Queens own Democratic State Assembly member Mark Weprin’s candidacy has been underway for months to run for the New York City Council seat of his brother NYC Council Finance Committee Chairperson and candidate for NYC Comptroller David Weprin. Mark inherited his seat in a special election to fill the vacancy of his late father Saul Weprin (first elected to the State Assembly in 1971 and became Speaker of the Assembly in 1991) who passed away in 1994. There has been a Weprin in the Assembly for 48 years. David Weprin has been making the rounds to every local and county Democratic party clubhouse meeting or fundraiser in all five boroughs since 2005 to position himself as a candidate for NYC Comptroller in 2009.
Should we add the Weprins to the Kennedy, Bush, Clinton and Cuomo family dynasties? Inheritance of a famous family name doesn’t always translate to competency or victory. Consider recent developments concerning the Queens County Democratic Party Executive Committee endorsement of NYC Councilmember John Lui over fellow Councilmember David Weprin for NYC Comptroller. This action is no surprise if you look back at NYC Council Finance Committee Chairperson Weprin’s past record. Consider these facts. In June 2001, the Queens Democratic organization conveniently nominated outgoing Council member Sheldon Leffler’s chief of staff to a judgeship. This would have been David Weprin’s chief primary opponent, thus clearing the field for Weprin to join the New York City Council. When the five New York City Democratic county bosses divided up the spoils, he inherited Chairmanship of the Council Finance Committee. This was a consultation prize for his unsuccessful campaign for NYC Council Speaker in 2001. In the 2005 Democratic Mayoral Primary, Weprin was unable to carry his NYC Councilmanic district, let alone his home election district for NYC Council Speaker Gifford Miller. The same was true in the General Election for NYC Mayor between Bloomberg and challenger former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer. Weprin also lost his race for NYC Council Speaker in 2005 as a second tier candidate in a seven way contest. Despite his claims of financial expertise, he was never considered a serious candidate by colleagues in the State Legislature to replace former State Comptroller Alan Hevisi in 2007.
At a recent meeting of the Queens County Democratic Party committee, David Weprin lost the endorsement of his home county organization to NYC Councilmember John Lui by a vote of 47 to 6 with 4 votes for fellow Queens NYC Council member Melinda Katz. Weprin’s prior endorsement by the Richmond County Democratic Party committee is really meaningless. Staten Island Democratic primary voters based upon enrollment and past primary turnouts represent only 5% of total city wide participants. His endorsement by the PBA will also garner few votes as many police officers are either registered Republicans or live outside of NYC and can’t vote in the Democratic Primary. Campaign co-chairs former NYC Mayor David Dinkins who has been out of public office since 1993 and Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer likewise since 2005 have generated little support. Their old followers have moved on and pledged allegiance to a new generation of political leaders.
It appears that over the past eight years — those who know David Weprin best, be it colleagues in the New York City Council, State Legislature or Queens County Democratic Party Executive Committee never seem to end up supporting him for higher public office or leadership positions. Perhaps they know something about David that voters don’t?
In the 2009 Democratic Primary, David will have a higher ballot position in his race for NYC Comptroller. Mark shouldn’t count on any political coattails from brother David given his past track record. It will be interesting to see if the Queens County Democratic organization is helpful. Will Mark like David in 2001 benefit from one of his potential primary opponents being nominated to a judgeship or promised his Assembly seat in exchange for dropping out of the race? Bob Friedrich – President of the Glens Oak Village Co-op and local community activists Swaranjit Singh and Bryan Rivera are all serious candidates with ample funding to provide competative primary competition. Starting in the 1990′s up to today, the Weprin family political base has been on the decline. Sons and daughters of Jewish, Italilan, Irish and Catholic voters upon college graduation or marriage have moved to Long Island, Hudson Valley, Connecticut, New Jersey or other states. Older voters continue to move out of the district upon retirement or die of old age. An emerging new generation of immigrants from Latin America, South Asia and East Asia are becoming the new majority replacing the old Jewish/Italian/Irish coalition of decades ago. Swaranjit Singh may have the strongest appeal to new immigrant voters. A majority of residents are now foreign born. Weprin and Friedrich could split some of same pool of voters affording Swaranjit Singh an opening to victory. It is interesting to note that Singh has raised $115,000 in campaign funds to date compared to $52,000 for Friedrich and only $19,000 for Weprin.
Being a loyal member in good standing with the Queens County Democratic party organization, David Weprin may want to save face and avoid another embarrassing loss by considering other alternatives. After filing nominating petitions, brother Mark Weprin could decline and stay in the State Assembly. His committee on vacancies could replace him with brother David. This would be a backdoor vehicle to afford David ballot status. This would afford him an opportunity to run for a third term as NYC Councilmember. Should Mark be successful in winning brother David’s Council seat, there would be a special election to fill the vacancy. David could run for his brothers State Assembly seat. The base pay for Assembly member Mark Weprin is $79,000 with a lulu for chairing a State Assembly committee supplemented by a daily meal and travel allowance. Why would Council member David Weprin with a base salary of $112,000 and $18,000 lulu for chairing the NYC Council Finance Committee want to take a huge pay cut? His current commute to New York City Hall is only one hour. Is this worth trading for a three hour trip to Albany? Both jobs are part time, but Councilmember Weprin may not want to give up his yearly $200,000 part time private sector job just blocks from NYC Hall. Brother Mark Weprin could make far more money with an easier commute to City Hall than Albany. He would also be much closer to his part time private sector job in Garden City, Long Island.
There is also the option of Queens Democratic Party leader Congressmember Joe Crowley finding a plum position for David Weprin with Governor Paterson, Comptroller DiNapoli or President Obama’s administration. This would be a political thank you and face saving measure for David Weprin being a good soldier and dropping out of the September 2009 Democratic Primary for NYC Comptroller. It makes no sense for Crowley and company to have three Queens based candidates (NYC Councilmembers Lui, Weprin and Katz versus one Brooklyn based candidate – David Yassky) for Comptroller..
At the end of the day, don’t shed any tears for either David or Mark Weprin. Both will land on their feet and make out just fine.
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