UPDATE: Out of about 4,500 votes cast, Espinal won with 44%. Jesus Gonzalez got 32% and Deidra Towns, 23%.
“It feels great!” Espinal told BushwickBK’s Aaron Short. “I’m really looking forward to putting in the hard work needed to make my community a greater place for my constituents.”
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Polls opened at 8am today in the race for the 54th Assembly District, but the dirty tricks began way before the polls opened.
Amid reports that Vito Lopez-allied RBSCC blocked “insurgent” candidate Jesus Gonzalez and legacy shoo-in Deidra Towns’ attempts to campaign in their publicly-funded senior facilities, some baser evidence of sabotage has emerged.
An anonymous photographer took a photo of a Deidra Towns booster, unashamed in his bright yellow t-shirt emblazoned VOTE TOWNS, ripping down Gonzalez flyers on Bushwick Avenue this morning.
Gonzalez, an activist from community organization Make the Road, is the pick of Lopez-enemy reform organization New Kings Democrats and has the backing of the Working Families Party, which endorses progressive-minded Democrat candidates. Towns and Rafael Espinal are essentially two squabbling wings of the Lopez establishment.
Indeed, one voter notes that at his polling station, there were throngs of Towns groupies and even more for Espinal; nobody pumped for Gonzalez — the power of dynastic incumbency?
Towns and Espinal are from the same machine, and one of them is likely to win. But having workers scurry around the smallish district tearing down tiny paper roadside signs betrays the worry of at least the Towns camp. Are political machines really paper tigers?
If it matters to you, the vote is still on. Some fifty percent of Bushwick, the southern portion, is in the 54th District. Check the map to make sure you’re in it. Polls are open until 9pm.
Craig September 13th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
As long as the public keeps voting for machine candidates they have to take responsibility for unresponsive elected officials. Add to that the public who stay home who could otherwise be supportive of candidates who run against the machine.
I left the Democratic Party years ago for the Green Party but whether a primary opponents, a Special or General election third party opponent, the public MUST take personal responsibility to vote against machine politics if they ever expect any change.
JP September 13th, 2011 at 6:05 pm
A “Democrat” on the Conservative ticket is NOT a “Democrat” Vito…….
Brandon September 13th, 2011 at 11:47 pm
Meanwhile, much of Ridgewood is now Republican territory.
Fun times.
Jeremy Sapienza September 14th, 2011 at 7:54 am
Brandon, normally I would say “who cares” but your new guy is really insanely anti-immigrant, among other shitty things I’m sure will come up. Queens, what can you do.
Brandon September 14th, 2011 at 8:15 am
I’m a couple blocks outside of District 9, but pretty weak result… but hey, it is a gerrymandered 40% Jewish district and Obama’s stance on Israel drove much of the debate, among other quirks. Not that these machine Dems are much better, mind you.
Jeremy Sapienza September 14th, 2011 at 9:34 am
Yeah I saw those bizarre hit pieces re: Israel on TV. Obama hasn’t personally stabbed a Palestinian so he must hate Israel. Instead of the truth which is that like all presidents, he keeps signing Israel’s blank check.
Brandon September 14th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Preaching to the choir.
Does anyone actually vote? So few comments. Mr. Short, you are an undersung journalist.
Brandon September 14th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
(er, he wrote the other one on this topic)
Craig September 14th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Few vote and fewer still in special elections.
There’s a plethora of reasons for this.
There are no party primaries so the party leadership put candidates on without even a petition process. There’s no involvement by the public. Those shunned by the party leadership run on other ballot access parties or have to petition in a very short period making them easy to knock off . . . by the party leadership.
If people don’t like the choices they stay home. If they can’t discern the differences in the choices they stay home. There’s very little media coverage in the media outlets people generally follow. Most people generally aren’t proactive in seeking out information on the candidates and when they do find it, they may not trust the integrity of the sources.
In a city like New York with the lack of major hyper local media relative to the city size and district size, people aren’t getting the information.
So with the lack of information and the lack of voter choice given restrictive ballot access, most people don’t vote.
A large number of the small number of those who vote have a vested interest in the outcome. They are tied to the patronage system through political clubs or community organizations which is why the “machine” candidates generally win.
If a candidate ran on changing this system to one with greater public control and participation, such candidate would likely lose in a landslide since those that vote apparently aren’t very interested in changing the system. If the latter where true we’d have gotten “big money” out of politics by now.
Not2Bfooled2wc September 14th, 2011 at 10:42 pm
Good luck to Bushwick community with “winners’ like that. Time to move somewhere else! In his interview Espinal is referring to his infamous supporter who has the Housing Chair in the City Council – isn’t that the same guy who got himself an affordable city backed apartment? And this is just one fine example of what goes on here. Guess not too many voters did their homework on the candidates. Propaganda starts at their churches, moving up to minds of ignorant voters who’re hoping to change their neighborhood where MANY of them lived for all their life.
