Ed Towns

Here’s a letter from Representative Dennis Kucinich and two other members of Congress, supporting Representative Ed Towns of Brooklyn to become the new chairman of the committee on Oversight and Government Reform.  read more »

Here’s the Ed Towns campaign t-shirt I described in my story.

It's one way to fuse Towns' longevity (he's been in Congress since 1983) with Barack Obama's--and other relative newcomers'--theme of "change."

Ed Towns’ fellow elected Democrats are doing their best to spare him the fate that Hillary Clinton suffered this year.

"We don't want to have Barack Obama in the White House, and all of a sudden lose the seniority that Ed Towns would bring to us," said City Comptroller Bill Thompson at a reasonably well-attended tribute to the 13-term congressman this weekend at the Berean Baptist Church just south of Atlantic Avenue in Crown Heights.

Thompson warned some 200 attendees that they would "lose all the benefits of the years that Ed has put in.”

That Towns, a longtime incumbent in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, should need saving at all is somewhat remarkable.  read more »

Here’s a shot from last night's fund-raiser for Representative Ed Towns, which took place at the home of attorney Sanford Rubenstein and featured a slate of very prominent Democrats.

From left to right: City Comptroller Bill Thompson, Bill Clinton, the Rev. Calvin Butts, Governor David Paterson, Towns, and Assemblyman Darryl Towns (the congressman's son).

Towns is facing a primary challenge from community activist and former MTV Real World star Kevin Powell, who has critisized Towns for supporting Hillary Clinton during the primary.

 

Bill Clinton will speak at a fund-raiser tonight for Representative Ed Towns, whose challenger, Kevin Powell, is trying to frame Towns' support of Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary as a political liability.

The event is taking place at the home of attorney Sanford Rubenstein, on East 64th Street. Clinton is expected to speak around 7:30 p.m. Others expected to attend include Representatives Anthony Weiner and Yvette Clarke, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

The invitation, which was forwarded to me by a reader, also lists notable figures like Governor David Paterson, City Comptroller Bill Thompson and Representative Charlie Rangel, although it doesn't say whether they will attend.

An interested reader sent in this photograph showing how Representative Ed Towns, a Hillary Clinton supporter who faces a primary challenge this year, has embraced Barack Obama's campaign. The picture was taken this afternoon and is of the building at 203 Ralph Street in Brooklyn, not far from Towns' office.

Towns has lately been trying to demonstrate his association with the campaign, rolling out the endorsements of several central Brooklyn elected officials earlier this week, and noting that they all supported Obama during the primary. Towns needs to avoid a scenario in which the droves of Obama supporters who showed up in February  read more »

Here’s a shot from an event in Brooklyn yesterday where central Brooklyn lawmakers who supported Barack Obama in the February 5 primary announced they’re endorsing Representative Ed Towns for reelection.

“I made the decision to support Senator Obama because of his message of change,” said State Senator John Sampson, in a public statement. “I made the decision to support Congressman Towns for this same reason. Towns’ seniority in Congress enables him to build strong relationships and alliances in order to bring the change needed that will move our great borough forward.”

The other elected officials included Towns' son, Assemblyman Darryl Towns; State Senators Eric Adams and Kevin Parker; State Assemblymen Hakeem Jeffries and Karim Camara; and Borough President Marty Markowitz.  read more »

Democratic Congressional challenger Kevin Powell has been linking himself to Barack Obama in one way or another for some time now. But his effort to compare himself to the presidential nominee may suffer after tomorrow.

At 2 p.m. at Brooklyn Borough Hall, a number of local elected officials who are also Obama supporters--State Senators Eric Adams, Kevin Parker and John Sampson, along with Assembly members Karim Camara and Hakeem Jeffries--will be endorsing incumbent Ed Towns for re-election.

