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Political Interviews:
Games People Play

By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

Last week, I received a message that City Council candidate John Liu had reached out and wanted to stop by for a Friday morning breakfast. John was bringing the bagels and lox.

Now Friday is usually an easier day and bagels and lox are never bad, but I had recently turned down meeting with a number of Council candidates. It’s not that I don’t want to meet them all — I do. It’s just with some hundred odd Queens Council candidates, individual interviews or meetings where I could get to know them would take lots more time than I had available between now and the primary. For those of you that regularly read this space, you know that there is nothing I would enjoy more than devoting my time to checking out the candidates and reporting back to you; but with a business to run, a paper to manage and some overriding corporate responsibilities, there is just no way.

However, we did want to meet as many Council candidates as we could in order to help us with our endorsements, so we have decided to invite them to meet us in groups. We plan to hold brief group interviews of all the candidates running in the primary for each of the 14 vacant Queens Council seats. I also have to try to complete my interviews of the candidates for citywide office and interview the three candidates for Borough President. I’ve scheduled a number of them over the next couple of weeks but will have to squeeze in – after a Florida vacation to see mom and revisit Disneyland with Allison and Lil –  two GOP mayoral candidates, four missing Dems and whatever it takes for the Council meetings. I love what I do, but no one ever said it was easy.

So when John Liu wanted to meet, my first reaction was no way. But, I had identified to my newsroom the race for the 20th Council seat, as the race to watch. The political buzz has the three Caucasian and one Latino candidate with an insufficient number of good signatures to withstand petition challenges and remain on the ballot. That would leave – at most – two Chinese (John Liu and Ethel Chen) and one Korean (Terence Park) running in the Democratic Primary. Although both John and Terence also face petition challenges, and there is a Caucasian Republican candidate (and two guys from the Green Party), there is a great likelihood that the winner of the Council election for the 20th District representing downtown Flushing, will be an Asian American — the first Asian American to sit in the City Council. This historic occurrence is significant and long overdue. The circumstances just described caused me to take Trib editor Tamara Hartman and political reporter Angela Montefinise aside and tell them “watch the 20th, history will be made there.”

Now, I knew John Liu.  I had first met him a couple of years ago at a Temple Israel brunch when Trib Associate Publisher Mike Nussbaum was honored. His consultants, who wanted to come for bagels, were friends, and John is bright, articulate and clearly the perceived frontrunner on the cusp of making City political history, so what the hey, sure I’ll break bagels with him Friday morning.

I had an ulterior motive. You see, Angela Montefinise is a new, bright political reporter with the innate skills to be real successful at our game. She seems to have the compelling interest in politics and government to enable her to excel as a political reporter. However, these things take time and training. My breakfast with John and company was to be our first learning laboratory.

I knew John was bright and quick and able to withstand my usual interrogation.

If you ask some of the citywide candidates, I am not known to be an “easy interviewer.” I ask, I challenge and I often pose a series of questions in rapid-fire order. I’ve discovered if you let the candidate control the pace and direction of the interview, you basically get their prepared script.

I think rather quickly, am well- enough versed in government, have been a student of politics, have run campaigns and prepared candidates for debate. I know how to challenge a candidate. To me, that is the heart of the interview — test the candidate, make them react to the unexpected. If you want their canned positions you can read their literature or go to their website. If you want to know if they can think on their feet, challenge them, take control and keep them a little off balance. Ask the unexpected. Play devil’s advocate. Pose the unsolvable.

I wanted Angela to learn and Tamara to grow. I figured I’d have a go at John; they’d perceive the tone and jump in. Well it didn’t quite work that way.

John Liu, Mike Nussbaum, Parkside’s Bill Driscoll and Harry Giannoulis, Angela, Tamara and I were present. Mike, Harry, Bill and I had bagels and I don’t think anyone else ate.

I began with a tough question  . . .

John responded.

And I continued with a tough question . . . John responded.

And they got tougher. John and I dominated the session.

Now I’m rarely, if ever, easy on candidates. Perhaps I was a little tough on John. And in our brief postmortem, when I asked Angela what she learned, she responded, “It’s okay to ask the really tough questions.”

Yes it is, Angela. That is our job.

And John, by the way, came through with flying colors. I’m not sure, but elsewhere in this paper there may be Angela’s account of our interview. I had no intention of writing about it. However, I had fun and was really impressed with John’s intellect and demeanor.

He handled me — for the most part. He stayed on message, was compassionate, cared deeply about his community and the City, was knowledgeable about the issues and fumbled only slightly when trying to be the good party loyalist — a real difficult dilemma for everyone.

