Chris Owens

Democracy for New York City's Fourth Annual "Summer Cocktail Reception" was all about Barack Obama.

Held at the downtown bar M1-5, the event's theme was "Unity '08," a reference, apparently, to bringing Democrats together (and not to the group that wanted Michael Bloomberg to run for president).

As the guests trickled in, DFNYC finance director Lewis Cohen decorated the bar with "Obama '08" signs.

"I have no doubt we will endorse," he told me.

"I think people are looking at the total candidate," said City Councilman Tony Avella, also a long-shot mayoral candidate. "He [Obama] stands for change, and we need change in the city.  read more »

The executive director of the Working Families Party, Dan Cantor, showed support for Sheldon Silver in an interview with OpenLeft published today, calling attacks from the left on the incumbent Democrat “intellectually shallow and politically naive.”  read more »

Inspired by the ado over Barack Obama's use of Deval Patrick's phrasing, and similar use by Hillary Clinton of at least one Obama phrase, I emailed a few quotable people in New York for them to give them the opportunity to put a catchphrase of their own on the record.

Here they are:

Simcha Felder:
“Do not place unsolicited advertising materials on this property."

Brian Ziff-Levine:
“It’s the undecideds, stupid.”

Joe Mercurio:
“Silence is an incredibly stupid communications strategy. No wait I actually stole that from Frank Luntz.”

Doug Muzzio:
"'If a frog had wings he wouldn't be bumping his ass on the ground' (cribbed from my father-in-law, Darrell Saunders)."

Phil Anderson:
"No reform, no raise."

Charles Barron:
“The renter's rebate. Rock Hackshaw gave me that idea when I was running for mayor in 2005. The next thing I know, Gifford Miller is talking about it, and now, Christine Quinn is."

More after the jump.  read more »

At a Barack Obama rally on Gold Street last night, City Councilman James Sanders and former congressional candidate Chris Owens told me, “The work begins now.”

I asked Owens if he thought the public nature of the caucus had any effect on Obama's win.

“If folks, particularly white folks, are willing to stand up under a black man’s banner and say, ‘I am standing with this man,’ that’s even stronger support," he told me. "It would have been much easier for them to do it in private, OK? Or to abandon him in private.”

Yvette Clarke may have played up the female angle in last year's congressional election, but that was nothing compared to this.

From a piece on Clarke in The Hill:

Clarke isn't your typical half-lost, conservatively dressed freshman. More runway than House floor, upon arriving at lunch she unwraps a thick, multicolored scarf and removes a long, pretty beige overcoat to reveal an animal-print Gianni Versace suit -- a mid-thigh-length skirt accompanied by a short blazer. A beige fur cap covers a sleek new hairdo. "Now that my hair's so short I can feel the breeze," she says, explaining that she recently removed her hair weave. She says people in Congress have been doing double-takes at her fur cap. She doesn't care. She stands tall in black wedged heels.

Now I ask you, if the election had turned out differently, would anyone be writing this way about Chris Owens or David Yassky?

-- Azi Paybarah

Sheldon Silver gave the Atlantic Yards project the go-ahead.

Chris Owens, son of Major and a major foe of the Atlantic Yards, debuts his new blog, "Power from Truth." Coincidence?

John McCain hired another old Bush hand, Steve Schmidt. Schmidt also managed Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection bid.

Hillary did "The View." Sorry, no YouTube yet.

Joe Lieberman quit Olympia Snowe's Senate Centrist Coalition, choosing to start his own bipartisan group with the considerably more conservative Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander. Josh Marshall is confused.

TNR's Conor Clarke says the story of Barack Obama's land deal really isn't about impropriety, or the appearance of impropriety, but rather the appearance of the appearance of impropriety. In other words, there's nothin' there.

Jacob Weisberg says that just because you have a problem with Mitt Romney's religion, it doesn't mean you're a bigot.

