In 2005, the Bush budget for fiscal year 2006 passed the House of Representatives by two votes. One key vote was that of Congressman Edolphus Towns of New York's Tenth District.

As I wrote in 2006,

I had a conversation with Congressman Towns' chief of staff last year, after he failed to vote against the republican budget because he was, and I quote, "stuck in traffic on Capitol Hill". This because he had left the chamber to get some rest, it being rather late at night, and was unaware that the vote was coming up; after all, the man is of an age when most Americans, certainly those few of us with retirement benefits as generous as those accruing to Members of Congress, want to be retired someplace on a porch in Florida. So he took the night off, as it were.

She didn't disagree with me that this was a very feeble excuse.

That exchange between myself and Karen Johnson, Congressman Towns' Chief of Staff, was documented in an email I sent to the board of directors of New Democratic Majority on November 18th, 2005.

I just spoke to his chief of staff, Karen Johnson; she apologizes profusely [for Towns absence from the budget vote], and basically reiterates that he was stuck in traffic outside of the Capitol.

That is pretty lame, and I told her so; she didn't disagree. I mentioned that Towns draws a taxpayer salary to do nothing but vote, and that this kind of excuse in a very close vote just wasn't acceptable.

The 2006 Federal budget was notable, per the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, for deep cuts in domestic spending and shifting the Federal tax burden downwards to states and municipalities. Grants to Medicaid declined by $10.7 billion,, or 4.5%; grants for all other domestic programs, at 1.99% of GDP in 2001, were cut to 1.75%; all told, the funding shortfall compared to 2001 levels, whether they were themselves adequate or not, amounted to $31 billion.

That budget passed in part because Ed Towns was too tired to vote on it. Considering how poor his district is, and how reliant on Federal grants, it's fair to ask whether district residents are getting the best representation they can, or whether it's time for a change.

Heh. So my friend Rock has a piece up this morning, presumably right below this one, with a call-out.

But what I am surprised about is the curt e-mail from my white Parisian cousin over at the Daily Gotham blog, admonishing me not to go “overboard” with my candidate (Ed Towns). Michael “Frenchie” Bouldin says that he hates to pick political fights on the blogs, and yet he throws these lil pit-a-pat punches when something is on his mind. So Michael: tell us how you really feel about this race in the 10th congressional. Why; the cat got your pen?

Okay then - callout. Smackdown!

The answer is really very simple: I send terse emails all the time. It's a time-management issue. The email I sent was to the effect that I detect a gap between Rock's supine hagiography of Towns and the legislator I know, the one who voted for the bankruptcy bill, the one who's missed over 10% of all votes since 1993, the guy who tried to declare India a terrorist state, who voted for CAFTA and against net neutrality, the latter presumably not because he understand the issues involved, but because his coffers overflow with checks from the telecom lobby. Towns even refused outright to take Project VoteSmart's Political Courage Test. While we're at it, he even voted against ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would establish the right to not be fired because you're gay on a national level.

It's difficult to choose Ed Towns' worst vote out of the smorgasbord of failures in the House. Is it the one for the bankruptcy bill, the one that, in a relatively poor district, makes it next to impossible to ever get out of debt? Is that what the residents of New York's Tenth wanted, or needed? I'm not so sure, but I do know that Ed Towns got tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from banking and credit card industries, who have made billions from the law, at the expense of ordinary citizens burdened by a law that falls disproportionately on the shoulders of the poor.

For years, some Brooklyn loudmouths on the left of the political spectrum have been using Congressman Ed Towns as a whipping boy of sorts; despite the fact that Ed Towns voted against the Iraq invasion and all subsequent wasteful defense spending. He has also gotten a 100% voting scorecard from groups like the National Abortion Rights Action League and Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, so you would think that some lefties would be pleased at his recent ratings; but I guess not, since I don’t see those left-wing endorsements coming in for Towns.

We saw the lefties jump all over young ivy leaguer Barry Ford -when he twice challenged Towns a few years ago- embracing him like he was the prodigal son; and although in 2006 they were reluctant to support Charles Barron, “Chuckie B” still did surprisingly well in pockets of Brooklyn’s 10th congressional district where lefties reside (go look at the results). Now this year Kevin Powell shows up to challenge Towns, and lefties are surprisingly silent; I wonder why.

