(Photo: Facebook)

Councilman Donovan Richards will likely hire his one-time electoral rival Pesach Osina next week.

"It's an interesting time, you know, sort of like Barack and Hillary," Mr. Richards, the winner of an incredibly tight special election in southeast Queens last month, told Politicker on Friday. "We heal quick. You know, I think Pesach would certainly be a great addition to my team. He will help unite the community and he'll be a great asset. Don’t be surprised if he's hired next week."

Mr. Osina, an Orthodox Jewish staffer in Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder's office, came within 100 votes of defeating Mr. Richards in a majority black-district. The special election became racially-charged when an influential clergyman, Rev. Chuck Norris, controversially called on the the black candidates to unite and block Mr. Osina's path to victory. Nevertheless, the two of them seem prepared to let bygones be bygones.

"It's a great idea for Mr. Richards," a local Democratic source said. "It neutralizes future opposition and heals the bad blood from the race."

[Hat Tip Michael Fragin]

(Photo: Facebook)

With all absentee and affidavit votes counted, Mr. Richards padded his razor-thin 26-vote Election Day margin with another 133 votes, while his main competitor, Pesach Osina, only gathered an additional 80. This brought the unofficial tally to 2,646 for Mr. Richards and 2,567 for Mr. Osina, a wide enough margin to avoid an automatic recount. The results will be certified next week.

"We have a lot of work to do in the district," Mr. Richards told Politicker at the Queens Board of Elections. "We have to also make sure we reconcile the communities. I think that it's important that all communities are working together. You know, Pesach ran a great campaign, I have no ill will towards him and I look forward to working with every community."

Mr. Richards was alluding to the controversy generated around Mr. Osina's candidacy. As an Orthodox Jew running in a majority-black district, Mr. Osina faced backlash from some members of the southeast Queens black community, notably Bishop Charles Norris, who warned the 8-way race would allow "the young Jewish boy from the Rockaways" to win with a low plurality of the vote.

Despite the narrow loss, Mr. Osina's supporters were buoyant about the election's outcome because it demonstrated their ability to mobilize voters in their small but growing Far Rockaway enclave.

"We didn't even run to win the seat," said Moshe Friedman, an Orthodox Jewish political operative who worked on Mr. Osina's campaign. "We were running so people should go out and understand that we could swing an election any way we want. This is going to happen in the primary. Richards will not go out tomorrow and say, 'Let me ignore that community.' Because we're going to be organized and bring out the vote. There's no way we would have won the [September] primary any how. .... We wish good luck and we're looking forward to working with him."

The outcome of the election did not upset Mr. Osina's election lawyer, Jerry Goldfeder, either.

"No involvement by lawyers," he said. "The Board personnel worked very well, the voters spoke. That's how it should be."

Donovan Richards

Flanked by a coterie of elected officials, Donovan Richards declared victory last night in a wide-open, eight-way Queens City Council special election. Seven miles south, Pesach Osina did the same exact thing.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Richards leads Mr. Osina by just 26 votes, easily making the 31st District race too close for observers to call. Vote counting ceased at midnight and will resume today, but at last glance, Mr. Richards had 2,513 votes to Mr. Osina's 2,487. In addition to a potentially missing memory stick from a ballot scanner, absentee and paper ballots still need to be counted. A recount is also likely, but each candidate acted like the undisputed victors nevertheless.

"I'm calling on the community tonight to put aside their differences. Those who ran in this election, let's not be bitter against each other," Mr. Richards said at a bustling lounge in Laurelton, Queens. "If you are really for the community, if you are truly for the community, whether it is the Orthodox Jewish community, whether it is the African-American community, whether it is the Jamaican community, whether it is the Haitian community, whether it is our white brothers and sisters, I am calling on you to get your hands dirty and get in here. And let's make sure we are not losing young people to this gun violence on these streets."

"And let's stop the foolish conversation of two councilmen in the district. The numbers do not lie, we've seen the numbers, we have declared victory tonight, we are victorious and we are ready to march on," Mr. Richards later added.

For his part, Mr. Osina declared victory even before Mr. Richards did.

"While we are still uncertain of the total numbers, when every vote is counted, we will be victorious," Mr. Osina told his supporters. "This was an honest, fair race and I would like to thank my opponents for everything they have done on behalf of the community."

The race grew heated when a fiery clergyman, Bishop Charles Norris, controversially called for several of the black candidates to step aside in the race so Mr. Osina, the only white and Jewish contender, would not win. The district, which includes an Orthodox Jewish enclave in Far Rockaway, is 68 percent black and Mr. Norris quite bluntly argued that Mr. Osina, a former staffer to Queens Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder, could not serve its needs. None heeded his call, however, and the district's Jewish community rallied around Mr. Osina in response. Their ambitious get-out-the-vote effort, which included a roving sound truck playing Hebrew-language songs on Mr. Osina's behalf, seemed to pay off, matching Mr. Richards's superior fundraising and bevy of labor endorsements.

