Greg Meeks Said to be Seeking Candidate to Run Against Ruben Wills by Chris Bragg - City Hall News

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When Council Member Ruben Wills placed his hand on the Bible and took the oath of office in mid-December, the moment seemed to be one of détente.

Rep. Greg Meeks, the man who had feverishly tried to block Wills' road to City Hall, stood beside the new Council member and applauded. In the four months since, Meeks has repeatedly promised to work with the incumbent as the Queens Democrat gears up to run for reelection in November.

In a hurried interview before Meeks boarded a flight to Colombia, the congressman denied having spoken to anyone about running against Wills.

"I have not talked to anyone about my support or my commitments in the race at all," Meeks said.

Yet a number of politically plugged-in Democrats in southeast Queens tell a very different story.

In fact, they say Meeks has been quietly looking for a candidate to run against Wills. This has created a lot of speculation about who will challenge Wills, who won a special election in November following the death of Council Member Tom White.

Nicole Paultre-Bell, who ran against Wills last year with Meeks' support, is said to be uninterested in another run; she will instead focus on the nonprofit she founded in memory of her slain fiance, Sean Bell.

Lynn Nunes, who lost to White by four votes in 2009, was considered a highly viable candidate. Meeks even met with Nunes about a month ago to discuss a potential run, knowledgeable sources say, though Nunes ultimately decided to take a pass on the race.

(Disputing that any such meeting occurred, Meeks insisted that he "must have a twin brother, because I haven't met with the guy.")

Clifton Stanley Diaz, chairman of the Rochdale Village board of directors, has also emerged as a potential candidate. Wills has grown so concerned about Meeks backing Diaz that the Council member and congressman are meeting to discuss the matter this week.

Other possible challengers could be 2010 candidate Harpreet Toor, and former Council member and longtime Wills nemesis Allan Jennings. District leader Albert Baldeo would also be a strong contender, though Wills said Baldeo told him he did not plan to run.

Meeks and Wills have been political foes since 2008, when Wills challenged the congressman in a primary, and sharply criticized him for alleged ethical misconduct. Last year Meeks recruited Paultre-Bell to run against Wills, who pulled out a narrow victory by gaining the support of the rest of the southeast Queens political establishment.

There are many reasons why this November's special election, which will choose a Council member to serve out the remainder of White's term, is attracting so much interest. All of them have to do with the vulnerabilities of the incumbent. In office less than a year, Wills has not had time to build a political base. Last month The Daily News reported the existence of two outstanding misdemeanor arrest warrants stemming from Wills' contracting work more than a decade ago.

Wills has also been dealing with other personal foibles, which include unpaid debts for child support and questions about a member item Wills secured for his nonprofit while working for the State Senate. Wills acknowledged being so poor at handling money that his wife gives him only $100 in cash a week in an attempt to curtail his spending habits.

With so many local politicians under a cloud of scandal or investigation, including Meeks and State Sens. Shirley Huntley and Malcolm Smith, Wills said that residents of the district blame the media for the news stories.

"To everyone in the district, this has caused them to come out and support me even more," Wills said. "It's actually a slap in the face for the people that voted for me."

Wills has spent his short time in office opposing the construction of a homeless shelter in his district and trying to help his constituents stem a tide of foreclosures that rate among the highest in the country.

But Wills' money issues are never far away. While the Council member talked over coffee at a deli near City Hall, an aide walked in and handed him a thin manila envelope before abruptly departing. Wills pulled out a crisp $100 bill and bought a sandwich, soup and a Pepsi, burning through a full 10 percent of his weekly allowance.

If Wills wins reelection, some of his financial burdens would obviously be lifted with the guarantee of an $112,500 salary. Still, Wills does not expect his wife to back off anytime soon.

"No way she's going to let me spend more," Wills said. "Then, we're going to have to get a house."

Dilan v. Towns Tensions Escalate As Deidra Towns Declares For Assembly by Chris Bragg - City Hall News

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Deidra Towns, the adopted sister of outgoing Assembly Member Darryl Towns, is set to run for her brother’s seat, she confirmed in an interview on Monday.

“Yes, I am intending to run when the seat becomes available,” she said.
The move is certain to heighten tensions between the Towns family—led by Rep. Edolphus Towns and his son, Darryl—and the Dilan family, led by State Sen. Martin Malave Dilan and Council Member Erik Martin Dilan.

