Queens Tribune

While we believe strongly in the political process and take our endorsements seriously, we are, like most Queens residents, a victim of a system that deprives us of participation in the process of electing our legislators.

In almost every district in the borough – Council, Assembly, Senate or Congressional – our representative are Democratic. Of the 45 elected legislators at all levels of government, 42 are Democrats and only 3 are Republicans. Therefore, except in those three districts, the winner of the Democratic Primary becomes the elected official – it’s just about automatic. So in most of Queens, if you don’t vote in the Democratic Primary, you’re really not taking part in selecting your legislators.

Now the Democratic Party seems to take care of it all. There are 32 legislative seats open in this week’s Primary (6 Congressional, 7 Senate, 18 Assembly and 1 Council). But there are only three Primaries – the rest are uncontested — due largely to the Queens Democratic Organization’s legal firm and political power. If they can’t talk you out of running, they can challenge your petitions from the Board of Elections through the Court system, exhausting you and your campaign war chest. Their candidates need not spend a cent or a moment, while Democratic challengers are tied up in court going through tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Ballot access was never meant to have hurdles as high as they have in Queens. It seems to be more difficult to get on the ballot in our county than in anywhere else in New York State. And those who defend the system merely need to look at the recent reversal of a Queens Supreme Court decision throwing a candidate off the ballot by a unanimous decision of the Appellate Division to understand just how arbitrary ballot access decisions can be. We have not reviewed the petitions of the large number of candidates that the court has removed based on challenges from the Democratic County law firm. We do however know that many of the removed candidates are honorable people who followed the petition process that was meant to allow people to run for office.

In Queens, it appears you need a team of professionals, an experienced election lawyer, 8 times the number of required signatures and a perfect petition to withstand the legal barrage you are likely to face. That is not what ballot access means in a democratic society.

And so, instead of 32 primary elections, we have only three – the party insiders have decided all the rest.

16th SENATORIAL DISTRICT: One of the contests pits Toby Stavisky against Robert Schwartz – a challenger we encountered two decades ago. We haven’t seen or heard of him since. Stavisky on the other hand has been a hard-working, accessible public servant. And although we think Albany badly needs change, Toby is one of the better State Senators around. We endorse Toby Stavisky in the 16th Senatorial District.

10th SENATORIAL DISTRICT: Freshman State Senator Shirley Huntley is facing a challenge from former Councilman Allan Jennings. While Huntley is relatively new to the game, she showed some flair in calling attention to disreputable mortgage brokers. We believe she has the community’s best interest at heart. Jennings is an incredibly hard worker who has blemished his record of public service with a series of bizarre actions – one of them caused the City Council to chastise him for sexual harassment of a staffer. Shirley Huntley gets our endorsement in the 10th Senatorial District.

15th SENATORIAL DISTRICT: Although Albert Baldeo’s name will appear on the ballot, he resigned his candidacy Aug. 22. We encourage everyone to vote for Joseph Addabbo Jr. in the 15th Senatorial District.

22nd ASSEMBLY DISTRICT: In the 22nd Assembly District in downtown Flushing, a real contest is taking place where the Albany status quo and the Queens Democratic organization want to keep freshman legislator Ellen Young in office. She faces a fierce and impressive challenge from attorney and community activist Grace Meng, daughter of the previous Assemblyman who had to beat the same organization to win his seat. Young joined the body that has been tagged as the most dysfunctional state legislature in the nation. She has done nothing to change it. In fairness, change is difficult to achieve. But we believe new ideas from someone slightly outside the system, who has earned a law degree from Cardoza Law School and her street cred by community volunteer organizing, offers the people of the district and the state some chance for positive change. We believe that Grace Meng is clearly the superior candidate and endorse her in the 22nd Assembly District.

If you arte a registered Democrat and live in one of these three Districts, please remember to vote. Next year, we will likely see Democratic Primaries across the borough as term limits bring the election process back to the people.

Let’s hope!