Councilmember Helen Diane Foster, whose 16th District includes Highbridge, appears close to officially announcing her candidacy for Bronx borough president.

On Feb. 7, Foster met with 40 to 50 supporters—a group that included several local religious leaders and members of her senior council— for a strategizing session at Christ Church in Morrisania. Foster presented the meeting as a grassroots dialogue with constituents on the topic of what political path she should follow after her city council term ends on December 31, 2009.

“When we started this in 2000,” Foster told those in attendance, referring to the year she launched her first campaign for city council, “we looked at this as a movement--not as Helen Diane Foster.”

During the meeting, in addition to mulling over the possibility of running for Bronx borough president or another citywide office, such as public advocate, Foster raised an additional prospect she said enticed her: taking a position in the administraton of Barack Obama, should he win the presidency in November and offer her a job; Foster, an ardent Obama supporter, even said at one point that she had the candidate’s cell phone number.

Not Official… Yet

At the meeting, several of Foster’s supporters expressed that the Bronx borough presidency would be a good fit for her. Joyce Hogi, a steadfast opponent of the Yankee Stadium project as a member of Save Our Parks, said that, as she watched Foster’s sustained opposition to the project unfold, she viewed a run for borough president as a natural next step for the councilmember.

But there wasn’t necessarily a clear and undivided consensus at the gathering that borough president was the best fit for Foster. Minister Abraham Jones, the executive director of Claremont Neighorhood Centers, Inc.— a child care center in Morrisania— told Foster he thought she should consider a run at the position but added that, if Obama is elected and offers her a job in his administration, she should consider such an offer “very hard, very deeply, and very prayerfully.”

Foster’s older sister, Michelle, wondered how much impact Foster could make on city policy as borough president. “Doesn’t he just cut ribbons?” she asked, suggesting the office was “decorative” in many ways.

The councilmember responded by acknowledging that the Bronx borough president’s power is limited in comparison to that of the mayor, city council, and state legislature, but argued that the job had value nonetheless.
“Being the president of the Bronx,” she quipped,“you get to take credit for everything. Including the parting of the Red Sea.”

As the meeting drew to a close, Michelle Foster was apparently won over. “My sister just emailed me,” Councilmember Foster announced, “and said, ‘It sounds like the people have spoken, Mrs. Borough President.’”

However, in a recent phone interview, Foster said that she had not officially decided to run for borough president.

Weighing Advantages and Disadvantages

Either way, the Feb. 7 session provided insights into what the Foster campaign views as strengths —and obstacles—in a potential bid for the job currently held by Adolfo Carrión. For one, Foster cited her “church appeal,” saying she knew ministers in Brooklyn and Queens who were in more frequent contact with her than with elected officials in their own districts.

Foster and her supporters also said her willingness to fight for positions that are unpopular among her city council colleagues had earned respect from voters throughout the five boroughs. In addition to opposing the construction of a new Yankee Stadium and a filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park, Foster also cited her support of a highly-controversial bill to name a street in Brooklyn after Black nationalist Sonny Carson (a bill that the mayor and city council speaker opposed).

“There were some white people who told me, ‘I didn’t like Sonny Carson, he was this, this, and this, but what went down at City Hall wasn’t right,’” Foster said.
Titus Walker, the director of the Ujamaa Black Theater, who grew up on Summit Avenue in the 1960s, praised Foster as a leader who placed the needs of community residents and organizations over strategic political alliances. He, too, cited her opposition to the stadium project as one example. “When you work for the disenfranchised,” Walker said after the meeting, “it’s just not a popular thing.”

Foster’s outspokenness, said longtime “BronxTalk” host and producer Gary Axelbank, could be a double-edged sword for her campaign. Axelbank, who in previous years has moderated several debates between borough president candidates, characterized Foster’s stands against the stadium and filtration plant projects as “courageous.”

But he suggested these positions could hurt her financially. “The corporate base of support is not in that direction,” Axelbank said, citing as an example the Bronx Chamber of Commerce’s support for both the filtration and Yankee Stadium projects. Axelbank also noted the lack of corporations or large businesses in Foster’s district.

On January 29, Daily News political reporter Bob Kapstatter noted that City Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera and Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr. —two of Foster’s main rivals for the borough presidency should she decide to seek it—have already raised $201,996 and $107,985, respectively, for their campaigns. Foster received her first campaign contributions from supporters at the Feb. 7 meeting.

But Foster expressed confidence that she will be able to raise funds by way of a large number of donors giving small contributions. “I think I’ll be able to raise money as I’m always able,” Foster told the Horizon.“Definitely the grassroots.”

Another big topic of discussion at the meeting was the question of whether Foster could win a sizeable number of votes from Latino New Yorkers in a race against Latino candidates Diaz and Rivera. If Foster were to seek—and win the race—she would be the first African-American to ever serve as Bronx borough president. Foster said repeatedly that she had a good relationship with the Latino community, but admitted concern about the prospect of a one-on-one showdown with a Latino candidate.

“I don’t know how that will pan out if you have Diaz and Foster on the ballot,” Foster said. “My Spanish is ‘un poquito.’ I’m going to sound like an American in France trying to speak French.”

Later in the meeting, the issue became a source of a back-and-forth between Foster and her father, former 16th District Councilman Rev. Wendell Foster.

“Black people vote for everybody, and get votes only for themselves,” Rev. Foster said, citing as one example the fact that Hillary Clinton got more votes from Latinos in the recent state primaries than did Barack Obama. “Don’t expect too much support from the Latino community.”

As he continued to speak on that issue, his exasperated daughter repeatedly attempted to interject, cutting in, “Dad- Dad-”
“In no way do I see this as a Black versus Latino or Puerto Rican thing,” Councilmember Foster said, when finally she did get to speak. Foster said she felt she could, wanted to ,and needed to appeal to voters of all races.

Foster said she would make a formal announcement about her future plans after another meeting with supporters, on March 13.