Brooklyn Beep Endorses Bloomberg; Barron Calls Him a "Traitor"

By Roy Edroso Thu., Oct. 1 2009 at 5:23 PM

Categories: Citystate, Featured, Politics

You've probably heard that Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and co-pilot Jeff Skiles flew their old route over the Hudson today to cheers and flash bulbs and the approbation of Dr. Ruth ("I'm glad you're not retiring, but rewiring," said the pint-sized sexologist to Sully). As usual, Sullenberger was accommodating but apparently not hungry for publicity. On the other hand, ~~Bronx~~ Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz took the occasion to compare Mayor Bloomberg to the hero pilot in endorsing a third Bloomberg term. "We basically need the mayoral equivalent of Capt. Sully Sullenberger," he told enraptured reporters. Also: "I know we agree that Brooklyn is where New York City begins."

Bloomberg was on hand for the occasion, and though he offered no opinion as to where specifically New York City begins, he did say that "Marty knows that this election isn't about partisanship, it's about leadership," echoing his campaign theme of "Progress, Not Politics." Markowitz is a registered Democrat.

Democratic Councilmember Charles Barron quickly called the Beep a "traitor to the borough of Brooklyn" as well as to his party, and fumed, "We have a black candidate that's done a lot for our community," presumably referring to Frances Villar. He also said Markowitz's endorsement, which went to Bloomberg in the last mayoral election as well, is "worse this time because we really have a chance to win." (Barron wasn't happy with the 2005 Democratic contender, Freddy Ferrer.)

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