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June 7, 1973, PHOENIX, Page 3Richmond Retains Council Seat;Reformers Carrv Park SlooeWittich HQGlum Over Vote;Looks to 1974BY CORRINE COLEMANThe ironic pattern oft recurringin New York city politics took holdin the Bob Wittich-Fred Richmondrace for the 29th Councilmanic seatin last Monday%u2019s Democraticprimary. Though reformer Wittichbased much of his campaign on hiscontention that incumbent Richmond overlooks the needs andaspirations of the district%u2019s poorand working class, it was the verysections of the poor and workingclass %u2014 Williamsburg, Greenpointand Fort Greene%u2014 that brought inthe vote for the Councilman;leaving Brooklyn Heights, thestronghold of the middle class, tostand behind the challenger.However, the vote that theHeights brought in for Wittich wasnot nearly enough to offset theheavy returns on the Richmondside, coming from the easternportion of the district.At the West Brooklyn Ind e p e n d e n t D e m o c r a t i cheadquarters on Montague St., theresults for all its 19 electiondistricts were in within an hour anda half of the nine p.m. poll closing.At a stand in the back of the longnarrow room with walls halfcovered with tiny mosaic tiles, abearded young man stood andcopied tallies from returningworkers at the polls. As he calledout some of the figures %u2014 E. D. 2;Wittich 146%u2014Richmond 94; E. D.14; Wittich 186%u2014Richmond 54 %u2014the group nearby broke out inapplause. At the front of the hotand crowded room, with itsmounds oi sanuwiches and cans ofbeer still untouched, a group washuddled before a TV set, coveringreturns from the various cityraces.A sudden shout against %u201cthatbum Solarz%u201d giving evidence offactionalism beneath the consolidated exterior, results in morethan one retort. %u201cShut up or getout,%u201d the blasting voices warn,shaking up those seated quietly onthe sidelines.%u201cWe could have done that E. D.better,%u201d a campaign worker says,probably referring to the CadmanPlaza poll which came out only avote ahead for Wittich. %u201cWe justdidn%u2019t have the resources,%u201d was theapologetic answer.%u201cBlumenthal turns out to be thespoiler,%u201d a club member says,marking the irony of his statement.Though only nine percent of theoriginal WBID vote went for theNew Democratic Coalition candidate, the group accepted theBlumenthal choice and filled theciubroom with his posters; hisbanners; promoted his candidacythough many of their hearts werewith Badillo.Soon Bob Wittich enters the roomwith his wife Rita, and turns toaddress the crowd. Announcing hisconcession to Councilman Richmond, Wittich, though disappointed in the vote and in some ofthe campaign efforts, appearsalready resilient, set for the next.Councilmanic race, slated for nextyear.%u201cThe battle is not yet over,%u201d theContinued on 4 Page 6Robert Wittich pauses for a sandwich while listening to the voting returns at the WBID Headquarters.IRobert Burton examines early returns amid the relativelysubdued election night activities at the CBID HeadquartersCBID Cheers Judicial SweepBY JOHN BLACKMOREAt the Central Brooklyn Independent Democratic Club onSeventh Ave. in Park Slope, themood was relatively subdued asthe first results came in. Radio andTV networks had just announcedtheir projection that Beame andBadillo would take first and secondplace, and the reports about othercity-wide contests indicated thatthe CBID%u2019s endorsed candidateswere not doing well at all.However, in the back roomwhere they were cautiously goingthrough the judicial delegateballots, quite another pattern wasemerging. It was becoming increasingly evident that most oftheir reform slate was going to beelected.The first cheers of the eveningarose when it was reported thatPaul O%u2019Dwyer was going to make itafter all, and without a runoff.CBIDs had endorsed Blumenthalfor Mayor, Goldin for Comptroller,O%u2019Dwyer for Council President,Solarz for Borough President,Polonsky for Councilwoman-atLarge, and Weinstein for ChiefJudge.The liberal split that dividedliberal-reform circles throughoutthe city was all too evident at theclub. There had apparently beenquite a battle among the membership before their decision tofollow the lead of the NewDemocratic Coalition in supportingBlumenthal. %u201cWe nearly killedourselves after the NDC decision,%u201dremarked member Mary Slusarev,%u201cBadillo had strong support here,but we followed the NDC. Now thatBlumenthal is out we hope the clubwill throw its support behind thestrongest candidate, Badillo.