....June 11, 3:22 PM
 
 
 
Providing Equality For All New York Citizens

By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

That knock on your door could be the official start of the New York City 2009 campaign season.

This week, petitioning begins as part of the antiquated process of candidates getting their name on the ballot. The process remains antiquated and reform only comes by court mandate since the guys in control – the party structure and incumbents – benefit from a system requiring many signatures and open to accosting opponents with an intricate and expensive legal process.

Nevertheless, New York City’s pioneering public funding campaign and the effect of term limits – even though overturned by a self-serving Council and Mayor – has brought a large number of candidates to the process.

While not close to the 65 Queens candidates who ran for Council when the entire delegation was term limited, we see real races shaping up in a handful of seats where no incumbent is standing for election and one challenge to an incumbent that is certainly worth focus and ink.

Following the candidates by staff interviews, press release, online campaign, financial filings and insider buzz, we share with you the races we think that will be competitive and interesting – and the stuff which keeps political junkies awake at night.

In the 19th to replace Tony Avella who is on a Quixotic quest for the Mayoralty, six viable candidates are beginning the petitioning process for the Democratic line with Dan Halloran, working and waiting in one of only three Queens districts in which the GOP can play.

The front running Dem, Jerry Iannece, has received Dem organization backing and as of the last filing, had the most cash on hand. Paul Vallone, like Iannece and most of the others, is expected to “max out financially – meaning that in 2009, as part of the CFB matching program, they will be able to spend a total of $161,000 on the campaign. In this race with longtime City worker Debbie Markell, Avella’s pick Steve Behar, disabled activist Tom Cooke and an Asian candidate, Ackerman staffer Kevin Kim, all are expected to raise and spend enough funds to keep them all in the game. With Iannece and Vallone splitting the Italian vote, Markell and Behar focused on the Jewish vote, any of the six could conceivably win this changing community. Then they face the Republican. This is one of the two races in the county which will see a competitive effort among at least five candidates.

The other large -field competitive race is in the 20th Council District presently held by Comptroller candidate John Liu. Any advantage gained by John Choe having the backing of the Queens Dem and incumbent Liu has been eroded by the fact that he is one of two Korean candidates in a District which mathematically favors a Chinese candidate. Additionally, Choe has been damaged by accusations of close ties to North Korea. With two Korean candidates and Working Families’ S.J. Jung dividing the Korean base, the race is anyone’s. Chinese candidate Yen Chou, the only female in the race, leads the field by far in fund raising. It is likely she may opt out of the campaign finance system and blow the cap. That would make her the likely frontrunner. James Wu, a longtime political operative was instrumental in throwing the Dem support to Choe and therefore his seriousness as a candidate must be questioned. Rumor has the Dem organization trying to keep him in the race to siphon Chinese votes from Yen Chou. With the five Asian candidates, one cannot dismiss the candidacy of Isaac Sasson out of the still real Julia Harrison organization. A young newcomer Constantine Kavadas is also petitioning for a ballot spot. On the GOP side sits a skilled, serious candidate with experience and money, Peter Koo. The District is in no way Republican but a divisive Democratic Primary with a non-Chinese winner could make Koo competitive in the General.

An interesting three-way race in the 26th to replace Public Advocate candidate Eric Gioia pits Dem District Leader Dierdre Feerick with organization backing against longtime civic activist James Van Bramer and corporate lawyer Brent O’Leary. All three should be expected to max-out financially and presumably get through the petitioning process.

A large field of candidates seeks to replace Melinda Katz in the 29th. Former Councilmember Karen Koslowitz with Dem organization and name recognition should be viewed as the frontrunner. However, her base is eroded by her former co-District Leader, former Assemblymember Mike Cohen. Will the former elected officials competing for “regulars” leave the way open for long-time activists Heidi Chain or Lynn Shulman. Joseph J.R. Nocerino has dropped out of this race and Mel Gargarin trails the field in name recognition and funding.

The one incumbent facing a serious challenge is Helen Sears in the 25th. With Alfonso Quiroz dropping out of the race, the candidacy of gay activist and Dem District Leader Danny Dromm with the backing of the Working Families Party, must be considered as a threat to the Councilwoman who voted to overturn the people’s will and extend her own term in this rapidly changing District. The candidacy of businessman Stanley Kalathara should not impact the Sears-Dromm race significantly. Look for Dromm to try to build a coalition of Latinos – he’s fluent in Spanish – gays and disenchanted voters to be the only Queens candidate to knock off an incumbent in this year’s Council races.

While a handful of candidates have lined up to challenge South Queens incumbents Leroy Comrie (27), Thomas White (28) and James Sanders (31), only Clyde Vanel against Comrie and Lynn Nunez against White have shown us they may have the stuff to mount a challenge to an incumbent – but not be a serious threat.

Other incumbents have challengers seeking a spot on the ballot, but they’ll have to get through the petition and challenge process before we will consider their competitiveness. Mark Weprin in the 23rd faces a challenge from tenant leader Bob Friedrich and well-funded Swaranjit Singh, but Weprin should be viewed as running with all the advantages of an incumbent for his brother’s seat – County support, access to money and name recognition.

