Page 515 - Demo

In State Senate RaceCandidates RepeatIssues Two Years OldBY ROB TAYLORSome election observers would say that the Democratic Primary race in the 22nd Senate District is a near instant reply of the battle that took place in 1984. Anna Jefferson was State Senator and Velmanette Montgomery, who won the party nomination as well as the general election, was the challenger.This year, the titles may be switched, but the politics are still the same. While there is little substantive difference on issues separating these two candidacies, it is the personalities and legacies of both that will determine the outcome of this political battle in the Red Hook/Boerum Hill/Ft. Greene/Bedford-Stuyvesant district.In 1984, Jefferson was dragged through the courts because she inaccurately stated the number of signatures on the cover sheets accompanying her nominating the petitions. The State courts invalidated her candidacy but a Federal judge returned her to the ballot one day before the primary election. Jefferson subsequently lost her seat to Montgomery.This year, Montgomery again challenged Jefferson%u2019s petitions claiming that they should be invalidated because Jefferson filed signatures with no cover sheet first and added the information later. This year, luck was on Jefferson%u2019s side as the State Supreme Court and Appellate Division validated her candidacy.FRIEND OF VANDER BEATTYJefferson was also a close friend of former State Senator Vander Beatty, and the association still haunts her candidacy as Beatty was jailed for election fraud. Jefferson says that since he was released last year, she has not heard from him, but she does know that he is living in a Brooklyn halfway house.For her part, Montgomery has known of Jefferson%u2019s impending challenge since she took office in 1984. A former day-care worker, Montgomery has worked on child-care issues, drug abuse programs and development projects since she went to Albany. Montgomery has quickly tried to build a solid political base throughout the community.Much of the attention will be placed on the outcome of the Bedford-Stuyvesant districts. Montgomery won most of the election districts outside this area, in 1984. Trying to forge links in this neighborhood, she is fearful that Jefferson%u2019s constant presence has worked against her own chances of winning the contest decisively.A major coup for Montgomery in her relationship with the Bedford-Stuyvesant community was her successful lobbying effort to have Adelaide Sanford appointed to the State Board of Regents. Sanford is the former principal of Community School District 16%u2019s P.S. 21. But, with the lack of candidates running in the Assembly Districts with which her Senate seat overlap, it could cause voter-turnout problems in Montgomery%u2019s own power base.Incumbent MontgomeryInterested In Schools, KidsAs the incumbent State Senator, Montgomery has taken great interest in child-care programs and has spent a large amount of1986Primary Day Primerher political energies on pre-natal care legislation and early childhood education issues.While these concerns stem from her professional credentials prior to assuming the Senate seat, Montgomery also jumped into legislative issues that her Assembly colleagues A1 Vann and Roger Green also focus on. Vann is chairman of the Assembly Committee on Children and Families.State funding of pre-kindergarten classes was one of the issues Montgomery worked on during her first term in office. %u201cI initially tried to work through the State budget on the issue,%u201d she says, %u201cbut unfortunately I was not successful. The Republicans blocked my attempts. I have another bill which I want to move on right after the next session begins.%u201dMontgomery also plans to go back to Albany next year to push through a childcare resource and referral bill to establish a state-funded information service for parents.In other areas, Montgomery says she will continue her work on education issues, with special emphasis on the drop-out problem among minority youth. %u201c1 don%u2019t have any specific answers, but with all the talk about increases in education spending this year I have not heard any talk about accountability,%u201d she says. %u201cA lot of money is spent on drop-out programs and there is a very small decrease in the rate.%u201dWANTS CRIME PROGRAMSShe would also like to see some State money made available for neighborhood crime programs, something that is not popular in Albany where the talk concentrates on expanding prison populations instead.Anna Jefferson (right) poses with supporters and district leader candidatesRobert Hunter and Sylvia Fuel. Below is incum bent Velm anette Montgomery.Montgomery rails against the condition of homeless family facilities like the Brooklyn Arms Hotel. She says she is trying to organize a group of local offiiciais from %u201cPratt, the churches, Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation and elected offices to talk about more innovative homeless housing plans.%u201d%u201cUnfortunately, state housing legislationdeals with low-income people, not the homeless,%u201d she says. %u201cIt is time we came to grips with this problem in Albany.