In the past few weeks, attorney Cenceria Edwards has spent more time fighting for her petition signatures in Brooklyn Supreme Court than for her clients facing foreclosures.

So far, her campaign to unseat Assembly Member Annette Robinson (D-Brooklyn) has been taking place in the courtroom, not the streets, fighting back several Robinson-backed challenges to kick her off the ballot. The petition challenges succeeded in nullifying almost half of Edwards’ signatures, down to 628—still enough to carry her over the 500-signature threshold for an Assembly primary. The following line-by-line challenge knocked down Edwards’ city Board of Elections-certified signature count to 613. After both parties agreed to that number, the next line-by-line count only increased the petition total to 664.

And the challenges keep coming.

Robinson’s latest shot was filing a fraud case against Edwards, alleging that a subscribing witness lied to a petition signer and that some signatures do not match that of the supposed signers’ originals.

But these may be the least of Edwards’ problems.

On two separate occasions, she claimed rocks were thrown through her window, and this was recorded in a police report. Whether this was politically motivated or a random act of violence, Edwards has been cautious, even paranoid that overly eager campaign volunteers are plants.

“No one ever told me this about politics,” Edwards said.

Edwards, a real estate lawyer who specializes in foreclosures and predatory lending, long held political ambitions, but said she shelved them to focus on her daughter, a chess prodigy. But with her daughter starting high school in the fall, Edwards said she now can devote the time necessary to mount a successful campaign.

Edwards is not starting small. Before her election to the Assembly, Robinson was in the Council. When she hit term limits in 2001, her long-time ally in the Assembly, Al Vann ran for the seat. She then ran in and won the special election for his Assembly seat, allowing them both to preserve their power in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

“To build a network, to build respect in government, to get a response in government, it requires having an established reputation,” Vann explained. “My primary objective is to build institutions and strengthen community organizations.”
Edwards said the time has come for a change.

“There’s no passing of the guard,” Edwards said. “People don’t want to wait 30, 40 years and see the same old thing.”

At the same time, Edwards is running for district leader against Robinson. She is not the only one taking on the local establishment, though. Vann almost faced a challenge himself this year, with attorney Uwem Umoh planning to run against him for state committee. However, the effort hit the skids when the Board of Elections found out that Umoh had not registered as a Democrat before the Oct. 2007 deadline.

Nevertheless, Umoh is considering a run for Vann’s Council seat, which is term-limited next year.

The field for that race is still coming together, with two other candidates already registered with the Campaign Finance Board. But Robinson and Vann put to rest speculation that they might be looking to trade seats again in 2009—Robinson is hoping to stay in the Assembly, and Vann said next year will mark the end of his 35-year tenure as an elected official.

In this slowly gentrifying neighborhood, Edwards feels the benefit of development is not flowing to long-time residents and community groups. She points to predatory bank lending practices and the foreclosure rate in the neighborhood that is the highest in the city.

Robinson boasts of her action on the foreclosure crisis, mainly through funding organizations that provide litigation services and advice. Her relationship with Vann, she said, has helped her become an effective legislator, tackling issues on a state and city level.

“We’re in leadership, and we’ve brought in resources to the community as a team,” Robinson said. “A Bed-Stuy family health center, libraries, parks. Those are the things that made a difference.”

Though Robinson admitted that this year’s political climate seems to favor insurgents over incumbents, her base of churchgoers, community activists and long-time residents will continue to provide support.

“Those who are doing good work are being targeted,” she said. “Certainly, I continue to always launch an aggressive campaign.”