Azi's curious why he got this email Christmas card from former presidential candidate Mark Warner. Hasn't anyone told him he quit?

You don't say... Remaining abstinent before marriage is "extremely challenging," according to the Washington Post. (via TNR's The Plank.) -- Andrew Rice

Mixed into crowd of protesters asking lawmakers to delay a vote on the the Atlantic Yards project was former Congressional candidate (and possible borough presidential candidate) Chris Owens.

While a number of speakers at the demonstration focused on the narrow issue of whether approval from the Public Authorities Control Board could take place before the new gubernatorial administration takes office, others, like Owens, also questioned the project's finances.

"Show us the money," Owens he chanted.

It'll be interesting to see if the anti-Atlantic Yards base that made Owens a player in the congressional race can also make him a credible candidate in a borough-wide race.

-- Azi Paybarah

John Sweeney pulls an ad he was shooting.

New York City's traffic problem may finally get solved.

Chris Owens eyes a race for Brooklyn Borough President.

Judicial Reports takes a long, long look at Vito Lopez's finances.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee calls Howard Dean a chicken. I mean a duck.

Evan Bayh campaigns in New Hampshire. Again.

Another page scandal?  read more »

And pictured above is debate participant Hillary Clinton.

-- Azi Paybarah

In this e-mail to supporters, unsuccessful congressional candidate Chris Owens offers this depressing update about his post-primary financial situation:

"We raised $380,000. But we now have some $30,000 in outstanding obligations. Having been "unemployed" for over a year while campaigning, I am not in a position to meet these obligations on my own and I am asking for your assistance one final time. Fundraising during a campaign is a humbling experience; doing so after the election is even more so."

He goes on to say:

We must remember that our increasing dependence upon money to activate the electorate is a most insidious disease. It leads sensible people to lose their sense when deciding who to support for public office. It leads good people -- individuals as well as well-meaning organizations -- to violate the law. If we do not pursue significant campaign finance reform from the top on down, then the alienation of our people from the political process will reach a point of no return.

Full text after the jump.  read more »

--Azi Paybarah

The opposition blog No Land Grab floats the intriguing idea that had David Yassky opposed Atlantic Yards outright, he could have stolen some of Chris Owens' votes and won in the 11th. -Matthew Schuerman

With 8 precints reporting, the landslide begins...

Eliot Spitzer 81%

Hillary Clinton - 75%

John Spencer - 62%

Andrew Cuomo - 49%

Charles Barron - 38%

No results for Brooklyn's 11th congressional district.

9:32 With 5 precints reporting, Yvette Clake leads with 32% of the vote; Carl Andrews has 28%, David Yassky has 22%, and Chris Owens has 17%.

9:41 With 22 precints reporting, Yassky leads with 31.99% of the vote. Chris Owens pulls into second with 23.03%. It's going to be a long night there.

Next door, with 52 precints reporting, Ed Towns pulls ahead of Charles Barron with nealry half the votes.

-- Azi Paybarah

On Friday night around 10 p.m., I found myself under the huge white tent next to the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, where a dedicated congregation sat through nearly three hours of political speeches from Andrew Cuomo, Sean Maloney, two of the candidates in the 10th congressional districts (paging Rep. Ed Towns!) and the four candidates in the 11th congressional district.

Speaking last on a night like that presented some obvious challenges. Thankfully, though, Chris Owens can carry a tune.

A clip of his Owens' musical contirbution to the evening's proceedings (at about the 1 minute mark) is here.

-- Azi Paybarah

While Mark Green and Andrew Cuomo are still working on their definition of negative campaigning, a similarly constructive dialogue is being carried out between the Democratic candidates in Brooklyn's 11th Congressional district.

Outside the candidate forum in Park Slope last night, a flier was distributed that said, "Why is David Yassky, a Democrat, taking money from Jack Abramoff's law firm and from supporters of Rick Santorum?"