The two families had been in negotiations about whom would get the Democratic notification to replace Darryl Towns, both in his district leader position and in his Assembly seat.

Nearly every candidate in the discussions is either a family member or has close ties to one of the two central Brooklyn dynasties.

Other possible candidates include Janitza Luna Dilan, Erik Martin Dilan’s wife, as well as Council Member Dilan’s chief of staff, Rafael Espinal. And the race for the Assembly seat is not the only contest pitting the two families against each other. Ed Towns is running for his son’s old district leader spot—but Erik Dilan is also interested, if he does not run for Assembly.

Darryl Towns had originally been supportive of the idea of Erik Dilan running to replace him in the Assembly.
Sen. Martin Dilan expressed dismay at Deidra Towns’ decision to run for the Assembly seat, saying this represented a breakdown in the negotiations between the two families.

“The congressman is in discussions with us in respect to a district leader position and independent of that, it seems he wants his daughter to be an Assembly member, his son to be a commissioner,” Dilan said. “This appears to leave no room for anyone else to grow.”

The Dilan family ostensibly controls the county committee process that will ultimately determine who gets the Democratic nomination for the Assembly seat, so Deidra Towns will likely have to petition on the ballot and run as an independent candidate.

But Deidra Towns would likely pull back if Erik Dilan runs for the seat, which would allow the Towns faction to put up a candidate for his Council seat.

Council Member Dilan is said by multiple sources to be likely to ultimately take a pass and allow his wife or his chief of staff to run.

Martin Dilan said Monday afternoon that a decision would likely be made Monday evening about who would run from the Dilan faction. He did not return subsequent phone calls seeking comment.

Many insiders see Espinal as the favorite since Janitza Luna Dilan has two young children and is said to be reluctant to go to Albany.

In an interview, Ed Towns somewhat jokingly suggested two possible names for the independent line that his daughter will run on: Save Our Children or the Rent’s Too Damn High, and the Gas Too.

Towns disputed the idea put forward by the Dilans that a Hispanic aligned with the Dilans should be elected to represent a district with a growing Hispanic population.

After all, Towns noted, his daughter is actually Hispanic—she was born in the Dominican Republic and adopted by Towns at six weeks old.

Towns said he believes his daughter could pull out an uphill victory. The family has very high name recognition in the district and several independent candidates have won past special elections.
He reiterated that he was fine with Erik Martin Dilan running for the Assembly seat, but would oppose any other Dilan-backed candidate.

Former Gay Marriage “No” Votes Addabbo And Huntley Now Undecided by Laura Nahmias - City Hall News

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As Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with marriage equality activists on Wednesday, former no-voter State Sen. Jim Alesi announced he was now “undeclared” on the issue.

He is not the only one. State Sen. Joe Addabbo—whose “no” vote at the beginning of the roll-call in 2009 has been tagged by some as setting off a domino effect of “no” votes that led to the bill’s failure—said he is back on the fence as well.

“You can probably be listing me as undeclared. I mentioned to pro-marriage equality groups and those in my district, I’m going to talk to the people in my district and get a consensus on where they are,” Addabbo said. “I have actually said we’ll make a better effort this time, to get a more clear idea of where the constituents are.”

There were 24 yes votes in 2009, and with the various changes from the 2010 elections, there are now 26.

Addabbo was one of eight Democrats who voted no on the measure two years ago, along with State Sens. Ruben Diaz Sr., Darrel Aubertine, Shirley Huntley, Carl Kruger, Hiram Monserrate, George Onorato and Bill Stachowski. Aubertine, Monserrate, Onorato and Stachowski are no longer in Albany. Kruger, who also voted against the bill, is reportedly turning himself in to the U.S. Attorney on possible corruption charges, leaving unclear where he will be if and when a new vote is called on gay marriage.

State Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. is still a no, and an ardent one.

“How can the issue of homosexual marriage demand the governor’s attention at this critical time when we are supposed to be dealing with the Budget to protect the poor and the needy?” Diaz said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon.

That leaves State Sen. Shirley Huntley. The Queens Democrat once said she would not vote for the bill even if someone were to give her a million dollars, avoided that kind of rhetoric when asked for her stance on the measure Wednesday evening.

“I don’t have any thoughts,” she said. “I’m thinking about the budget and senior centers in my district. When it comes up, I’ll think about it.”

