Bill Perkins Beats Charter School Stooge: 76%-24%

Bill Perkins defeats Basil Smikle - by 52 points:

In the race that pitted State Sen. Bill Perkins against political operative Basil Smikle, incumbent Perkins seemed to enjoy the same sort of support from the community that Rangel did.

Perkins claimed victory late Tuesday night. Outside of Paris Blues, a bar on 121st Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., he said his election shows that his constituents do not want him to be silent on certain issues, such as charter schools.

Perkins has been critical of charter schools and charter school proponents had filled his opponents' campaign coffers.

"The hedge fund millionaires lost and they do not dictate the outcome of an election by virtue of their money," Perkins said.

"The vote tonight tells me that even charter school parents support me. They are not of the belief that my voice should be silenced when it comes to wanting more transparency regarding charter schools," he added.

The election numbers are here.

DFER and the hedge fund criminals threw an awful lot of money into this race to beat Perkins, once a charter school advocate who now supports more transparency and accountability for the charter school movement and the people running it.

It's good to see that sometimes hedge fund criminal money CANNOT subvert democracy and buy an election.

It's also good to see that Basil Smikle - despite endorsements by the NY Post and the NY Daily News - got his ass kicked and lost by 52 points.

That's a pretty emphatic victory.

It's even better to see former NY1 political reporter, current charter school advocate and convicted wifebeater Dominic Carter wrong as usual.

He declared Perkins in "serious trouble" and predicted the tabloid endorsements, along with Smikle's support of charter schools, had given Smikle the "momentum" over Perkins.

Nice work, Dominic - you got stuff wrong again, just like in the old days when you were still on NY1 and not writing your political commentary from a jail cell.