Last month, Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz showed up at Scott Tower in Bedford Park to address the audience at the November Community Board 7 general meeting to talk about a few issues facing the state legislator.

He also brought along a friend and ally, Andy Cohen, who he introduced as the Aging Committee Chair of Community Board 8, which includes Kingsbridge and Riverdale.

“I’m sure you might be able to get together with him to work on common issues,” he said.

What he did not mention was that, earlier in the day, Cohen had announced his candidacy for the City Council seat (11th District) currently held by Oliver Koppell. During his announcement on the steps of City Hall, Cohen was flanked by Koppell, Dinowitz, Congressman Eliot Engel and State Senator Jeff Klein.

That quartet will lend a lot of weight and resources to Cohen’s campaign as he runs against entrepreneur Cliff Stanton who announced his candidacy back in January.

Stanton, who owns the Nuts 4 Nuts street vendor franchise, is an activist at local schools, including Bronx High School of Science. For nearly a year, he’s had the campaign all to himself. Now, with Cohen stepping into the arena backed by the northwest Bronx’s most powerful pols, Stanton immediately becomes the underdog.

For a time, there was speculation that Dinowitz would run for the seat himself. Now it appears he has thrown his full support behind Cohen. Dinowitz’s support also means that Cohen will probably enjoy the backing of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club, where is serves as a member of the executive committee and Bronx Democratic County Committee, which named him an honorary vice chair in September, according to the Riverdale Press.

Stanton quickly sent out a press release, saying, “Andy Cohen is a manufactured candidate with thin leadership credentials and a scant record of achievement; a product of the entrenched political machine of the Northwest Bronx.”

Aside from his work on Community Board 8, Cohen worked as a court attorney for a Bronx Supreme Court judge and as legal counsel for Dinowitz before starting his own law practice. For the past two years, he’s been an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is also a member of New York State Teachers Union, the Bronx Bar Association and the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park.

At the Community Board 7 meeting, Cohen stood quietly to the side and thumbed through his phone while Dinowitz spoke. When Dinowitz mentioned his name, Cohen received a smattering of applause.

Editor’s note: A version of this article was originally published in the Nov. 29-Dec. 12 edition of the Norwood News.