Calling Truman club: There are four Democratic political clubs that cover parts of the 65th Assembly District, but so far we’ve only heard news from three of them amid the machinations and maneuvering for the upcoming special election, expected to be held April 19. The Downtown Independent Democrats, along with their County Committee delegates, are wrestling over whether to back Jenifer Rajkumar or Paul Newell, the club’s two district leaders. The United Democratic Organization, based in Chinatown, has brought Yuh-Line Niou into the race. As for the Lower East Side Democratic Club, State Committeeman John Quinn has said he is going to let “the community” decide, and there will be no “backroom deals in smoke-filled rooms” (O.K., so no one smokes anymore, but whatever), to pick the candidate. That leaves the Truman Club from Grand St., which is the home club of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, speaking of whom, that’s how we got into this situation in the first place. “We’re not doing anything right now,” District Leader David Weinberger told us on Tuesday. “We don’t have any favorites yet.” His co-district leader, Karen Blatt, is not a candidate, he said. What about Silver, is he involved with the club? we asked. “Yeah, he’s around,” Weinberger said. People are asking which way the club will go, but Weinberger said, “Right now, we’re holding out.”
Shelly still lookin’ good: Speaking of Silver, we hear from Villager contributor Lesley Sussman, who has been seeing him at the Bialystoker Synagogue recently, that he appears to be doing pretty well, under the circumstances. “He has a tremendous sense of humor and is very likeable,” Sussman said. “I told him that his picture has been in the papers these past few months more than Madonna, and he looked at me and smiled. He said, ‘That’s because I’m better looking than she is.’ ”
Feeling the Bern: MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki keeps telling us that Hillary Clinton is going to mop the floor with Bernie Sanders once the primaries hit the bigger states like South Carolina because she has stronger support among black voters. But Village District Leader Arthur Schwartz, counsel for the Bernie Sanders New York campaign, doesn’t think so. “He is up 20 percent in the black vote since August and now has 34 percent. Hillary has declined, according to a CNN poll. When he wins Iowa and New Hampshire, the earth will shake. And he has more money and more foot soldiers than Hillary — 25,000 people volunteered to petition for him in New York State.”
