Links of Interest

Shvuos is tomorrow night, and it's time to clean up the links pile-up.

Talking about Israel in Manhattan Beach, Hakeem Jeffries wants you to know that he will be the successor of Bob Turner and Anthony Wiener. (His district includes a small part of Turner's vanishing district, including Manhattan Beach). Meanwhile, his opponent, Charles Barron, would rather focus on domestic issues, and he toned down his controversial international stances. Looks that the rule power corrupts holds even with Charles Barron...

Nan Hayworth (R, KJ - NY18) criticized her predecessor for spending taxpayers' money on mailers. Now, she's the second biggest spender in NY on government funded mailers. Her defense: they are not glossy. Meanwhile, five democrats wishing to oppose her, squared off in a debate yesterday night. Sean Patrick Maloney - a former aide to democrats Governor and President Clinton seems to be the strongest of the batch.

Jesus Gonzalez will announce next week his candidacy to replace Erik Dilan in city council. Dilan will have to step down next year, due to term limits. Gonzalez lost to Rafael Espinal in a 3-way race, in the special elections to replace Assemblyman Daryl Towns. Espinal was Vito Lopez's candidate, Gonzalez was supported by the reformers, and the third was from the Towns clan. Gonzalez's council candidacy is setting the stage for another machine vs. reformer face-off. The early announcement occurs to me that Gonzalez want to be ready in case Dilan defeats Velazquez in the primary for her congress seat, that will put in motion a special election for his council seat.

Hasidic  Brooklyn found that in 2008, the year when UJ Care boasted about a drive that registered some 5,000 new voters, only 2,097 new voters registered in Williamsburg (and UJ Care wasn't the only one conducting a registration drive that year). He's working on another long piece analyzing Williamsburg's electorate.
UPDATE: Someone sent me an important point: A large part of their registering effort in 2008 was to change voters from republicans (the party most Orthodox feel closer to) to democrats. It's not enough to look on the overall increase of voter rolls, but the growth in democratic voters. Also, party changes doesn't go into effect the same year. Meaning, all changed voters couldn't vote in that year, so the fullest strength of the registration drive, in terms of actual voters, can only be measured a year afterwards. It also means that a lot of those who are changing their registrations now, will not be able to vote in the Velazquez primary, neither in Restler's.

Being an Ezra Friedlander alumni is a good way to reach City & State's 40 under 40 list. David Lobl just made it, and he's aspiring to be the WH Chief of Staff... In 2009, Simcha Eisenstein made the list. This year's listees probably had a higher bar, since the paper expanded from covering the City to the whole state. Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder is also on the list. Here you can see other notables making the list in prior years.

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