The race for the City Council seat in Bed-Stuy (the 36th District) is one for the books.
Some half dozen challengers are trying to unseat incumbent Al Vann. And they are taking this all very seriously, turning deaf ears to the (here) oft repeated truism that incumbents win 97 percent of the time.
This truism is true whether incumbents have done a good job or whether they have "fucked up."
Excuse the language, but that was the phrasing, more of less, of a former Councilmember quoted anonymously in City Limits magazine.
Regarding the crowded field in the 36th, it is a testament to the ambition and/or character of the would-bees that they plow ahead, despite the odds.
And, in truth, there are some grounds, in virtually each case, for hope.
For example, one would think that challenger Mark Winston Griffith -- with the backing (and presumably accompanying money and manpower) of the Working Families Party and of ACORN -- could be putting fear into the heart of Councilman Vann.
After all, challengers do sometimes end up pumping their fists up in victory.
But a big problem for Griffith -- or for the others -- is precisely that there are so many of them, and that they are so seemingly sincere.
Their determination can be seen, said our source, in the way they are going through the petition process, with due diligence, gathering signatures that will allow them to be on the Democratic primary ballot this September.
And there's the rub: The more of them on the ballot, the greater the chances of Vann sailing to the finish line first.
All of this would be less an issue if one of the challengers -- particularly Griffith -- could draw more attention, raise more hell.
But that's just not been happening, so far.
[The "objective source" referred to up above, by the way, is about as knowledge (and honest) as they come, with respect to Bed-Stuy politics.]
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