When The Queen of the Council Speaks,
People Listen

By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

There was a lot of name-calling going on at a recent fundraiser for Queens Councilmember Helen Sears.

She was called everything from “The Flower of the Council” to “The Queen of the Council” to “Daughter of God.”

Now people tend to get carried away at political fundraisers, but the tone clearly indicates that people like Helen Sears . . . and I’m one of those people.

She’s intelligent, well-spoken, thoughtful and dedicated to her job. When she talks, people listen. If she has an opinion, people care.

That’s because Helen cares.

She’s proud of her decades-long performance as a Democratic district leader. She was always looked at fondly. But now, as a Councilmember covering one of the most diverse districts in all of Queens (perhaps the world), this distinguished “Flower of the Council” has truly bloomed.

At least, that’s what her colleagues and constituents say.

Sears stopped by the Trib this week to chat with us. We’ve been friends for more years than she or I care to admit.

After an hour-and-a-half long barrage of my questions, it’s easy to see why she’s gotten such praise. Helen is a lady of grace. She smiles at the tough questions and answers them eloquently without ducking. She’s knowledgeable on the issues and personable on all levels. She impresses with her persona like no other councilmember.

In fact, she credits personality for a lot of her success. She said, “Personality has a lot to do with it. It’s how you react to people. How you feel about them” She added, “I didn’t run for office because I needed a job. I think I truly make a difference.”

Many of her colleagues think she makes a difference, too, and have called her the biggest surprise in the Council. She accepted the title, but said as a district leader, she always got things done. She said that as a district leader, her colleagues never saw her as some who could effect legislation. “Now I can accomplish, and I am.”

And she works hard to make sure she does. She said she works eight days and nights a week, and can work for 16 or 17 hours a day. She added with a smile, “I think they’ve got me down to about $3 an hour now.”

But that’s OK, because the warm and inviting “Mother of the Council,” said, “I love the work, I really do . . . I like the people, I love doing the legislation, I like the meetings.” She tries to give the City Council and her district equal time, and admits one of her biggest strengths is consensus building. “I love the consensus leading up to one powerful vote.”

One recent vote that showed the Council’s power was the vote for an 18 percent property tax increase. In typical Helen Sears fashion, she voted in line with good old Speaker Giff Miller. But unlike other councilmembers who voted for it and ducked and avoided the issue for fear of upsetting their constituents, Sears defended her vote.

She said, “If all 51 members voted their conscience, we would not have had that money . . . It is a time when everyone has to tighten their belts, government and individuals included.”

She said she wished fellow Democrats Tony Avella, Allan Jennings and James Davis would have supported the tax increase, and thought their removal from one committee each was “appropriate” punishment.

She said the budget gap needs to be closed, and believes the best way to start is to have the Port Authority pay what it owes, the stadiums pay what they owe, and to consolidate City agencies. “I truly believe out of 62 agencies, you can consolidate quite a few.”

She added that “nobody wants anything cut,” but explained that of the $42 billion budget the Council has to work wth, only $17 billion is maneuverable. Sears emphasized, “We’re not making cuts out of $42 billion, but $17 billion. That must be understood.”

While Sears has been one of the standouts of the new Council class, she still follows her “leader.” She falls in line with the Speaker, and doesn’t rock the boat.

She seems as supportive of her Council leader as she is of her Democratic County Leader Tom Manton. Loyalty is apparently very high on Helen’s list.

That attitude shines through in her role as chairman of the Ethics Committee. Since taking over the role, she hasn’t investigated one member. She said, “We haven’t gotten any complaints.” But she admits she doesn’t actively request complaints, either. “We don’t do that,” she said.

“If we get a complaint, we’ll investigate it.” She said the committee is limited to working with “legal stuff” brought before it by citizens or any other entity. So far, it has looked at bills and is about to put out its second newsletter. The Committee is also hard at work codifying the Council’s outdated Code of Ethics into a usable, understandable manual.

When it comes to Campaign Finance Board misdeeds, Sears said, “What’s the sense in dealing with the ethical portion of it when,” guilty parties will be punished by the Board.

She also defended big contributions – she laughed and said she doesn’t get too many – and said “most companies” do not expect anything in return. She said, “You can’t run a campaign on $10 and $20 contributions . . . You need money to reach the people.”

