9/13 Primary Election: Candidate Rodneyse Bichotte Interviewed

Yesterday, we posted about Rhoda Jacobs and her bid for reelection as Assemblywoman for the 42nd District in this Thursday’s primary. Today, we’re taking a look at her challenger, District Leader Rodneyse Bichotte.

Upon meeting Ms. Bichotte outside the Cortelyou Road train station, what is striking is her energy and cheerfulness. Maybe this can be attributed to the fact that she just returned from the Democratic National Convention.

“It was great to see the energy there, up close and personal with everybody there,” she tells me. And, sure, she’s a little late, but she’s making up for it. “Would you mind putting these together for me?” she asks, referring to a couple of campaign posters and stands she’s pulled out of her car trunk. When I finish fumbling with them, she’s not fully set up yet but ready to begin answering questions.

In 2010, Flatbush native Bichotte was elected as District Leader for the 42nd Assembly District after a successful attempt to remove the incumbent, Mary Hobson, from the ballot. She’s attempted this again with Ms. Jacobs, but has only succeeded in having several petitions invalidated, not enough to remove Jacobs. Reflecting on the court’s decision, Bichotte laments, “Does government mean anything anymore?”

Ms. Hobson is once again on the ballot this year against Bichotte, who is also running for reelection as Female District Leader. For Male District Leader, Bichotte is allied with Josue Pierre, who is running against Jacobs’s Community Liaison, Ed Powell, as well as Victor Jordan and Anthony Alexis.

Bichotte explains a District Leader’s duties as being threefold: “You, first, are the person who hires the poll workers, get out the vote, you have your Democratic clubs. That’s one thing. The second thing is that you nominate the Supreme Court Justices and even the Civil Court. The last thing is really doing the groundwork — you’re the unpaid elected official that answers everybody’s problems.”

Translating her experience as District Leader to the Assembly is a natural step for Bichotte. The districts are the same and the “groundwork” she’s done has allowed her to connect with the community.

“As a District Leader, I did a lot,” she says. “I worked with the District Attorney – we did forums here – I worked with the schools. I had a scholarship program for the schools in my district. I sit on the Community Board. I’ve organized the constituents and got them really motivated to be civically engaged. I had a bus that went out to Washington to march for jobs. It was great for the district because people in our district, they’re not encouraged, they’re just dead. I’m trying to activate them.”

She’s also visited Albany with City Councilmember David Greenfield to lobby against proposed cuts to special education, works with constituents who reach out to her (mostly for housing, employment, and immigration issues), and deals with transportation issues like getting speed bumps installed or the timing of traffic signals changed.

So what exactly about the job Jacobs is doing made Bichotte feel that she should be replaced?

While she gives Jacobs “respect for serving her constituents for a very long time,” Bichotte believes she is “producing diminishing returns.” In her eyes, the district has been “ignored for a long time” and “our leadership is mediocre.” Further, she believes that not enough money is being allocated, despite the fact that Jacobs is the Assistant Speaker of the Assembly. “If I were Assistant Speaker, we would have the most money.”

I ask if she’s heard about the belligerent phone calls people have been getting from callers claiming to be from the Jacobs campaign. She has and thinks they are a result of Jacobs being disconnected from her campaign and not having control over who’s calling people. “I mean,” she says, “I got a call.”

Engaged and energetic as she is, Bichotte sometimes veers into the realm of generalizations or mischaracterizations when referring to Jacobs’s record, claiming that Jacobs “hasn’t initiated a bill in 15 or 20 years” (when a brief look at the Sponsored Legislation section of the Assemblywoman’s website shows otherwise), that she wasn’t around to vote for the 2010-2011 budget (which is partially true – she voted for one part and did not vote at all for another), or that the district is the “lowest in everything.”

When speaking about herself and what she wants to accomplish, though, she displays a genuine concern for the people of the district and a desire to serve them. Among the issues she would like to address if elected are immigration (specifically working to further implementation of a state version of the DREAM Act), affordable housing, and increasing civic participation and awareness. “If your block votes,” she says, “it’s clean, there are speed bumps, it’s safe. If your block doesn’t vote…,” and she leaves us to fill in the blank.

Bichotte’s campaign is one of the more competitive we’ve seen in the area, and appears to be gaining momentum going into Thursday’s election. She’s picked up several endorsements (see below), including a surprising one from Transport Workers Union Local 100, and the Haitian Times just did a lengthy profile on her.

The New York Observer’s Politicker blog called this race one of the day’s most noteworthy.

In a race that will test demographic realities to their very limit, veteran Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs is hoping she can be successfully reelected again in a district that is only 15% white. She is facing a serious challenge from District Leader Rodneyse Bichotte, who is of Caribbean descent. Ms. Jacobs, a high-ranking member of the State Assembly, is hoping for high turnout in the district’s observant Jewish community.

Remember to vote on Thursday and check back here to see the results.

Rodneyse Bichotte has been endorsed by

State Senator Kevin Parker
Transport Workers Union Local 100
New York City Parents Union
New York Communities for Change
DC 1707 – AFCSME
Citizens Union
CWA 1182