[NYtenants-online] Tenant Flea Market & Hagler's flea-bitten ethics

[Tenant]

NYtenants Online/TenantNet                                9/18/03
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IN THIS ISSUE ...

1. London Terrace Tenants' Street Fair this Saturday
2. Rehashing Shlomo Hagler
3. Landlord Judge Dawn Jimenez falls in Brooklyn

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THE 12TH ANNUAL
LONDON TERRACE STREET FAIR
Antiques, collectibles, housewares, tools, small pieces of furniture, toys, 
games, jewelry, crafts, plants, books, paintings, drawings, etc.

DATE:     Saturday, September 20, 2003 (rain or shine)
TIME:     from 10 AM to 6 PM
LOCATION: 24th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues

For additional information call the London Terrace Fair Committee:
(212) 929-1049

The Fair is run entirely by volunteers as a fund-raiser for the tenants 
organizations of London Terrace Gardens and London Terrace Towers.

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SHLOMO HAGLER THE EVICTORATOR

Some made fun of his name; one person referred to him as "Slo-Mo." While 
that might have been an unfortunate by-product of the 2nd District Judicial 
campaign, Shlomo Hagler apparently asked for it by using his first name in 
the Sheldon Silver-controlled Orthodox Grand Street Coops enclave, but 
identifying himself as "Judge S. Hagler" to the rest of the world.

To see what else Hagler was hiding, see our earlier reports:
http://tenant.net/pipermail/nytenants-online/2003-September/000252.html
http://tenant.net/pipermail/nytenants-online/2003-September/000253.html
http://tenant.net/pipermail/nytenants-online/2003-September/000254.html

Hand-made flyers criticizing Hagler appeared on the Lower East Side in 
Spanish, Chinese and Hebrew. But these were nothing compared to the money 
being spent by landlords to elect their darling.

Hagler's brother reportedly was caught tearing down other candidates' 
posters. But it was the sheer volume of Hagler posters on every lamp post, 
and in every nook and cranny, that got even his natural supporters upset. 
Others were bent out-of-shape over the amount of mail he sent. And some 
Grand Street residents were asking why Hagler had to send his mother around 
to do his campaigning for him.

Excerpts from the Co-op Village Community Forum (Grand Street) include:

"I must have gotten at least 6 pieces of mail from him alone. Please I 
already get enough JUNK mail ... Maybe his mother should have a talk with 
him, after all she already made a public statement for him. Why must a 
grown man running for the Civil Court have his Mother speak for him. Is 
this the person you want in the courts. I think not."

and:

"So, if he has done so much for the area and he is out there campaigning, 
there should be absolutely no reason why his face is on every single pole 
along local streets. I wouldn't vote for him just for that one reason and 
the other because his mom sent a letter clearing the slander about him. 
It's almost like he's a child and couldn't handle his own bad press. Was he 
sulking in the corner with his thumb in his mouth while this was going on????"

No, Hagler wasn't sucking his thumb ... he was thriving on landlord money 
and lying about it.

In the end, Shlomo Hagler won the Democratic Primary on September 9th by a 
margin of approximately 1,000 votes. There are three specific reasons:

1. It was low turnout with no citywide or Council races being fought. Most 
people just didn't vote. Sheldon Silver's Grand Street enclave votes on 
cue. Instead of asking "how high" they ask "for whom." Silver dictates and 
the LES Grand Street Stepfords delivered the landlords' candidate. Silver 
even had people going into buildings, checking to see who hadn't voted yet 
and banging on their doors until they voted, often at virtual gunpoint. 
With a large voting block like this, if the rest of the district is asleep, 
Silver's landlord goon-squad can control elections.

2. The tenant/progressive vote was split. Unfortunately City Council member 
Marguerita Lopez latched onto candidate Arlene Bluth (who herself has no 
shortage of landlord credentials). By endorsing Bluth, many were misled 
that Bluth was a viable alternative to Sheldon Hagler. While many tenants 
advocates (and Lopez's own political club) supported Frank Nervo, the 
tenant/progressive vote was essentially split. Lopez enabled a spoiler and 
delivered Hagler to the Civil Court.

3. Hagler and Silver lied. Big surprise, eh? You expect some stretching of 
the truth in political campaigns, but you also expect more from someone who 
is running for the bench and is bound by ethical rules. None of the other 
candidates took the low road followed by Hagler. He  violated judicial 
candidate ethics rules by failing to disclose and recuse himself from cases 
where landlords were represented by attorneys who appeared on his campaign 
committee. It's a matter of public record.

