NEW YORK — Asian Americans continue to face "many barriers in exercising their right to vote" in several jurisdictions throughout the county, including in Queens, a civil rights group says.
In a report on local compliance with federal laws for language assistance at the polls, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund said yesterday that New York City was the only one of four jurisdictions in the U.S. that failed in its obligation to translate ballots into Bengali.
The other three jurisdictions were Cook County, Ill.; Hamtramck, Mich.; and Los Angeles, Calif.
The report also underscored that four elections have passed since the city was required by federal law in 2011 to provide language assistance in a South Asian language to voters in Queens.
The city's Board of Elections has said it will not be able to translate ballots into Bengali in time for the general election, but a revised draft plan to help Bengali speaking voters on Nov. 6 was made public at a a meeting of the agency's commissioners yesterday. The plan does not include Bengali ballots.
A spokeswoman for the board responded to a request for comment about the AALDEF report by forwarding the draft plan.
An attorney with AALDEF, Glenn D. Magpantay, said the plan addressed some concerns. "It's a good plan, but there's still room for mischief," he said.
He said he commended the board for making an effort, but said the issue of Bengali ballots had been raised for months.
"We've been yelling at them since December of last year to get this done," he said. "They haven't done nothing. They've recruited interpreters, but no one knows how to access them."
Most recently, the board blamed the failure to translate the ballot into Bengali in time for November's election on the voting machine vendor, Elections Systems & Software.
But AALDEF said in its report that the same company was able to provide Bengali-language ballots for voting machines in time for Michigan's primary election in February.
AALDEF's Magpantay concedes that the software used in Michigan is slightly different, but he said of the board: "They have the technology."
ESS's representatives didn't respond to a request for comment.
AALDEF's report, based on monitoring of 56 poll sites in five jurisdictions around the country during this year's primaries, also found that voters in Queens often didn't know that language assistance was available and that "several" poll sites didn't have the required number of official interpreters.
The report also documented how one poll worker made disparaging remarks about Bengali and an instance where an "interpreter available" sign was written in Chinese even though Bengali and Hindi translators were sitting in front of it.
Under federal law, the city was supposed to have arranged to have voter registration forms, ballots, materials and interpreters available for Bengali readers in Queens during this year's elections.
While most, if not all, of the other materials have been translated, the ballot has not.
The board's draft plan calls for making a list of candidates' names available in Bengali at poll sites, translating sample ballots and other materials, as well as the hiring of interpreters.
Magpantay said his organization is weighing its options for forcing the board into compliance with federal law, including and up to filing a lawsuit over the delay in rolling out Bengali ballots.
"This is a very important election," he said. "The emerging South Asian community in Queens has a right to vote in their language."
NEW YORK — Where I grew up in southwest Queens, roti shops are the local cafes, Hindu religious stores sell saris and the smell of simmering chicken curry is easily chanced upon as you walk the streets.
Whether in South Ozone Park, Ozone Park or Richmond Hill, the influence of Indian cultures from Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname creates unity among the three adjacent neighborhoods.
But others apparently don’t see our community as one that shares common interests and that deserves a chance at supporting its own candidate for City Council.
Every ten years following the decennial census, the city goes through the process of redrawing the district lines for City Council members, in part by looking at demographic changes in the five boroughs.
Under the current proposal from the city’s Districting Commission, my neighborhood would be split by Lefferts Boulevard, leaving District 28 and District 32, including Ozone Park and South Ozone Park, as two distinct areas. Richmond Hill, in turn, would lie in the center of both districts, with Lefferts Boulevard cutting through them.
What is at stake is the community’s power to pick elected officials who will respond to their concerns, advocates say.
“It dilutes the power of residents in the area,” said Richard S. David, executive director of a southern Queens-based nonprofit, the Indo-Caribbean Alliance, in a recent interview.
David said the current district lines proposal “fails” the community by making it more difficult to push for legislation and policy issues if there are multiple elected officials representing a minority split between various districts.
“We are not proposing to have a majority of Indo-Caribbean and South Asians — we just want to keep the community together. We are not going to be the largest but we are going to be bigger than we are now,” he said.
The 2010 census shows that 62 percent of the city’s South Asians live in Queens, while nearly 30,000 residents identified themselves as “Asian Indian” in South Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, and South Ozone Park.
Advocates from community organizations, such as Taking Our Seat, a group dedicated to addressing the causes of voter-dilution among South Asians, say that four census tracts with high South Asian voting populations in Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park are split between four different City Council districts using major roadways such as Lefferts Boulevard and 101st Avenue as dividing lines where the community occupies both sides.
Instead of the South Asian and Indo-Caribbean population in Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, and South Ozone Park voting as one block of constituents, their votes end up as a small margin in four different City Council districts currently represented by Ruben Wills, Erich Ulrich, Elizabeth Crowley and Karen Koslowitz, according to advocates.
Queens residents from the neighborhoods testified in front of the city Districting Commission on Oct. 10, calling for the communities to be drawn into one district, not separated into three different ones.
