The Donovan-Gentile Race for Congress Enters Its Final Week In Much the Same Way as it Started --- With Donovan's Handling of the Eric Garner Case in the News --- But this time there's a bit of a twist

"He Should Run Far Away as Possible’'   ---   Eric Garner's mother  referring to DA Dan Donovan, now running as  a GOP Congressional Candidate

Democratic Congressman Jeffries  expresses hope that, if elected, a Congressman Donovan would join in making police chokeholds a federal offense  --   Donovan and his campaign showed a lack of familiarity with the issue

A feature story in the Advance about a union endorsement for each of the major party candidates in the last week of the campaign shows both sides looking like they are out of steam and limping toward the finish line

"Even if Dan Donovan prefers to talk about Iran, immigration or taxes, there's another topic the Republican congressional hopeful can't avoid: the death of Eric Garner at the hands of a police officer...."  (See "Chokehold case questions follow Daniel Donovan" by  Tom Hays, 4/27/15,  Brooklyn Eagle/ Associated Press [http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2015/4/27/chokehold-case-questions-follow-daniel-donovan]).

According to a report covering similar material in the NY Observer by Jillian Jorgensen,  "The mother of Eric Garner won’t be supporting District Attorney Daniel Donovan—who convened the grand jury that failed to indict anyone in her son’s police custody death—in his run for Congress, she said today....   'No, I haven’t had any conversations with him, and he doesn’t get my vote,' Ms. [Gwen] Carr said...."  (See "Eric Garner’s Mother on Daniel Donovan: ‘He Should Run Far Away as Possible’'  by Jillian Jorgensen,  4/27/15, NY Observer [http://observer.com/2015/04/eric-garners-mother-on-daniel-donovan-he-should-run-far-away-as-possible/]).

Ms. Carr's comments came while she stood beside Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from Central Brooklyn, to offer her support for legislation that would make police chokeholds illegal under the federal civil rights statute.  The Observer article noted that sometimes those federal laws are used to prosecute police officers after localities fail to bring charges.

DONOVAN CAMPAIGN APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN CAUGHT FLAT-FOOTED ON CONGRESSMAN JEFFRIES' PROPOSAL   

At an event earlier in the day, the Republican congressional candidate in the 11th C.D. would not take a position on Congressman Jeffries bill.  Then, according to the coverage in the Observer, "... A spokeswoman for Mr. Donovan, Jessica Proud, said she had no comment on Ms. Carr’s comments, but said Mr. Donovan wanted to know more about Mr. Jeffries’ bill....  'He would like to actually read the bill before taking a position on it, including to see how it defines a "chokehold."   [Mr. Donovan] generally believes that policing policies are best left to states and communities, not the federal government,' Ms. Proud said in an e-mail.

NEITHER DONVAN NOR GENTILE CAMPAIGNS ARE GENERATING MUCH INTEREST

As a barometer of interest in the race which is in its last week, the Staten Island Advance  reported on ywo union endorsements -- one for Donovan and one for Gentile.  The report on the endorsement for Gentile by the Utility Workers of America, Local 1-2, made some sense. On the other hand, what was attributed to Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and the Plumbers of New York City, Local UA 1, made no sense at all, and one wonders if they knew anything about Donovan at all  ( See "Gentile, Donovan pick up endorsements in special election race" by Rachel Shapiro, SI Advance/ silive.com [http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/04/gentile_donovan_pick_up_endors.html]).

Ultimately, a garbled endorsement message probably falls most heavily on the campaign of the endorsed candidate;  and the comments attributed to the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and the Plumbers of New York City, Local UA 1, are probably no exception.

Both sides have talked about their turn-out operations;  let's see what happens next.