Congressman Greg Meeks agreed to a brief interview this week with Howie Schwach, editor of Rockaway’s local newspaper, The Wave. The interview, which is available until next week only in print, has Meeks denying every allegation stacked against him.
“I feel bad for the charities involved,” he said, repeating many times how devoted he is to the community he represents. “We have to focus on more important things, like jobs.”
But in bigger news, Meeks attended Reverend Al Sharpton’s second emergency summit on Governor David Paterson at Sylvias, and so did I. As soon as I heard over the AP wires that the meeting was happening, I grabbed my flip and set out uptown. I wanted to find a way to talk to Congressman Meeks, and I’d never been to the iconic Harlem restaurant. Even if I was shut out I could get some banana pudding out of it.
What I found uptown was a media frenzy over what essentially amounted to nothing: a consensus, sort of, by Black leadership and other politicians that Paterson should remain as Governor. They offered their support and said they wanted to clear the way for “due process” with allegations against the Governor, which now include “soliciting an unlawful gift” in the form of five tickets to a World Series game at Yankee Stadium. The show of support in the community where he was raised, by some of his oldest friends, like former Mayor David Dinkins, was a surprise to many who thought Paterson would be out by Friday.
But unlike the rest of the reporters waiting with me, my focus was on the man standing behind Al Sharpton at their table in the back room of the restaurant, smiling ear to ear–Congressman Greg Meeks. After the meeting broke hoards of reporters surrounded Reverend Sharpton and Dinkins, around the corner to 126th Street where Dinkins parked his white Dodge Charger. Yes, Sharpton and 50 cameras and microphones all had the decency to escort him to his car, although neither would answer questions or say a word. On the walk back to Sylvias I managed to ask Sharpton on camera about the other allegations of the people in the room–notably Greg Meeks. Sharpton looked at me and said, “Huh?”
By the time Greg Meeks came out it was close to midnight and I’d almost gone home (the security guard at the front of the restaurant told me he’d “been gone!”). But he sauntered out and spoke to reporters, throwing his support behind the beleaguered Governor and echoing the due process statements made by Sharpton. He added that he has three daughters of his own, and would never support violence against women, or anybody; but the Governor was owed his own investigation before people started forcing him out.
And before he dipped into his black town car, I managed to ask him the question I came up and waited hours to ask :
At least the banana pudding was good.