Yassky, reading from the flier on stage, noted that it did not say who paid for it and was therefore a violation of FEC regulations. He then addressed the accuracy of the attack, explaining that he worked at one of the law firms in question, and that his friend from law school worked at another firm referred to in the flier.

Then, to move things in a more positive direction, Yassky asked if all the candidates if they would agree not to negative campaigns for the remainder of the primary.

Yvette Clarke and Carl Andrews, whom Yassky praised for not going negative, agreed.

Chris Owens didn't.

Later, Owens said the person distributing the flier was a volunteer, not a paid member of his campaign.

-- Azi Paybarah

In addition to endorsing Chris Owens for a Brooklyn congressional seat today, The Amsterdam News made a number of other endorsements [no link yet]. In a surprise move, they went with Tom Suozzi over Eliot Spitzer, saying:

"Both men are talented; one of them is human to the core."

Update: Amsterdam News also endorsed: Hillary Clinton for Senate Charlie King for Attorney General Charles Barron for the 10th Congressional District in Brooklyn Hiram Monserrate for the 13th Senate District in Queens Hakeem Jeffries for the 57th Assembly District in Brooklyn Sylvia Friedman for the 74th Assembly District in Manhattan. Update 2: The paper made no endorsement between state Senator Marty Connor and Ken Diamondstone in the 25th Senate District. -- Azi Paybarah

What did you expect when the son of the rapping congressman ran for his dad's seat? A political rap song, remixed of course. It's hip. Political. And he's probably the best singing politician since...Gifford Miller and Joseph Crowley (Sorry Patrick Jenkins.)

An aide to Owens said the song was released this weekend. So, here is the brand new song from Chris Owens: Love is the Way [link fixed].

I wonder...Think Yvette Clarke will cut a diss track with John Murtha and Anthony Weiner at their town hall tonight?

-- Azi Paybarah

Chris Owens has a fundraiser at Cinema Classics (332 East 11th Street, b/w 1st and 2nd) from 6 to 8 p.m.

John Faso and Tom Suozzi debate in Buffalo at 8 p.m. Anybody not in Buffalo, like Eliot Spitzer, can watch the debate here.

The Mid-Island Little League's All-Star, back from their trip to the Little League World Series, stop-by Mid-Island's facility (3665 Victory Blvd., Staten Island) at 7:30 p.m.

Laughing Liberally, the politically-skewed comedy show, takes place at the 45th Street Theatre (354 West 45th Street, b/w 8th and 9th Avenue) at 8 p.m.

The NY Post's associate editorial page editor, Robert George, strikes back with "Laughing with the Enemy" at 9:30 (same venue).

Inside City Hall guests tonight are four political consultants (7 and 10:30 p.m.)

And C-Span 2 becomes must-watch TV when they show the Atlantis Space Shuttle news conference at 7:31 p.m.

-- Azi Paybarah

After the jump are a few more pictures from last night's DL21C party at Coda.

And if you're wondering why Chris Owens is smiling, just take a listen to Rep. Joseph Crowley, who got up on stage and sang a few tunes, including Johnny Be Good.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Plenty of women descended onto the City Hall steps this afternoon in support of Yvette Clarke's bid for the 11th congressional seat in Brooklyn, where she's facing three male opponents. If there were more women in congress, Clarke said, things would be a little different in this country.

"Imagine a congress that was half female, allowing our children to be sent to war, in harms way without an extremely good reason."

Hard to imagine, I know. But I tried and wondered how Clarke felt about another woman in congress who voted for the war in Iraq: Hillary Clinton.

Clarke said she can't speak for Hillary and that she would have followed the lead of Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California.

Okay.

And just to clear things up, I asked Clarke how many women in congress voted against the war?

She said she'd get back to me.  read more »

In other BK 11 news, one of Clarke's opponents announced the the formation of '100 Women for Chris Owens.' Announcement after the jump.

A new blog has surfaced that tries to keep track of the pro- and anti-Atlantic Yards positions of candidates running for office this year. It's authored anonymously by what appears to be an opponent of the project.

