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Chin and Gleason Mount Gerson Challenge
Clubs divide in Lower Manhattan as incumbent defends - Chris Bragg
April 13th, 2009
When District 1 was carved out in 1991, most people expected a united Chinatown to help the district send the first Asian-American to the Council.
Instead, that trail was blazed by John Liu (D-Queens) in Flushing in 2001. And with the term-limits extension allowing incumbent Alan Gerson to seek a third term, the Asian-American drought from Lower Manhattan seems increasingly likely to continue.
Opponents of the term-limits extension cited the district specifically in arguing that the extension violated Department of Justice regulations since a white incumbent may gain an additional term in a minority-dominated district.
More directly, the extension hurt Margaret Chin, a longtime immigrant advocate making her fourth run at the seat.
"Some people I talk to are very upset about the vote and really want an Asian-American to be elected," said Chin, who moved to the United States from Hong Kong as a child. "It makes a major difference because it was originally an open seat. People saw that opportunity."
Nonetheless, demographic shifts over the last eight years offer Chin some hope. The Asian-American population in the district has grown by several percentage points since she last ran in 2001, when she was thought at one point to have the inside track. A crowded field that included two other Chinatown candidates left her in fourth place.
Carrying Chinatown, though, may not be enough, given the Asian-American community's relatively low voter turnout.
"Even if much of the population is Asian-American, some are not going to be citizens, some are not registered Democrats and some don't vote in primaries," explained political consultant Jerry Skurnik, who studies demographic trends.
However, Asian-American voter turnout may increase this year with Liu in the comptroller primary. Notably, Gerson has positioned himself as an ally of Liu, appearing at his colleague's side on the City Hall steps as Liu announced his switch to the comptroller race in March.
But while Chin has grassroots support in Chinatown, Chinatown's only official political club, the United Democratic Organization, is backing Gerson. Some believe Chin, who once served as spokesperson for the local Communist Workers Party, is too liberal.
"The community rejected her three times," said Virginia Kee, the club's founder. "We're not looking for tokenism."
So far that has not affected the money race. As of the latest campaign finance filings, Chin had raised $100,000, while Gerson is carrying $4,000 in debt.
Meanwhile, attorney Pete Gleason is challenging Gerson in the western portion of the district. Gleason, a veteran of both the NYPD and FDNY, believes Gerson waffled when he voted in favor of extending term limits (while at the same time voting for an amendment to put the matter to a public vote), and in his decision to abstain on a bill putting a sanitation garage on Spring Street, one block from Gerson's district.
"There comes a point in time where you have to make a decision," Gleason said. "Unfortunately, the incumbent has an inability to make a decision."
If elected, Gleason said he would voluntarily cut his salary from $111,500 to $69,000 in order to hire another staffer, since he believes Gerson's constituent outreach has been poor.
The Village Independent Democrats did not back Gerson in 2001. Gleason appears to have a good chance at landing their endorsement this year, according to several club members, especially because Gerson hails from the rival Village Reform Democratic Club.
Gleason may also score the endorsement of Downtown Independent Democrats, in which a strongly anti-Gerson faction has emerged.
DID president Sean Sweeney, who also heads the Soho Alliance, said he opposes Gerson primarily because the councilman is unresponsive to constituent phone calls and e-mails. Sweeney cites the fact that Gerson has the ninth-poorest attendance record on the City Council over the last three years, even though City Hall is in Gerson's district.
Others in the anti-Gerson faction of the club share similar sentiments.
"He's been in office two terms and he's kind of lost touch with the constituents he represents," said Dr. Gil Horowitz, president of the Washington Square Park Association. "He's grown comfortable in the job, and I think he sees it as his. But I think he is miscalculating."
Another faction of the Downtown Independent Democrats continues to back Gerson, however, and includes Community Board 1 chair Julie Menin, who had been preparing to run for the seat before the term-limits extension.
Gerson said he remains confident he will eventually receive the club's backing.
Gerson is likely to receive the support of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan), who led the charge for the term-limits extension. His base of support remains strong in NoHo, especially within the Silver Towers affordable-housing complex, where Gerson still lives in the same room in which he grew up, in an apartment he shares with his parents.
Gerson admitted he is not always the easiest person to reach, but argued that this is because he is so busy serving his Council district. He added that his record of accomplishment speaks for itself on environmental, education and housing issues.
Gerson said his decision not to give patronage jobs to past supporters is the reason for the discontentment among some members of the Downtown Independent Democrats.
"None of this is over any community issue," Gerson said. "It's all in-house, clubhouse politics."
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ABOVE: Margaret Chin and Pete Gleason are staking their candidacies on community frustration with Council Member Alan Gerson. Photos by Hai Zhang
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