Former Black Panther H. Rap Brown once said that the worst place to find yourself is in the middle of a crossfire, because you will definitely be mowed down by both sides; he was absolutely correct. So now it is time for Brooklyn’s lefties to declare what side are they on in this Towns v. Powell race. You see their strange silence is leaving a lot of suspicion that they are supporting Powell in a clandestine way; and if they are then they need to come out and tell us all why they are doing that. Is there something that they are ashamed of? Is there something they are ashamed of exposing? They need to know that size doesn’t matter/lol.

Lord have mercy.

I was checking my Facebook this morning when I saw on my main page an entry by Kevin Powell. So I go to check it out and what did I find?

O.M.F.G.

Just look after the jump so you can see all what Kevin needed to get off his chest. Let's just say it was more than just a couple of things.

And, mind you, I have cut and pasted the text just as it appears on the Facebook page. Exactly. I have changed not one word and have not added any spacing.

So take a peek and let Kevin now what would have been a better way to go about putting his message out to the world and US Rep. Towns.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently conducted a poll that should make candidates and campaign people sit up and take notice: a staggering 46% of Americans got information about the 2008 campaign via the internet. This is worth quoting at length, so bear with me.

Furthermore, three online activities have become especially prominent as the presidential primary campaigns have progressed: First, 35% of Americans say they have watched online political videos--a figure that nearly triples the reading the Pew Internet Project got in the 2004 race.

Second, 10% say they have used social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace to gather information or become involved. This is particularly popular with younger voters: Two-thirds of internet users under the age of 30 have a social networking profile, and half of these use social networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns.

Third, 6% of Americans have made political contributions online, compared with 2% who did that during the entire 2004 campaign.

A significant number of voters are also using the internet to gain access to campaign events and primary documents. Some 39% of online Americans have used the internet to access "unfiltered" campaign materials, which includes video of candidate debates, speeches and announcements, as well as position papers and speech transcripts.

In May 2008, 135 million Americans used the search engine Google to search for information on the internet. And here's where Daily Gotham rules the roost in New York: if you're a candidate for office, odds are, our pages are one of the first results for your race.

For example, Ed Towns: the first result after his Congressional page and his Wikipedia entry is, you guessed, a piece on Daily Gotham.

Jon Powers (NY-26): Campaign site, Wikipedia entry, ActBlue, Daily Kos, Daily Gotham, in that order.

Eric Massa (NY-29): Campaign site, Wikipedia, ActBlue, Daily Gotham.

Brian Foley (SD-3): government site, unrelated site, Daily Gotham.

So is it worth engaging blogs, specifically, this blog? If you care about what your voters will see if they type your name into the world's biggest search engine, I'd suggest the answer is yes.

In Starrett City, Brooklyn, and in front of a few hundred adoring residents, Hillary Clinton was in fine form today. She was at a rally, to support the passing of a bill by Democrats in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, which seeks to preserve affordable housing initiatives in the country. Congressman Ed Towns, who has introduced legislation that specifically deals with saving the affordability standards of the Starrett City housing development, was also on hand to speak to the concerned residents. Starrett City is the largest development of its kind in the nation. For the past two years or so, the residents have been embroiled in a battle with the old-owners, who were intent on selling the complex to a group of speculators.

Mrs. Clinton was given a rousing welcome by the mostly female audience, and was fired up as she demanded President Bush sign the bill into law. She spoke well of Barack Obama and his presidential bid, projecting that she was presently a strong supporter of his effort. Standing with her (beside congressman Towns) were Brooklyn’s ebullient Borough President Marty Markowitz, Assemblyman Vito Lopez (the county leader of Brooklyn’s democrats), Congressman Anthony Weiner, plus the district leaders of the 40th AD and some tenant activists of the development. Notably absent was the council member for the area: Charles Barron.

Rock Hackshaw writes here:

Last Wednesday 23rd July, 2008, the House of Representatives passed legislation H.R.3221 which moves in the direction of securing the affordability status of the development. The bill was introduced by congressman Ed Towns. [Emph. added]

Congressman Towns didn't introduce any of the seven versions of H.R. 3221, variously known as The Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008.

Rather, as the bill summary makes clear, the Act was introduced by Speaker Pelosi, with eighteen co-sponsors, none of whom happen to be Ed Towns. The co-sponsors were, per the Congressional Record, Representatives Becerra, Clyburn, DeLauro, Dingell, Emanuel, Gordon, Hoyer, Lantos, Larson, Markey, Miller, Oberstar, Peterson, Rahall, Rangel, Van Hollen, Velasquez and Waxman.

