HYNES REWRITES HISTORY: When Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes launched his attack against the Brooklyn Democratic machine and won an indictment of county leader Clarence Norman, Norman immediately pointed out that Hynes was only too happy to have the organization’s support in his last four campaigns.

            Hynes countered that in his most important race, for the Brooklyn D.A.’s office vacated by Liz Holtzman in 1989, the organization backed his primary opponent, Dan Feldman, then a Sheepshead Bay assemblyman.

            An excellent point indeed. If it were true. Which it isn’t.

            Now, it doesn’t matter much any more who supported whom in 1989. What matters is whether Hynes is trying to fool people or just has a faulty memory.

            We begin with a New York Times article on May 3, 2003, in which Hynes said, “I have been independent since I beat the organization in 1989. The only people who supported me were a handful of black leaders, which did not include Clarence Norman Jr. And in the years since then, the organization supported me because they didn’t want to be on the losing side of the race.”

            The Times swallowed the hook, line, and anvil, following that quote with this paragraph:

            “To be sure, in that first campaign for district attorney in 1989, the Democratic Party and its leader, the Brooklyn borough president, Howard Golden, offered Mr. Hynes no support. Instead, the organization threw its support behind Daniel Feldman, an assemblyman at the time.”

            To be sure, the Times was wrong, which is why the paper ran this correction three days later:

            “An article on Saturday about speculation that the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, is seeking to use the case against a former Democratic Party official to distance himself from the organization misstated the party’s choice for district attorney in 1989. The party and its leader, the Brooklyn borough president, Howard Golden, supported Mr. Hynes, not Daniel Feldman, an assemblyman at the time.”

            Hynes didn’t see the correction or simply ignored it, because nearly two years later he tells the same story.

            “They [the Brooklyn Democratic organization] supported Danny Feldman,” Hynes told our reporter Tom Tracy. “I nearly lost the race.” (Actually, Hynes won 51 percent of the vote; Feldman and Norman Rosen combined for 49 percent.)

            To the Brooklyn Paper, Hynes said, “And, you know, again, since people of goodwill will get things wrong, the organization did not, did not, underline, did not support me in 1989.”

            We talked to some folks who were active in Brooklyn politics at the time. They couldn’t remember whether the organization took a formal vote to endorse Hynes, but they all remembered that Hynes was supported by the county leader Golden and Golden’s political advisers (Bill Garry, Ed Rappaport, and Nick Clemente, who in a remarkable coincidence are today all Supreme Court judges).

            Footnote: Three years ago, after term limits forced Golden from office, Hynes created a $125,000-per-year job for him, which would have been especially odd if Golden had opposed Hynes in 1989.

            Perhaps Hynes remembers inaccurately that the machine opposed him because many Democratic district leaders—including Norman—supported Feldman, but these leaders “were organized by and around the late [Assemblyman] Tony Genovesi,” one insider recalled.

            Genovesi led a faction of dissident leaders for years but was never able to take control of the county organization from Golden or Norman, who succeeded Golden in 1990.

            Or Hynes is simply trying to rewrite history. “He figures if he says it enough, nobody will catch up with him,” said one Democrat who was active in the 1989 race. “Ask anybody who was around at that time. Hynes is the only one who has these delusions.”

            If so, he is clinging to them. A Hynes spokesman e-mailed us, “The D.A.’s consistent position has been that he did not receive the party’s endorsement in 1989, Fieldname did,” meaning Feldman. “Don’t know what that Times correction was about, but I will try to run it down.”

            No worries. We took care of it.

***

            YASSKY DITCHES D.A. RACE: Of all the insiders we talked to in recent weeks about the race for Brooklyn district attorney, not one thought Councilman David Yassky would give up his seat to run.

            They were right: Yassky decided last week, first telling his family, then his staff on January 28, and everyone else on January 31.

            Observers predicted correctly that Yassky would instead run for reelection and bank the $750,000 he’s raised (more than any other D.A. candidate) until a better opportunity comes along—perhaps city comptroller in 2009, when Yassky will be term-limited out of the City Council and Billy Thompson will be term-limited out of the comptroller’s office.

            Why won’t Yassky run for D.A.? Because he probably wouldn’t win, observers say.

            We talked to one Democrat who compared Yassky’s potential campaign for D.A. to Ken Fisher’s unsuccessful 2001 bid for borough president. Like Yassky, Fisher was a respected councilman from Brooklyn Heights with a fairly high media profile and a lot of campaign money.

            But Fisher was unknown to most Brooklynites outside of his district, a problem that Yassky likely discovered through his polling that he faced as well. Low name recognition in a borough of 2.5 million people is not something easily remedied by advertising and campaigning.

            Fisher finished a distant third to Marty Markowitz and Jeannette Gadson, a fate Yassky wanted to avoid for himself.

            Officially, Yassky is saying he wants to finish what he started in the Council.

            One thing he did make clear is that he won’t be endorsing the incumbent, Joe Hynes. Instead he will choose State Senator John Sampson, Arnie Kriss, Mark Peters, Sandra Roper, Paul Wooten, or none of the above.

            Former Hynes prosecutor Braxton Fenner of Flatbush also says he’s running.

***

            POST PESTERS WEINER: Either the New York Post doesn’t like Rep. Anthony Weiner or it simply had no better options for the top of page 2 January 30 than a story about five relatives of controversial Rabbi Milton Balkany contributing a total of $21,500 to Weiner’s $1.5 million campaign fund.

            Balkany was once accused by a federal prosecutor of using a $700,000 federal grant to pay his life insurance premium, personal income taxes, and credit card bill, not to mention to send $300,000 to a son in Israel. (He repaid the money and avoided prosecution.)

