Scenes from a crazy Sunday night

Oh dear.

We've been closely watching the Bronx Democratic Party, officially governed by the Bronx Democratic County Committee, slowly tear itself into two opposing factions — loyalists who support the incumbent party leader, Assemblyman Jose Rivera, and an insurgency led by other members of the Assembly, chiefly Carl Heastie, who wants to unseat him — for weeks. But when the party came together Sunday night so that its elected county committee members could select new leadership — resolving once and for all, or so it was hoped, the ongoing, fractious power struggle — it was an uproarious, chaotic and — allegedly — also violent affair.

One of the aspects of the evening from which the most hay is being made is the voice votes that City Councilwoman Maria Baez, the committee's vice chair pre-Sunday, called during the Rivera faction's half of the long and crazy night. Here's a clip of one of them — you can hear that she calls "the ayes have it" almost before half the room is finished shouting "nay!"


Bronx Dems meeting - vote on vacancies from N. Clark Judd on Vimeo.

That's 81st Assembly District Democratic District Leader Bruce Feld not looking happy as he walks up to confer with Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and Stanley Schlein.

Here's what Assemblyman Michael Benedetto, another Rivera opponent, had to say about a lot of those people shouting "aye!"


Bronx Dems meeting - Benedetto on the big audience from N. Clark Judd on Vimeo.

City Councilman Oliver Koppell, a member of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club like Mr. Dinowitz, but a supporter of Jose Rivera, had these comments:


Bronx Dems meeting - Oliver Koppell's reaction from N. Clark Judd on Vimeo.

I also caught up with Councilman Joel Rivera during the meeting.


Bronx Dems meeting - Councilman Joel Rivera in the auditorium from N. Clark Judd on Vimeo.

New to the blogosphere

This weekend The New York Times' City section featured a story on a new blog focused on the the great borough of the Bronx. The BoogieDowner — a play on the Bronx's hip-hop name, the Boogie Down and admittedly stolen from Brooklyn's own Brownstoner — is the work of Lou and Erin Cicalese, who moved to the Northwest Bronx from Park Slope.
So far, the bloggers have trained their sights on Bronx real estate, cultural events and hotspots and Yankee Stadium, among other topics. The couple's efforts have won praise from Bronxites who may have noticed the dearth of blogs focusing on Bronx happenings. We agree, the blog is a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

County's counterattack

The group of Bronx politicians gunning for control of the county Democratic Party lost a battle today.
They had planned to pre-empt a county party committee meeting, to be held Sunday, Sept. 28, with one of their own design, tonight, at 7 p.m. Lawyers for county Democratic Party leader Jose Rivera brought a suit last week to stop the meeting. Today, a state Supreme Court judge ruled in their favor, according to spokesmen from both sides of the party split.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who, with his colleagues Carl Heastie, Aurelia Greene and Ruben Diaz Jr., is a leader of this uprising, said the judge agreed with his side in all salient points but one — the venue chosen for tonight's meeting, the Dreiser Loop Community Center in Co-op City, doesn't have the capacity to accommodate all 1,790 1,834 members of the county committee. It can hold only 1,300 people, Mr. Dinowitz said, though he points out that these meetings very rarely have 100 percent attendance.
"We’re going to be meeting and determining how to react to this, whether we should go to Co-op City anyway and have a giant rally, or just go on Sunday, [because] we’ll beat ‘em on Sunday," Mr. Dinowitz told me just now.
The county regulars are holding a press conference announcing the decision at 3:30 p.m., a county spokesman said.

Rivera embraces Espada

First supporters of state Sen. Efrain Gonzalez Jr. told Liz Benjamin of the Daily News — and us, but more on that next week — that they think Bronx Democratic boss Jose Rivera threw their man under the bus in Tuesday's primaries.
Now someone's sent Liz an invite to a Rivera-sponsored bash for Nelson Castro and Pedro Espada Jr. this weekend.

Huh.

The given rationale for Mr. Rivera's purported betrayal of Mr. Gonzalez, a county regular and a 20-year incumbent, is that giving Mr. Espada the state Senate seat would keep him out of next year's race for borough president. Rumor has it Mr. Rivera wants to clear the way for his son Joel, now City Council Majority Leader, though he denies his son has uttered so much as a peep about becoming beep.

As Benjamin points out, Mr. Espada can still run for BP, and if he loses, he can come right back to his legislative job.

It would also be quite a gamble, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and several City Council members are making a lot of noise about extending term limits from eight years to 12. Mr. Rivera is not shy about his distaste for term limits, and if that bill goes through, Joel and the current BP, Adolfo Carrión Jr., would both keep their seats. Ousting a longtime loyal ally to prevent a race that might not happen anyway seems like a stretch for a wily pol like Jose Rivera.

Benjamin goes a step further to say that tucking Mr. Espada into the Democratic fold could ingratiate Mr. Rivera with Senate Democratic Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, who needs as many line-walking Democrats in that house as he can to take — and, he hopes, keep — a majority there.

Not so sure about that either. Mr. Gonzalez says he's currently the longest-serving member of the state Senate. He received the endorsement of Riverdale's Ben Franklin Club more or less exclusively because, indictment aside, he could be counted on to toe the Democratic party line. Now the Senate Dems will have to barter with Mr. Espada, who based his last decision about party loyalty on which side would give him more member-item money to spend. This year, which side Mr. Espada chooses may be predicated on the November election results. That'll be the last round in this fight for control of the state Senate.

If anything, ousting Mr. Gonzalez may make Mr. Smith's job more complicated.

The indictment itself does create a wild card. Mr. Gonzalez's trial — for allegedly taking $400,000-plus in taxpayer cash — was recently moved from October to next spring. It's possible Mr. Rivera wanted someone on his team who wasn't at risk of relocating his district office to Riker's Island.

Pre-Primary Pandemoneum

Riverdale political blogger Rafael Martinez Alequin, a staffer for state Sen. Efrain Gonzalez Jr., claims he was assaulted by Pedro Espada Jr. and his entourage on Sunday.

Mr. Alequin posted video in this blog post in which Mr. Espada approaches to shake hands with someone next to Mr. Alequin, and the former publisher attempts to get his attention. Someone, apparently from Mr. Espada's staff, puts his hand over most of the camera lens, then Mr. Espada is shown pointing his finger at the lens, saying, "He's trying to teach you manners, papa."

Mr. Alequin repeatedly protests and eventually says, "I go, I go," withdrawing.
As the video continues, Mr. Alequin again tries to approach Mr. Espada, only this time -- over his protestations -- someone appears to grab the camera and push it down.

The Daily Politics, Liz Benjamin's Daily News blog, has details.

The Riverdale Press tossed aside the dirty laundry to bring you a 15-minute video of Mr. Espada and Mr. Gonzalez both stating their positions on -- gasp -- actual issues, like school overcrowding and the redevelopment of Kingsbridge Armory. If you're in the 33rd District -- and you can check on that here -- we think you might be interested. It's embedded below.



Of course, we didn't leave out discussion of the scandals surrounding Mr. Espada's campaign finances or Mr. Gonzalez's indictment. Mr. Espada can be seen answering questions about his finances in this clip, and Mr. Gonzalez discusses his indictment here.

The full interviews are accessible from The Riverdale Press's Web site. Look for "Candidate Interviews" towards the bottom of the page.

Registered Democrats in the 33rd State Senate District can vote in this race tomorrow.