There were two co-sponsors of the bill from New York, Members Rangel and Velasquez respectively. Towns voted for the bill, but that's somewhat short of claiming the measure of credit he seems to want to acquire.

(h/t Steve)

Hillary Clinton has been somewhat scarce since the end of the democratic presidential primary, and that’s expected, I guess. After all, she had a hard fought primary and a tough and emotional loss. As an ex-candidate who lost, I can vouch for the sense of let down and failure after a political race. It“aint” easy folks. It can be very deflating. It’s like “Preparation-H” for one’s ego and self esteem. People who are courageous enough to run for public office need to be commended and applauded, more so than ridiculed. Most people underestimate how tough it is to run for public office.

Well, it has been almost two months since the primary season ended, and I believe that Mrs. Clinton will be returning to the limelight soon enough. On Monday morning (10:30a.m.) of 28th July, she will be visiting Starett City, Brooklyn. And for those of you not familiar with the ancillary issue, let me tell you that the tens of thousands of tenants, who live in this large housing complex, have been nervously dealing with a landlord intent on selling the sprawling property to some speculators. The future is still precarious for these folks.

For some time now Congressman Ed Towns, Councilmember Charles Barron, Senator John Sampson, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and other elected officials, have been battling this issue, in hope of stopping any sale whereby the future tenancy of the residents aren’t guaranteed in a positive way. Starett City -which is the largest affordable housing development in the nation- was put on the auction block in 2006. HUD and other state and city housing agencies successfully blocked the sale then.

During the past week, Kevin Powell’s supporters have been up on the blogs trying to discredit me, after I publicly and openly announced that I was an advisor to the Ed Towns re-election campaign. And believe me when I say that I am playing a minor role in this regard. Bill Lynch and Associates are running this campaign folks; all the congressman did was ask me as an old political acquaintance/friend to help out a lil bit. I consented for many reasons that I may eventually share. As I have said many times before: I like Ed on a personal level; he has always treated me well. We kid around a lot but it’s with respect and camaraderie.

Now this isn’t the first time that I have worked on campaigns which I announced on the blogs, however it is the first time that I took so much flack for it. And the fact is I have worked with candidates that were much more controversial than Ed Towns. So why is this heat coming down on me? I believe that Powell has many sycophants running around out there who see him as the second coming of Malcolm X. What they need to know is that the last time I looked, this was a free country; and just like any citizen, I have the right to go with the candidate of my choice. I could go with the candidate I deem better for this race. That’s my darn prerogative.

As great a man that Malcolm X was (at least to me), he still had his detractors; even today, there are many who still see him as a racist. And this is because there was a point in his history, where he ran around with the Black Muslims. They saw white people as devils and openly said and wrote this.

Most of you know that I was born on the Caribbean island called Trinidad; as such, the issue of immigration is near and dear to me. Most of you also know that my core belief is that most individuals born in the USA are xenophobic, and that’s why the issue is so volatile. I don’t make this claim lightly. I have been dealing with this issue for over thirty years. With all this as a backdrop, let me say that it was refreshing to hear Brooklyn congressman Ed Towns (10th) call for a national commission to deal with the issue of immigration. Towns want to empower a commission to thoroughly study the issue and to come up with recommendations for resolving it, once and for all.

The congressman believes that the immigration issue is too complicated for the current legislature at this time, especially since many divergent interests have crowded the field and captured the debate. He believes that a commission should be staffed with experts from various areas of human endeavor, all intent on seeking binding solutions. He suggests economists, legal scholars, academics, diplomats, politicians, and experts in the areas of health, customs, immigration, national security, the military and the like. He would like to impanel this commission as early as yesterday, since he believes that there is urgency to this: given the current state of the economy, and given perpetual changes in world markets.

Towns said that it is obvious this Congress is at an impasse. He said that this issue (and all the ancillary issues that relate) transcends party lines. He still thinks however that Republicans should carry most of the blame for the failure to comprehensively overhaul the system, especially since they have been the point-guards on this since President Bush came into office in 2001. Still he refuses to place all the blame on the shoulders of only Republican members of Congress, stating that some democrats were indulging in demagoguery once this issue hit the floor.