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NEW YORK, NY September 05, 2006 —Next week, voters in Central Brooklyn will choose a new member of Congress for the first time in a generation. Democrat Major Owens is retiring after 24 years. Tuesday’s primary is considered the real election because the district is overwhelmingly Democratic. The race has made national headlines because its contenders include one white candidate and three blacks, in a district that’s had a black member of Congress since the 1960s. But as WNYC’s Beth Fertig reports, the intensely competitive election is about more than race.

The four Democrats who are running to succeed Congressman Major Owens are all familiar faces in Brooklyn politics. Three of them currently hold elected positions. and one is the Congressman’s son – earning him more than a typical endorsement.

MAJOR OWENS: It’s not just the same blood, not just the same blood, it’s the same ideas, the same heart, the same soul.

REPORTER: That’s the stump speech Congressman Major Owens gives while campaigning with candidate Chris Owens.

MAJOR OWENS: he will fight for us and we’re going to need people who will fight for us.

REPORTER: The voters at this Park Slope senior center applauded with gusto; Owens is a familiar figure after all these years. And Chris Owens is using his Dad’s presence for whatever it’s worth. But the younger Owens says he’s his own man. For one thing, he can sing.

OWENS: They call it stormy Monday.

REPORTER: Owens had a good time joining the lunch time band at the senior center.

OWENS: They call it stormy Monday. But Tuesssssss-day’s just as bad.

REPORTER: The 47-year old also enjoys speaking out against things he opposes – notably the Atlantic Yards housing complex near downtown Brooklyn.

OWENS: I am the only candidate who opposes Atlantic Yards (applause) If you cannot ask tough questions of a local developer then how will you stand up to Republicans in Washington?

Owens has campaigned hard on his opposition to Atlantic Yards. He thinks the project is too big and will ultimately drive rents higher in Brooklyn, even though it also includes thousands of affordable units.

OWENS: You can’t make beautiful music unless you have some tension that then resolves. You don’t get beautiful chords without dissonant notes. We are the dissonant notes. There’s nothing wrong with being opposed to this project, it will only create a better outcome.

REPORTER: The other candidates gripe that Owens is a political neophyte who’s riding on his father’s coattails. His only elected experience was to a school board. He has two Ivy league degrees and previously worked in healthcare management. But as a lifelong Brooklynite and father of 2 children attending local schools, Owens says he has exactly the right experience for Congress.

OWENS: Community experience matters more than anything else, if you you’re not connected to what’s really going on - if you haven’t really lived it, or in the process of living it, then there is always a disconnect between you and the folks you’re representing.

REPORTER: Comments like those are a direct jab against one of his opponents: City Councilman David Yassky. Yassky is the only white candidate in the race. Raised in Manhattan, he currently represents Park Slope and other wealthy parts of the 11th Congressional District, as well as several public housing projects. When Yassky campaigns, the race comes down to one thing: his record.

YASSKY: My case is I’ve got the experience to get down there and get something done because I’m in the City Council now.

REPORTER: With his wire-rimmed glasses and fondness for discussing policy, the 42 year-old councilman often comes across as wonkish and earnest. Several voters at this senior center in Brownsville were interested in his views. Melvin Ross asked about gun control.

ROSS: But then they seldom enforce that law, they don’t do anything about it.

YASSKY: Are there things you can do? Definitely there are I’ll just tell you, I used to work for the Congress, I worked there 91-98, and we did the Brady Law.

REPORTER: Yassky’s opponents claim he entered the race because a crowded field of black candidates could give a white candidate an advantage by splitting the vote – a charge he denies. Yassky has also raised the most cash. But if his background differs from many of the people he’s seeking to represent, he insists voters are more interested in results than race.

YASSKY: This is a district that needs Washington to care about affordable housing, needs Washington to care about jobs and decent schools, and we’re not getting any help to do the job.

REPORTER: And he says he’s demonstrated that already.

