Stonewall Democratic Club

Here's one of Sheldon Silver’s Democratic opponents, Luke Henry, speaking before an endorsement meeting of the Stonewall Democratic Club last week.

In this clip, Henry challenges Silver’s commitment to same-sex marriage because, even as Silver helped it pass in the Assembly, he did little to try to flip the Republican-controlled State Senate, where the issue died.

“If there was a true, true commitment to these issues, we would have seen all his weight and force applied to the State Senate, which has been the obstacle. So that $3 million war chest should have been applied to the State Senate -- to making sure the State Senate was Democratic a long time ago.”

Stonewall voted to endorse Silver for re-election.

There was some expectation that Sheldon Silver would attend the Stonewall Democratic Club annual fund-raiser on West 26th Street last night, since he already had a ticket, but the Assembly speaker didn't make it.

He did, however, send spokesman Dan Weiller, who is openly gay.  read more »

The two Republican candidates running in the June 3 special election to fill Councilman Dennis Gallagher's seat in Queens have already split the local G.O.P. into a conservative faction and an establishment one. Now there's a hint that the same thing, albeit to a lesser degree, could happen with the two Democratic candidates.  read more »

Sheldon Silver is giving money to the Stonewall Democratic Club for the first time. In the past, the 32-year-incumbent and Orthodox Jew has not conspicuously supported the causes embraced by many gay activists in his district--or at least he didn't before bringing gay marriage legislation to a vote in the Assembly last June.

Silver paid $500 for a ticket to the May 15 annual fund-raiser for Stonewall, which is based in his district and considered one of the major Democratic clubs for the gay community. He is also expected to attend.

According to a search of campaign finance records, Silver has never given a contribution to the group before. Nor has he given to Lambda Independent Democrats.

The May 15 fund-raiser is the first major event the group has hosted since the Assembly passed the same-sex marriage bill last year. It's also in the run-up to the September primaries, which Silver is taking more seriously than usual as he faces two spirited challengers.  read more »

A number of local Democratic clubs, including the Howard Dean-spawned DFNYC, are meeting tonight to decide which Democrat they will support in the race to unseat the only Republican Congressman in the city, Vito Fossella.

They are choosing between term-limited City Councilman Domenic Recchia and Steve Harrison, who lost to Fossella in 2006.

Fossella, a 10-year incumbent who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, is a frequent target of left-of-center groups in the city--his opponent's supporters have called him the "last conservative in the city." (The effort to unseat him has even given rise to a dedicated blog.)

In a similar vein, an email reminder for tonight's event says, “Fossella has been a rubber-stamp for the Bush-Cheney White House.”

Both Democratic contenders have been fund-raising this year, although Fossella has made a point of making it known that he has plenty of money to get reelected.

Hosting the event tonight are the Stonewall Democratic Club, Three Parks Independent Democratic Club, Village Reform Democratic Club and an organization called Truth 13.

Here's the email:  read more »

Democratic Assemblyman Jim Brennan spoke last night to the Stonewall Democratic Club in Manhattan as part of his campaign to become city comptroller.

Brennan predicted that to help close the looming five billion dollar state deficit, when Eliot Spitzer presents his budget in January, he will delay implementation of the provisions required by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity court decision (which sends millions of dollars to New York City schools) for a year or two, seek to reduce healthcare spending by about a billion dollars, and fail to produce money to prevent fare hikes.

More after the jump.  read more »