There were no surprises in the local City Council races, as incumbents Lew Fidler (46th District) and Michael C. Nelson (48th District) bested their opposition in this year’s races by a wide margin.
Fidler picked up 79.23 percent of the vote (17,101), leaving Republican opponent Gene Berardelli with 19.46 percent, or 4,201 votes. Libertarian candidate Derek Sacerdote took the remaining 1.31 percent (282). Nelson’s lead was larger, with 89.83 percent (12,528), versus Conservative candidate Stephen Walters, who collected 10.17 percent (1418).
As readers of Sheepshead Bites know, the race for the 46th District was spirited, with often heated back-and-forths between Berardelli and Fidler on this site (here and here), culminating in a taped debate. At issue were term limits, discretionary funding, and negative campaign tactics.
In the end, Fidler attributed his win to running a positive campaign, telling Yournabe.com “negative campaigning isn’t tolerated” in the 46th district, a dig at Berardelli’s website, TheFidler.com.
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On an editorial note, this hardly passes as news, as Democratic candidates are almost never ousted in Brooklyn. Just take a glance at Yournabe.com’s front page, and you’ll see headlines – probably written days before – like this: “DeBlasio wins in landslide…”, “Gentile has easy win…”, “Williams coasts to victory…”, and so on.
Such headlines are so predictable, even before campaign season starts, that it’s ingrained into the mind of every voter, candidate, and reporter from the outset. So when Fidler attributes his win to the other side’s negative campaigning, we have to wonder if it has more to do with self-fulfilling prophesy.
This year was the first time I’ve ever reported on campaigns. And as I followed the fights, it became obvious to me that I was the only one that did. Except for token articles about scandalous claims – like the “anti-semitism” debacle – even the local media didn’t bother reporting the opposition. And for that, we all suffer.
Brooklyn needs real elections to fix its problems, and for that, it needs more media covering the opponents. I’m not saying the Democrats need to be voted out, but elections – especially City Council elections – are a time for discussion about a community’s future. When the opposition isn’t taken seriously, the people are deprived of that discussion, and the incumbent slips by with little accountability.
During various times in our reporting, Fidler intoned – though never said – that Sheepshead Bites’ coverage was biased towards Berardelli. I think Fidler would’ve considered biased any coverage of Berardelli that didn’t lampoon him. And I don’t blame him, candidates in Brooklyn are not used to seeing their general election opponents taken seriously, so any attempt to is cast in a light of suspicion.
That needs to change. Not to the detriment of Fidler or other incumbents, but to the benefit of us all. Courier-Life editor Ken Brown told one caller who asked about more coverage for the opposition, “Republicans aren’t newsworthy.” That needs to change. When anyone – civic group, blog, or business – holds a debate between all the candidates and it doesn’t get a lick of coverage, that needs to change.
Sheepshead Bites was proud of our part in reporting on the 46th District campaign. We wish we had the resources to have covered the 48th District – and others – better. And we’re also proud that a councilman like Lew Fidler, who believes in communicating with his constituents and engaging his opponents, represents an area we cover.
But our pride is tempered by the realization of a failure of an entire industry to even partially fulfill its raison d’etre. News media exists to inform the public. This elections proved to me just how cataclysmically they fail at that. And they wonder why their future looks as grey as the paper they print on.
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For all of Brown’s shortcomings, I will say that it speaks well of Murdoch’s organization that News Corp didn’t decide to axe him when they took over.
However, the local papers, perhaps even more than city wide publications, tend to cultivate their relationships with incumbents. Definitely this benefits both parties.
Council races in Queens where a Republican candidate was involved got better coverage by local media, and thusly became more competitive.
I also believe that the Republican party in Brooklyn did little to help their candidates. It seems that they were left to do their own fundraising and promotion even as these were mostly neophytes in these areas. In other words, the party made little more than a token effort on their behalf. That doesn’t help to motivate the media to give their candidates much coverage.
Well, let me just say this.
