I had the pleasure of meeting Mark and his team at his campaign headquarters just weeks before the debates took place between the candidates for the 36th CCD Democratic Primary. He agreed to participate in our Candidates Questionnaire series and his remarks were amongst our most popular articles at MyBrooklynReport.com.
After publishing our analysis of the general elections in Voting in Bed Stuy (Can You Win Here?), we received Mark’s comments. We thought it fitting to publish his commentary rather than leaving it as part of the post.
Since I have not read the comment, I wanted to read them along with you at the same time.
Mark Winston Griffith and his family made an enormous sacrifice to serve the people of the 36th CCD, and will only have the memory of the campaign, as well as the time lost as a family.
Without further delay, Mark in his own words…
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First of all, Mike, thank you so much for standing out on the street corner handing out literature for me. I’m glad that you did more than just write about the things you care about. You in fact stood up and actively fought for change, which is more than slogan, but a deeply held dream for many in this community.
Having said that, I think you have mis-analysed and de-contextualized what occurred this past political season and I think the question, “What Went Wrong” is a misguided framing. A Primary and a General Election are two very different things. Even with an incumbent in the race, the playing field in a Primary is a much more level one than in the General. The majority of the people who entered the voting booth for Al Vann on November 3rd were voting less for the man, than for the party. They went into the voting booth and simply went down the Democratic ticket. All Al Vann had to do was show up. Any voter we hoped to gain had to have undergone a major process of voter education, just so they could know where to find me on the ballot, much less why they should support me over the Democratic Party candidate.
As I have said before, no one in Central Brooklyn has ever beaten an incumbent elected official on a third party line and for people who understand politics they knew that my chances were actually FAR better in the primary, even with 8 people in the race, than in the General. (Even when Al Vann himself was kicked off the Democratic line in years past, he was almost unseated in the General because thousands of people ended up voting for the virtual unknown on the Democratic ticket). Unfortunately, observers and my supporters coming out of the Primary, seduced by my strong second place showing and Al Vann’s 30%-of-the-vote result, were assuming that the same rules applied to the General election.
Except for Diana Reyna who was running against a candidate supported by Democratic boss Vito Lopez, Al Vann got less votes than any other incumbent running against a third party candidate. We, on the other hand, got more votes than any other third party candidate, except for Lopez-supported Maritza Davila. In the end, we got more than 5000 votes on a minority party line that few people in Central Brooklyn had ever heard of. This is after getting 2300 votes in the primary. And you characterize that as something went “wrong”? I beg to differ.
So the better question is, what did we do right? Jumanne Williams, as you pointed out, ran a great grassroots race, but Jumaane ran against a corrupt politician who unions were falling over themselves to oppose. Virtually no mainstream union, except for UAW and CSA, were willing to go against Al Vann. Love him or hate him, Al Vann, a 35 year incumbent and political legend, ain’t Kendall Stewart.
And yet, I can’t imagine a more grassroots campaign than the one we ran. We knocked on tens of thousands of doors, far more than anyone else in the race. And rather than simply handing someone a palm card, we had in depth conversations with people about issues. And yes, while it is true I ran a national public policy organization (It’s scary to suggest that heading up a nationally recognized institution that advocates for progressive public policy is not valued in our community as a strong credential for an aspiring City Councilman), the credit union I co-founded had over 6000 members from Central Brooklyn in its heyday, Mike. There are few institutions that can make that claim, and literally everyday people who were part of that institution walk up to me and thank me for how it changed the direction of their life.
As for the issues, no candidate in the 36th spent more thoughtful attention on issues than I did. The web site, which was loaded with issue specifics, was designed for the people who were more likely to care about more than bread and butter issues (most of which City Council people have little influence over anyway). Things we included on our website – like affordable housing, development, education and food justice – are among the most important issues facing the future of this community. When I went door-to-door, the vast majority of the voters I talked to were not heavy Internet users. With them we talked about crime, and young people, and police and sanitation, things that are actually more influenced by neighbor-to-neighbor activism.
But at the end of the day Mike, people don’t make decisions on local elected officials based on issues. As you alluded to yourself, no one spoke LESS about issues than Al Vann. His main talking point was, “I’m Al Vann and you’re not. Thank you for your support…”
Finally, I’m saddened to hear the comments about white people on my campaign. The vast majority of white folks working and volunteering on my campaign, were not only residents of Central Brooklyn, but many have been here for decades. Some of the young white folks who were paid organizers were in fact students who worked on the Obama campaign and were inspired by our campaign. In the end, white folks were a small, but active minority of our campaign force, but I’m proud of the fact that our campaign represented the diversity that actually exists in our neighborhood. In that respect, I’ve been a unifying force in this community. It is interesting to note that recognized black nationalists like Viola Plummer, Charles Barron, Tulani Kinard were strong supporters of my campaign and that it was me, not Al Vann who received a warm reception at the Black Solidarity Day celebration last week.
* I’ll comment below to Mark’s statement
By the way Mike. Thank you for giving me this platform. I really appreciate it.
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