Gazette a bit confused about election results

From the Queens Gazette:

As for the election in the 23rd Council district, the voting in that election was confined to residents of Oakland Gardens, Queens Village, Fresh Meadows, Floral Park, New Hyde Park, Glen Oaks, Hollis Hills, Douglaston, Bayside, Little Neck, and Bellerose.

In the only election that might result in an upset, the race to fill the City Council vacancy in the 23rd district, the unofficial returns show candidates Barry Grodenchik (Democrat) and Rebecca Lynch (Working Families Party) are close, and it may take a full vote count to determine the winner. A third candidate in that race, Joseph Concannon (Republican) doesn’t figure in the full count.

NY1's results show something much, much different.

Which results were the Gazette using?

Trib endorses Bob Friedrich!

Queens Tribune

The Queens Tribune has released its endorsement for the 23rd council Democratic district primary and they bypassed county boy Barry Grodenchik and union favorite Rebecca Lynch and instead endorsed Bob Friedrich. Wonder what happened there.

City Council Watch is also calling it for Friedrich.

No one wants de Blasio's endorsement

From the Observer:

Sidestepping a race where his backing could do more harm than good, Mayor Bill de Blasio said this morning he isn’t planning on endorsing a Democrat to replace Councilman Mark Weprin. The six-way Democratic primary includes one candidate, Rebecca Lynch, who was a top City Hall aide. But Mr. de Blasio, who hired Ms. Lynch last year, said he hasn’t even really thought about the competitive race.

“I haven’t really looked at it. I don’t have a plan at this moment,” Mr. de Blasio told the Observer at an unrelated City Hall press conference. He did not elaborate.

Mr. de Blasio has not been shy about endorsing in local races. He backed former Councilman Vincent Gentile’s congressional bid earlier this year and weighed in on several Democratic primaries for the Assembly and State Senate in 2014.

But the primary for the open eastern Queens seat, which includes the neighborhoods of Bayside, Bellerose, Glen Oaks, Oakland Gardens, Queens Village and Douglaston, is not one where Mr. de Blasio’s endorsement is necessarily welcome. The leafy, suburban district is more moderate in its political bent. Many of the single-family, car-owning homeowners resent Mr. de Blasio’s desire to build cheap, dense housing throughout the city and slow down vehicular traffic. Political observers in the district say his popularity there is low.

City Council District 23 candidates appear on NY1

Click photos to watch debates:

Errol Louis hosted a forum for the six democrats running to fill the vacant 23rd district City Council seat, located in eastern Queens. Above is Part 1, featuring candidates Ali Najmi, Bob Friedrich & Rebecca Lynch.

Above is part 2, featuring candidates Satnam Singh Parhar, Barry Grodenchik and Celia Dosamantes.

As for the stats cited in the beginning, they are incorrect. According to the Redistricting Commission, the demographic statistics for the 23rd Council District are as follows:

Population - 152,767 - Total

48,344 White - 31.6%
17,780 Black - 11.6%
55,831 Asian - 36.5% - Note: this includes "East" and "South" Asian populations combined
9,846 Other - 6.4%
20,966 Hisp. - 13.7% - Note: Hispanics may be of any race

152,767 - 99.8% Total

As for voters, the White vote is close to double (near 60%) while the combined Asian vote is a little more than half (almost 22%) of the actual population. This is due to voting trends and enrollment statistics.

More than 92% of Lynch's contributions are from outside district

(Follow link below to download full analysis)

Rebecca Lynch CFB-08082015

Additional info:

Italicized = bundlers

Underlined = horse carriage

bold = in district contributions

Other information on donors of note:

Rebecca Lynch is a 27-year old former registered lobbyist active from the age of 22, from 2010 through 2014; you might describe her as a lobbyist's lobbyist based on her previous employment profile. Her main clients have been various unions and organized labor, particularly the Teamsters, which is not surprise given the fact that her father, Kevin P. Lynch, is the Organizing Director of the IAM (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO) District 15. One of her other important clients was Major League Soccer ; she, along with the principal her former firm Beaudoin & Co., Heather Beaudoin, were responsible for trying to steal over 15 acres of parkland to build a soccer stadium on the Fountain of the Planets in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Direct contributions from her former place of employment total $500, with another $2,730 bundled by a relative of one of her co-workers.

Lynch was also elected a District Leader in 2011, again not a surprise given that her mother is Bernice Siegal, a Queens County Civil Court judge and Queens Democratic Party regular. She remained a district leader in eastern Queens until 2014, when she moved out of the district to take a job with the DeBlasio administration in the Community Affairs Unit.

Given her deep union and political ties, it's not a surprise that she received considerable funding from union sources; however, the breadth of those contributions is staggering: more than 50% of all of Lynch's contributions comes from labor sources, with 46.2%, or $36,450, comes from union political action committees (PACs).

Another bundler, Stephen Malone, the spokesperson for the Horse and Carriage Association, handed her 20 contributions totaling $1,045. Given the bad blood between the horse carriage trade, who are represented by the Teamsters, and the DeBlasio adminstration, Lynch, who is supported by both the Teamsters/horse carriage lobby and the Progressive Caucus, cannot be in a very comfortable position right now.