YASSKY: I pushed through the zoning change that requires developers who take advantage of new zoning on the waterfront to do affordable housing. And that was a huge change in city policy and I think a very, very important one to make sure that middle income families can stay in the city.

REPORTER: One of Yassky’s opponents, City Councilwoman Yvette Clarke, accuses him of taking too much credit for these accomplishments. Lately, she’s been focusing on an issue that can rally Democrats.

REPORTER: Last week, Clarke hosted a town hall meeting in Park Slope about the war in Iraq. The guest speaker was Pennsylvania Congressman Jack Murtha – a Vietnam Veteran who’s called for redeploying American troops.

MURTHA: I feel this is the most important issue facing the country because none of these other problems can be solved without stopping this war.

REPORTER: Clarke was endorsed by Murtha during the event – rankling Chris Owens, who calls himself the Peace Candidate. His supporters passed out fliers accusing Clarke of being late to join the anti-war movement. But Clarke said the meeting showed her commitment.

CLARKE: I hope that it will distinguish me as someone who is focused on policy and issue and being substantive about it. And that’s what I’ve tried to demonstrate throughout this race that I’m just not rhetorical.

REPORTER: Clarke took a beating during the campaign when it was revealed that she never completed her degree at Oberlin College, contrary to her previous claims. She calls it a personal embarrassment and says it has no bearing on the work she’s done for her constituents. She touts her accomplishments in securing funding for local hospitals and healthcare for women. Clarke also believes her connection to the district gives her an edge.

CLARKE: I’ve lived on the same block all my life.

REPORTER: Clarke grew up in Flatbush, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants.

CLARKE: A lot of the folks vote for me for in the NYC Council are people who helped to shape me, helped to mold me. Have taken ownership of me to a certain degree, it’s the village that raised the child right? So I guess there’s just that sense of ownership and being a stakeholder that brings that level of authenticity to what you represent.

REPORTER: But Clarke has stiff competition for the mantle of authenticity.

ANDREWS: Hello how you doing? Hey how you doing?

REPORTER: At a senior center in Crown Heights, State Senator Carl Andrews is greeted like the favorite son who’s come home for a visit.

ANDREWS: Need some sugar too (kiss)

WOMAN: Ain’t he sweet!

ANDREWS: You all got me covered now?

WOMAN: Yeah I got you covered.

REPORTER: One woman approaches him about a problem with her air conditioning; another pulls him aside about a personal matter. Andrews has a reputation for giving back to the district that raised him. At Bobby’s Coffee Shop nearby, Frances Thorp says she’s known him since he was a little kid.

THORP: Growing up he was always learning and doing good things for people.

ANDREWS: Yep. I went to elementary school 4 blocks away from here, grew up 2 blocks away, get my hair cut in the same place, raised in a beauty parlor.

REPORTER: Now almost 50 years old, Andrews has been a State Senator for four years. He previously worked for State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer – who is among his MANY supporters. But his ties to the Brooklyn Democratic party have put him under the microscope. County leader Clarence Norman has been convicted of illegally using campaign funds; and Andrews benefited from their friendship with consulting contracts. Andrews brushes off what he calls guilt by association:

ANDREWS: My name is Carl Andrews and Clarence Norman is a friend but I think more importantly when you look at the people that are supporting me they’re supporting me knowing the two things you just mentioned.

REPORTER: Andrews also claims he has the resume and life experience a Democrat needs to make a difference in Republican-led Washington.

ANDREWS: One of the things that I’ve come to learn having been in state senate, and in state senate we are in minority party, is that in order to get things done you have to be able to forge coalitions and have partnerships. And from the broad range of support I have that demonstrates that I’m the person who can do that.

REPORTER: All four of the Brooklyn Democrats will be working hard to make that case in the week ahead. Despite their competing styles, they do have one thing in common: the hope that all the publicity over this election will boost voter turnout. For WNYC