world weary shrug, that useless phrase can take on connotations that far surpass any original thinking on my part%u2014the answer is: it%u2019s got what nobody else has got: First run movies, Broadway plays, Carnegie Hall recitals, Halston designs, Tiffany diamonds, and Windows on the World, pizza, bagels, egg creams and, of course, the inimitable (and oh how they try) New York deli. This is to mention just a few of the city%u2019s charms, temptations and delights, all of which brought me here and keep me fending off the heat, the garbage and the shopping bag ladies.Trouble is, the life-style I lead lends itself more to East Broomsville, Oklahoma (with all due apologies to fanciers of that region), than to the hub of the world. It%u2019s called Poverty Stricken and Without Connections (of the sort that gets you into exclusive clubs on Saturdays after 1 a.m. or delivers you credit cards without the benefit of a savings account, never mind credit). All my connections are good for is an occasional hamburg or a ride out of town (usually in a %u201968 Chevy and only on the basis that I drive half-way) and those of my loyal friends who are blessed with air conditioning have allowed that I can sleep any time on their pull-out sofa. Big deal.Since I don%u2019t have a credit card, and don%u2019t work anywhere near Times Square, I never seem to get around to procuring Broadway tickets. And even if I made thatenormous effort that way, I never seem to have the available cash in hand to snag four good seats. Therefore I%u2019m restricted to shows so popular that they allow for Standing Room Only, which at $5 a shot isjust about my speed. Trouble is, the stuff I want to see not only never sells out, but usually folds before I%u2019ve made my move.Then there%u2019s the movie problem: the price I have to pay to see the film of the year that won%u2019t hit Toledo for another century is to stand in line for an hour for the ticket and another hour for the seat. In between those two hours I have the option of traipsing off to Doopsey%u2019s Dahlia for afew overpriced drinks. Time, labor and other expenses (not to mention the mental mayhem damages) end up costing me roughly $43.79. All for a movie that, as the saying goes, I can see next year on tv.Now speaking of tv, there are those from the hinterlands who point out that when all else fails at least I%u2019ve got a choice of great late-night films to watch, more or less for free. First, I%u2019d like to point out that this legend of late night films is indeed a myth. The good films are usually aired on Monday and then there will be three or four of them playing at one time, all of which I miss anyway since it never occurs to me to look at the listings until Wednesday. Friday or Saturday usually finds monster stuff with all the gimmicks showing or talk shows starring Danny Thomas talking to Danny Kaye about Donny Osmund and what fresh young talent he is. All of which leaves me lounging around with other equally unimaginative and poverty stricken friends bemoaning the fact that here we are in the Big Apple with nothing to do.There are times, of coures, when I make the supreme effort to overcome my inertia and financial disability and procure tickets, seek out affordable, exciting restaurants, brave the movie Hines or actually check to see what%u2019s happening at Lincoln Center this year. Those times are when I%u2019m descended upon by out-of-town friends or relations who must never be privy to my well concealed status%u2014or lack of it.By the time they arrive, the refrigerator is stocked with bagels and cream cheese and Italian pastries; reservations arewaiting at a variety of hastily located, intimate and inexpensive restaurants; and I%u2019ve finally gotten around to unearthing a new %u201creal New York deli%u201d within walking distance of my apartment, which is carefully strewn with movie ticket stubs and Broadway programs. A quick perusal of the papers informs me of what%u2019s happening at the museums and I perforce memorize the appropriate addresses. With any luck, they%u2019ll never know that I haven%u2019t set foot in the Met since their last visit two years ago or that for all I know, the U.N. may have blown up, since I haven%u2019t visited it since high school (as a matter of fact, 1 keep thinking that it%u2019s in Washington).1 even manage a casual stroll or two around Saks and Bloomingdale%u2019s that doesn%u2019t let on my decided lack of familiarity with their respective lay-outs (summer is best for giving tours, because I can wear sunglasses and sneak a surreptitious glance or two at the directory). To augment this, I haul out from the back closet some Bergdorf hat boxes and such, left over from my mother%u2019s Christmas generosity, and toss them in a flighty fashion around the bedroom.All in all, it makes for an exhausting and guilt-ridden weekend, one from which it takes a few months to recover. At that point the next set of awed visitors descends oohing and aahing about my marvelous life-style and bemoaning all the crucial life supports they lack back in Chicago and extolling the infinite delights of new York.At which point I shrug my world-weary shrug and admit that I could never live anywhere else.%u2018Trouble is, thelife-style I leadlends itself more toEast Broomsville,Oklahoma, than tothe hub of theworld.%u2019Inklings By Bene SuchmaJuly 97 1978 THE PHOFNIY Pana%u00ab;