The complaint signed by a number of tenant advocates was sent to the Office 
of Court Administration and was not even publicly released (on 8/27) until 
a week AFTER Hagler claimed (on 8/22) it was being used to smear him. To 
date Hagler has never answered the charges in the complaint.

What Silver and Hagler did do was to get hold of Legal Aid's Chief Attorney 
Danny Greenberg and/or the Legal Aid board. Presumably with a real or 
implied threat of cutting Legal Aid's purse strings, Greenberg issued a 
clarification that emphasized that Legal Aid was not taking a position in 
the election. But it was funny that no one had ever claimed or implied that 
Legal Aid was taking a position, (maybe other than Silver/Hagler). Even 
though Greenberg's clarification did not disavow or dispute the tenant 
advocates' charges, it allowed Hagler and Silver to falsely claim he had 
been vindicated.

Greenberg's letter denied a charge that had never been made, from a claim 
of smear tactics from a letter that had not yet been released. And from 
this Silver and Hagler duped the people on Grand Street to think that 
Hagler was some squeaky-clean honest jurist.

And people wonder why landlords control politics in NYC when there are so 
many more tenants. The next time someone sees some of those Tenants & 
Neighbors (who have connections to Silver) "I'm a tenant and I Vote" hats, 
one should maybe ask, "for whom."

And from the Villager:

"[Susan] Stetzer [Frank Nervo's  campaign manager] confirmed reports from 
others from the Grand St. co-ops area, where Hagler lives, that there was a 
tremendous turnout there for him. Hagler had the support of Assembly 
Speaker Sheldon Silver, one of the state's most powerful Democrats and a 
Grand St. resident. "Shelly gets his vote out, she said. They vote right 
in their buildings. They vote when they're told to. It's a bloc vote. I 
don't think they [even] need to campaign there."

"Nervo and Arlene Bluth, another candidate, were reportedly close in the 
race for second place, while Virginia Kolodny finished last. Stetzer said 
Bluth benefited from being well funded and having the endorsement of East 
Side Councilmember Margarita Lopez."

Hank Sheinkopf (who also was working for another landlord candidate in 
Brooklyn - see below)
stated, "The NY Times candidate won."

In essence he was confirming Hagler as the landlord's choice. Everyone 
seems to know that except Grand Street.

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CRUSHING DEFEAT FOR JUDGE
by Erik Enquist
Brooklyn Park Slope Courier

Housing Court Judge Dawn Jimenez may have lost more than an election 
Tuesday when she was overwhelmed by former prosecutor ShawnDya Simpson in 
the Brooklyn-wide Democratic primary for a Civil Court judgeship. She may 
have lost her good reputation as well.

In the waning days of the campaign, Jimenez leveled accusations against 
Simpson in a mailing that some called unjustified and inaccurate.

Then, on primary day, Jimenez and her supporters handed out fliers that 
suggested she was being supported by Assemblyman Jim Brennan, Councilman 
David Yassky and Bill deBlasio, and Democratic district leader Jacob Gold. 
Brennan had in fact endorsed Simpson, and Yassky and deBlasio had remained 
neutral. Gold, a strong ally of Brennan, also did not endorse Jimenez.

Yet the flier said, "The People You Trust, Trust Dawn Jimenez" and included 
three photos of the judge posing with the smiling elected officials: one 
with Brennan and Gold, one with deBlasio, and one with Yassky. The flier 
does not say who paid for it and it lacks a "union bug" (an indication that 
it was printed in a union shop, which is common for legitimate Democratic 
campaign literature).

It also touts Jimenez as an "Independant (sic) Democrat," a misspelling 
indicating it was hastily produced. But otherwise, the flier looks rather 
professional.

Also surfacing just before the election was a flier excerpting from a New 
York Times endorsement of Simpson, edited to make it appear the paper had 
endorsed Jimenez.

Jimenez, interviewed on primary day on the corner of 7th Avenue and 1st 
Street in Park Slope, about 10 feet from her opponent, said she never saw 
that flier, which some of her supporters apparently distributed by hand and 
without her authorization. Jimenez herself was handing out a different 
flier that included a complimentary statement about her in the Times piece 
but that did not suggest she'd been endorsed by the paper.

But Simpson said Jimenez had earlier handed out the flier with the 
photographs of the elected officials. Simpson promptly called Brennan who 
quickly arrived and chastised Jimenez in an animated manner unusual for the 
assemblyman. Jimenez stopped handing out that flier, but deBlasio said 
nearly all of her campaign workers continued to do so, despite requests 
that they cease.

