On a Monday evening in October, hundreds of elderly, Russian-speaking residents of Brighton Beach met under the crystal chandeliers of The National restaurant in support of their favorite 2009 mayoral candidate, Mike Bloomberg—or rather, “Mishka” Bloomberg.
Raisa Papernaya, in head-to-toe blue sequins, placed a Bloomberg pamphlet written in Russian on each table setting, next to lavish platters of beef tongue and pirozhki. She sees a lot to like in New York City’s current mayor. “Very business man. Very communication man,” she explained forcefully in a heavy Ukrainian accent. “Very handsome man!” she added, laughing. For Raisa and the other guests, his third consecutive run for mayor isn’t given a second thought. “Only Mike Bloomberg!” she boasted.
Bloomberg, whose parents are children of Russian immigrants, certainly has no shortage of volunteers and support in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brighton Beach.
“I think a lot of people look at the mayor’s story and see the American dream,” said Brian Honan, director of Brooklyn field operations for the 2009 campaign. “It’s corny but it’s true!”
Honan watched the event, smiling, from the edges of the room, and further explained the mayor’s appeal. “[His parents] lived modestly—they lived the lower middle class lifestyle,” Honan said. “And the mayor worked very hard for himself—took loans out for college, then got into finance, started a business…A lot of immigrants look at him and see what they want for their children and grandchildren.”
Honan has helped register to vote thousands of New York City residents, including many new immigrants, by going door to door. Everyone here included. The apartments off of the Brighton Beach boardwalk were among his main turf. “This is like a ‘congratulations’ on registering to vote,” said Honan. “It’s the first time a lot of them will be able to so.”
Many of the guests are also active volunteers for the campaign. One of these volunteers, Paulina Kharaz, spoke of Bloomberg with reverence. “He’s very honest. Very strong. He is honor of state,” she said.
Standing on stage behind a keyboard and complicated sound equipment was a white-haired man in glasses, singing rather softly into his microphone to the tune of a traditional Russian song. But there’s something very un-traditional about the lyrics: It’s about Mike Bloomberg.
“I wrote new words,” he said. “No ‘Michael.’ In Russian, it’s ‘Mishka.’”
Alexander Brill says his job is to “give dead songs a second life,” by accurately translating them from six different languages. Brill has changed the lyrics of the WWII-era Russian song “Mishka From Odessa” to fit the story of Bloomberg’s life and his current campaign for mayor.
The lyrics are hand-written in his notebook of songs labeled ‘DO NOT COPY’: NY our magic town/It’s name so greatly sound/for everyone, who working/and living in a place/where each one sure, that Bloomberg/is too stable/and nobody in town/against will dare say.
Brill, who left Moscow in 1988, obviously feels a connection to the Mayor. “We from immigrants,” he explained passionately, gripping his notebook. “His parents from immigrants. It’s symbolic! In spite that you are breaking the rules—three years as mayor—we give our voice, our votes for you.”
Honan has invited Brill to sing at a few events, as he tries to use volunteers where their talents lie. “Alexander likes to write songs,” he explained. “So there you go! I don’t understand a word of it, but people seem to really enjoy it.”
Brill has never met the mayor, but he’s pretty sure that he’s heard his work. “I have three songs for Bloomberg,” he said. “I send him disc with these songs. And he sent me back a letter with gold emblem of Bloomberg. He wrote me, ‘Thank you very much for the gesture.’ So all together, it’s going good.”
Amidst the constant clanking of silverware, New York state senator Martin Voldum delivered a speech in English, stopping every 30 seconds or so for the translator to repeat it in Russian. “If those hopes and dreams and aspirations were still alive in your homeland, and you would go back and be part of that!” he said. “But you came to America.”
Stressing education, job opportunities and keeping New York City safe, Voldum urged everyone to go to the polls and vote. “It’s important that you do that, because if you don’t, we’re going to get somebody else as the mayor of the city of New York,” he said. “And he’s not going to be able to give us the dreams and the aspirations, the hopes that we fought for…We need Michael Bloomberg!”
Voldum may have been convincing, but it was Fira Stuckleman who stole the show when she took over the microphone and got the whole room standing and chanting. “Mike Bloomberg! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!”
