A USSR-born Brooklyn pol born lately dissed his constituents, declaring he and fellow comrades who fled to america are extra cultured than homegrown Individuals.
State Assemblyman Michael Novakhov, a one-time Sen. Bernie Sanders-loving Dem who flipped GOP to run for workplace in his principally pink southern Brooklyn district, made the declare in a Feb. 18 Fb rant about vandals ripping down lights his workplace used taxpayer cash to put in alongside a strolling bridge connecting Sheepshead Bay to Manhattan Seashore.
“We, the descendants of the USSR, think about ourselves slightly extra cultured than the residents of the nation we got here to,” he wrote, in keeping with a Fb translation from Russian to English on the assemblyman’s web page.
“We go to theaters and classical music live shows. We maintain the humanitarian schooling of our youngsters, however on the identical time, we take away the visitors lights from the bridge,” added Novakhov.
“We now have to simply accept the truth that our space lacks family tradition, though every particular person considers himself an clever and cultured particular person.”
Novakhov insisted Friday the Fb translation is mistaken and that he “completely” doesn’t really feel USSR-born immigrants are extra cultured than different Individuals.
However Joey Cohen-Saben, a average Democrat working to unseat Novakhov within the 45th Meeting District that additionally contains parts of Gravesend and Brighton Seashore, mentioned he’s not shopping for it and believes the remarks present Novakhov doesn’t have the heartbeat of the neighborhoods he reps.
“When frequent sense left the constructing, Novakhov held the door,” mentioned Cohen-Saben, who narrowly misplaced the 2024 race to Novakhov by a proportion level.
“And simply if you suppose it might probably’t worsen, he demeans and degrades his personal constituents as inferior and uncultured in the event that they’re not from the previous USSR. It’s a shame to the workplace he holds.”
Novakhov known as Cohen-Saben “determined,” claiming his opponent is attempting to “unfold lies” to win over voters.
Novakhov was a loyal Democrat and frequent lefty marketing campaign donor — whose contributions embody $170 in 2016 to socialist Sen. Sanders of Vermont — earlier than crossing occasion traces and efficiently working to unseat then-Democratic incumbent Steven Cymbrowitz in 2022.
Novakhov has a historical past of palling round with distinguished NYC socialists like Brooklyn Councilman Chi Ossé and has typically appreciated and reposted social media remarks from ex-comptroller Brad Lander, one other socialist, and Manhattan’s soft-on-crime District Legal professional Alvin Bragg, The Publish reported in 2023.
And Novakhov’s personal private Instagram web page options him prominently carrying a tongue-in-cheek Communist “occasion” sweater that includes photographs of Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin holding balloons.