An automatic recount is mandated by state law if the final margin is less than 0.5 percent of the total vote. As of this writing, that would mean approximately 41 votes, although the number is subject to change as absentee and affidavit ballots are tabulated, or if the occasionally unpredictable Board of Elections further adjusts the final number.

New York City politicos may remember a similarly heated situation last year when Brooklyn State Senate candidates Lew Fidler and David Storobin both declared victory in their own special election. In that race, after 22,000 votes cast and multiple months of counting and litigation, Mr. Storobin prevailed by a mere 13 votes. Time will tell if Mr. Osina and Mr. Richards face that level of drama, but regardless, whoever wins will have only a short time in office before having to face the voters again in the city's regularly scheduled September primary.

Additional reporting by Colin Campbell.

(Pesach Osina)

One power broker in southeast Queens fears that the next City Council candidate to represent the 31st Council district will be a “young Jewish boy.”

In order to prevent Pesach Osina, an Orthodox Jewish former staffer to Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder, from winning the election, Bishop Charles Norris, founder of the Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church, is urging some of the eight other candidates to step aside. The seat in the majority black district was left open when James Sanders was elected to the State Senate and next week's special election to replace him has attracted a crowded field.

“The black vote would be split among the six or seven candidates,” Mr. Norris told Politicker yesterday. “Since Jews vote in a bloc, as they usually do—and there’s nothing wrong with that—the young Jewish boy in the Rockaways would win.”

As one of the most influential religious leaders in the area, Mr. Norris is known for his fiery pronouncements and pessimistic attitude about the ability of the booming Orthodox Jewish enclave in Far Rockaway to peacefully coexist with the long-time black majority.

When asked if Mr. Osina’s victory would be a detriment to the black community, Mr. Norris laughed at the idea anyone wouldn't see how the election of a candidate who wasn't African-American would be problematic for the area's black community.

“Why would it be a detriment for him to win?” he asked. “Are you serious about that question? What has been happening in the Rockaways all the time is most of the people who have lived in that area are not Jewish. They don’t get the services that they really need, let alone deserve. If you think that electing someone who is not African-American is going to provide the kind of services that they need, you are sadly mistaken.”

According to one well-connected southeast Queens operative, Mr. Osina’s victory over the seven other candidates, who are all black, is a very real possibility. While the front-runner in the race, Mr. Sanders’s former chief of staff Donovan Richards, has amassed a bevy of labor endorsements and has far out-raised his competitors, rivals like Jacques Leandre (whom Mr. Norris endorsed), Michael Duncan and Selvena Brooks could cut into Mr. Richards’s African-American base. Meanwhile, one Far Rockaway Orthodox source estimated that the neighborhood's Jewish community boasts a solid bloc of 3,500 registered voters. Though that's a relatively small number, Mr. Sanders triumphed in his 2009 primary with a little over 3,000 votes. Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the district at the end of last year, may also have lingering effects on turnout reducing the number of votes needed to win the race.

As of this writing, Mr. Osina did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

Selvena Brooks (Photo: Facebook)

A candidate for City Council in a Sandy-ravaged Far Rockaway district is running on a hurricane-themed party line. Selvena Brooks is filing petitions to get on the ballot under the name of the "Rebuild Now" party.

Ms. Brooks, a communications specialist with the Service Employees International Union, will join a crowded field the special election to replace James Sanders in the 31st District. Mr. Sanders left his seat open after moving on to the State Senate in the last round of elections. Because New York City special elections are non-partisan, candidates like Ms. Brooks can more easily campaign outside of the two-party system.

“I am asking for people’s support on the Rebuild Now line, because we need strong leadership in not only rebuilding from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, but also rebuilding our education system, local economy and neighborhoods,” Ms. Brooks said in a statement.

The election, set for Feb. 19, has attracted a slew of candidates. Mr. Sanders’ former chief of staff, Donovan Richards, is a considered the front runner. However, Ms. Brooks, who has worked in the State Senate, will be one of several candidates with legitimate credentials in the race including; Attorney Jacques Leandre, community activist Mike Duncan, marketing firm head Earnest Flowers, Community Board 8 District Manager Marie Adam-Ovide and Pesach Osina, a staffer of Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder.

The district ropes in southeast Queens and Far Rockaway, which was hit particularly hard by Sandy. It has an African-American majority, but there is a sizable Orthodox Jewish community in Far Rockaway. A source with knowledge of the area told Politicker there are about 3,500 Orthodox registered voters, which could make Mr. Osina, who is also Orthodox Jewish, an intriguing dark horse candidate. Turnout in the election is expected to be low.