Rep. Anthony Weiner was at an undisclosed location for sex-addiction rehab this week, leaving behind the question of whether the disgraced politician would relent to pressure from Democratic Party leaders — including President Barack Obama — to leave Congress.
But he also left behind questions among those who enjoyed a long relationship with a representative who carefully cultivated his political ties to the Jewish community. There is a long list of potential candidates to succeed him.
At the same time, some fear that with Albany required to eliminate two congressional districts because of a declining state population, the controversy may make Weiner’s 9th an easy target, especially if the congressman is intent on staying in office.
Reapportionment, however, would not be a quick fix to end the festering controversy over Weiner’s online relationships and attempts to cover it up — a national distraction and an albatross for the Democrats — since the new district lines must be decided by a bipartisan commission that has not yet been formed. It must be in place by this time next year, when candidates for Congress begin gathering petitions for the ballot.
The 9th, perhaps the most concentrated Jewish district in the country, includes Forest Hills, Kew Gardens Hills and the Rockaways in Queens, and areas of Flatbush, Manhattan Beach and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn.
“It would be extremely outrageous to try to eliminate the district,” said Kalman Yeger, a political consultant in the Flatbush portion of the district. “People would be screaming bloody murder and calling their Albany representatives to make sure we have a unified voice in Washington.”
Yeger, a former aide to Fernando Ferrer when he was Bronx borough president, noted that the district was expanded in the early ‘90s, when now-Sen. Chuck Schumer was the representative, to include central Queens because the people in both areas, including the large Orthodox communities, had similar interests.
The sprawling area of greater Flatbush, which contains smaller communities like Midwood, East Flatbush and Kings Highway, is already divided into districts represented by Weiner, Rep. Yvette Clarke, Rep. Ed Towns and Rep. Jerry Nadler, all Democrats.
“If the communities are chopped up [further], we will have no voice in Washington,” Yeger said. “It will be like we don’t exist.”
But Forest Hills resident Manny Behar, a former director of the Queens Jewish Community Council who has worked at City Hall and Queens Borough Hall, said it was too soon to make dire predictions.
“A lot would depend on how the redistricting is done,” said Behar. “Right now the district is mainly in Queens and has a part of Brooklyn. If it was divvied up where Central Queens was divided into several neighborhoods, the neighborhoods would not have any influence in any of them, and that becomes a real problem.
“But if Central Queens is put into one district we would be significant in that district and it could be less of a problem.”
The federal Voting Rights Act protects districts that are heavily black, Hispanic, Asian or Native American but not religious minorities. Since Weiner’s district is surrounded by areas that are protected, with any changes subject to approval by the Justice Department, it could stand out as attractive for elimination.
Although the redistricting committee, appointed by the minority and majority of both state houses, will make recommendations, the final decision will be left to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver — both Democrats — and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Republican. Since control of the Legislature is split there will have to be compromises between the leaders, such as losing one likely Democrat seat and one likely Republican seat or setting up even matches between incumbents in merged districts.
A Jewish political insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect his relationships in Albany, said Silver is known to be protective of members of Congress who formerly served in his caucus, which includes a large portion of the downstate delegation. Representatives Nadler and Towns, Greg Meeks and Joseph Crowley are all former Assembly members. Weiner served in the City Council.
“Eventually, Dean and Shelly will have to come to a deal and if past deals are any indication, they will do one upstate and one downstate,” said the insider.
A spokesman for Silver, Michael Whyland, said on Tuesday that the Weiner controversy would have no bearing on redistricting.
“The speaker has indicated that the process is ongoing and still eight months to a year away,” said Whyland. “Whatever is going on is really not a factor in anything right now.”
While heavily Democratic, the 9th CD has grown increasingly conservative, supporting the Republican candidate in larger numbers in each of the past three presidential elections, a factor that may be tied to residents’ worldview following 9/11.
As calls for Weiner’s resignation increased, the Jewish communities of the district have not openly spoken out on behalf of the staunch Israel supporter, who has also helped Jewish organizations apply for Homeland Security funds to protect institutions.
But in interviews, leaders said they are pained by the spectacle of a man widely viewed as a rising star and mayoral material three weeks ago reduced to a national punch line with a career in flames.
“As far as I am concerned, his major advantage is that unlike other politicians he is accessible,” said Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, who recently retired as rabbi of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills. “His office is always ready to help. It’s very unfortunate and tragic.”
The rabbi declined to say whether he felt Weiner should resign as continued details and images of his secret life of social media connections before and after his marriage emerge. “We’ll have to see how this plays out. But [Manhattan Rep.] Charles Rangel didn’t resign. [Bill] Clinton, the president of the United States was impeached and didn’t resign. The question is, will his resignation help heal the situation or not? The way I see it right now he is compelled by circumstances to resign, which would make me very unhappy.”
A Marist poll last week found that 56 percent of district residents want Weiner to stay in office, as compared to 60 percent of Americans who want him to step down in a survey taken by Public Policy Polling. Fifty-five percent of women in the latter poll said Weiner should step down while more men, 66 percent, want him out.
As the House reconvened Monday for the first time since the scandal broke, there were some scattered signs of support for him among colleagues, despite the pointed demands from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Democratic National Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida that he step down.
“I have yet to find anything — not that I’ve dissected it — but I’ve yet to find anything that may touch upon the breaking of the House rules,” Rep. Bill Pascrell, a New Jersey Democrat told the Washington Post. “If I did, I would immediately ask for his resignation. But right now, I’m more concerned about his health and the health of his family, and that’s what friends are for.”
The second-ranking Democrat, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, did not in his appearances on Sunday talk shows demand outright that Weiner resign. And even Obama seemed to couch his language carefully, saying that if he found himself in Weiner’s position he would resign.
Still, many see Weiner’s burden as insurmountable even if he stays in office. “If he wants to be stubborn, he can stick it out and use some legal maneuvering to fight,” said University of Virgina political science professor Larry Sabato. “But his career is over; he’s finished as a candidate for mayor, and it’s hard to see him resurrected easily for anything else.”
Among those Democrats mentioned as candidates to succeed Weiner in a special election are former Queens Assembly member and City Council member Melinda Katz, a candidate in the1998 House primary won by Weiner and now a lawyer in private practice; Queens Councilman Eric Gioia and brothers David and Mark Weprin, who have each served in the Assembly and City Council. Republican Bob Turner, who won 40 percent of the vote in last year’s race against Weiner, is also likely to run again.
“I don’t think the district should be eliminated based on personalities,” said David Weprin, an Assemblyman who won the seat last year previously held by his brother and father. “I would not want to see a seat lost in Queens, especially since our population has not gone down while upstate it has since the last update.” The law requires that all districts have equal populations — 719,298 each this time.
On the matter of Weiner’s future, Weprin said, “I personally resent national Democrats dictating whether the congressman should resign or not. The process should play out through the ethics investigation to determine if there were violations that warrant resignation. I don’t think the media, national Democrats or the Republicans should be deciding the direction this is going.”
Weprin said he had made no decision about whether to run except that he would not compete in a primary campaign against his brother.
David Pollock, associate executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council said that his organization would lobby to ensure that no Jewish neighborhood is left politically isolated by reapportionment.
“Our concern has traditionally been that Jewish communities aren’t fragmented so that those Jewish communities cannot get an elected official’s attention,” said Pollock, who noted the success of voting blocs in neighborhoods like Crown Heights and Williamsburg.
“There is no magical number” of effective voting, Pollock said, “but clearly the Williamsburg community can get Congressman Towns’ attention and Yvette Clarke has been responsive to Crown Heights and Flatbush.”
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