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New Democratic Leader
Herman Daniel Farrell Jr.

By E.J. Dionne Jr.
Special to The New York Times

Man in the News

ALBANY, May 1-Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell Jr., the new Democratic county leader in Manhattan, understands that almost no one believes that his new job will offer him much real power. He knows, too, that in politics, the appearance of power can be everything. "If I come up to you, stick a gun in your face and say, 'Stick 'em up,' you have two options," Mr. Farrell said recently. "You can stick 'em up, because you accept the fact that the gun is loaded. Or you can say, 'No, prove to me the gun is loaded.'"

"The power," he said, "comes not from whether the gun is loaded, but from whether people think the gun is loaded."

Then he added: "In Manhattan politics, we've proven consistently that the gun isn't loaded."

Hardly a Tammany Leader

Whatever ammunition he comes upon, Mr. Farrell knows he is not likely to bring back the days when voters and politicians cowered before "the boss of Tammany Hall," as the county leader used to be called.

Instead, he hopes to revitalize the organization. He wants it to endorse candidates in primaries, and wants its support to mean something. He also thinks that television, which he says has badly damaged party organizations, can be turned to the task of party building—if the party leader is willing to use it. 

Those who know him expect Mr. Farrell to bring to his job the sprightly skepticism that has characterized his six years in the Legislature. His political views are firmly liberal—he has no kind words for Democrats who want, as he puts it, to "imitate Reagan." But in practice, he is an ambitious politician who cherishes power and has few illusions about fallible human nature.

Coalitions in His Blood

Herman Daniel Farrell Jr. was born in New York City on Feb. 4, 1932. His father was from Panama, his mother from Jamaica, and Mr. Farrell likes to point out that both were of racially mixed parentage, making him, he says, "a perfect mulatto."

"I'm living proof that coalition works," he says. "It's in my bloodline."

Since graduating from high school, Mr. Farrell has spent most of his working life in politics. He was a confidential aide to a justice of the State Supreme Court—"It was a no-show job, but I showed up," he said—and was elected a Democratic state committeeman in 1970. He also directed Mayor John V. Lindsay's neighborhood office in Washington Heights and was elected a Democratic district leader in 1973.

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[[credit]] The New York Times [[/credit]]
[[caption]] "Living proof that coalition works"  [[/caption]]


In 1974, he was elected to the Assembly, defeating an incumbent, Mark T. Southall, in a primary.

A Step Up in '79

His first major step up in Albany came in 1979, when Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink appointed him chairman of the Banking Committee. That post had been held for years by legislators regarded as sympathetic to the banks, so the appointment of the liberal Mr. Farrell was seen as a change. He said he would not take contributions from the banks, and won praise from consumer groups and others who often take issue with the financial community.  

Last year, however, Mr. Farrell went along with the leadership of his house in supporting a bill allowing banks to raise interest rates. At the time, many leading banks were threatening to move large parts of their business out of the state if the Legislature did not raise the ceiling.

Mr. Farrell the political realist ended up supporting a broad banking deregulation bill. But Mr. Farrell the liberal made it clear he did not like it.

Mr. Farrell, who is separated from his wife, has two children, a son and a daughter. Both are in college. 

As the new county leader, Mr. Farrell wants the party to be vocal in its stands on issues and wants to get the party organization in the newspapers and on television more often. (It is clear that he would not mind seeing Denny Farrell's face there, either.) The party, he says, should build on the activism of tenants' groups and local municipal unions. 

He said he intended to speak out against the Westway, for tenants' rights and for liberalism generally. 

'Social Programs Have Worked'

"We have to say over and over and over again that social programs have worked," he said. "The Republicans are willing to forgive businessmen their mistakes, but if one person makes a mistake in a social program, they say, 'Abolish the program.'"

Mr. Farrell acknowledges that his views might bring him into conflict with Mayor Koch, but he says he wants to keep any disagreements focused "on issues, not personalities."

He also wants the party to develop mechanisms for making endorsements in primaries, old hat in most places, but a revolutionary idea for Manhattan's fractured party.

"Because we were afraid of destroying ourselves by divisive battles over endorsements, we've destroyed ourselves by becoming mush," he said. "We've become Jell-O."

In all events, Mr. Farrell is not likely to be accused of being mush, or Jell-O. 

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