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De Blasio Critic Backs a 'Fighter for the People' For Council Seat

By Dartunorro Clark | January 23, 2017 11:35am
 Rev. Johnnie Green stood with Charles Cooper's campaign to throw his support behind the candidate, who he said would not be a
Rev. Johnnie Green stood with Charles Cooper's campaign to throw his support behind the candidate, who he said would not be a "rubber stamp" for the mayor's policies.
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DNAinfo/Dartunorro Clark

HARLEM — The next candidate voted to the City Council should not be a “rubber stamp” for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s policies, according to Rev. Johnnie Green, pastor of Harlem's Mount Neboh Baptist Church.

Green, a noted critic of the mayor, stood in front of his church at 1883 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd. at a campaign rally Friday to throw his support behind Charles Cooper, a former Manhattan Community Board 9 vice-chair, in the special election for the 9th council district.

Green said Cooper is the candidate who would push back against the mayor if elected to the council on Feb. 14. The special election is being held to fill the seat vacated when Inez Dickens takes her role as state Assemblywoman.

“We need a fighter for the people,” Green said. “We need someone who will put the interests of the people before the interests of special interests.

“We cannot continue to have people get into office and not push back against the mayor."

READ MORE: Meet the Harlem Reverend Who Wants to Unseat Mayor Bill De Blasio

Green said that many in his congregation cannot afford affordable housing that's being pushed by the mayor and criticized him for his support of "Broken Windows" policing.

The pastor was especially critical of the mayor's record on minority and women contracting, known as MWBE, saying that black and Latino firms received only 0.43 percent of the $13.8 billion in construction contracts in the 2015 fiscal year, according to a report from Comptroller Scott Stringer's office.

READ MORE: De Blasio's Minority Contracting Plan Is 'Insulting,' Business Leaders Say

Cooper, who is an engineer by trade and a founding partner in AirRail, a Harlem-based infrastructure development firm, has made improving minority and women contracting a central part of his campaign.

Green said this is attracted him to the candidate.

Cooper said the endorsement was important, noting the influence the church plays in the community and said he would push back in the council. 

“We will (not) allow affordable housing in our community that is unaffordable to be in our community,” Cooper said at the rally.

“We will not allow resources that should be coming to our community not to come to our community and go somewhere else.”

Green, who heads Mobilizing Preachers and Communities, also known as MPAC, said the coalition of black and Latino pastors unanimously endorsed Cooper.

Cooper’s campaign was also supported by Imams from local mosques, who said he is the ideal candidate to bring resources directly to the community.

Imam Souleimane Konate, a prominent religious leader in the community who heads Masjid al-Aqsa, a mosque on Frederick Douglass Boulevard near 116th Street, and Imam Baba Gale Barry, who leads several mosques in Harlem, came out to the rally.

“He knows our issues,” Konate said of Cooper.

Cooper is one of more than a dozen candidates running for the seat.

Other candidates have also picked up key endorsements. 

► Larry Scott Blackmon, a FreshDirect vice president, was endorsed by Assemblywoman Inez Dickens, who previously held the seat, and former Assemblyman Keith Wright.

► Marvin Holland, the political director of TWU Local 100, received endorsements from a number of tenant and block associations in Harlem.

► State Sen. Bill Perkins was endorsed by The NYC Progressive Caucus Alliance, which is a caucus of City Council members.

► Athena Moore, an aide in the Manhattan Borough President's Office, has the support of her current boss Gale Brewer, the former Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields and Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.