Brennan and deBlasio rushed to print and distribute statements denouncing 
the flier late Tuesday afternoon. Yassky, who was told about the flier but 
did not see it on election day, did not issue a statement.

However, the next day, when told what the flier said, Yassky commented, "I 
think that suggests an endorsement and I think it is very inappropriate. 
It's misleading, plain and simple. It's certainly unethical to mislead 
voters." The councilman, a professor of law, said of Jimenez, "I believe 
she's an honorable person, so I'm not making any assumptions about who put 
it out. But it was inaccurate." Alan Rocoff and Cole Ettman, who ran 
Jimenez's campaign, could not be reached by press time.

Councilman deBlasio fumed about the literature. "It's very disturbing," he 
said. "This is a real cheap shot." He said he had no idea where the photo 
-- in which he poses with his hand around Jimenez's shoulder -- was taken, 
noting that he'd run into her at numerous events in recent months.

A veteran of political campaigns, deBlasio said, "Often in [campaign] 
literature people simply show a picture of themselves with someone. It's 
one thing to put a picture in, which is not always appropriate but people 
do it, but the wording in this [Jimenez's flier] absolutely implies an 
endorsement." He explained, "There's a difference between aggressive 
tactics and inappropriate tactics. And this one crosses the line. So does 
the New York Times literature."

The councilman said the Jimenez supporters responsible for the leaflet 
"hurt the reputation of their candidate." Jimenez spokesman Hank Sheinkopf 
said he had not seen the leaflet. Sheinkopf said Jimenez lost the election 
because she didn't raise enough money and didn't get the Times endorsement.

He added that the competitive City Council race in East Flatbush and two 
judicial races in mostly black areas brought to the polls many black 
voters, who were more likely to vote for Simpson. Three other less 
competitive Council primaries in black areas (won by incumbents Al Vann, 
Charles Barron, and Tracy Boyland) also helped Simpson. However, that 
should have been cancelled out by two competitive Council races in Latino 
neighborhoods where Jimenez was expected to run strongly.

Over all, Simpson got about 60 percent of the vote to Jimenez's 40 and won 
by approximately 10,000 votes in an election when turnout barely eclipsed 
10 percent.

Councilman Lew Fidler, who supported Simpson, said Jimenez's Times flier 
cost her dearly in some neighborhoods. "Jimenez's use of the Times logo and 
the implication that the Times had endorsed her backfired tremendously," 
Fidler said. "They knew the Times had endorsed Simpson. It creates a 
credibility issue." Of course, people who knew of the Times endorsement 
likely would have voted for Simpson regardless of Jimenez's literature.

DeBlasio expressed surprise at the attack ad that arrived in mailboxes a 
few days before the election. That literature portrayed Simpson as a New 
Jersey resident hand-picked by embattled Assemblyman Clarence Norman, the 
Brooklyn Democratic leader. Specifically, it said Simpson "lives in New 
Jersey" and "doesn't vote in New York."

"I have never voted anywhere else," said Simpson, who lives on Jay Street 
in downtown Brooklyn. Simpson did live in New Jersey for a while, even as 
she worked in Brooklyn, because she was seeking better services for her 
special-needs child.

Similarly, Jimenez grew up in Brooklyn, moved out (to Manhattan) for a 
number of years, and then returned to the borough.

Simpson was indeed supported by Norman, but was endorsed by some of 
Norman's bitterest enemies, who where persuaded that she was running an 
independent campaign. "I think [the mailing] is unusual and I think it was 
also a really unfair piece because ShawnDya had such broad support," said 
deBlasio, noting that judicial candidates rarely go negative.

He said the ad may have cost Jimenez votes. "The public is really sick of 
negativity. People want civility," deBlasio said. "Negativity can 
absolutely backfire."

Simpson said she was shocked that Jimenez would tarnish her own reputation 
with such literature, which Simpson contended was not allowed by the canons 
that govern judicial candidates.

Simpson said she would consider reporting the matter to the relevant 
disciplinary bodies. Despite losing the primary, Jimenez returns to her job 
as a Housing Court judge, where she's serving a five year term. The 
Gravesend resident said two days before the election that the campaign had 
been exhausting and that if she lost, she would not run for Civil Court again.

Simpson advanced to the November 4 general election, where she is certain 
to win because of the dominance of Democratic voters in Brooklyn. She would 
begin her 10-year term in Civil Court in 2004 and start with a $125,000 
annual salary.