UPDATE: Powell fund-raiser Arthur Leopold responding by first noting that the Towns campaign put the wrong district number in the release--it says the 13th, but Towns represents the 10th Congressional district.  read more »

At a press conference on the City Hall steps just now, incumbent State Senator Marty Connor was endorsed by the five members of Congress whose districts overlap with his: Ed Towns, Nydia Velazquez, Carolyn Maloney and Jerry Nadler. (Yvette Clarke is endorsing him too, but did not attend).

Afterward, I asked the group what they think of Chuck Schumer’s support of Connor’s opponent, Dan Squadron.

Nadler, the only one to answer the question, offered the following:

"Well, Chuck is entitled to put considerations of personal friendship over everything else that we have talked about, and he’s said that’s exactly what he has done. Marty’s opponent worked for Chuck, is the co-author of his book with him, and I understand a personal loyalty," Nadler said.  read more »

At a fund-raiser in Williamsburg last night, a Kevin Powell supporter tried to allay concerns about Powell’s violent past with a little humor, and stoke enthusiasm for ousting 13-term incumbent Representative Ed Towns.

Isaac Abraham, a Hasidic store owner now running for City Council, criticized Towns for being unresponsive to a housing issue in the late 1990's from behind a podium, next to Powell, and front a group of about 50 other Hasidic men.

He went on, “And just touching on a sensitive issue--I must bring it up because obviously some people are trying to take advantage of it.”

(He was referencing Powell's much-discussed past which includes domestic violence.  read more »

Democratic Congressional candidate Kevin Powell is trying to make an issue of that fact that a recent fund-raiser for his opponent, Representative Ed Towns, was thrown by former Republican Representative J.C. Watts.

Here's a video the Powell campaign just put out, which features footage of Watts explaining his support for Towns, and title screens with less flattering information (and the Golden Girls theme song playing in the background).

The video ends by saying, “Ed Towns' friend, conservative J.C. Watts, is not a friend of Brooklyn.”

Here's an image that must be a welcome boost for Representative Ed Towns, who faces a primary challenge from former Real World guy Kevin Powell. The picture is from an event happening now about the importance of keeping the Brooklyn housing complex Starrett City affordable.

"Starrett City will be safe as long as I'm around," Towns said.

In attendance are Hillary Clinton, Representative Anthony Weiner, Assemblyman and Brooklyn Democratic chair Vito Lopez and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

A few people in the crowd chanted "Hillary, Hillary!"

"I think Ed Towns deserves a big round of applause and our gratitude," Clinton said.

(Along with other members of New York's Congressional delegation, Towns endorsed Barack Obama on June 5, shortly before Clinton dropped out of the presidential primary.  read more »

Kevin Powell gathered reporters at Junior’s Restaurant in Brooklyn this morning to respond to what he called unfair reminders of his admittedly violent past in recent columns by Daily News columnist Errol Louis.

Powell, who is running for Congress against Representative Ed Towns of Brooklyn and has admitted to and apologized for past incidents of violence against women, said that he would never to do it again, and added that recent events related to Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson and others have made it clear that public officials all need to be transparent about their shortcomings.

He noted he has Gloria Steinem's support. (Along with others, she is helping to organize a "Women for Powell" event in September.  read more »

It's not an easy thing to do in electoral politics, but Kevin Powell, who would like to unseat Representative Ed Towns of Brooklyn, is trying, once again, to make a break with his violent past, which includes numerous incidents of physical violence against women.

Tomorrow Powell is hosting a breakfast, billed as a "media meet-and-greet," at Junior's to respond to a recent column, by the Daily News' Errol Louis, titled "B'KLYN RACE NO PLACE FOR EX-ABUSERS." [UPDATE: It was pointed out to me that Louis has a more recent column on Powell as well]. The release, which just came out, notes that members of a group called Women for Kevin Powell will be in attendance.  read more »

During an interview with New York 1 News, Representative Ed Towns seized on his Democratic opponent Kevin Powell's admitted past problem with violence towards women. When asked about it, Towns, a 13-term incumbent, said it disqualifies Powell - who refers to himself as a "recovering misogynist" -- from serving in office, and said, "Congress is not a place to be rehabilitated."

