Ed Towns, Who Backed Clinton While Voters Chose Obama, Faces Challenge

Congressman Ed (Edolphus) Towns [photo, left] is one of three New York City Congressmembers who supported Hillary Clinton even as their districts chose Barack Obama in the Feb. 5th primary.

Of course, it's nothing special that a New York State Congressman would back Clinton. All of them did. Sort of the way things were done in the old Soviet republics.

But the special thing about Towns and Yvette Clarke and Gregory Meeks is that they are African-Americans in districts where African-American voters felt a strong pride and sense of positive "change" related to the candidacy of Obama.

Of those three (Towns and Clarke are from Brooklyn, Meeks is from Queens), Towns is the one who seems to be facing significant opposition, in the person of writer and hip-hop culture exponent Kevin Powell [photo, right].

The progressive and influential Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, headed by Chris Owens, recently (On May 29) endorsed Powell over Towns by a significant margin, with Powell receiving 83 percent of their votes.

This follows the group's decision not to endorse Yvette Clarke, as the organization cited, among other things, her support of Clinton over Obama. (See "Yvette Clarke Begins to Pay Prince for Steadfast Support of Hillary Clinton.")

Kevin Powell is young and thoughtful, and maybe what he has going for him more than anything else is that he represents change, a break from a civil service-type system in which elected officials scratch each other's backs and sit in office for decades as they await thick pensions.

(See article on Powell and interview with him in the online Brooklyn Rail.)

What Powell has lurking in the background, as a heavy weapon to be used against him, is an apparent misogyny streak that has reared up in his past. There have been violent incidents. It seems he has dealt with this issue and has had therapy.

If this campaign were to get hot and heavy, it seems likely that this would become an issue, perhaps a major one.

New York Daily News columnist Errol Louis has played up this part of Powell's background. (read)

Comments

[Dan in Bed-Stuy]

Powell really is different. I was over at the grand opening of his new office (54 Greene Ave in Ft. Greene) last weekend and I came away impressed with his passion, commitment and smarts. It's time we all had somebody representing us in DC who really knows our community. Ed "Out of" Towns just ain't cutting it.