Spirit Mentioned in Newsweek profile of Rangel Challenger

by dan rivoli

newsweek profiled one of rep. charlie rangel's democratic primary challengers, joyce johnson, and mentioned the west side spirit's endorsements.

the news magazine chronicled johnson's campaign, documenting the challenges an insurgent candidate faces when going up against a congressman that has much of the city's institutional support.

one example of that kind of support, the article said, is the west side spirit's endorsement of rangel.

newsweek wrote: as johnson walks along the street she stops in front of a box of the west side spirit, a community newspaper, and squints at the front-page endorsement of rangel, which is news to her. the endorsement is a testament to the powers of incumbency, which go beyond name recognition and fundraising advantages. the spirit supports rangel on the grounds that, despite having given up his chairmanship of the ways and means committee, a congressman with rangel's tenure can pull more strings for his district. she shrugs it off and traipses down to the whole foods, where she wants to stand outside handing out her fliers, but is immediately chased away by the bellowing noise from jackhammers at a construction site across the street. "i'll start my door-to-door," she concludes. johnson is a former government aide and the equal employment director at seagram' s who won the new york times' endorsement.