Towns said he was eager to campaign, but balked at accepting an invitation to debate Powell on the show.

Here’s a clip from Matt Stoler’s interview of Democratic Congressional candidate Kevin Powell (who is trying to unseat Representative Ed Towns of Brooklyn), where the two discuss the FISA bill that recently passed both houses on Congress, and which many on the left opposed. (Barack Obama faced criticism from progressives over the bill, which he voted for.)

About halfway through, Powell says, “We’ve lost our backbone.” He adds later, “A lot of us have become spineless Democrats.”

Towns voted against FISA.

In case you’re wondering, Democratic members of Congress from New York who supported FISA include Tim Bishop and Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island; Gary Ackerman, Greg Meeks and Joe Crowley of Queens; Eliot Engel of the Bronx; Nita Lowey of Westchester; Kirsten Gillibrand of Albany; and upstate's Mike Arcuri and Brian Higgins.  read more »

The Stonewall Democratic Club, one of the city's largest gay political clubs, held an endorsement meeting last night.

According to a club member, here is who the club is endorsing in a few key races:

-Challenger Kevin Powell over incumbent Representative Ed Towns

-Incumbent State Senator Marty Connor over insurgent Dan Squadron

-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver over his two challengers, Paul Newell and Luke Henry

-Incumbent State Senator Kevin Parker over challengers Kendall Stewart and Simcha Felder

-Manhattan Surrogate's Court candidate Nora Anderson

After challenger Kevin Powell attacked his Congressional record on Wednesday night, I called Representative Ed Towns to see if he wanted to respond, and he defended himself against both charges over the phone yesterday.

“I think that he might not understand how the Congress works,” Towns said of Powell. “It’s based on seniority.”

At a fund-raiser Wednesday night, Powell assailed Towns because Towns has been in office 25 years and holds no committee chairmanship. Powell also said Towns has missed about 1,000 votes.  read more »

Towns is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, whose chairman, John Dingell, has been in office for 53 years--Towns has been

Reclusive comedian Dave Chappelle missed two flights out of Ohio last night and failed to get to a Manhattan fund-raiser for Congressional candidate Kevin Powell of Brooklyn.

The clip above shows Powell earlier in the evening, before the announcement about Chappelle, continuing to criticize incumbent Representative Ed Towns for what Powell thinks is a lack of leadership.

“My opponent does not chair a single committee after 25 years," Powell said to the audience. "I want y’all to think about that for a second. Why doesn’t he? Because he’s missed about a thousand votes since 1993.”

Later, while comedian Chris Rock, rapper RZA of Wu-Tang Clan and drummer ?uestlove of the Roots mingled in the VIP section with big-dollar donors, Powell returned to the stage and told the crowd of several hundred they would be admitted free to a rescheduled event sometime later.  read more »

A reader e-mailed this photo of Representative Ed Assemblyman Darryl Towns' car outside the City Board of Elections office - 42 Broadway - earlier today, one day before petitions are due.

Towns doesn't have a strong challenger this year, but his father, Represenative Ed Towns, does.

Representative Ed Towns of Brooklyn has notably decided to skip most of the events that could put him on the same stage as his younger, more celebrity-friendly challenger, Kevin Powell.

But that doesn’t mean Towns is completely M.I.A., as this YouTube clip shows.

“Welcome to News and Views. I’m delighted today because I have the opportunity to talk to some young folks, folks that are doing things in a positive way,” he says.

The guests on the show are four Congressional interns, two of whom work for him. It’s part of an ongoing series hosted by Towns, whose previous guests have included Representative Dennis Kucinich.

George Soros just contributed $500 to the campaign of congressional candidate Kevin Powell, who is running to unseat 13-term Representative Ed Towns in Brooklyn.

