by John Rizio Hamilton
March 19, Brooklyn Courier-Life, Boro-Politics section
Craig Seeman, chair of the New York State Green Party, announced that he is a candidate for City Council in the 33rd district, covering Brooklyn Heights, a portion of Park Slope, and Greenpoint/Williamsburg. Seeman, who has run for City Council before, said that the Green Party believes this is the Council race they can be most competitive in citywide. "I think it's a strong district for me to run in," he said.
There are three Green political clubs in the district (Park Slope, Downtown Brooklyn and North Brooklyn), and when Seeman ran in a 1997 special election for state Assembly, he received 26 percent of the vote in the downtown portion of the district, which is included in the councilmanic district. Additionally, he said, in some northern parts of the district, Green presidential candidate Ralph Nader broke 20 percent of the vote."This Council race will probably be the strongest Council race the Green Party could run anywhere in the city," said Seeman, who acknowledged that he was an underdog.One source scoffed at Seeman's assertion, saying that high turnout due to the mayoral race will swamp the smaller Green vote."There is a certain population that is going to reflexively, with no Giuliani on the ballot, is going to vote straight Democratic. Secondly, the Hasidic community, even if their candidate doesn't win the Democratic primary, is probably going to make their peace with whoever does," said the source. Seeman is jumping into a crowded field that includes District Leaders Steve Cohn and Elizabeth Rose Daly, Community Board 2 member Ken Diamondstone, attorneys David Reiss and Steve Somerstein, and Brooklyn Law School Professor David Yassky.
[Note from Craig Seeman: I haven't run for City Council before. I ran for office before though, the Greens have run for council before (Sonya Ostrom '99). Reporter states "Green Party believes this is the Council race . ." I said that but he may have changed it to make the race appear more important.]