%u201dLouise Finney, who ran a successful campaign for judicialdelegate, interpreted Blumenthal%u2019sweak showing to his lack of publicendorsements. %u201cWe attribute thelack of support for Blumenthal,and our other city-wide endorsedcandidates, particularly to thenewspaper endorsements, whichwent badly for them,%u201d she said.%u201cHowever, our judicial slate isdoing great, even in areas whereu i:w. %u2014i. %u00bb* V VtiVUl b lb, im c. %u2022%u2022 U1UOU1Terrace, where Biaggi made astrong showing.%u201dAnother major topic of conversation was registration difficulties. One member bemoanedthe fact that registration officialshad not made the procedures clearenough in some cases. %u201cManypeople did not understand thatregistration for the May 1st schoolboard elections did not qualifythem for registration in theprimary. This was particularlyhard on the Spanish-speakingpeople, many of whom went downto the polls today expecting to vote,and were turned away,%u201d onemember commented.By the end of the evening, theworkers were exhausted, but theyhad not lost their spirit. As the finaltotals were added, the cheers fromthe counting room became moreand more frequent. %u201cWe got all fiveof them. All our judicial delegatesmade it!%u201d was the clamor.%u201cAnd they said that the onlything that got us in was theMcGovern thing, this proves wedon%u2019t need coattails to ride on,%u201dexclaimed Ms. Finney. Sheassured us that the new delegateswould make prudent decisions atthe convention. %u201cOur delegates arepledged to vote only for candidatesapproved by the IndependentJudicial Screening Panel.%u201dAs it turned out, the exuberantcheers were to be repeated oncemore, when the tallies for theContinued on Page 6Richmond HQ Takes Heights LossLike BitterBY KITTY TERJENCouncilman Fred Richmond%u2019soffice in Brooklyn Heights was allbut deserted Monday night afterthe polls were closed and the voteswere being tallied. Except for fourHassidic Jews, several staffmembers and an occasionalvisitor, the second floor suite at 147Montague St. was empty.Missing was the traditionalelection night crowd of wellwishers and free loaders. Thefestivities were to be elsewhere.The Hassidic Jews, lounging on along blue sofa, listened to city-wideelection returns on the radio andtalked quietly among themselves.Staff members ambled from theirdesks to the IBM copy machine andback again. The phones werestrangely quiet.It was a very anti-climatic end toa campaign that had been markedby big spending and bravado. Anincumbent to the councilmanicseat by virtue of appointment,Fred Richmond was at last victorious in his own right. By 9:45p.m. the trend was clear:Greenpoint, Williamsburg weresolidly behind him: BrooklvnHeights was not,Richmond was there only brieflyand without fanfare. He tried to becasual, but hurt showed through.%u201cWe%u2019ve won,%u201d he said bitterly, %u201cinspite of the Heights.%u201dBut, he added, %u201cWe%u2019ll still giveservice here though, we%u2019ll keep thisoffice open and functioning. That%u2019sMedicinewhat they don%u2019t understand. The(purpose of) the councilman%u2019soffice is to give service.%u201dAfter that, he left the Heights tomake the rounds, ending upeventually in Greenpoint at theDiamond Club where onepresumes it was more like a victory celebration.His aides were apologetic aboutthe lack of activity. %u201cThis is justthe technical center where thevotes are being tallied,%u201d said one.The press was not invited into theback room where the votes werebeing tallied, and it was difficult toget a feeling of how the vote wasgoing. About the only show ofenthusiasm coming from that areawas a shout of %u201cCome on Mario%u201dwhich punctuated the silencearound 10:30 p.m.About that time a swarthy visitorappeared. %u201cWhere's Fu-d?%u201d heasked. He was vi si hi-, disappointedwhen he discove:ed thal theCouncilman and t,h< crowds wereabsent. For lack of anything betterto do, he wandered back and forthrestlessly for a few minutes.%u201cDid you work for Richmond?%u201dwe asked. %u201cA little,%u201d he said. %u201c1d o n %u2019t g iv e e v e rv th in P to a politician anymore.%u201d%u201cWhy?%u201d %u201cI%u2019ve got to make aliving; my time is valuable,%u201d hesaid, then walked away.And so it went, slowly. Avolunteer Bob Connor, outlinedRichmond%u2019s election day activityvhich sounded like the candidateContinued on Page 12P H O E N IX P H O T O Oy t-r a n c o is D u m a in e