            He was also involved in a day care voucher scandal when Rudy Giuliani was mayor.

            But his adult children and their relatives have not been in trouble, so last July when we came across Menachim Balkany’s $4,500 contribution we were curious, not outraged.

            We simply asked Weiner spokesman Anson Kaye if Menachim were the son of the rabbi from the voucher scandal. Yes, Kaye answered.

            Only when the Post called six months later did Weiner decide to return the money, apparently to soften the impact of the story, which the paper dressed up with an “EXCLUSIVE” label.

            Was the Post picking on Weiner? To help answer the question, we asked the paper if it ever ran a story about the Balkany family giving $23,000 to Giuliani. At press time, we were still waiting for a reply.

***

            THIS YEAR’S RACES: The January filing date for participants in the Campaign Finance Program provided a strong hint of who might run for City Council this year.

            One contested race will be for the lone open seat, currently held by Tracy Boyland, who is being forced out by term limits. Five people in her 41st Council District filed statements with the finance board: Pamela M. Junior (who has raised $3,280), Stanley Kinard ($2,420), Naquan Muhammad ($290), Danny King ($0), and Alicka Ampry-Samuel ($0).

            Kinard has run for office before. Ampry-Samuel was a Democratic district leader in the 55th Assembly District but lost to Lisa Kenner last year. King was Kenner’s running mate for male leader, but he lost.

            Other possible candidates, such as Boyland’s father Frank Boyland, the former assemblyman, have until June 1 to join the program.

            Another contested race will be in Kendall Stewart’s 45th Council District, but no one has been very active on the fundraising circuit. Stewart reported just $6,070 raised, Erlene King $1,725, Ernest Emmanuel $0, and Samuel Nicolas $0. Sam Taitt hasn’t filed yet but will almost certainly run.

            In the 43rd C.D., incumbent Democrat Vinny Gentile reported $56,190 and Republican Bob Capano $15,872. Nothing yet from Republican Pat Russo, who lost to Gentile in 2003.

            In the 33rd C.D., Councilman David Yassky reported $84,291, which is separate from the $750,000 he’s raised for a future boroughwide or citywide race. If Yassky had decided to run for Brooklyn district attorney this year, contestants for his Council seat would have included Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President Kenneth Adams ($51,161) and possibly Democratic district leader Jo Anne Simon ($14,975) and New York Nightlife Association executive director Bob Zuckerman ($12,977). Alan Fleishman, Simon’s co-leader, also expressed interest but hasn’t reported any fundraising.

            Councilman Charles Barron says he’s running simultaneously for mayor and for reelection, which in the past courts have not allowed. Should they rule that way again this summer, Barron would have to leave one race. The feeling here is he’ll drop his mayoral bid, but we’ve talked to insiders who feel otherwise. If they’re right, John Whitehead ($7,970 raised) of Black Men Who Care might run for the open seat.

            We also expect rival group Black Men Who Don’t Give a Damn to field a candidate.

            In only one other Brooklyn district has more than one candidate filed with the CFB: the 48th, domain of Councilman Mike Nelson ($61,789). His potential challenger? Michael Roth ($2,135).

            Rounding out the list of Brooklyn filers: Councilmen Bill de Blasio ($171,157), Domenic Recchia ($72,430), and Erik Dilan ($0), along with Borough President Marty Markowitz (a whopping $1,182,818).

***

            YET ANOTHER D.A. CANDIDATE: Any illusions that the Brooklyn district attorney race might proceed without any nominal candidates were shattered Saturday, January 29 when someone named Braxton Freddie Fenner declared his candidacy via e-mail.

            His 68-word press release contained no biographical information, but we quickly found that he has formed two “527” organizations based at 726 Ocean Avenue in Flatbush. Neither has raised any money, but the stated purpose of one is: “Identify lousy Govt action and Politicians who provide lousy public representation; Promote responsive Govt actions which address community interests; Support only candidates who have or will provide superior community representation.”

            So, like most no-hope candidates, he has a gripe.

            More digging revealed Fenner to be a 39-year-old Brooklyn native who was raised in Flatbush and graduated in 1983 from John Jay High School in Park Slope. Despite the school’s horrendous reputation, Fenner made something of himself, working his way through St. Francis College in Brooklyn and graduating from Albany Law School in 1990.

            He passed the New York bar exam in July 1990 and later was a member of the New York County Lawyers’ Association Committee on the Federal Courts. He was a prosecutor under the man he now claims to be challenging, Joe Hynes, from 1992 until resigning in 2001. Since then he’s been in private practice.

            According to Fenner’s homemade (we hope) Web site, he aims to replace Hynes’s “unfair policies” but doesn’t identify what they are. Sounds like a “disgruntled former employee” candidacy.

***

            DOV, DEAR DALLIANCE? The wags have floated a rumor that Assemblyman Dov Hikind has offered to endorse Noach Dear in 2006 against State Senator Kevin Parker in exchange for Dear’s promise that he won’t run against Councilman Simcha Felder.

            It makes sense that Hikind would cut a deal to protect Felder, his former chief of staff, but we’re not sure what value he could offer. Dear hardly needs Hikind’s help to win Borough Park—in the 2004 Democratic primary he drew 2,452 votes there to Parker’s 112. And Hikind couldn’t swing many votes in the East Flatbush or Canarsie sections of the district.

            Hikind does have a lot of money in his campaign fund to give away—$802,000 at the moment—but Dear has never had a problem raising money on his own. Dear raised and spent more than $500,000 trying to beat Parker last year. Parker spent about $220,000.