Charles Barron didn't lose the race, PUBLIC Education lost today

"Mr. Jeffries did indeed push the charter school issue in his first interview with reporters after accepting the Democratic nomination, saying that he hopes to “use the tax code if need be” to support parents’ decision to send their children to religious or other private schools. He also said he supports charter schools."

Only 5% turned out to vote and clearly the numbers show that even if the UFT supported Barron it would not have made a difference. The UFT was "neutral" but there was a semi-glowing article in the NY Teacher favoring Jeffries. But as Mona points out this trend is a hit for public ed and teacher unions.

From Mona Davids:

Jeffries won the election.  Check out the first thing he says and then repeats.  Here's two excerpts:

"Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries trounced Councilman Charles Barron in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for Congress — and promptly said that his main priorities would be helping homeowners at risk of foreclosure and, more controversially, using public money to support parochial and other private schools."

"Mr. Jeffries did indeed push the charter school issue in his first interview with reporters after accepting the Democratic nomination, saying that he hopes to “use the tax code if need be” to support parents’ decision to send their children to religious or other private schools. He also said he supports charter schools."

Charles Barron didn't lose the race.  PUBLIC Education lost today. 

Remember to say a BIG THANK YOU to the Working Families Party, community based organizations, education advocacy groups and all the unions that endorsed Jeffries for their great assistance in bringing vouchers to NYS!

Yes, I'm disgusted.

Read the article below:



  June 27, 2012, 1:03 am Comment

Hakeem Jeffries Defeats Charles Barron in Bitter Democratic Primary

By GERSH KUNTZMAN

Gersh Kuntzman (left) and Matthew J. Perlman Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries beat Councilman Charles Barron for the Democratic nomination for Congress yesterday, tantamount to election in deeply Democratic Brooklyn.

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries trounced Councilman Charles Barron in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for Congress — and promptly said that his main priorities would be helping homeowners at risk of foreclosure and, more controversially, using public money to support parochial and other private schools.
Mr. Jeffries’s 72–28 percent primary triumph is tantamount to victory in the heavily Democratic Eighth Congressional District, though he’ll have to take on Green Party candidate Colin Beavan and Republican Alan Bellone in the general election in November.
Accepting the nomination and flanked by a phalanx of Democratic politicians and his photogenic family, Mr. Jeffries thanked the voters and attributed his victory to “a wonderful coalition across the entire district” — a reference to the perception of Mr. Barron was a divisive figure whose anti-Israel and racially charged rhetoric and frequent isolation from his fellow lawmakers scared away many voters.
In case the point was lost in the moment of triumph, Mr. Jeffries later told reporters that “the contrast in the race was clear. I have a record of success and forming coalitions. These are serious times and Congress is a serious job.”
Mr. Jeffries’s supporters echoed that sense throughout the day, amid light turnout in the odd June primary to anoint a Democrat to succeed Rep. Ed Towns, who is retiring after 30 years in Congress.
“Hakeem Jeffries just seems to be the best prepared,” said voter Carla Denalli, 46, of Fort Greene. “He would work much better with the other members of Congress than Charles Barron, who is always combative [and] very reminiscent of the boy who cried wolf.”

Here’s our slideshow of Hakeem Jeffries’s winning day. Click on each photo to read the caption

Other supporters cited Mr. Jeffries’s fight against the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy as a primary reason that the Assemblyman earned their vote.
For his part, Mr. Barron called his loss a victory.
“This is something bigger than politics,” he told supporters at a restaurant in Bedford-Stuyvesant. “It’s a movement of the people. And we proved that tonight.”
Mr. Barron also suggested that he was the victim of a conspiracy.

Congressional hopeful Hakeem Jeffries promises to “use the tax code if need be” to support religious or other private schools.

“They had the media. They called us names — the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, the white media — because we were endorsed by the Amsterdam News and Black Star. We had the Wall Street corporate elite, the Democratic establishment, and the media all against us. But we put the state and nation on notice.”
Mr. Barron pronounced himself “the best candidate,” adding, “At the risk of sounding like a sore loser, there will be no congratulatory statement made because the other candidate ran a smear campaign [and] showed a lack of character.”
Apparently, that “lack of character” is widespread. Many voters interviewed by The Local said they viewed Mr. Barron negatively.
“Barron is a Nazi,” said Christine Grant, 51, of Fort Greene. “He’s anti-Israel. You can’t have a person like that in Congress.”
Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, who represents Brighton Beach and its large Russian population, said Mr. Barron’s rhetoric on Israel helped earn Mr. Jeffries strong support among Russian Jews.
“I’ve never seen such strong numbers,” said Mr. Brook-Krasny. “We have some election districts with votes of 44–0, 115–2, 32–2. It’s because, one, we had a great candidate, but also, two, that Charles Barron has opinions about Israel that the Russian Jews do not find suitable for Israel. It’s like he’s a foreign enemy.”
Barron supporters complained that Mr. Jeffries — who outraised Mr. Barron by hundreds of thousands of dollars — would be a pawn of Wall Street and other backers.
“Charles Barron has a backbone, but Hakeem Jeffries is funded by the one percent,” said Lurie Favors, 34, of Fort Greene. “Everyone knows what he stands for, such as public schools.”
And Jerry Greenberg, 72, cited Mr. Barron’s past as a Black Panther as evidence that he “can’t be bought.”
“Jeffries is going to push the charter schools — and Barron is against it,” Mr. Greenberg said.
Mr. Jeffries did indeed push the charter school issue in his first interview with reporters after accepting the Democratic nomination, saying that he hopes to “use the tax code if need be” to support parents’ decision to send their children to religious or other private schools. He also said he supports charter schools.
“I am committed to the public school system, and we will support public schools and parochials schools,” he said.
He also said he would work to help homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure. East New York, Canarsie and Bedford-Stuyvesant — all within the Eighth Congressional District — are particularly hard hit, he said.
Mr. Beavan, the Green Party candidate, began the fall campaign in earnest by issuing a statement complaining that the “abysmal turnout” of just 35,000 voters in a district with close to 700,000 residents was evidence that Mr. Jeffries and Mr. Barron offered “old-fashioned political ideas [that] amount to no more than trying to shake the crumbs out of an empty potato chip bag. They can’t work in the long term and voters know this.”
He promised to “engage voters” to create “a much more inspired and invigorated electorate in November.”
— with Matthew J. Perlman and Emma Bally


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