This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated October 8, 2021
With early voting beginning October 23, Southern Brooklyn candidates are making their cases to voters. I support certain candidates whose political philosophies align with my own, but there is a clear difference between how Democratic and Republican candidates approach campaigning.
Whereas the Democratic incumbent will list all the improvements they have brought to the district during their time in office, the Republican challenger, unable to cite anything they have ever done for the community, will instead try to convince voters that the neighborhood is a scary hellscape. The Democrat will tell you how they love the community they have lived in their entire life while emphasizing that all are welcome here, regardless of how long they have called Brooklyn home, as the Republican challenger will avoid talking about their history in the community and willingly accept the support of those who openly say they want the neighborhood to go back to a time when it was less diverse.
Councilman Justin Brannan is just such a Democrat. As he makes his push for reelection, his message is focused on what he has brought to the neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach, and Bensonhurst. From completely renovated parks to new schools, his list of accomplishments is long.
In this day and age, when people are busy and information is consumed in quick hits, it is challenging to succinctly detail all the ways Justin Brannan has made real life changes that have improved these neighborhoods. It is much easier for a challenger with no record of accomplishments in a community to avoid telling voters anything that they are for and to instead run a campaign only focused on one thing they are against.
Having contrasting ideas and politics is what a campaign for a particular office is about and it is expected that a challenger will criticize an incumbent on stances they have different takes on. However, such healthy debates should be based on differences of opinion, not differences of facts.
“Justin understands that just complaining about the hard problems does nothing to fix them.”
Rather than needing to speak to different views on policies, Councilman Brannan has been faced with responding to alternative facts that almost entirely deal with one issue. While Brannan’s platform spans the gamut of issues, the one false statement that has become the only issue he is being asked by his opponent to address, is regarding funding of the NYPD.
In 2020, while simultaneously dealing with the social justice movement following the murder of George Floyd and the coronavirus pandemic that affected city funding, citizens and local government officials, alike, engaged in earnest discussions about how to deal with both matters. There were people who wanted to reduce the police budget significantly, people who wanted to drastically increase it, and others who wanted something in between.
Those were differences of opinions, but what followed – the funds that have actually been budgeted for the NYPD since – are incontrovertible facts. Justin Brannan absolutely did not defund the police. To the contrary, he voted to increase the NYPD budget by over $400 million this year. After nearly four years in office, there are more cops patrolling in the 68 and 62 precincts now than there were on the day he was first elected. Those local precincts have not seen any cuts to headcount during those years.
Justin also knows that combatting something like gun violence is not effective if you only address one issue, which is why he has been working to increase investments in education, youth development and job creation. It is why he has worked hard to deepen ties between police and the communities they serve.
It is also why he has partnered with state legislators and district attorneys to end the iron pipeline, which allows illegal guns to flow into New York from states with lax gun laws. A year ago this week, a month after a relative of mine was murdered, I joined Councilman Brannan and District Attorney Eric Gonzalez at a press conference where they committed to bringing out-of-state gun traffickers to justice. Justin understands that just complaining about the hard problems does nothing to fix them. That requires solutions and the drive to enact them, which is what he has brought to his community during his tenure.
Justin understands that just complaining about the hard problems does nothing to fix them. That requires solutions and the drive to enact them, which is what he has brought to his community during his tenure.
