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Russian Immigrants in Bitter Battle To Represent Their Own in Albany

Date: 2006-09-12

It's been a long time coming for the Russian-speaking immigrants in southern Brooklyn: Over the years they have built a community in Brighton Beach and Coney Island, but this generation's émigrés from the former Soviet Union have never sent one of their own to Albany.

Now, Alec Brook-Krasny and Ari Kagan are battling to become the first. The two are running in the Democratic primary to replace the retiring assemblywoman in the 46th district, Adele Cohen. Today's winner is expected to take the November election easily in the heavily Democratic district.

Despite their shared past as Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union, Messrs. Brook-Krasny and Kagan have not been shy about disparaging each other, and their accusations have made the race resemble a referendum on Russian politics as much as an election for the Assembly.

Mr. Brook-Krasny has criticized Mr. Kagan as a former communist who enrolled in a Soviet military school, and his supporters have floated rumors linking him to the KGB.Mr. Kagan, who denies the KGB ties, has blasted Mr. Brook-Krasny for supporting the policies of President Putin, who has sought to centralize power in Moscow in recent years.

"Let's just say they've brought a taste of the mother country to America with them," a Brooklyn political consultant, Gerry O'Brien, said.

A former member of Community Board 13, Mr. Brook-Krasny, 48, served as the founding executive director of the Council of Jewish Émigré Community Organizations. He has run unsuccessfully for Assembly and City Council, and he has the support of several Democratic leaders, including the president of Brooklyn, Marty Markowitz, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler.

"I have all the experience, all the education," Mr. Brook-Krasny said yesterday as he stood outside his campaign headquarters on West 15th Street in Coney Island. "I have everything the candidate needs."

Just as Mr. Brook-Krasny touts his experience in the community, so does Mr. Kagan, who cites his years as a journalist for the Russian Forward newspaper and as a volunteer in the district.

Born in Minsk, Mr. Kagan, 39, said he enrolled in a Soviet military school because it was the only place he could study journalism. He acknowledges his former membership in the Communist Party, but said he renounced the party after only two years, in the late 1980s. "It was tough for a Jewish boy to make it," he said, adding, "I am proud of my past."

Mr. Kagan criticized Mr. Brook-Krasny for accusing him of being a communist, saying of his opponent, "His campaign started in the gutter, and it will end in the gutter."

Mr. Brook-Krasny sought to focus on his own record. "It's wonderful that he's a journalist, but he's been writing about what I've been doing in the Russian newspapers," he said of Mr. Kagan. "I've been doing it. He's been writing about it."

Some supporters of Mr. Brook-Krasny praise Mr. Kagan, but say Mr. Brook-Krasny is more prepared for the Assembly and would do a better job representing the entire district, which includes parts of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. "I don't think he is quite ready for the complicated position of representing multiple constituencies in the Assembly," state Senator Diane Savino, whose district overlaps the 46th, said of Mr. Kagan. She said he had focused too much on courting the Russian-American vote.

Both men speak with pride of representing the Russian community, but the bitterness of their campaign may be a turn-off for some. "I don't think it's going to be good for the community," the co-founder of Russianny.com, Leonard Benfeld, said. "I'm absolutely sure that whoever wins is going to be using this for their own interest."

As for who will win today, Mr. Brook-Krasny appears to have the edge, with his Democratic establishment support. "Turnout is going to be very low," Mr. O'Brien said. "Whoever has the better field operation and vote poll operation is going to win."





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