Lynch's contributions from the district are below 25% in terms of numbers, but that masks the real insult to the residents of the 23rd District: 7.7% of her contributions, or $6,082 are from the district, a paltry sum that makes the County candidate, Barry Grodenchik, who received only $8,297, or 15.4%, of his contributions from the 23rd look like a local hero in comparison (which is a joke in itself). Without her father's contribution of $2,000 and the $446 she contributed herself, Lynch's take from the 23rd drops to $3,636, or 4.6%, and most contributions are $25 or less.

Lynch is clearly not a candidate with strong support from residents of eastern Queens, which is not a surprise considering her politics are out of step with the largely moderate, non-union Democrats who live there. And, like Grodenchik, who was also a political lobbyist for many years, it's totally inappropriate for these types of candidates to run, as they are doing it to represent their clients, not the voters of the Council District.

A few examples of donations with connections to Lynch's lobbyist and brief government employment past (and there are many):

Lynch has received more contributions through bundling than any other candidate by far, totaling $4,065.

While claiming that $22,406 of her contributions are eligible for public matching funds, like most of the other candidates running in this special election - with the exception of Bob Friedrich and Satnam Parhar - she has not yet qualified for nor received any public funding whatsoever.

As stated previously, many (15.3%) of Lynch's contributions come from either co-workers or political "friends" who work for various politicians or agencies, or directly from other lobbyists or individuals doing business with the city.

Constantinople and Vallone, the lobbying arm of the Vallone political empire (or what's left of it) contributed $250; one of the top lobbyists for AirBnB, Max Pomeranc, also contributed $250.

Contributions from employees of Hilltop Public Solutions, a pro-Democratic political consulting firm loaded with former DeBlasio staffers, totaled $850.

Finally, Lynch received $350 from Debbie and Naji Almontaser, who added to the already considerable controversy surrounding her campaign this week with allegations of anti-gay baiting of another candidate in the 23rd Council District race, Ali Najmi. Debbie Almontaser, who has been seen cosying up to Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and other members of the Progressive Caucus, was the former principal of a Muslim charter school who sued the city for violating her right to free speech and "conspired to deny her the opportunity to regain her position as principal" of the school, the Khalil Gibran International Academy.


So, dear readers: Draw your own conclusions as to whether this candidate deserves to be the next Councilmember from the 23rd Council District.

Report: Lynch donors attempt to stoke anti-gay sentiment

view this map on LittleSis

From Progress Queens:

After a published report raised questions about the conduct of a politically-active Brooklyn couple, Debbie and Naji Almontaser, New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Spanish Harlem) and Councilmember Jumaane Williams (D-East Flatbush) attended an event at the home of the Almontasers on Wedesnday evening.

The conduct of the Almontasers was questioned in a report about the couple's political work on behalf of the campaign of Rebecca Lynch, a former aide to Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-New York City). Ms. Lynch is campaigning to replace former Councilmember Mark Weprin (D-Bellerose) in the New York City Council. (Mr. Weprin stepped down from his post to accept a position in support of the Cuomo administration.)

On behalf of the Lynch campaign, the Almontasers were engaged in alleged activities that were intended to incite homophobia against the campaign of Ms. Lynch's chief rival, Ali Najmi, according to the news report written by Duncan Osborne and published by Gay City News. The Almontasers have reportedly taken issue with Mr. Najmi's pro-equality stance in respect of the LGBT community, and the Almontasers have reportedly been invoking Mr. Najmi's pro-equality support in an attempt to stoke a backlash directed at Mr. Najmi from conservative Muslims, according to the accusations.

The Gay City News report was published on Thursday, July 30. Six evening later, on Wednesday, August 5, Council Speaker Mark-Viverito and Councilmember Williams attended an event at the Brooklyn home of the Almontasers.

Well that's not very progressive, now is it? Actually, I don't think these folks even understand what that word is supposed to mean.

Nothing says "progressive" like a 5th Avenue fundraiser

From the Observer:

A slew of progressive pols will hold a fundraiser next week for Rebecca Lynch, a top candidate to replace Mark Weprin in the City Council.

Bronx State Senator Gustavo Rivera, Queens Assemblywoman Nily Rozic and four council members–Corey Johnson of Manhattan, Ritchie Torres of the Bronx, Brad Lander of Brooklyn and Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens–are set to fundraise for Ms. Lynch at the swanky Plaza Hotel, according to a Facebook invitation. The August 12 fundraiser is asking for donations between $75 and $300. Renee Cafaro, a Democratic consultant, is also co-hosting the event.

“Rebecca is thrilled to have the support of a longtime progressive activist who has held fundraisers for leading candidates throughout the country like Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Comptroller Scott Stringer, Assemblywoman Nily Rozic and others,” said Sally Frank, Ms. Lynch’s campaign manager, referring to Ms. Cafaro.

The four council members are part of the Progressive Caucus, a bloc of 19 liberal council members that has a great deal of clout in the body. The liberals endorsed Ms. Lynch, a former City Hall staffer and Democratic district leader, last Friday.