First, I want to thank the voters of the 46th district. My margin in this election was more than 10 percent higher than it was the last time. I am very gratified and appreciative. As I told the Courier Life, I think that people noticed that I work hard and show up and THAT was why I won (not primarily the negative campaigning…please look at the whole quote Ned). And that makes me feel good.
And I promise that I will work just as hard and do as much as I can for our district and our City over the next four. I do indeed love this job and will continue to do it wioth my all.
Second, I want to thank this blog for its coverage. Yes Ned, from time to time I had an issue with something you wrote, just as I have had issues with say the Post for their coverage of Mayoral politics. (Really, the one that irked me was when you came to the second charter school heaaring and called my remarks “politically motivated” or something without knowing that I was repeating things that I have been saying as the council member and Education Committee member for years…not an election time thing. That was largely the only thing, truth be told.)
However, overall, I am very glad that you covered this race. As one of the few elected officials who reads AND replies to blogs, I believe they have a place in the world. I thank you for covering it, and especially thank you for the debate.
You know, I avail myself freely to the press both local and City wide. I would LUV to see more coverage of local issues and politics, and less Manhattan centricity…or even less Brownstone centricity. but I don’t allocate the column inches.
So, again, thanks Ned, thanks to all the blog commenters pro and con, thanks to the voters. I look forward to another four years of hard work and issue oriented debate.
Lew from Brookyn
My compliments to Ned for saying some of the important things that absolutely need to get said, even when it involves calling out established media. (And I’m not just saying that because he signs my paycheck!! Emphasis on ‘not’.)
People running for office win for various reasons. Agreeing with and constantly repeating mainstream media’s comments when they allude to a perfectly fine person like Gene Berardelli as an anti-Semite is not so positive. If reporting about all the candidates and the issues gets interpreted as “biased”, then all journalists must cease from writing.
Sheepshead Bites has been the place for us to get a glimmer of local politics. Unfortunately, glimmers are not all that are required.
Lisanne: Murdoch’s a smart man. His purchase of Courier Life was a business decision to combine its advertising with the Post. He didn’t care a bit about editorial, and that’s why Brown still has a job. Unfortunately, I think they’ve pared down their local coverage so much as to be irrelevant. Pick up the Bay News now and you’ll see maybe two stories that are actually about our neighborhood – the rest are from the other papers in the chain. I’ve often said if CL did their job, Sheepshead Bites wouldn’t exist.
Lew: I just went back and reviewed the charter school post. I didn’t say the content of your comments were politically motivated, I just said you had the “fiery rhetoric of a politician in a reelection period.” I don’t believe that cast any doubt about your sincerity on the issue, and I think that was made clear by the previous article, headlined “Fidler on Brooklyn Dreams Charter: We Dont Want It!” If you disagree, then we’ll have to agree to disagree. I think I do my best to give everyone a fair shake– As an aside, in my hastily written post above, I never did say one thing: Congratulations. I hope the campaign is behind all of us, and that you and Gene continue to work together on important projects like the Brigham Street Park.
Ray: I don’t pay you.
Lew’s presence here, as in other blogs he’s participating in, helps all of us. Ned has put Sheepshead Bay back on the map again, with Ray’s help, of course, and the participation of local officials furthers the goal of giving our community a unique identity. We’re not Manhattan nor Park Slope, our perspective is different. We are, and have been a residential community. We’re not the hip place to live.
That doesn’t mean that we lack a dynamic. Sheepshead Bay has always had a dynamic, look at all the renowned individuals who came from here. (Someday I shall compile a list) Nevertheless, there are a lot of people here that fail to commit themselves, even in the smallest way, to making this community a better place to live.
Lew believes in this community. So does Gene. So does Ned, Ray and everyone who contributes in any fashion to this site. I do hope that we can all mend whatever bridges we have damaged during this election season. It’s needed for our community, and besides community IS a group of people who share the common belief that this is our home, and everyone in it is a neighbor. Neighbors should never stay angry at each other.
