City Council Hopefuls Vie for Votes at Candidate Forum

Five of the candidates vying to replace Tish James in City Council traded viewpoints, laughs and a few barbs Wednesday night as they tried to convince members of Fort Greene's Parliament Democratic Club to give them their vote.

After eight years in office, James is expected to run for a citywide position as public advocate, leaving her seat representing Brooklyn's 35 District, which includes Prospect Heights, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene and parts of Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant.

James has said she's not planning to make an endorsement, leaving a wide-open field. And candidates have flocked to it.   

Last night's event hosted Ede Fox, former chief of staff for Council members Jumaane Williams and Melissa Mark-Viverito, MoCADA founder Laurie Cumbo, Jesse Hamilton, an attorney and Crown Heights district leader, Jelani Mashariki, who runs a men's shelter and Richard Hurley, an attorney who has worked for city government and in criminal litigation. 

See more photos from the forum.

All agreed that they didn't differ much on policy. Instead, each tried to show why he or she was the best candidate to further their shared progressive agenda at City Hall. 

Cumbo branded herself as an effective businesswoman and a political outsider who could use her "entrepreneurial spirit" to create solutions in the council. 

Hurley also focused on his outsider status. Instead of touting his born-and-raised status like the other candidates, the attorney argued that every  community needed the same things—education, jobs, housing and health—and the real question is who could best fight to bring them to the community.

"We are all Democrats here. We don't split that far. It's a question of who you want to advocate for you," he said.

Mashariki, went in the opposite direction, focusing on his family's political history and local roots, noting that his mother was part of the South Brooklyn Action Movement, his father was a founder of Black Veterans for Social Justice, and his uncle founded The International African Arts Festival, aka "The East."

"I am a child of Brooklyn," he said. "The issues we're discussing, I've lived those issues. … Back before this area was called Clinton Hill, when it was just Fort Greene and then Bed-Stuy, I was here. If you have children I probably know your children."
  
Fox, who founded Prospect Heights Democrats for Reform, argued that she has worked with two progressive council members who have brought real change to their districts and she has the political know how and leadership skills to do the same for the 35th.

"We can elect one person with one vote, or we can elect a leader who can corral 30 votes," she said.

Hamilton, an attorney for the city's Department of Finance, also focused on his political experience, noting his three decades of civic leadership including district leader, vice president of Community Board 9 and president of Community School Board 17. 

He said he's running to make the district a better place for his two young children to grow up with good schools and safe streets to play on and that his son never endures stop-and-frisk. As a tax attorney, he also promised to be on the contract committee to help cut out waste.

One candidate who was not at the table was Olanike Alabi, a former three-term leader of the 57th assembly district who ran unsuccessfully for state assembly in the fall. 

"I was not invited to the forum and did not want to impose my presence," she said.

Parliament Democratic Club founder Renee Collymore, who is the current leader for the 57th assembly district, said she didn't include Alabi, a former political rival, because Alabi hasn't formally declared her candidacy. 
  
It's true that Alabi hasn't made a formal declaration to run. And she's s the only candidate who doesn't have a campaign website.  But she has raised more than $22,000 for her campaign and had been invited to a candidate forum earlier this month and another one in May.  

 "I believe it was intentional and several elected officials, community leaders, clergy and candidates reached out to me on the matter because they found it to be strange," she said via e-mail.  "I do however look forward to continuing to address the needs and concerns of our community."