Who Knew, Ingenue?

     The Real Estate Board of New York -- REBNY -- has put $400,000 on Laurie Cumbo to win election to the City Council in the 35th District.  They've checked her out:  She's no Letitia James.
     Not by a long shot.
     Letitia James made life in the 35th miserable for Bruce Ratner even though his advance on Prospect Heights was backed by the the Mayor, the Borough President, Charles Schumer, the rest of the Council (except Charles Barron), four governors in succession, state senators and assemblymen, the Empire State Development Corporation,  Chamber of Commerce, the building unions and ACORN.  Taking the neighborhood was supposed to be as easy as eminent domain.
     Only Tish sided with her constituents!  It's almost unheard of that a politician would defy a developer, but Tish did.  Lopsided as it was, the fight went on for eight bruising years.
     The arena is here.  It failed to bring the thousands of construction jobs the backers promised, nor have the small businesses surrounding benefitted from the crowds, who spend their money inside and leave only trash behind.
      Candidate Cumbo has campaigned on a vision of the 35th as a Candyland for tourists.  The arena fit right in.  Now we know she sees REBNY there, too.

      When Tish decided to give up her Council seat and run for Public Advocate, a large and eager field of would-be successors formed.  One dropped out after a couple of months and then there were five -- an attorney, a community organizer, a former district leader, a former Council staffer and a former museum director.
     When candidates and voters profess the same party and policies, the "little things" take on weight.  Over the course of the spring/summer season attendees at the candidates' forums began to catch a few differences -- a little light here, a little dark there, a hedge, a promise, a fake, a fudge, a get back to you on that.  The contenders all have appeal, all speak well.  If you'd already made up your mind, you probably came away choice affirmed.  If you were still undecided, you were looking for a sign.
     The sign for me came from a group I'd never heard of, REBNY.  Their political action committee, JOBS4NY, announced it was bankrolling the campaigns of 19 candidates from $10,000,000 it had on hand to try to pack the City Council with pro-development votes.  One of the 19 was Laurie Cumbo, the bright, poised, articulate former museum director.  There she was on the JOBS4NY site!  The same pretty picture on her posters and handouts, smiling from a brownstone stoop.
     I began to reshuffle the candidates deck.  I dropped her and then there were four.

     The issue of corporate money contaminating elections is serious.  The $10,000,000 JOBS4NY is salting around town makes a mockery of the matching funds program, itself put in place to help adjust disparities in donations between well-heeled and less-heeled aspirants.
     Laurie Cumbo has never held office, never even run before.  For an ingenue she was showing a surprising affinity to take the money.  It wasn't illegal, just wrong.
     People wanted to know why she would let REBNY pick up the tab.  Her opponents were certainly attacking her on it.  We thought the time was perfect for a debate.  We thought if the candidates can face-butt and the audience is free to chime in, we might catch the fire and candor missing from previous events run round robin, by timer.  Laurie had something to explain.  The debate format meant she would not be cut off mid-argument by the clock.  She would have all the time she wanted to make her points, to attack back.
 
     On July 25th we invited the five candidates on the same email to the FIRST & ONLY debate of the campaign.  By the next day four candidates had confirmed for August 21st, one of three nights we suggested.  Laurie didn't answer.  We wrote her again to say if she had a conflict for the 21st, we would go for another night when all five could be aboard.  She didn't respond.
     The week before the debate, we contacted her campaign manager, reissuing the invitation.  He wrote back saying she wouldn't be able to come due to "a prior commitment made a month ago."
     We wrote to Laurie herself:  Why didn't you tell us you were already booked a month ago for the 21st when we wrote you a month ago?  (Whoops!)

     The debate was well attended and achieved what we were looking for in liveliness, audience interaction and impressive argument and oratory from candidates Richard Hurley, Ede Fox, Jelani Mashariki and Olanicke Alabi -- but the most powerful statement of all was Laurie Cumbo's:  An empty chair.

      It's plain Laurie Cumbo intended to blow off the debate.  In a little church full of little people.  She didn't need them.
     Would she blow off an invitation to appear before a roomful of rich developers?  If she's elected, she'll be getting plenty of those.

Full disclosure:  I donated to the Cumbo campaign.