Showing posts with label Queens District Attorney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Queens District Attorney. Show all posts

Thursday, July 4, 2019

Queens DA Race - Katz leads by 20, many ballots tossed, recount coming

Mr. Goldfeder said he intended to challenge the decision to invalidate all but 487 of the 2,816 affidavit ballots cast. Election officials said they had determined that the ballots, used when a voter’s name is not listed at the polling place, were invalid or had been cast by ineligible voters... Mr. Goldfeder said he intended to challenge the decision to invalidate all but 487 of the 2,816 affidavit ballots cast. Election officials said they had determined that the ballots, used when a voter’s name is not listed at the polling place, were invalid or had been cast by ineligible voters.
The primary race was cast as a battle between the traditional power bases in Queens and the progressive forces that propelled Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to her primary victory in New York last year. Ms. Katz had the backing of unions and local political leaders, while Ms. Cabán received support from prominent members of Congress, including Ms. Ocasio-Cortez.
Ms. Katz is ahead by 20 votes, 34,898 to 34,878, according to lawyers representing her. Jerry H. Goldfeder, a veteran election lawyer representing Ms. Cabán, agreed that Ms. Katz was now ahead by 20 votes..... NY Times
There is joy at the NY Post but some skeptism over this change of affairs when few thought the absentee ballots could close an 1100 vote lead. There were ballots tossed - by whom? The Dem party controlled judges? We'll see.

An old pal, Jerry Goldfeder is the best election lawyer there is  -- I was a bit surprised to see him identified as Cabán’s lawyer but a good sign for her. Jerry has had many regular Dems as clients and his willingness to step into the progressive trench if he pulls this out for Cabán might get some blowback. In my previous articles on this race I've painted this as a struggle between the Dem party machine and the Democratic Socialists and other progressive elements. Many people on the left do not think the machine can be broken and they will retain control of the Dem Party, which may lead to some interesting developments - like a serious third party -- and it won't be the Greens from what I can see.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/nyregion/katz-caban-recount-queens.html?fbclid=IwAR3TxKHSrRldpwrK8S3GdMDsObzacAsqOopqvSRr83cbCfyLIYH-cg6_ZmY

In Surprise, Katz Pulls Just Ahead of Cabán in Queens District Attorney Primary

Tiffany Cabán’s 1,100-vote lead evaporated after the count of paper ballots, putting Melinda Katz 20 votes ahead in the hotly contested primary.


  • Friday, June 28, 2019

    A Deeper Dive into The Queens DA Race - A Battle for the Democratic Party

    While progressives celebrate the narrow victory of Tiffany Cabán in the Queens DA race, it was a shock and awe moment for the Queens Dem Party machine and allies (yes, to the UFT). But hope springs eternal and they are holding out hope that the absentee ballots will give Katz the victory.
    Katz and her supporters remain optimistic that the approximately 3,400 absentee ballots, which remained uncounted as of earlier this week, could still tip the polls in her favor. .... The WAVE, June 28, 2019, www.rockawave.com
    The WAVE took no formal position in the race other than "anyone but Tiffany." Yes, I write for a publication that doesn't quite align with me politically but they do give me space.

    I'm sure people are sick of my reports on this election:
    The implications locally and nationally are so deep and complicated. The AOC/DSA/Justice Democrats showed they could pull out more votes for their candidate than the Democratic Party machine plus the UFT (they donated $36,000 to Katz), the real estate interests, etc couldn't  muster the turnout for Katz.

    This election mimics the Bernie/Hillary split in the Democratic Party. One candidate,
    Deputy Attorney General Mina Malik, told a crowd in Southeast Queens on the Thursday evening before election day that “Bernie Sanders is the reason we have Trump in the White House.”
    The articles I quote below have all the elements of this split, including black leaders' support for the regular Democrats and slams at the left.
     Katz, who was running for her sixth elected office in New York in 25 years, had support from former congressman and former Queens County Democratic Party Chair Crowley, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, along with New York Congressional Reps. Gregory Meeks, Tom Suozzi, Carolyn Maloney, and Adriano Espaillat, and a host of local and state unions. Meeks, despite a key vote on Capitol Hill Tuesday, was at Katz’s election night party. Earlier, he slammed Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., for endorsing Cabán without consulting leaders of the machine. The move, he said, was “arrogant” and “patronizing.”
    Our own UFT lines up firmly against the left and will do so every time. The number of UFT failures in its endorsement policy continues the trend. In other words, whoever they endorse for president should view it as a kiss of death.
    A year ago, the party establishment could claim — whether it was true or not — to have been caught off guard by Ocasio-Cortez. That rationale is absent in Tuesday’s race. The eyes of the country were on Queens, and the machine was as prepared as it could be. It simply couldn’t muscle out the vote... The Intercept
    There's a lot packed into this comment -- DSA vs Dem Machine. But also ignores that the number of candidates who were not progressive splintered the vote. If it was Katz against Cabán head to head this would be a different story.

    The progressive Intercept has a different take

    Tiffany Cabán Stuns Queens Machine, Holds Solid Lead in Race for Queens District Attorney...  progressive groups coalesced around Cabán

    Cabán’s apparent victory is a show of force in New York for the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, which worked hard for Cabán early, as well as for the Working Families Party and Real Justice PAC. Larry Krasner, the Philadelphia district attorney elected with the help of Real Justice on a similarly radical platform, was in attendance at Cabán’s election night party. The most significant endorsement, however, likely came from Bronx and Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. ....The Intercept

    The Intercept called this victory more significant in some sense than AOC's defeat of Joe Crowley - who by the way still runs the Queens regular Democratic Party despite the fact that my own Congressman, Greg Meeks is the chair. Meeks is black and all the black elected officials came out for Katz with slams at the left.

    I love how publications interpret events from their own point of view. The WAVE, which I write for, took a basic Anyone But Tiffany position and was critical of outsiders coming in to support her. Look at the map of the voting below -- my neighborhood went all blue for Greg Lasak, a retired Supreme Court Justice, who is associated mostly with the old regime. He had


    There's still the election...
    Given that Queens leans heavily Democratic, Cabán is all but assured a general election victory, provided she survives whatever challenges Katz files. That election will take place on November 5, 2019.
    But there is still a chance for a conservative/right wing/Reg Democrat alliance. Melinda Katz's ex, right winger Curtis Sliwa who fathered two children with Katz was on Bernie and Sid this morning pointing out that Katz had no chance to win and would probably be given a judgeship, the usual way the graft works, saying all non-progressives, Republican and Democrats, should all gather together and back Lasik against Tiffany in the November election.

    Sometimes politics is better than sports.

    Both articles below.