Posted on this before but want to add a few things. All you Brooklyn Kossacks, this is a chance to get together and do something for progressive politics in Brooklyn. Marjorie Gerseten (fair election champion), my wife, Joy Romanski (climatologist and officer of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats), and I are co-hosting an event on May 3rd for our friend Josh Skaller, candidate for the 39th New York City Council seat in Brooklyn (portions of Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Windsor Terrace, Kensington and Borough Park). Josh is a long-time organizer for Democracy for New York City, was president of the Central Independent Democrats political club in Brooklyn for two years, and was an early organizer with Brooklyn for Barak. This is one of our best chances this year to elect a genuinely honest and dedicated candidate to NYC government. Details below.
"Josh has always fought for fiscal responsibility and the progressive solutions needed to reform city government"
--Jim Dean
Chair of Democracy For America (DFA)
Although Josh has refused to take money from developers, PACs and lobbyists, he’s the leader in number of donors and second in total dollars in a large field of good candidates. His main opponent in the race has taken money from corporations and even from Blue Wolf Capital Management executive Josh Wolf-Powers, one of the figures at the center of the big pension scandal that is spreading from NYC all the way to New Mexico. But Josh is a close second in fundraising running a strictly grassroots campaign. I want to emphasize that this is an amazing accomplishment and shows his organizational skills and potential. I also want to emphasize that it is so rare that the best, most honest and most progressive candidate running is also able to raise money.
It’s a measure of Josh’s hard work, integrity, and just how much
people like and believe in him. He’s smart, pragmatic, and works well
with others. No small matter in getting it done. He has been endorsed
so far by Democracy for NYC, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, local activist and progressive favorite Chris Owens, civil rights attorney and Public Advocate candidate Norm Siegel (another excellent candidate I am supporting this year), and State Senator Eric Adams, among others.
Josh's eclectic background as the son of an environmental scientist and a teacher for the disabled, married to a science teacher, and himself once Associate Director of computer music at Harvard, informs his agenda concerns for education and the environment. He has proposed a green jobs based approach for revitalizing New York's economy.
Josh has been a strong voice against Ratner's plan for Atlantic Yards, as well as other unchecked and unwise development projects, believing environmental sustainability is the key to our prosperity. He advocates a stronger community voice in development decisions and making affordable housing a priority in its own right rather than as simply a bone developers throw the city in exchange for massive subsidies and tax breaks. For many in Brooklyn who want sane development but don't want the kind of political dominance developers have had in NYC for years, this is a welcome approach.
Josh alone of the candidates for this district has taken the position of cleaning up Brooklyn’s toxic Gowanus Canal before development progresses. In this he is the only strong candidate in this race I am aware of who is supporting Obama's EPA on declaring the Gowanus a Superfund site. Even though all but one candidate in the neighboring 33rd district election support the EPA's plan, in the 39th Josh stands out as the only one. All other competitive candidates have either been silent on this subject or support allowing developers to proceed without clean up. You can read a bit more about this issue here (complete with some disgusting pictures my wife took of the canal). My wife's take on it seems apt: if developers are allowed to build on the Gowanus before cleanup is done, it will be the next Love Canal. We now finally have an EPA willing to do something about it, and developers and their pet politicians are fighting it!
I will say that I know all of the candidates in this race and respect them all. Originally I was supporting Josh mainly because he was a good friend who was smart and had some great ideas...but I wasn't expecting him to organize such an effective campaign. His fundraising and organization were so ahead of the other candidates that he was distributing buttons and had volunteers handing out literature on election day 2008 when every Democrat in Brooklyn seemed in line to vote. It was a brilliant way to meet the voters and get his name out there.
So come meet this excellent candidate...and meet many other Brooklyn Kossacks at the same time.
Date: Sunday, May 3rd
Place: 50 Willow St, Apt. 1, Brooklyn Heights
Time: From 4:30-7:00; Josh will be here at 6:00.
Refreshments will be served (Marjorie is known for having a good spread at her fundraisers, so don't miss it!)
The ‘meet and greet’ with Josh is an optional fundraiser. This is a
rare opportunity for us to win with no compromise to our progressive
values. This is not a symbolic run that "sends a message." Nor is it
the case of the lesser of all evils. This is the best guy and, with
our help, he can win.
Learn more about him and contribute here: http://skaller09.com/...
To RSVP email me at mole333_at_gmail.com
And for those who are interested in a more raucous event, I also invite you to a May 9 Brooklyn event for Rock Hackshaw (candidate for Brooklyn's 40th council district) and Norm Siegel (candidate for NYC Public Advocate). Details here.
I also want to add you can other Central Brooklyn Independent Democrat endorsements here.