Craig September 15th, 2011 at 9:56 am
@NOT2BFOOLED2WC, don’t forget “the voters” voted for Espinal. The machine got their vote out and, given the typical low turnout, it seems most the public really doesn’t care if they get trampled on.
Which brings up another issue. If we had Instant Runoff Voting perhaps many Towns supporters would have made Gonzalez their second choice. This would put an end to the machine strategy of splitting the opposition vote and winning by plurality.
Alas, too few really care which is why we get what we get. We get what “the people” voted for. Why does the public love to screw itself over so royally? Sheesh!
Luis A. Ramos September 15th, 2011 at 12:58 pm
To Say That No One Was Informed Of The Corruption, About The Rigged RBSCC, Inc Manner Of Threatening The Tenants And Staff To GOTV For The Pick Of The Party Boss Is Ridiculous At Best And Insane At The Least. I Predict That By The Next Year Bushwick Will Have Two Assembly Memebers Under Indictment! Period. I Am Still Waiting For The Other Shoe To Drop. The Fact That BushwickBK Has Been Informing The Readers And Voters Of Bushwick Of The Corruption In Bushwick And The Voter Still Is Relunctant To Vote Against The Corruption Speaks Volumes On The Sad State And The Power Of Corruption. But It Will End!
Craig September 15th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
@LUIS A. RAMOS, it won’t end. Before Lopez there was Clarence Norman who was convicted of grand larceny for shaking down judicial candidates. Remember Meade Esposito?
Sorry it doesn’t change. It’s how the infrastructure of the Democratic Party works. It’s how its built in patronage system works. People who attempt to change it are weeded out.
That’s why I left the Democratic Party. You can go back decades and the political machine can not be reformed from within.
Not2Bfooled2wc September 15th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
@ Luis. It’s very sad, and scary! To think that there was only 1 poster posted for 2 days after march when their dirty trick of getting into city backed appartment was out. It was right across the street from where Dilans live. When I asked a little girl who put it there, she got so scared and run into her building, saying smone asked her to put it there. Why all these people are so scared to speak their mind? Why the only vehicle that u see parked on the other side when alternate parking is in effect is always Dilans vehicle, and all because they are hooked up with local police and authorities, of course he gave support to the local piercing. They make you believe that they will help you, once they get what they want, they forget their name. I was simply shocked at Community Fair to see Dilan’s wife network, promoting her fam’s name, she gave every single person who came to the table of the local (WHMC) hospital her business card, as if PR Manager can cure their illnesses. Why use a hospital funds when they have well over $140k of cumulative family income that if wisely used will cover a mortgage and everything else…Espinal – does not show any support for gays or immigrants, mind you – Dilan’s babysitter is an immigrant from DR! And her brother works for Quin – openly Gay official, so they don’t mind receiving a pay check from LGBT tax payers and taking instruction from gay boss, but they will speak of marriage as act only permitted between man and woman?! What a circus!
Craig September 15th, 2011 at 2:30 pm
“Why all these people are so scared to speak their mind?”
@NOT2BFOOLED2WC, not sure if you meant that rhetorically but people who work for a candidate who is in opposition to the machine get cut out of the “patronage” system. Community group you belong to gets defunded. Personal issues that the elected official’s office might attend to, are dropped. Jobs and work that come through connections, cease.
The power “the Boss” yields is not abstract. It’s a real financial impact on those who challenge him. Other elected officials that he has resource control over, get punished as well if they don’t do what he wants when he wants them to.
That power extends to a network of associates and underlings both elected and not, in the community and business world. This is why I don’t think the Democratic Party can be reformed from within.
Not2Bfooled2wc September 15th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
CRAIG, I will agree to disagree with you, the connections and “Boss’s” influence along with his patronage do NOT and didnt not yelled in this case, nothing personal, the community in this case is not only me, but a wide range of residents of this district, who do need help and attention on case by case basis. If they spend so much money out of their “boss’s” registry on their campaign, they must have enough resources and man power to address all the issues in the community. They do speak to every person @ bodega, church and their patients, to vote for their officials, so they should at the same time ask those people how to better this community if they don’t know how. In this case lack of information, time and desire of the majority of voters worked against the candidate who wasnt elected.
Craig September 15th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
” If they spend so much money out of their “boss’s” registry on their campaign, they must have enough resources and man power to address all the issues in the community.”
@NOT2BFOOLED2WC, they chose to spend only on things that increase their power, patronage, profit. If it were otherwise then the neighborhood would be in much better shape.
Gonzalez, like most challenging “the machine” can’t match the machine’s resources and control. Generally I’d trust the candidate challenging the machine and so should most interested people who are unhappy with the status quo.
“In this case lack of information, time and desire of the majority of voters worked against the candidate who wasnt elected.”
All special elections tend are that way by design. They favor the political machine. There is no public primary for example. There is little time to develop campaign resources and public outreach and it’s at a time when the public isn’t aware of an election.