So far on the opposition list: Bill Batson, Chris Owens, Charles Barron, Tom Suozzi and (who knew?) Sean Patrick Maloney.

—Nicole Brydson

Chris Owens was out bright and early this morning handing out campaign pamphlets to commuters entering the 2 and 3 station on Bergen Street in Park Slope. Unlike the groggy morning straphangers -- me included -- Owens, in his crisp white shirt, was downright chipper.

"Things are going very well," he said.

Owens, who is at a pretty severe financial disadvantage in the race, took the opportunity to point to this weekend's developments -- Thelma Davis, mother of the slain Councilman James Davis, pulled her endorsement from David Yassky yesterday -- as evidence of disorder among his opponents.

"There has been some more excitement, with Thelma and Geoffrey Davis and the people surrounding them. What's going on in those campaigns?"

He also said that the issue of race, which he has not exactly shied away from addressing during the campaign, had subsided "a little bit," and he boiled the rest of the contest down this way: "We're passed the petitioning stage so at this point, people are just going to have to make a choice."

--Jason Horowitz

Before we get into any in-depth observations about the sources of contributions for the candidates in the 11th congressional district, a basic question about the cash-on-hand totals:

How significant is it that David Yassky now has $ 858,000 on hand, nearly three times as much as Carl Andrews?

And what kind of campaign can Chris Owens, with $46,000, actually afford to run at this point?

(For the sake of originality, let's try to answer without using the word "grassroots".)

-- Josh Benson

Chris Owens has just released his petition numbers, touting the grassroots volunteer support through which he claims to have garnered 13,500 signatures. His strategic formula for collecting them seems to be the same as he's employing for his campaign as a whole: take Dad's pre-fabricated organization, add some Atlantic Yards opponents and see what it all adds up to.

While Chris decided against going it the easy way by simply replacing Major on his petitions from a previous campaign, it is interesting to note the level of support he got from his father's long time backers in his petitioning effort.

"The short answer is to say, a significant number," he said. "But the reality is also that a lot of those people are older people and they're not the people who can spend as much time hitting the streets to collect signatures and doing a lot of the things they used to do in his campaign. He was in office for a long time."

So who were his volunteers on the ground?

"What we have is essentially a group of folks who worked with my father for a long time who make their contributions in different ways. Some of them on the streets, some of them on the phones, some of them through money or whatever. Then we have a lot of new people who were not necessarily involved with my father's campaigns at all, who have been excited by our campaign. They met me, know me, and are motivated by the Atlantic Yards issue and feel this is the campaign they should be contributing to, that they should be involved with. So it's a whole fresh group of folks as well."  read more »

—Nicole Brydson

The Times reports Republicans statewide are struggling to raise funds.

The Times has a profile of Chris Owens' run in the 11th district.

Ben Smith reports that last week's ruling on gay marriage could spur action to legalize it in the legislature.

—Nicole Brydson

An attentive reader catches what appear to be two not-quite-fully-compatible quotes from Chris Owens on the significance of race in the 11th.

From Brooklyn Papers in April:

"The Congressional Black Caucus is already too small, so for [Yassky] to position himself as a progressive, knowing full well what it would do to black representation, is not desirable."

And in a WNBC piece that aired yesterday:

"A lot of people say that this is a black seat. I am not one of those people."

-- Josh Benson

With so many people from outside the 11th Congressional district weighing in on what ought to happen there, we figured it was about time to take a stroll down to the area surrounding the proposed Atlantic Yards Plan to speak to actual residents about the issues that will affect their choice in that race.

At least within the area that will be directly affected by the development, there still seemed to be some confusion about who was actually running, and the Atlantic Yards project, unsurprisingly was the big issue.

Here's what three residents said.

Kiane Zawadi, 73, said in a brief interview on 5th Avenue off of Flatbush, "I'm trying to think of who the candidates are, Yvette Clarke, and who else?"