Soros' political director Michael Vachon confirmed the contribution by the billionaire liberal activist, saying Soros made the donation on-line about 30 minutes ago. “Soros is supporting the candidacies of several young progressives around the country and Kevin Powell is one of them,” Vachon said.

Arthur Leopold, a fund-raiser for Powell, tried to take the significance of the contribution one step further. “Soros endorsed Barack Obama early because he wanted a new wave of leadership. He’s not only looking nationally but I also think he’s looking locally,” Leopold said.

Dave Chappelle is doing a fund-raiser for former MTV Real World star Kevin Powell, who challenging Congressman Ed Towns in Brooklyn's 10th district.

Any event featuring Chappelle is bound to get a fair amount of attention, since he has stayed out of politics until now.

Powell's opponent, the 13-term incumbent Towns, has opted for a lower profile than his challenger, avoiding nearly all campaign events in 2006, and so far again this year.

Powell went on from The Real World (first season!) to a career writing about hip-hop and culture for publications like Vibe.

Congressional candidate and former Real World star Kevin Powell will be opening up a campaign office and sharing it with Brooklyn for Barack, a large independent organization that helped Obama carry the district on February 5.

The office at 54 Greene Avenue opens Saturday, and, according to a media advisory “painting begins: 9 am/Petitioning begins: 11 am."

Powell is trying to unseat Representative Ed Towns, who has represented the 10th Congressional district (Fort Greene, Bed-Sty, Brownsville, East New York and Canarsie) since 1983, but only narrowly won re-election in 2006. This year, a few unions, like SEIU 1199, are withholding support.

Towns, like all of his Democratic colleagues in New York's House delegation, supported Hillary Clinton in the primary.

The office opening is significant because it's the first major signal (that I've seen, anyway) that an organized group of Obama supporters in New York are shifting their focus to local races and aligning with other candidates.

Powell, a writer and community activist, will be relying heavily on the Obama supporters in Brooklyn for campaign help. The head of Brooklyn for Barack, Jordan Thomas, is supporting Powell, as is Obama fund-raiser Arthur Leopold.  read more »

Here’s rapper KRS-ONE (of the famed South Bronx-Queensbridge feud), who joined a rally on the City Hall steps today to protest cutbacks in public funding for community groups that serve young people.

Afterwards, I asked him a few questions about politics, and specifically, Barack Obama.  read more »

Here's a brief moment of disunity at a unity rally in support of Barack Obama on the steps of City Hall this afternoon.

Representative Ed Towns was answering a question about the fact that Christine Quinn and other City Council members weren't there, and then, well, State Senator Bill Perkins and Representative Yvette Clarke kind of got in each other's way.

Brooklyn’s oldest and largest gay Democratic club, Lambda Independent Democrats, endorsed neither  Representative Ed Towns nor his challenger, Kevin Powell, at its endorsement meeting last night. 

In the heated State Senate race between State Senator Marty Connor and his challenger, Dan Squadron, the club chose Connor. 

I've put in some calls to find out more--I'll update when I hear back. 

The full list of Lambda endorsements:  read more »

Today isn’t "Day One" on the Barack Obama bandwagon for Representative Ed Towns of Brooklyn.

When I asked him about joining other New York elected officials to endorse Obama today in Washington, D.C., Towns told me, “Well, actually, we did it yesterday."

“Greg Meeks, Yvette Clarke and I endorsed Obama yesterday," he went on. "As a delegation, we’re getting ready to do it today.”  read more »

Representatives Greg Meeks, Yvette Clarke and Ed Towns put out a joint statement just now endorsing Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.

They are planning a 1 p.m. press conference at City Hall on Friday. There's another press conference happening in D.C. at 1 p.m. today.

All of them they previously endorsed home-state Senator Hillary Clinton, although Obama won their districts on the February 5 primary.

According to an aide for Meeks, Charlie Rangel, Bill Thompson, Helen Marshall, Malcolm Smith and Adolfo Carrion, Jr. will also be there.

