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June 13, 2006
Yassky on the hot seat
Race Question Dominates House Seat Fight
By JONATHAN P. HICKS
The New York Times - June 13, 2006
Some of Brooklyn's most prominent black officials said yesterday that they wanted to enlist party leaders at the national level to prevent a white politician from winning a Congressional seat long held by black politicians.
In a news conference after a meeting of about two dozen black elected officials and civic leaders, including United States Representative Major R. Owens, the leaders sharply criticized the motives of David Yassky, a white City Councilman who is running for the Congressional seat currently held by Mr. Owens and, before him, by Shirley Chisholm.
After 24 years in Congress, Mr. Owens is not running for re-election this year. In addition to Mr. Yassky, there are three black candidates running for the Congressional seat: State Senator Carl Andrews, City Councilwoman Yvette D. Clarke and Chris Owens, who is the congressman's son and a former member of a community school board.
Mr. Owens added that Mr. Yassky's campaign was a reflection of "opportunism and personal ambition."
"Is it well meaning?" Mr. Owens asked. "Perhaps. Is it opportunistic? Of course."
Mr. Owens played a major role in the talks and in the news conference, referring to Mr. Yassky as "a candidate with no history and no compatibility with the district." He noted that at the time Mr. Yassky announced that he would run for Congress, the councilman lived in an adjoining district represented by Representative Nydia M. Velázquez.
"He couldn't adequately represent the district, no matter what his color was," Mr. Owens said. Other officials at the news conference charged that Mr. Yassky's campaign was largely financed by contributors who do not live in Brooklyn.
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