Yesterday morning, we reported City Councilman Alan Gerson lost the endorsement of the Downtown Independent Democrats to Pete Gleason. Today the Downtown Express is out with more details. Reporter Josh Rogers called the defeat a "body blow" to Gerson's re-election efforts. Explaining the influential club's vote, Rogers wrote, "Gerson has lost the support of some Downtown political leaders who previously helped him get elected."
Gerson supporter Bob Townley said his candidate is facing more opposition in this election, in part, because voters were expecting new blood in District 1. Gerson would have been prevented from running due to term limits, but he supported Michael Bloomberg's campaign to extend the limits for the mayor and the Council. Townley said Gerson should be re-elected due to his experience and track record helping Lower Manhattan. But a former Gerson supporter Julie Nadel says while she likes him personally she beieves he's "totally disorganized." For Gerson's part, he noted that he won most of the other club endorsements and that the DID "does not represent the district."
Gerson's other opponents are Margaret Chin, PJ Kim and Arthur Gregory. Chin's campaign manager, Jake Itzkowitz, told us she directed her supporters to vote for Gleason so Gerson would not win the endorsement. Itzkowitz says it was a demonstration of Chin's organizational prowess. Incidentally, we'll be interviewing Chin next week. During the campaign, we hope to conduct Q & A sessions with all of the candidates and to cover the 1st District race extensively.