When provided with the names of the other candidates, Zawadi, of Prospect Heights, only reacted to Chris Owens, a familiar surname name for longtime residents of the district. "I think he needs to go further than his father."

Zawadi is opposed to the Atlantic Yards Plan, and said that his opposition would weigh heavily on the candidate he chooses this fall.

"I think Brooklyn should be kept the way it is, you know, all these high rises going up. Plus I don't like the idea of eminent domain."

Down the street, Tracy Santos, 24, also of Prospect Heights, said she had received campaign literature in the mail, but couldn't name any of the featured candidates. Santos is also opposed to the Atlantic Yards proposal--a common position within the footprint of the plan--saying, "I don't really want an arena two blocks over, you know, I've seen the area around Yankee stadium and it's not pretty."

On 4th Avenue with his girlfriend, Emilio D., 37, who lives near the Atlantic Terminal, said he has received emails from Chris Owens through friends, but is still undecided on the best candidate to support.

"I haven't seen anything that makes one different from another," he said. "It would be nice to keep it a majority-minority district because, given the representation in Congress, I think it would be good. But I don't want it to be just soley based on the individual's race because they do have to make good on the issues, in addition to their race."  read more »

And about that picture: it's Yassky's office at about 9:45 this morning. Since we were in the neighborhood.

—Nicole Brydson UPDATE: In the wake of his cancelled press conference yesterday, Carl Andrews has officially rescheduled his event for Sunday, on the steps of City Hall. Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson, Bill Thompson and David Dinkins will all be there to endorse.

The New York Carib News is reporting that Marty Markowitz is staying out of the 11th Congressional race, but has some harsh words for Chris Owens, who upset the Borough President by endorsing Gloria Mattera last year.

This guy is an opportunist. That's all he is. I don't wish anyone ill, except for him to be defeated which is what he wished me in my campaign (for Borough President). He endorsed the candidate outside of the Democratic Party against me, which is his right to do. He sucks up to the affluent minority. That's who he does the dance for. That's his thing, the affluent minority. He is turning his face on the majority.

—Nicole Brydson

Ben's got more poll numbers from the 11th.

Yvette Clark - 29% Carl Andrews - 17% Chris Owens - 14% David Yassky - 9% Nick Perry - 8% Undecided - 21%

Can Yassky really be this weak? If so, it kind of makes all the Voting Rights arguments seem weirdly beside the point.

And if not, what are these polls missing?

-- Josh Benson

National Journal notes that David Yassky had the best fourth-quarter fundraising of any Democrat running for Congress, and it looks like only one of his rivals in Brooklyn's 11th District, Carl Andrews, has broken six digits.

Here's cash on hand:

Yassky: $503,783 Andrews: $191,427 (with $50,000 of debt) Nick Perry: $84,652 Yvette Clark: $71,853 (with $64,000 of debt) Chris Owens: $59,595 (with $28,325 of debt)

Nick Perry (real first name: Noah!) and Tracy Boyland don't seem to have fourth-quarter filings; they're both below $20,000 as of last September.

And why should Yassky -- who's hardly trying to narrow the field of African-American candidates -- be so set on huge, early fundraising? Despite denials from his staff, rumors that Bill de Blasio might get into the race are still circulating.

UPDATE: I inadvertently ommitted Chris Ownes from the list. He filed with $12,956 on hand and $28,325 in debt. UPDATE 2: Nick Perry's filing is now online, and above.

It looks like Chris Owens, son of Brooklyn Congressman Major Owens and a candidate to replace him next year, already has a campaign issue: eminent domain. He’ll be moderating Develop--Don’t Destroy Brooklyn’s jamboree tonight in Fort Greene , which is being co-sponsored by the elder Owens. On the program: "Reception and toast to Bloomfield, New Jersey, merchants who stopped developer Forest City Ratner from taking their properties." -Matthew Schuerman  read more »