FREED AT LAST
Judge Kathryn Freed made a triumphant return to Downtown Independent Democrats two weeks ago after a ten-year absence.
She received a hearty round of applause, which lasted longer than the “discussion” as to whether the club would endorse her run for reelection to be a Civil Court judge.
Judicial rules bar her from attending almost all political club meetings so Freed has stayed away from the club she helped build, and which she used as a springboard to becoming Downtown’s councilmember in the ‘90s on through until just after 9/11.
She is now an acting Supreme Court judge and hopes to be on the ballot for that bench if her judicial screening review comes through in time.
Freed’s vintage “happy to be unhappy” style has held up well too.
“Now I know why I only come here every 10 years,“ she said as members bickered at the end of the night on the exact endorsement vote counts, and whether or not to state it publicly.
Freed said she would never have let it get so “crazy” if she were still running D.I.D.
Notice she stayed the whole night. “Of course I miss it,” she told us.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver offered a friendly hand last week to Jenifer Rajkumar, who praised him at a ceremony honoring Silver, but the speaker has endorsed her opponent in the September primary, Councilmember Margaret Chin.
RAJKUMAR NOTES
It may seem like it’s been a rough couple of weeks for Jenifer Rajkumar, who is challenging Councilmember Margaret Chin but she appears to always see the glass as full.
“I’m pleased the opposition is talking about my record,” Rajkumar told us about a recent New York Post article taking her to task for W-Spin, a non-profit she founded but has not gotten off the ground.
She also learned last week that in addition to her challenge to Chin, she is also being challenged for her unpaid district leader position by her Gateway Plaza neighbor, Robin Forst, the president of Lower Manhattan Democrats who has been active in community groups and organizations for many years.
“Democracy is always a good thing,” Rajkumar told us of the challenge. “I’m glad whenever someone is able to step up and run.”
Forst called her opponent “a bright, capable young woman” but said there’s “no substitute” for working on community issues for a long period of time.
Rajkumar told us she is going to stay focused on issues like getting more schools built and protecting Lower Manhattan from future storms.
She also confirmed to our good friends at The Villager’s Scoopy’s Notebook, that a casting agency looking for a “gorgeous exotic female” for the next “Transformers” movie emailed her after an agent saw her picture in the Post.
“I thought it was hilarious,” said Rajkumar, who turned the offer down. “No, I’m too much of a nerd at heart for movies.”
KAY ON THE BAY
Ilan Kayatsky, communications director for U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, is moving to California to run communications for the San Francisco Jewish Federation “after seven phenomenal years” with Nadler. The interim press secretaries are James Owens and John Doty.
STORMY SIGNS?
We have no idea what this might mean, if anything, but we did take note that our two previous appointments at City Hall for briefings about Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s pending storm protection plans came on heavy rain days, but on Tuesday, the day of Bloomberg’s big announcement, lots of rain was predicted yet little came.
