Heard Around Town, Jan. 16, 2012

* Brooklyn Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries didn’t mention his two opponents by name when he kicked off his campaign for Rep. Ed Towns’ seat yesterday, instead focusing on attacking Congressional Republicans during his seven-minute speech. His only hint of a sharper attack came in response to a question about Towns afterward, when he said it was time “to provide representation in Washington, D.C. that pushes back against the radical right, and stands up on behalf of this president.” Towns was bounced as ranking member of the House Government Reform Committee two years ago amid concerns he would not challenge Republicans hard enough. Jeffries and Councilman Charles Barron are both running against Towns.

* Brooklyn Councilman Lew Fidler is kicking off his Senate campaign today – in Manhattan. While an event on the City Hall steps may maximize press coverage for Fidler, it gives the Senate Republicans an excuse to do what they are expected to do throughout the race for convicted former Sen. Carl Kruger’s seat: paint Fidler as an insider running against an outsider, Republican attorney David Storobin. That’s something Republicans did to great effect in the congressional race last summer between Democratic Assemblyman David Weprin, the scion of a political dynasty who had run for three other offices in preceding years, and Republican businessman Bob Turner, who scored an upset win. “Just like failed Congressional candidate David Weprin, politician Lew Fidler will kick off his insider campaign surrounded by other professional politicians, the party bosses who handed him the nomination, and the wealthy special interests who will bankroll his latest run for office, but nowhere near the hardworking men and women of the district he’s running to represent,” said Senate Republican spokesman Scott Reif. Fidler campaign manager Kalman Yeger replied with a reference to Storobin’s controversial online writings: “If Mr. Storobin could get 300 community, civic and religious leaders to join him at City Hall he would too, but since he’s recently deleted most of his past blog posts, his following has shrunk.”

* In recent months there have been persistent rumors in Suffolk County and Albany political circles that 82-year-old state Sen. Owen Johnson is set to retire after four decades in the Legislature.  And his just-released January campaign finance filing will probably not do much to dampen those suspicions: over the past six months, Johnson raised only $1,400, with a mere $19,000 on hand. If Johnson does run, the Senate Republican Campaign Committee would likely be able to fund his race because of the substantial cash advantage they are expected to have over the Senate Democrats. Johnson has already attracted opposition: Ricardo Montano, a four-term Suffolk County legislator who chairs the body’s Ways & Means Committee. Montano says he believes the ultimate plan has always been for Assemblyman Phil Boyle to be named Johnson’s replacement after the 2012 elections via a special election. Others mentioned as possible replacements for Johnson include Suffolk County Legislator Lindsay Henry and Grant Hendricks, a Republican business owner. UPDATE: An astute reader points out that Henry is actually a Babylon town councilman, not a county legislator.

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