Still, she said she won’t “object” to complaints being brought before her, and said people can mail written complaints with enough proof to show unethical behavior to the Standards and Ethics Committee, Councilwoman Helen Sears, 250 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10017 (Leglifra@council.nyc.ny.us).

She warned, “Frivolous complaints are not what this committee is about . . . ‘Joe Blow is doing something wrong’ with no evidence is not a real complaint.”

Although she does stay in line with her party, it is clear she gives her opinion to the party, and will ponder other opinions. She raised her hand for Miller’s term limits “tweak,” but when faced with the fact that the tweak kept her strongest possible opponent – John Sabini – from running against her this year, she calmly said, “Well, maybe that’s something I should have reconsidered.”

She didn’t, like many of her colleagues tell us “off the record.” She told it like it was. She also admitted that the public has gotten “disenchanted” with elected officials and looks for leadership.

Is she a leader?

We’ll have to wait and see.

She is certainly an asset in the Council and serves her community well.

But, will she charge out on her mighty steed to topple windmills?

She’ll likely wait for others to lead the way.

However, Helen Sears works with the system and makes it work for her district. She has the popularity in both the Council Chambers and in her Jackson Heights district to prove it.

If you can’t have everything in an elected official, having grace and compassion is not a bad place to start.

— Column contributor: Angela Montifinese

Council Campaigning

David Reich of Kew Gardens Hills is looking to challenge incumbent Councilman Jim Gennaro. Reich was third in a three-way race last time out. Florence Fisher, another local, plans to split the anti-incumbent vote with Reich.

Reich seems like a pleasant guy but JFK Club insiders say, “he’s no ball of fire.” His drive, they tell us, is his father. His strategy seems to be tied to the miscalculation that Jews will turn out in great numbers to vote for the Jew over the non-Jewish incumbent.

I’m not bowled over by most ethnic/religious candidates even when they are from my church. I don’t know if Reich represents anyone who sits in a different pew than him. He’s the Orthodox Jewish candidate and will have to violate one of the commandments to convince me and others he is multi-inclusive.

I’ve made reference previously to an anonymous flyer accusing Gennaro of having district lines redrawn to lower his Jewish population. The hateful flyer remains one of the most troubling items so far in the present election cycle.

Gennaro volunteered, “The universe of people who would have the motive and would take the trouble to conceive of and execute such slander is very small.”

And, Gennaro insists that the redistricting – which he certainly did not control – was not designed to lower the Jewish makeup of his district. In fact, it redrew the largest block of Russian Bukharian Jews into Gennaro’s district while grouping the Forest Hills Jewish population together in Melinda Katz’s District. Gennaro retains Orthodox Kew Gardens Hills.

Gennaro is hiring a new staff member fluent in Russian to meet the needs of his changing district.

Insiders tell us of a recent Forest Hills dinner attended by Councilmembers Melinda Katz, Leroy Comrie, Helen Sears, Eric Gioia, Dennis Gallagher, and Pete Vallone, Jr. Others — but not the entire delegation — were invited.  We are told two not on the guest list were Hiram Monserrate and Allan Jennings.

Monserrate, who has been working to mend fences with the Queens delegation, seems to still have quite some way to go. Jennings on the other hand, was the butt of much of the evening’s humor.

Speaking of Allan Jennings, he and Brooklyn’s James Davis — two of the three Dems who broke with the delegation on the Property Tax vote — showed up at Gracie Mansion for the dinner Mayor Mike Bloomberg threw to celebrate the leadership shown by the council in making the tough decision. 

Pete Vallone, Jr. who voted “yes” under extreme duress, did not attend and Tony Avella, the other “no” vote, had the good sense and class not to.

Finally, while on the topic of Jennings’ Southeast Queens District, party regulars cry that a serious challenge may be greatly overstated. They couldn’t convince Greg Meek’s operative Patrick Jenkins to make the run and wound up with Community Board mainstay Yvonne Reddick. The Reddick deal, we’re told, was put together by State Senator Ada Smith and Assemblywoman Vivian Cook.

Now, we hear, she’s apparently having second thoughts and are told, that of the difficult decision, she’s “praying on it.” If she stays in, it may be out of fear of the wrath of the two female “toughie” legislators.

In spite of almost universal rejection by party and council insiders, Allan Jennings will work hard and not go down easily. It will take more than a wavering Reddick to unseat a driven incumbent — no matter how strange he acts.

It gets “curiouser and curiouser.”