You never know what’s going to happen at the Lambda Independent Democrats.
Just when you thought that the borough’s leading Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender (LGBT) political club was going to side with newcomer Daniel Squadron in the fight for the 25th State Senate District seat, the group instead went for incumbent Martin Connor – even though the two have been at odds for nearly three decades.
Lambda members said that both Connor and Squadron showed up to speak at the club’s endorsement meeting Thursday.
Connor, who’s celebrating his 30th year in Albany this year, spoke about his longstanding record with the city’s LGBT community and then “went for Squadron’s jugular,” according to some accounts.
Connor reportedly connected Squadron to his main supporter, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, and then spoke about the Brooklyn legislator’s spotty record on LGBT issues.
“[Connor] spoke about Schumer’s vote for the Defense of Marriage Act and the death penalty, knowing that Lambda has some animosity against Schumer,” said an insider. “Squadron talked about how Schumer is supporting him, but didn’t talk about anything beyond that. In the end, people went with experience.”
Dan Willson, co-president of the Lambda Independent Democrats, said that members voted two to one in favor of Connor, with a few members opting not to vote.
The vote to support Connor was cast over the objections of member Ken Diamondstone, who lost to the incumbent in the 2006 Democratic primary.
“I was very disappointed,” said Diamondstone. “He [Connor] is the wrong candidate to represent the district and the LGBT community.”
Diamondstone said that he spoke up at the meeting and “made it clear that Connor doesn’t deserve the endorsement.”
“I reminded them that when the rubber hit the road, he didn’t support LGBT issues,” said Diamondstone, who opted to drop out of this year’s primary after some urging by other Lambda members who thought that a three-way race would only assure a Connor victory.
Those Lambda members were also supporters of Squadron, whose pushy tactics ultimately turned off the rest of the club to the Carroll Gardens resident, some said.
“Those that pushed Squadron were very heavy handed,” said one source. “It made some of us turn toward Connor, especially after someone asked the question that if no other LGBT group has a problem with Connor then did we have a 30 year feud with this guy?”
Besides some quips about how Connor treated Diamondstone during the last election, no one could answer that pivotal question, and the endorsement went to Connor, the source said.
But Willson explained that some members felt that the endorsement went to Connor because Diamondstone wasn’t in the race – even though many club members asked him to drop out to make room for Squadron.
Isn’t politics perplexing?
“In the end, our horse wasn’t in this race,” he said. “We backed Diamondstone last time and he came close to beating Connor. With him out of the race, we fell back on Connor’s record. Squadron didn’t make the sale.”
Connor said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the endorsement, members said.
Attempts to reach Squadron were not returned by press time.
Besides Connor, the Lambda Independent Democrats endorsed Barack Obama for president, Jerrold Nadler, Yvette Clarke, Anthony Weiner and Steve Harrison for Congress, Velmanette Montgomery, Diane Savino and Eric Adams for State Senate and Jim Brennan, Felix Ortiz and Joan Millman for Assembly.
The club voted “no endorsement” in the Edolphus Towns/Kevin Powell fight for Brooklyn’s 10th Congressional District.