Here’s the statement:  read more »

Democratic Representative Ed Towns of Brooklyn, who had an unexpectedly strong primary challenge two years ago, won the endorsement of a local Democratic club, the Independent Neighborhood Democrats, last night.

I.N.D. is located in the 52nd Assembly District (Park Slope, Cobble Hill, etc.) and could conceivably have gone for Towns’ challenger--the younger, Obama-supporting Kevin Powell.  read more »

A member of Barack Obama’s finance committee, Arthur Leopold, will be raising money for congressional candidate Kevin Powell as Powell makes a bid to unseat Representative Ed Towns of Brooklyn.  read more »

Charlie Rangel, a major supporter of Hillary Clinton, is joining Chuck Schumer and a growing number of superdelegates who think the Democratic nominee should reflect the popular vote, not the will of the superdelegates.

From Newsday:  read more »

It's worth noting that Hillary Clinton isn’t the only one trying to get squared away with Eliot Spitzer’s new license policy.

The governor’s (original) plan would have allowed illegal immigrants to obtain a driver's license, but now it's being linked to federal guidelines that will be outlined in the Real ID Act. Although Spitzer backed Real ID this week, a number of Democratic congress members from New York opposed it during a 2005 vote (which may explain why it hasn't been easy getting most of them to say anything about Spitzer's new plan).

One congressional aide was kind enough to refer me to the results of the 2005 vote on the Real ID Act.

Democrats Gary Ackerman (Queens/Nassau), Tim Bishop (Suffolk), Joe Crowley (Queens/Bronx), Eliot Engel (Bronx/Westchester), Carolyn Maloney (Manhattan/Queens), Greg Meeks (Queens), Jerry Nadler (Manhattan/Brooklyn), Charlie Rangel (Manhattan), Jose Serrano (Bronx), Ed Towns (Brooklyn), Nydia Velazquez (Manhattan/Brooklyn/Queens) and Anthony Weiner (Queens/Brooklyn) all voted against it.

UPDATE: Another congressional staffer, putting this story in context, noted that every Democratic congress member in the state voted against Real ID, except for Mike McNulty, who voted for it, and Maurice Hinchey who was absent.

Everyone’s favorite cast member of The Real World, Kevin Powell, is making another run for the 10th congressional seat in Brooklyn, currently held by Ed Towns.

Powell aborted a short-lived race in 2006, but is kicking off his current campaign with a music filled fund-raiser this Friday at Five Spot Famous Soul Food. (No RSVP required!) Powell, according to his site, already has a staff that includes a campaign manager and a "national finance director."

Last year, Charles Barron challenged Towns and came surprisingly close (considering the fact that a third challenger basically split the opposition vote) said he’ll run for Borough President instead.

UPDATE: A fund-raising email for Powell is after the jump.  read more »

Here's Council member and newly announced Brooklyn Borough President candidate Charles Barron yesterday on the City Hall steps, where I got the chance to ask him why he chose to pass up another run for Congress against Rep. Ed Towns.

His answer: it takes too long to do things in Washington.

“I mean, look at Harlem, it took Charlie Rangel what, 30, 40 years, and Harlem was still not transformed. Look at Jose Serrano and the Bronx. It took him all that time and Bronx still has 42 percent poverty in the South Bronx. I just think I can serve the people of Brooklyn and New York City better staying in the city rather than going five days a week in Washington.”

Here's an invitation for an April 29th "political banquet" in support of Rep. Ed Towns, featuring appearances by Michael Bloomberg and City Comptroller Bill Thompson.

The event is being organized by Towns' finance chair, the Satmar rabbi Leib Glanz, and as a reader who forwarded it to me noted, the RSVP phone number listed on the invitation is for his non-profit group, the United Talmudical Academy.

UPDATE: Isac Weinberger called to say that Glanz's title as executive director of the non-profit group was listed for identification purposes, not as an indicator that the group was organizing the event.

As for the RSVP phone number... When I called, a man said it had been taken off the invitations and that it was added by mistake. He did not have the new number.