Kevin Powell Shows Up For DfNYC Forum, Ed Towns Ignores It

Last night in Brooklyn Kevin Powell came out to speak to a small gathering of Democracy for New York City members. Unfortunately the lighting at the Boat Bar on Smith wasn't good enough to take a picture like this. Powell was reaching out for their endorsement in his primary challenge to Edolphus Towns in the 10th Congressional District of New York. Edolphus Towns has been in Congress for twenty-five years, so maybe he thought that he was above these sorts of things (Official response was that they don't do anything until after the petitioning process). Still, even though he didn't show, Kevin Powell still had a lot to say...and a lot to offer.

Powell is originally from New Jersey and attended Rutgers. He is a writer, community activist and most importantly supports progressive issues that affect his neighborhood of 18 years in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. He's committed to be "a new voice" and one that fights developers instead of coddling them. He's in favor of repealing Bush's bankruptcy law as well as scrapping all of "No Child Left Behind." Powell argues it is essential to helping the thousands of borough residents that have had their homes foreclosed on and have children that deserve better schools.

Even though Towns wasn't there, that didn't mean Powell couldn't talk about the Congressman. He mentioned Towns has missed well over a 1000 votes in Congress, doesn't even chair a committee after twenty-five years and takes money from industries such as those that sell tobacco. He thought it was "unwise and unfair" of Towns to not show up last night. Then he likened himself to Donna Edwards who defeated incumbent Al Wynn in a primary challenge down in Maryland earlier this year. He is raising money, "approaching $100,000" and looking to quadruple that amount for the primary. It won't match Towns' fundraising cash but that doesn't have to happen for him to win the primary on September 9th. If electing progressive Democrats sounds like a good thing to you (even in solidly Democratic districts), then check out Kevin Powell versus the incumbent Ed Towns for yourself.