News Dump: Strong Challenger Registers Against Restler & More

Here are some news items that piled up during the long holiday.

Williamsburg AD-50

Chris Olechowski, the chair of Community Board 1 in Brooklyn, registered to challenge the District Leader in AD 50 Lincoln Reslter. While this is a minor and little-known position, it was recently elevated since Vito Lopez’s opponents are trying to pack the democratic committee in order to replace him with a new reform-minded chairman. Mr. Restler is seen as the strongest thorn on the committee to Mr. Lpoez. He was also believed eye a run against Vito’s groomed Councilman Steve Levin, but a source close to Lopez recently told me that Restler stepped off.  Olechowski may give Mr. Reslter a run for his money (he raised and spent a record amount in his last campaign), given his important position and strength in the Polis community.

Meanwhile, the bi-annual district leader races may be postponed until 2014, according to democratic county committee officials, due to redistricting that will not leave enough time for candidate to petition after the final lines are confirmed. This is not Lopez’s fault, but a statewide issue, his camp contend, but he probably doesn’t mind to push off another attempt to weaken his power. Such a push-off, will also afford for Mr. Restler two more years before his next fight.

And State Senator Squadron is already raising fund for a Public Advocate campaign next year.

SD27

The ultimate winner may not set a foot in Albany, since the legislature ends in June, when we may not know who the winner is, and the district dissolves come January. What a huge fight for nothing.

Kiryas Joel

Nan Hayworth new district will be slightly more democratic. Instead of 34-33 percent democratic advantage in district 19, her new district 18 will have 35 percent democrats versus 33 percent republicans. The seat switched parties twice in recent years, and it happened with a few thousand votes, which mean that new enrollment figures may make the difference.

Meanwhile Hayworth is enjoying a hefty campaign war chest of 1.3 million, after the recent filing. The newest democratic entrant, Sean Patrick Maloney, a lawyer and former aide to former President Clinton and governors Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson, is boasting that he raised $320,000 in two months.

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