Still facing criticism that his white skin makes him an inappropriate choice to represent a predominantly black congressional district, City Councilman David Yassky had a donut hurled in his direction in a racially charged press conference with Mayor Bloomberg at the very housing project where he launched his campaign in May.
The stated purpose of the Labor Day appearance at the Wyckoff Gardens Houses was to publicize $600,000 Yassky had earmarked for long-sought security cameras there and in the neighboring Gowanus Houses.
The four-way primary to succeed retiring Rep. Major Owens is set for Tuesday, Sept. 12.
The chocolate-covered artery-clogger landed just a few feet away from the mayor and briefly interrupted his remarks and sent state banking superintendent Diana Taylor, the mayor’s girlfriend, scurrying.
No more high-calorie projectiles were forthcoming — but there was plenty of the verbal kind: Yassky was booed before being given a chance to speak.
The donut quickly became a symbol of an underlying issue in the campaign, namely that some black residents of the 11th District do not want to be represented by the white Yassky.
“This is a game,” shouted Beverly Corbin, 52, a 21-year resident of Wyckoff Gardens who admitted she supports the congressman’s son, Chris Owens, in the race. “This [event] is all to support Yassky.”
Yassky has the support of Charlene Nimmons, head of the complex’s tenants’ association, and Marguerite Scott, her Gowanus Houses counterpart. Nimmons was on hand at the press conference, where the mayor stopped short of his own endorsement, but called Yassky “a guy who’s really cared” and has focused “on trying to make life better in this city.”
That brought about more booing.
The mayor fled after the press conference, but Yassky stood his ground and debated the issues. Some residents of the nearby Warren Street Houses complained that their buildings were not included in the security camera project.
Limited funds precluded it, Yassky offered.
“We’ll come back next year and try to do more,” he said.
Willie McDonald, vice president of the tenants’ association, was unimpressed.
“I might not be here next year,” McDonald, 69, responded.
But given the rocky road his race for Congress has taken, Yassky might be.
Meanwhile, City Councilwoman Yvette Clarke (D-Flatbush) was endorsed this week by former state Comptroller Carl McCall, who called her an heir to Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the black trailblazer who first held the 11th District seat. The endorsement comes on the heels of a nod by several labor unions that could factor into a “get-out-the-vote” push.
State Sen. Carl Andrews (D-Crown Heights) marched in the celebrated Labor Day Caribbean parade with the Rev. Al Sharpton, another proven vote-getter in central Brooklyn.
Yassky was endorsed last week by the New York Times and The Brooklyn Papers.
On Wednesday night, a candidates’ forum at the Garfield Temple in Park Slope turned into an Owens vs. Yassky affair as the congressman’s son blasted the councilman for being too cozy with developers.
“I just can’t see how you say you stand for the people,” Owens said.
Yassky replied that he “voted against tax breaks for developers.”
He retaliated by slamming the Owens campaign for distributing an unsigned flyer claiming that Yassky had taken contributions from the lawyers who defended disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
After the forum, Owens apologized for the erroneous handout, but said, “I can’t be blamed for what my volunteers come up with.”
At the same forum, Clarke and Andrews, who both support Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project, played to the largely anti-Yards crowd by now saying that they have concerns about the project’s environmental impacts — something which neither candidate dwelled on in the past.
— additional reporting by Ariella Cohen
