By Harold Eagle
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN – While Brooklyn voters pull their levers mostly to a Democratic Party beat, the different drum of the Republican Party here has its candidates on the offensive, making for last-minute campaign excitement as Election Day arrives.

In a borough where about seven out every 10 registered voters are Democrats, and Democrats are almost always assured of victory, a few contentious races are being watched as a gauge of the strength of the GOP, renewed by the promise of reform. Also, the Working Families, Conservative and Independence Parties play their political pipes to help swing and sway voters.

“In Brooklyn the Conservative Party is running more candidates for the City Council than the Republican Party due to several cross-endorsed Republicans being taken off the GOP ballot line,� noted Brooklyn Conservative Party Chair Jerry Kassar. His party, whose state organization is headed by Mike Long of Brooklyn, choose as its mayoral candidates Rev. Stephen Christopher, a Brooklyn Republican with a conservative bent.

‘Parking’ Tactic Backfires

An 11th hour tactic by independent GOP candidate Joe Nardiello in the 39th Council District (Carroll Gardens/Park Slope/Windsor Terrace/Kensington/Borough Park) has grabbed voters’ attention. He is running against Democrat Brad Lander and Green Party candidate David Pechefsky. Incumbent Democrat Councilman Bill de Blasio is running for city public advocate against Republican Alex Zablocki.

Meant as making more visible his stand against proposals for a residential parking permit fee, Nardiello had campaign volunteers place what looked like parking tickets on windshields in the district, enraging drivers who thought they got a ticket. The orange ticket-like tract charges that other politicians favor the measure and asks voters to choose a candidate to stop it.

Democrat Lander, known for his leadership of the Fifth Avenue Committee and Pratt Community Center, is seen by political observers as the likely frontrunner, but they are watching how well Nardiello does. Nardiello is also backed by a group of Democrats who have Lander.

Another 11th hour maneuver by GOP candidate Bob Capano, aiming for an upset victory in the 43rd District (Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights) has raised eyebrows. Capano, also the Conservative and Independence Parties candidate, went on the attack against incumbent Councilman Vincent Gentile at last week’s Bay Ridge Community Council debate.

Gentile, a councilman since 2003 and a state senator beforehand, stated firmly that Mayor Bloomberg, who endorses Capano, was “the true culprit� on a key local issue, a point Capano hotly disputed.

Over the weekend Capano gained the endorsement of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now studying a possible race for governor and enjoying support from the Brooklyn Republican Party led by Chair Craig Eaton, a leader of “Draft Rudy for Governor.�

Democratic Borough President Marty Markowitz endorsed Gentile this past summer, even though he also endorsed Bloomberg over Brooklyn-born fellow Democrat Bill Thompson, the city comptroller.

Capano jumped into the council race after winning 53 percent of election district votes in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights in last year’s failed campaign to unseat Democrat Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny.

That added fuel to the Conservative Party endorsement and was a factor in the switch of Independence Party support from Gentile to Capano. Capano’s campaign was endorsed by a “Democrats for Capano� group led by longtime civic activist Harriet Rosenberg. Gentile, on the other hand, has a dissident Republican group giving him support.

Yet another closely watched race that between Brownsville-Ocean Hill Democrat Councilman Al Vann, running for a third term and a legislator for 27 years, and Mark Winston Griffin, the Working Families Party candidate endorsed by Rev. Al Sharpton and Councilman Charles Barron.

Councilman Simcha Felder has no opponents. The borough’s GOP backs Mayor Bloomberg for re-election and Marc D’Ottavio for borough president.

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