Ned, I started noticing reduced local coverage a year or two before News Corporation acquired Courier-Life. Seemed to be a budgeting decision. They started to place stories in the Bay News that were written for the Kings Courier, and not relevant to the community.
Blogs will have to take up the slack out of necessity as traditional media allocates less resources towards news gathering. Look at how the Tribune Corp has been cutting costs across the board, they are even considering dropping most of the AP content.
In the end, media that finds a way of making a profit on-line will survive and perhaps even thrive. I do suspect that many blogs will evolve into profit motivated news organizations. Some will be wildly successful.
There was a time when the smallest hamlet had a news oriented weekly which turned a profit for it’s owner. And many small towns were able to sustain two daily newspapers. I see this potential for blogs. I suspect that in the end blogs will lose some of their casualness as traditional media has gone toward colloquial expression. The two shall almost meet somewhere near the middle of that spectrum. And media will become more relevant again as the traditional values of printing what matters return.
Hey everyone! First, I want to thank everyone for the love and support throughout these past months.
As far as results, most will look at the numbers and won’t see the things I see here, but that doesn’t bother me. Needless to say, it’s not nearly as simple as the spin would make it seem!
I could go into strategy and numbers and and comparisons and reasons for all of that for hours – all I can say is that given the lack of money and manpower in our campaign, I can live with putting up the second best Republican challenge of an incumbent in Brooklyn.
This was the first campaign in our area in a LONG time that came close to looking like a two-sided campaign – probably since the 2002 State Senate race, which only took up part of the area. The fact that our numbers remained relatively consistent despite a last minute mailing blitz fueled by thousands of dollars and the fact that more voters came out than last election cycle tells me that there is a solid base to build on in coming years.
Both points show that people are starving for real races, and I will make ending the days of the “token” campaign a priority in the coming years.
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Aside from the results, this campaign was amazingly fun and awesome. I am so blessed to have been given the chance to run, and if given the choice, I’d do it all again – ALL of it.
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Thank you Ned and Ray for your fair and balanced coverage. We had to fight tooth and nail for every bit of ink we got because of exactly what you said – a culture dominated by one party. I asked for a fair shake, and you gave me one. Keep up the great work.
Where oh where can I voice my displeasure with The Fidler voting to overturn term limits? Where?
I have not been happy with the effectiveness Nelson’s office provided with the one issue I presented them.
That was the poison ivy covering a tree which was located a few hundred feet from the Nostrand Avenue office.
Maybe he’s immune to poison ivy.
He’s never impressed me, and it was terrible that we had no real choice but either to vote for him, or not cast a vote for city councilman, which was what I did. That’s one of the baddest apples in the bunch, in my thinking.
Lew,
No disrespect, but when you had chosen to back William Thompson against Mayor Bloomberg, you went against the majority of your constituents, who had supported Bloomberg.
While we should all realize that you are a member of a Democratic Party, I think you’d serve your constituents better, were you follow their favorite candidate.
No, that would have been pandering. And it would have made Lew seem shallow had he done that merely because voters in his district supported Bloomberg. Additionally, voters gain nothing from such a endorsement.
Alex,
It is a bit ironic to criticize Mr. Fidler for supporting extension of term limits AND for opposing Mr. Bloomberg (the creator of term limits extension).
But let’s say it was just a party-line decision on Mr. Fidler’s part. Once again, Democrats are often being laughed at for failing to stick together (“Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line”). So we should applaud Mr. Fidler’s efforts to counter that!
Disclaimer: 1. I live in District 48. 2. I would never vote for Mr. Bloomberg even if … well, never. So you can say I’m biased.
Hell is still a very warm place, last I heard. But I’m with Lev on this.
In terms of a “party-line” decision, let’s not forget that President Obama who came to Jersey to support Corzine, wasn’t too, shall we say, enthusiastic in offering his support to Thompson.
Politicians are out there to represent their constituents first and foremost, not their party.
Of course, they frequently forget that.
I think it was pretty clear Obama wanted Bloomberg in charge of NYC.
But he wouldn’t have crossed party lines to endorse him.
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