Tools

Print this story

digg

del.icio.us

Email a friend

Your name

Your email address

Recipients’ email addresses (Up to ten, separated by commas.)

City Council pugilists Mark Escoffery-Bey and Jose A. Padilla Jr. are down for the count. Bronx County Democratic Party lawyer Stanley Schlein KO’ed Escoffery-Bey, the 16th Council District candidate said. Schlein had Padilla pulverized, the 15th Council District candidate reported.

Escoffery-Bey, a copy center owner and Popham Avenue resident, submitted 1,170 petition signatures to the Board of Elections, 270 more than he need to stay on the ballot. Schlein had 385 tossed out.

Escoffery-Bey wasn’t properly represented at the Board of Elections, the first-time candidate said. Escoffery-Bey missed the hearing that sealed his fate; his lawyer was in and out of the room. He recently launched an appeal.

“I guess that’s the game,” Escoffery-Bey said. “Even if I win the appeal, there’s no time to run a campaign. On the other hand, it’s not my nature to give in.”

Escoffery-Bey has never held elected office. It took the 2008 term limits amendment to stoke his political fire.

“I found it to be disgusting,” he said. “I do like Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg but he ignored the will of the people.”

Escoffery-Bey doesn’t blame Bloomberg, he blames the City Council members who let Bloomberg win…16th Council District incumbent Helen Diane Foster, for example.

“I have no political friends,” he said. “At political functions no one wants to be in a photo with me. I eat the food and go home. But the City Council is dysfunctional. [Foster] and others don’t go to work, and don’t live in the districts they represent. No one I knew was willing to run. So I did.”

Escoffery-Bey thinks Highbridge suffers from poor neighborhood-police relations and a dearth of banks. The 16th Council District needs more recreation and senior centers; Foster distributed money to St. Barnabus Hospital in the 15th Council District, he said.

The Jamaica-born Walton High School grad likes 16th Council District candidate Carlos Sierra but doesn’t think Sierra stands a chance. Most 16th Council District voters are African American and will choose Foster, an African American, over Sierra, a Dominican American, he said.

Padilla, who recently lost a Board of Elections appeal, plans to stay in politics. The former District Leader in the 79th Assembly District submitted 1,452 petition signatures; Schlein had some 600 tossed out.

Padilla has no problem with Joel Rivera the man, but does disagree with Rivera the 15th Council District incumbent, he said. Rivera has squandered power; the City Council majority leader is listed as the first primary sponsor of no local laws enacted 2008-2009.

“He’s in a position to help the district but has no record of legislation,” Padilla said.

Padilla thinks the most important issues in the 15th Council District are unemployment and affordable housing. Affordable housing built in the 15th Council District often goes to outsiders, Padilla said.

©2009 Community Newspaper Group