John did his best to redirect the discussion about issues. I did my job and turned it towards politics. It was an interesting exchange. He’s good. He’s smart. He’d be a wonderful representative in the Council.

No, that is not an endorsement. As I’ve said almost weekly, almost every time I encounter someone from the new crop of Council candidates it reinforces the incredible positive effect that term limits and public funding has had on the electoral process in the City.

The 20th District is presently represented by Julia Harrison, the 15-year Council member who has spent a good part of the last decade fostering hatred toward the Asian migration to Flushing. 

John Liu said to me, “I don’t want people to vote for me because I’m Asian; I want their vote because I’m good for Flushing and the City.”

If John Liu should replace Julia Harrison, it will be a resounding tribute to term limits, public financing and our system.

John, thanx for breakfast and being part of our learning.  Good luck.

Should We Term Limit
The State Legislature?

Mike Cohen is a newcomer in terms of NYS Assembly players. He was elected some five years ago to join a fraternity from Queens that has the seniority of Methuselah.

You should be aware by now that us folks from Queens just seem to reelect the same guys year after year. Incumbency presents such an unfair advantage that it is a safe bet that once you have a seat, you keep it. There is a swing seat or two in Queens where once a decade the Dem or Repub could lose it to the other party. Then it’s retirement, scandal, redistricting, a higher office or term limits. Otherwise, the incumbent is in for life. Quality doesn’t really matter. That’s not to say that all incumbents are bad. Some are quite good. However, their fundraising ability, name recognition, use of government mail and staff make them, for the most part, unbeatable. Usually when you’re unbeatable, you get fat, lazy and arrogant.

When you’re unbeatable, you don’t care enough if you pass the State budget on time. All you begin to care about is your comfort, power and staying in office. It’s sad but that’s where the State political system has left us.

Well, Mike Cohen got a break when Melinda Katz decided to give up her Forest Hills seat and take a shot for Congress. Melinda didn’t make it, but the strength of her name recognition remains. You’ll see Melinda elected to the City Council in November. Now, in her case, it’s not a bad thing. But rest assured that this City is at the dawn of a new era in governance and term limits is the sun that has shown us the way.

Certainly, we must evaluate its effect and as one who has always opposed it, I find it difficult to become term limit’s champion. But friends, I believe we will all reap the harvest of the new political era. Change is good. Term limits brings change.

Well, two weeks ago, in this space, I took after those Albany legislators who have now set a new record for failing to pass a State budget on time. This is the seventeenth year in a row for that irresponsible achievement. It’s now four months and no budget. In private industry, management would be thrown out if they acted so cavalierly for even one year.

I am not the only journalist to criticize the do-nothing, lack-luster State legislature. Every responsible news outlet from the New York Times to the weeklies in Buffalo know that the State political system is broken and it’s high time to fix it.

Perhaps, we should term limit the bums out.

Well, I poked fun at the legislature’s willingness to regulate our cell phone behavior in the privacy of our cars while failing to pass a State budget. These guys must be immune to criticism. Only one of them reacted.

I received a somewhat courageous phone call from Forest Hills Assemblyman Mike Cohen. Mike made no attempt to defend the budget failure but commented, “I prefer no budget to a bad budget.”

In my judgment, Mike clearly lost our argument but won my admiration. As I’ve indicated elsewhere on this page, I’m not very gentle in challenging elected officials or candidates. Mike, who I’ve known for more than 20 years, knew what to expect when he called me. But he called nonetheless.

We had an interesting and spirited exchange. Basically Mike felt the need to explain to me the non-functioning Albany process with a Democratic Assembly, a Republican Senate and a Governor who is not consulting with them. Yes, Mike, you’re right. And you’re all at fault.

But it’s real good to know that at least one member of that legislature still feels the need to explain his actions to the press and the people.

Thank you, Mike.

Last week candidates received a proposal called the “Government Access and Accountability Campaign” from a coalition of immigrant groups headed by NICE’s Bryan Pu-Folkes.

It requests, basically, that all candidates pledge to support their effort and if elected plan to: 1) hold at least two town hall meetings; 2) conduct a mailed, annual, district-needs survey; 3) report annually on constituent service.

We will report on the plan’s progress and request all Queens Council candidates signing on to this program, to also notify us by email at:
MSchenkler@QueensTribune.com

Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato

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Michael Schenkler can be reached at: MSchenkler@QueensTribune.com

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