So look for petition carriers to ring your bell; give them a moment of your time. Getting on the ballot is a large part of the fight in our borough. Give a newcomer a chance.
MSchenkler@QueensTribune.com

Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.

 
 
NYS Government Is Held in Low Regard

Henry Stern
By HENRY STERN

We have spent a lot of time – and words – describing the classically dysfunctional legislature in Albany. Yesterday, the lid blew off the pot as two Senators – Queens’ Hiram Monseratte and the Bronx’s Pedro Espada, Jr. — each with unresolved legal issues, switched control of the body from Democrats to Republicans.

BRIEF STATE SENATE HISTORY
This is far from the first conflict over which political party would organize the Senate, select the committee chairs and staff members, dole out member items, redistrict the state to keep themselves in office, and take advantage in every conceivable way as their status as the majority, including the refusal to consider bills submitted by minority members.

The Republican Party had ruled the Senate since January 1966, a period of 43 years and several lifetimes in politics.

Before that, the Democrats had been in power for just one year, 1965, which came only because of Lyndon Johnson’s landslide victory over Barry Goldwater. During the 70s and 80s, the Senate had respected moderate Republican leaders like Warren Anderson of Binghamton and Ralph Marino of Oyster Bay.

In 1994, Marino was deemed insufficiently enthusiastic about freshman senator George Pataki, the Republican candidate for governor. U.S. Senator Al D’Amato was the deus ex machina of the Pataki candidacy. Pataki and D’Amato both wanted Marino out, and the Republican conference, following their wishes, elected Senator Joseph Bruno of Saratoga as Majority Leader of the Senate in 1995. Bruno stayed for 14 years, resigning in the summer of 2008, while being pursued by Federal authorities who subsequently indicted him for fraud. The Republicans selected Dean Skelos of southern Nassau County to succeed Bruno, and Skelos became majority leader yesterday as two Democrats switched sides to support him.

The year ending in 1 is the most important year to control either house of the legislature. That is because it is the year that follows the decennial United States Census, on the basis of which district lines are supposed to be redrawn to maintain equality of population between districts. How the lines are drawn is a matter of political artistry, with each party seeking to adopt lines most favorable to them.

That is why in the Assembly, where Democrats have consistently drawn the lines, there are 109 Democrats to 41 Republicans, a margin of about 2.6 to 1. In the Senate, where Republicans have drawn the lines since the 1930s, they controlled the body except for the Democratic sweeps of 1964 and 2008.

MERITS OF THE DISPUTE
There is little in the way of merit that divides the contestants in this quarrel over spoils. In order to win the votes of the so-called four amigos, Malcolm Smith and the Democrats made a series of commitments, some of which they did not keep. Two of the amigos, who have legal problems of their own doing, conspired for two months to turn back control to the Republicans, who they believe are more likely to keep their word.

Certain Democrats do not keep their word, 1) because they do not remember what they have said; 2) because it has become inconvenient; 3) because their promises are illegal and therefore unenforceable; and 4) because they believe that anyone foolish enough to trust them deserves the lesson he will receive from having done so.

Some newspapers and naïve TV reporters have called the amigos “turncoats.” We don’t believe that is justified by the facts here – public officials rebelling because promises, probably illegal ones, were unkept. Of course, they might have gone over to the highest bidder even if every promise was kept to the letter. There is no moral high ground here.

We just don’t know enough to divide moral culpability among the conspirators. Simply because people slash the faces of women, claim false residences, misuse poverty funds and fail to file spending reports does not necessarily mean that they cannot in turn be mistreated by others.

For city residents, there is important legislation which may be jeopardized by this coup. One example is continuing mayoral control of the school system.

Interestingly, it was the Queens County Democratic organization that dumped incumbent Senator John Sabini in 2008 in favor of Monserrate. At that time the decision was not unreasonable, since Monserrate was getting closer each year and could well have won anyway. The district is primarily Latino and there is a paucity of Latino elected officials, in part because of geography; their homes are spread around the city more than they are concentrated in particular districts, as is more often the case with African-Americans. Sabini was given a fine job as head of the State Racing and Wagering Commission. Nor did anyone at Queens County (we imagine) anticipate Monserrate’s violent response when the woman (not his wife) who was visiting his apartment had something in her purse which gave him occasion for him to express his displeasure by striking her with a broken glass. She has dutifully withdrawn her complaint, but there are photographs of her injuries, and statements she made at the time she was injured.

CAN ANYTHING BE DONE?
If you want to change the system, you have to play by the rules that the incumbents have written to protect themselves. People with substantial wealth have the opportunity to challenge the system, using part of their money to buy the media recognition that defines importance in today’s culture. In past crises, and when government was corrupt, outsiders organized to combat Tammany Hall.

The formation of the City Club (1892), the Municipal Arts Society (1893), and Citizens Union (1897) were part of an age of civic participation. Today the City Club lies prostrate, its assets sequestered, its members leaderless. But the other two are alive and well. They do not, however, focus on corruption, nor do they savage incompetence. They are valuable for what they do, and deserve support.

When Commissioner Gordon (not Parks nor Davis) shines his searchlight into the night sky, who else in Gotham will come to the aid of the forces of justice?

StarQuest@NYCivic.org

Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato
Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.