For years, marriage equality advocates have said that several Republican Senators might be willing to vote yes on the issue if enough Democrats supported it. Possible swing votes were once thought to be State Sens. John Bonacic, John Flanagan, Betty Little, Joe Robach, Kemp Hannon and Ken LaValle.

But they do not seem to be swinging yet.

A spokesperson for Bonacic said “he voted no on it in 2010 and we don’t see a change in that position right now.”

Similarly, a spokesperson for Sen. Betty Little, who also voted no, said the Senator’s position “had not changed.”

Attempts to reach Sens. Flanagan, Robach, Hannon and LaValle were unsuccessful.

Greg Angelo, chairman of the New York Log Cabin Republicans, said, “I can say what we’ve always said. Republicans will vote yes if there are enough Democrats in favor of the bill. We’re still working closely with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos on this.”

Skelos last year pledged to bring the issue up for a vote again, though he remains a no himself.

Republican State Sen. Mark Grisanti’s position remains unclear, even after being called out by Lady Gaga over the weekend for his position on gay marriage, while she played a concert in his district.

Music fans noted that she is set to play a concert in LaValle’s district, at the Nassau Coliseum, in late April.


-- with additional reporting by Chris Bragg

With 14 Gone, Shirley Huntley Tops List Of Senate Democrats’ Staffer Layoffs by Chris Bragg and Laura Nahmias - City Hall News

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Most Democrats have had to lay off a staffer or two in the transition from the majority to minority party in the Senate.

Then there is State Sen. Shirley Huntley, of Queens, who has lost nearly three quarters of her staff. According to a comparison of recent Senate payroll records to those released on Friday, Huntley lost 14 of her 23 staffers. These represent the latest, and most sizable to date, round of Senate Democratic payroll cuts last month.

Though far from the Senate leadership, Huntley had one of the largest payrolls. Now, Huntley said, she was scrounging for money to try and hire a few part-time employees to attend community board meetings and other events.

She blamed the Senate Republicans for her and her staff’s plight.

“All I can say is that we were nicer to them than they were to us,” Huntley said. “These are people who weren’t involved in politics—it was a job. Now a lot of people are unemployed and they have no place to go. I don’t know what they’re going to do.”

Huntley paid nearly $34,000 to the 23 staffers in the first two weeks of January, which translates to a rate of about $879,000 annually. Huntley now has a payroll just over $8,000 every two weeks—a rate which translates to $208,000 annually.

Now in the minority, Democrats have been asked to trim their total payroll from about $40 million to $27 million. Each senator is being asked to get individual payroll costs to $350,000. For senators who had smaller staffs to begin with, that translated into fewer cuts.

Huntley insisted, though, that each and every staffer had been needed.

“Some people have larger staffs, and some people don’t care about staffs. I have 300-some thousand constituents and my staff served all parts of the district,” Huntley said.

Minority Leader John Sampson had 24 staff members before the transition and now has 15, not including central staff. The Senate Democrats were forced to cut 130 positions total.

Even some of the Senate Democrats’ higher profile staffers have been let go. Tom Connolly, the Independence Party vice-chair, is gone from the payroll of State Sen. Carl Kruger. Connolly had been with Kruger’s office since 2007, when then-Majority Leader Joe Bruno gave the Brooklyn Democrat the chairmanship of the Social Services Committee. Jason Koppel, the chief of staff for Kruger, confirmed the departure.

Connolly did not return a phone call seeking comment.

But not all Democrats have had to cut back. State Sen. Jeff Klein, who is part of the four-member breakaway Independent Democratic Conference, before the transition had 19 staffers and a bi-weekly payroll of $34,600. Now, Klein has two fewer staffers, but his bi-weekly payroll has actually jumped by more than $1,000 a month.

When the Democrats took the majority in 2008, the Republicans had to make cuts also, but Democrats note that they allowed GOP staffers until April 1 to leave the payroll.

Democrats are still hoping the GOP majority conference will decide to equally allocate resources, although a measure introduced to equally allocate resources in the senate Rules committee was voted down last week. Adding to the Democrats’ problems is their overspending while in the majority, including on 56 different employees for former State Sen. Pedro Espada, according to payroll records.

The Senate Democrats will have to make another round of cuts if the GOP does not allocate more resources to the conference.

“We’ve made significant payroll reductions to bring spending down to appropriate levels,” said Austin Shafran, the spokesman for the Senate Democrats. “Further reductions are ongoing, and greatly depend on whether the Republicans will be as equitable with resources.