POR: Roberto Pérez | 08/08/2012 | El Diario
The battle between Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, the Dilan's, and Brooklyn Boss Assemblyman Vito Lopez, has made it's way up to the Bronx. Velazquez is upset that Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera came into Brooklyn in support of Councilman Erik Dilan, in his bid to take out Velazquez.
In addition to saying that she will throw her weight behind Rivera's opponent, Mark Gjonaj, Velazquez has been doing her homework on City Council candidate Tommy Torres, who is running for Councilwoman Diana Reyna's seat.
The buzz is that Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez has uncovered the fact that Naomi Rivera and Torres are romantically involved, which could be interpreted as one of the reasons why Rivera went into Brooklyn to endorse against Velazquez, and that supposedly, Torres has been on Rivera's payroll during the last two years, is a full time teacher and receives additional pay for teaching sports to children.
This is only the tip of the ice berg, because rumors have been circulating that Senator Martin Dilan has been quietly trying to get Assemblyman Vito Lopez to give Torres the party nod in his bid for Reyna's council seat, rather than to the District Leader Maritza Davila, who many believe Lopez is not to happy with because she has been absent in the community as a candidate and has been sluggish in terms of fundraising.
The Velazquez backed candidate will more than likely be, Councilwoman Reyna's Chief of Staff Antonio Reynoso.
In the fight between Velazquez and Rivera, an insider who is familiar with what's going on, said that there is always a possibility that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, could intercede on Rivera's behalf to cool things down, but let's see what happens.
In another clash of political forces, another source told me that it is likely that Dominican Councilwoman Diana Reyna will come out in support of Assemblyman Guillermo Linares over State Senator Adriano Espaillat.
What happens is that Reyna has not forgotten that Espaillat got involved in Brooklyn politics when he came out in support of Reyna's opponent Maritza Davila when they ran against each other, to curry favor with Brooklyn Boss, Vito Lopez, so now it's payback.
Congresswoman Velazquez also did not forget Espaillat's ties with Lopez when he called her during his attempt to unseat Congressman Rangel.
A source told me that Velasquez saw the phone call as a bit self serving of Espaillat ... in light of his history with Lopez.
All signs point to a rematch between Jesus Gonzalez and Assemblyman Rafael Espinal. This time they will be fighting for the councilman Erik Dilan's seat when his term expires.
I'm hearing that the Dilan's expect Espinal to easily defeat his current rival for his Assembly seat John Rodriguez, and after that race, he will be there hand picked candidate to replace Dilan in the Council.
