Michael Henry Adams came in last but 1st to hurt Harlem Assemblyman Keith Wright
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the losers in the nasty race for two district leader’s slots in West Harlem. Sometimes you win even when losing.
Michael Henry Adams thinks he did just that, despite finishing last in last week’s three-way race for male leader in Part D, 70th A.D. He takes solace in spoiling things for Harlem Assemblyman Keith Wright, who doubles as the Manhattan Democratic chairman.
Wright put his political muscle behind the candidacies in Part D of Brian Benjamin, who ran for the open male leader’s slot, and April Tyler, the 18-year incumbent seeking renomination as Part D’s female leader. Both lost.
“Although I didn’t win, my candidacy created what has to be seen as an upset [for Wright],” Adams said. “He was supporting Benjamin and Tyler and they lost. I can’t see how he can not be weakened.”
Adams was backed by Harlem state Sen. Bill Perkins, who has long waged a political tug-of-war with Wright. Last year, Wright’s Frederick E. Samuel Community Democratic Club and Tyler’s West Harlem Independent Democrats both backed Basil Smikle in an unsuccessful primary bid to depose Perkins from his Senate seat.
So one might surmise the candidacy of Adams, a paid Senate staffer for Perkins, was payback sanctioned, or instigated, by Perkins. The two are seen as eventual rivals for the congressional seat long held by Rep. Charles Rangel.
Even Bigger Loser
Though Wright is clearly a loser, a bigger loser is Tyler. In fact, she may be a triple loser.
Strike one: She lost the one-on-one race for female leader to Marisol Alcantara, the first Dominican-American to win election in Harlem. Her coattails from her 65%-to-35% victory also helped elect running mate Jumaal Nelson to become male leader of Part D. The two now intend to jointly form their own political club.
Strike two: Without a district leader, Tyler’s West Harlem Independent Club will lose its official club status, based on party rules. It could continue as a mere political organization or dissolve entirely.
Strike three: Tyler also appears to be on the losing side of the nail-biting Democratic mayoral primary election in Mount Vernon. Taylor was a paid campaign consultant for Controller Maureen Walker, who hoped to become the first woman mayor of Mount Vernon (and first black woman mayor of that Westchester County city, which has had three black male mayors – two of whom ran in the same primary).
The latest unofficial tally had Walker trailing former mayor Ernest Davis by 109 votes. Scandal-marred current Mayor Clinton Young finished third and conceded defeat.
A few paper ballots remain to be counted, and a court hearing is to be held today. The final results won’t be certified for a week or so, but it doesn’t look promising for Tyler’s candidate.
East Harlem Two-Step
Meanwhile, East Harlem Democrats have yet to fully resolve their own district leader two-step.
John Ruiz, male leader of Part C, 68th A.D., since 2003, won another two-year term. He beat challenger Edward Gibbs by 58 votes, based on unofficial results. Though still saddled with a manslaughter prison term he served 22 years ago, Gibbs got a respectable 145 votes, or 43% of the meager turnout.
But Part C remains without a female leader because both contenders were disqualified from the ballot, including the now-former incumbent Marion Bell. The post will be filled by the party’s County Committee, which meets Monday. Ruiz said he didn’t know whom he will back.
“There’s no room for lazy politicians,” he said pointedly.