30058: Deibert (news) City Council Gets First Member Born in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Michael Deibert <michaeldeibert@gmail.com>

City Council Gets First Member Born in Haiti
By JONATHAN P. 
HICKS<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/jonathan_p_hicks/index.html?inline=nyt-per>

Published: February 21, 2007

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/nyregion/21brooklyn.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

In a special election that highlighted the complicated Caribbean politics of
central Brooklyn, Dr. Mathieu Eugene was elected to the City Council
yesterday, becoming the Council's first Haitian-born member. He will take
the seat vacated by Yvette D. Clarke after her election to Congress in
November.

Dr. Eugene, a physician who runs a youth program in Brooklyn, prevailed in a
special election that included 10 candidates in a Council district with a
large number of Caribbean-American voters.

With 95 percent of the votes counted, Dr. Eugene received 43 percent of the
vote, according to unofficial results by the New York City Board of
Elections. In second place was Jennifer N. James, 34, a former campaign aide
to Ms. Clarke, with 15 percent of the vote. Wellington Sharpe, 62, a
businessman in the district who ran unsuccessfully for the State Senate in
2004, was third, with about 12 percent of the vote.

"We are making history," Dr. Eugene, 54, said in an interview from his
campaign headquarters on Flatbush Avenue. "I'm so happy and delighted. This
is a new era. And our mission now is to bring everyone together to work for
the best interests of the community."

The seat, in the 40th Council District, has had a special significance to
Caribbean-Americans. The district covers parts of Flatbush and Crown
Heights, and has been known as a hotbed of political activism over issues
like police brutality and
immigration<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/immigration_and_refugees/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>rights.

Ms. Clarke's mother, Una, made history by becoming the first Jamaican-born
member of the Council in 1991. And Yvette Clarke succeeded her mother in the
Council in 2001 before going to Congress in January. Both Clarkes were
strong supporters of Dr. Eugene, which proved to be crucial endorsements.

But Dr. Eugene had other support, including the endorsement of Representative
Anthony D. 
Weiner<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/anthony_d_weiner/index.html?inline=nyt-per>and
several Council members. He also had endorsements ranging from labor
groups like 1199 United Healthcare Workers East, the politically influential
health care union, to Wyclef Jean, the Haitian-American rapper formerly of
the Fugees.

The district is home to a significant number of New York City's
Haitian-Americans. In 2000, according to figures by the City Planning
Commission<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/city_planning_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org>,
there were about 100,000 Haitian-born New Yorkers. And Haitian-American
civic associations now suggest that the number of New Yorkers of Haitian
descent could be as high as 200,000.

"This is extraordinary because we're seeing history being made right before
our eyes," Representative Clarke said last night. "The City Council district
has an extraordinary new member who will fight for the concerns of all the
people of this district."

The contest was particularly important to Brooklyn's Haitian-American
political and civic leaders. In fact, they held meetings to narrow the field
of Haitian-American candidates. The group selected Ferdinand Zizi, a health
care administrator, but he withdrew from the race while his petitions were
being challenged, leaving Dr. Eugene as the sole Haitian-American running.
Dr. Eugene's candidacy received attention from news media outlets in Haiti,
which closely followed the race.

The race was an important one for Ms. Clarke, who had close ties with
several of the candidates. By strongly endorsing Dr. Eugene, she placed on
the line a good deal of her political prestige, and his victory helps
establish her more firmly as a political force in central Brooklyn.

In another special election, on Staten Island, Assemblyman Vincent M.
Ignizio was elected yesterday to fill the City Council seat formerly held by
Andrew J. Lanza, a
Republican<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org>who
was elected to the State Senate in November.

As a Republican assemblyman in a heavily Republican district, Mr. Ignizio
won handily over Emanuele Innamorato, 42, a longtime South Shore resident
and deputy director of technology for the City of Yonkers. While the
island's Democratic officials vigorously supported Mr. Innamorato, that
proved insufficient in the 51st Council District, which includes Staten
Island's south shore.

The Board of Elections said that with all of the votes counted, Mr. Ignizio
received 72 percent of the vote, with Mr. Innamorato receiving 27 percent,
in unofficial results.

By winning, Mr. Ignizio will have to resign from the Assembly, which will
cause another special election, perhaps in March. He said he wanted to go to
the Council because he believed he could do more for the district,
especially in areas like zoning.

As was the case in Brooklyn, the election was nonpartisan, and candidates
could not run under the banner of established political parties. But Mr.
Ignizio recently stepped down as chairman of the Staten Island Republican
Party to run for the Council seat.

Mr. Ignizio, 32, had become well known to voters in the district, not only
because of his two years in the Assembly, but also because of his years as
an aide to two of his predecessors in the Council: Mr. Lanza and, earlier,
Stephen J. Fiala.