%u201dMuch of this first session was a political lesson for Montgomery, though she did manage to earn a 100 percent rating from the American Civil Liberties Union. She has spent a significant amount of time meeting with community groups talking about local issues and education constituents on problems like economic development and drug abuse. Montgomery has also introduced constituents to Jonathan Rose, the developer of the Atlantic Terminal Urban Renewal Area, to discuss minority contracting for the massive project, something her aides say can only be completed if Montgomery maintains her seat.Jefferson Fighting To RegainPower In Bed-Stuy AreasDespite losing her Senate seat in 1984, Anna Jefferson has sought to keep her reputation within the district intact, her name in circulation. She has maintained her former State Senate office at Bedford-Stuyvesant%u2019s Restoration Plaza and keeps the name plate on the front door %u2014 %u201cState Senator Anna Jefferson, 22nd Senate District.%u201dInside the office there is a sense of faded grandeur as the walls are barren with the exception of a few posters from her 1984 campaign and some cutouts made by children who participate in a counseling program for children with alcoholic parents. Once the office of Congressmember Shirely Chisholm, it is now Jefferson%u2019s one hold on the Senate office she still covets.In addition to her work with the children she has spent time on local committees including the Boy Scouts and the United Negro College Fund. %u201cI still want to show that I can turn things around,%u201d she says about her desire to again hold elected office. %u201c Look around, there are still burned-out buildings in Bedford-Stuyvesant. I just want to show that there is still hope.%u201dNO LEADERSHIPThis is the theme of Jefferson%u2019s crusade. As she has little difference of opinion with Montgomery on political issues, Jefferson says that Montgomery does not have the leadership qualities to give %u201chope%u201d to the neighborhood. She ignores that she was a Democratic District Leader in the neighborhood for a number of years before losing to Montgomery and is not a new candidate on the ballot herself. Instead she claims that she and her supporters are %u201csomething new.%u201dEducationally, Jefferson is concerned about the drop-out rate which she says is the highest in the country in Bedford-Stuyvesant. %u201cI don%u2019t know what her (Montgomery%u2019s) platform is, but she hasn%u2019t done much about the problem since going to Albany,%u201d she says.Jefferson%u2019s list of concerns includes support for gay rights, drug rehabilitation centers, housing, crime, and transportation. She builds her list around BedfordStuyvesant, recognizing that this neighborhood is her greatest base, and says little about the rest of the district. Jefferson is hoping that her name recognition there %u2014 she is still known as State Senator, though it is a courtesy title former elected officials often use %u2014 will push her vote margin ahead of Montgomery%u2019s, and return her to Albany.Gardens/Heights Candidates Are Back On The Ballot As Primary NearsJeffrey Golkin (left) and Andy LaBella appeared at a fundraiser to console each other forbeing bounced from the ballot. Fortunately the fundraiser will now be used to finance theircampaign as the two were restored to the ballot by a Federal court. (Phoenix/Taylor Photo)BY ROB TAYLORWhen Jeff Golkin talks about the battles he and his running mate Andy LaBella have fought to be candidates in the 52nd Assembly District Primary, he squares off as if he is entering another round in a boxing match.%u201cJtast what is Eileen Dugan afraid of?%u201d he aiks about the incumbent Assemblywoman Sh m this Brooklyn Heights/Carroll Gardens/Bay Ridge district who, along with Democratic District Leader candidate, John McElhinney, has waged a series of legal battles to knock Golkin, a candidate for district leader, and LaBella, a candidate for the Assembly seat, off the Democratic primary ballot.Dugan%u2019s efforts have turned this campaign into a test of political wills and muscle pitting her reform Democratic friends against the conservative challengers fromout of the race for much of the primary campaign season. The two candidates filed joint nominating petitions with the New York City Board of Elections but failed, under State law, to list separately the number ofsignatures applicable to each of them. The State Supreme Court invalidated their candidacies and after the Court of Appeals, the State%u2019s highest court, refused to hear a further appeal of the decisions Aug. 27, Golkin said, %u201cI%u2019m bloodied. We are just two fellows who want to run for office, but we%u2019re going to go the last round.%u201dThe final bout happened Sept. 2 in the courtroom of U.S. Eastern District Judge, Thomas Platt, when an injunction was granted that prevented the Board of Elections from removing Golkin and LaBella from the Democratic Primary Ballot.%u201cIt is a victory for the voters,%u201d said Golkin in an emotion packed statement after the judge%u2019s decision. %u201cThis is the first forum that%u2019s examined the substance of the situation of the types of abuses candidates face in the election process.%u201dFor her nart. Dugan has maintained that if a candidate %u201cwants to make the laws of this state then they should know them.%u201d Dugan, a member of a reform Democratic Club, the Independent Neighborhood Democrats,Continued on Page 10Septem ber 4,1986, THE PHOENIX, Page 7