Politics on the Hudson

With all the votes in it appears Legislator Clinton Young is the winner of the the city’s Democratic mayoral primary.

Final, but still unofficial numbers, show Young with 4,144 votes over Mayor Ernest Davis’ 3,768.

These results will be certified on Monday, at which time the Board of Elections will declare the winner.

Twelve-year incumbent Davis has not conceded but said through a spokesperson he will announce a decision on his candidacy early next week. Davis must decide whether to reverse himself and run on the Conservative and Indepdendence lines; earlier he had said he would suppor the Democratic winner.

Councilwoman Loretta Hottinger has withdrawn her support of Mayor Ernest Davis and has endorsed his opponent, County Legislator Clinton Young.

Hottinger, who has served on the council since 1998,  was aligned with Davis and other candidates nominated by the Democratic City Committee but a recent dust up over public records made her change her mind, she said.

In a letter Hottinger explained her decision. In a telephone interview she said she remains nuetral on the county legislative race in which Councilman Lyndon Williams and Democratic City Chairwoman Serapher Conn-Halevi face off.

Hottinger wrote:

“Recently I joined with the Majority of the City Council in a vote to issue subpoenas to the Mayor as well as to other City Agencies for the information requested first 6 months ago and several times since.  That information had not been delivered at the time of that vote and no time line had been provided to the Council by the Mayor or others as to when it would be delivered.
That action was viewed as POLITICAL, not as in the best interests of the citizens of Mount Vernon who have a right to that information.
Others POLITICIZED my vigorous efforts on behalf of Mount Vernon’s Citizens. Little did they know that reaction would GALVANIZE me to act. That action is to agree that IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE. That change is represented by Clinton Young and he will have my vote for Mayor.”

The Westchester Vulcan Society will announce their endorsements for Mayor Ernest Davis and County Legislator candidate Serapher Conn-Halevi tomorrow at 10 a.m. in front of City Hall.

Conn-Halevi also picked up the endorsement of the Mount Vernon Uniformed Firefighters. Noah Lighty, president of the fire union, said Conn-Halevi has always been for the firefighters, “not just when the cameras were on.”

The New York Dominican Law Enforcement Officers Association is expected to endorse Mayor Ernest Davis tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. on the steps of City Hall.

Davis is facing a primary challenge from County Legislator Clinton Young.

Mayor Ernest Davis has received another endorsement, from the city’s Conservative Party.  Gail Burns, chairwoman of the county party, said the city committee leaders said they have a working relationship with Davis and support his re-election bid.

County Legislator Clinton Young, who is challenging Davis in a primary run, questioned the endorsement and that of Lt. Gov. David Paterson.

“While I respect and admire Lt. Governor David Paterson, I am surprised and disappointed that he is supporting a man whose ideals are contradictory to that of the Democratic Party,” Young said. “Davis should come clean about his support by the Mount Vernon Conservative Party… this is an insult to the thousands of Democratic voters in Mount Vernon.

Surrounded by the top city Democrats Mayor Ernest Davis accepted the endorsement of Lt. Gov. David Paterson today.

Flanked by the Rev. W Franklyn Richardson, Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, and Reginald LaFayette, chairman of the Westchester Democratic Committee, as well as two city leaders running for county board seats, Davis beamed as they heaped praises on his administration’s accomplishments.

Davis is facing a primary challenge from County Legislator Clinton Young.

Richardson described Davis’ re-election bid as a plane about to take flight. He asked why would anyone would want toremove the pilot at that moment.

Paterson, alluding to the governor’s Troopergate scandal which centered on the use of state aircraft, asked jokingly if the vessel Davis was commanding could instead be a ship.

Acknowledging he is not a city resident, Paterson said if he was one of the city’s 26,000 Democrats he would vote for Davis based on his work on housing, economic development and fiscal management.

Mayor Ernest Davis said he nor his campaign staff was aware or involved in distributing an anti-Clinton Young flier with The Journal News banner at the top of the page.

The flier contains a reprint of a letter to the editor criticizing Young’s choice of words during the recent debate between the two candidates.

However, it also included the official heading of the newspaper, which might have given some people the impression the letter was an article. The use of the newspaper’s heading was not authorized.

Today Mayor Ernest Davis, who is facing a primary from Legislator Clinton Young, gained the endorsement of the Rev. Franklyn W. Richardson, pastor of Grace Baptist Church.

The church has over 4,000 members and has a strong presence in community development projects in the city.

Last week, Davis picked up the endorsement of County Executive Andrew Spano, Deputy County Executive Larry Schwartz confirmed. Schwartz said Spano was going with the city’s Democratic Committee’s endorsed candidate.

A number of Mount Vernon officials attended Sunday’s NAACP mayoral debate between Mayor Ernest Davis and County Legislator Clinton Young, and at the end of the event, the crowd erupted into competing chants.

Davis supporters yelled “Four more years!” while Young’s supporters went with: “No more years!”

To an observer, it seemed Fire Commissioner Nicholas Cicchetti started the pro-Davis side of the rally.

The crowd continued their vocal support until people exited from the city’s Armory, the location of the debate.

Academy Award winner and Mount Vernon native Denzel Washington will speak at a youth forum sponsored by Legislator Clinton Young on Wednesday.

The event is presented as a movie billboard and is one in a series of youth forums Young is holding as part of his mayoral campaign. Young and Denzel will be at the Centennial Church parking lot, 8th Avenue between 4th and 5th street, from 5 to 7 p.m.