Elected Officials Back Anti-Lopez State Committee Candidates In Brooklyn
Posted by Brooklyn Young Republican Club
Source: Edward Isaac-Dovere / City Hall News
A collection of elected officials in Brooklyn are backing candidates running against Vito Lopez’s preferred choices for state committee spots, putting them at odds in a race that could ultimately determine who holds the title of county leader in the years ahead.
Jumaane Williams, Tish James and Diana Reyna are endorsing Lincoln Restler, the 26-year-old activist seeking the male state committee spot in the Assembly district represented by Joe Lentol, which covers Ft. Greene, Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Restler is running against Warren Cohn, the son of Lopez ally Steve Cohn, who retired shortly after Restler announced his candidacy earlier this year.
Restler is one of several people hoping to unseat long-serving incumbent members of the state committee in Brooklyn in what amounts to proxy opposition to Lopez’s leadership.
“If there was ever a moment where voters are disgusted with the status quo, it is right now, right here in New York City, in New York State, in Brooklyn,” Restler said Wednesday, during a break from campaigning. “We’re coming full force.”
In addition to the three Council endorsements, Restler has also gotten an unofficial nod of support from Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who, along with James and Reyna, serves on the committee on vacancies Restler has appointed for the petitions he is carrying. Running on a platform of reforming the judicial selection process and getting the county committee to back more committed progressive, Restler said he hopes to repurpose some of the field success and voter engagement of the 2008 Obama campaign in his and other state committee races.
The three endorsements, Restler said, fit with that approach, which he said he hoped would eventually lead to a win in September and, eventually, a replacement for Lopez at the head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
