By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HARLEM — Political consultant Basil Smikle stood with a couple of dozen supporters outside Londel’s supper club on Frederick Douglas Boulevard Thursday and announced his campaign for State Senate against Harlem political fixture and incumbent Bill Perkins.
The lively — but small — crowd included his father, a retired textile worker, and several of Smikle's former students. The candidate teaches at both City College and Columbia University.
“I’m running as an insurgent, the outsider,” he said to the group, who carried signs reading, “Basil: Democrat for State Senate.”
“There is fear and anxiety running parallel with palpable uncertainty of the future,” he continued. “Such fear has been stoked by current State Sen. Bill Perkins.”
Smikle has never been elected to office in New York, but he is no stranger to the state's political scene. He was an aide to Sec. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton when she was senator and has worked for former Mayor David Dinkins and Rep. Charles Rangel. Smikle also worked on Fernando Ferrer’s first mayoral campaign.
His political acumen was evident at the campaign announcement, where Smikle made education — a tough topic for Perkins these days — the cornerstone topic at the event. Perkins' recent opposition to charter schools has sparked outrage in the Democratic Party and the community.
Smikle said providing a full range of education options to Upper Manhattan residents is key to solving many of the other issues that plague the area.
“We’ve seen a bit of an uptick in gangs in Upper Manhattan,” he said after the rally. “I think education can solve that problem if you have schools that can help kids graduate.”
Anthony Sumpter, one of Smikle's former students, said that Smikle had been a resource to him not only as a student, but even after he had graduated.
“Basil has fresh ideas,” he said. “We need fresh ideas.”
Smikle was born to Jamaican parents in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx. He attended Cornell for his undergraduate studies and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), receiving his master’s degree in Public Policy in 1996.
Sen. Perkins said he has no comment on Smikle’s statements or the announcement of his candidacy.