Shirley Limongi, the spokeswoman for the districting commission, said in a recent interview that hearing testimonies from local residents helps to identify potential “communities of interest.” She noted that some factors that define a community of interest are shared religion, race, language and ethnicity.
At the hearing, a group of South Asian and Indo-Caribbean local residents from southern Queens wearing “Keep Richmond Hill United” t-shirts and holding up posters of a map uniting the two districts testified. Some were angry at the commission, some delivered their stories as immigrants and some called for redrawing the map completely.
Even business leaders were concerned about the proposed Council lines. “We have made a significant presentation, including testimonies, maps, t-shirts, placards — what else do we need to do? Please work with us,” said Vishnu Mahadeo, the president of the Richmond Hill Economic Development Council, to the 15 commissioners, at the hearing.
The splitting of the community affects how easy it is for a person of South Asian descent to run as an elected official, advocates say.
“The reality is in New York people vote along racial lines — if the lines are not drawn where you have the racial advantage, then you have to break that norm where it can be possible,” David said, giving examples of elected officials such as Councilwoman Margaret Chin, who represents Chinatown, and Councilman Peter Koo, who represents Flushing — both major Chinese American enclaves.
Advocates at the hearing also cited the Unity Maps proposed by civil rights groups, showing that the three neighborhoods could be kept as one district if Van Wyck Boulevard was made the dividing line instead of Lefferts Boulevard.
My parents, like so many others, left their native country Guyana but they soon found a neighborhood that became a second home to them — with Trinidadians, Surinamese, Sikhs, and Punjabis all holding a common Indian ancestry.
As a second-generation child of Guyanese immigrants, I see my surrounding community as a cohesive whole. I am a youth leader in my Hindu temple in Ozone Park, I write in a local newspaper called The West Indian, circulated throughout Richmond Hill’s roti shops, and I grew up in my South Ozone Park home, where I still live in today.
For me, the main concern of the independent commission should be to protect and empower ethnic populations within marginalized communities. But if the commission does not unite our South Asian community in one district, it may send a message that this community is not of interest.
NEW YORK — Democrats should technically be able to win the 22nd State Senate District of Brooklyn that stretches from Bay Ridge to Marine Park, because of a voter registration advantage.
But people will tell you that the district is actually very conservative — likely explaining how former NYPD officer Martin Golden, a member of the Republican majority with an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association, has kept his seat since 2002.
This year, Golden is facing probably his strongest challenge in recent memory from Andrew Gounardes, an attorney for Citizens Committee for New York and a former staffer to City Councilman Vincent Gentile (whom Golden beat for his Senate seat).
Because of their voter registration advantage throughout the city, Democrats currently control all but three state Senate seats in the five boroughs. A win in the 22nd district could help them eke out a majority in the Senate or, at the very least, further establish their grip on New York City.
Golden, however, says Gounardes won’t be able to deliver for voters. “I applaud his decision to run because he wants to make a change,” said Golden, who was recently endorsed by Citizens Union, the good government group and sister organization of Gotham Gazette.
“But he won’t be in the majority, he won’t be in leadership, he won’t be in management,” Golden said of Gounardes. “What matters to New Yorkers are jobs and economic development and the Republican conference has been successful in working with the governor to achieve some major legislative accomplishments.”
But Gounardes says he has all the qualification he needs because he plans on listening to the people of his district. He paints Golden as out-of-touch with the values of a new generation, and he says the district is changing as younger people move in.
“The changing demographics matter. We are attracting more minorities to Bay Ridge who have no prior attachments to Golden,” says Gounardes.
A recent debate at St. Philip's Episcopal Church served to showcase the candidates’ styles — Golden the older statesman, a bit crusty; Gounardes youthful and excitable. They traded barbs in a debate that featured booing, hooting and hissing from the crowd that seemed already firmly decided in their vote.
Gounardes estimates that he and his campaign have knocked on tens of thousands of doors across the district as well as greeted untold numbers of commuters at subway stops most mornings.
Golden, meanwhile, said he wasn’t taking any chances. “Don’t make any mistake, this is an overwhelmingly Democratic city. No matter what happens Obama is going to do better than Romney, so you will see me at the train station every morning knocking on doors,” Golden said. “We have thousands of signs up, our office is full of people working the phones.”
Gounardes’ says his challenge is to connect Golden to the votes he has taken in Albany. “We have a state Senator who votes with upstate and Long Island Republicans 99.8 percent of the time and against Brooklyn,” Gounardes told the audience at the church.
“He’s an aggressive young man, but he doesn’t bring what he needs to to get things done,” Golden told Gotham Gazette. “His message has fallen on deaf ears and he is not going to be in management.”
Gounardes has also attacked Golden for missing a vote on microstamping — a technology that would stamp bullets fired by automatic handguns so that it would make it easier for police to trace bullets back to the guns that fired them. The technology is a favorite cause of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, among the premier patrons of Senate Republicans.
“Microstamping is a great idea,” said Golden, “but it needs to be a national law to be effective. Illegal guns aren’t made in New York. They come in from other states.”
Golden initially claimed he had a phone call that made him miss the vote. He has refused to tell interviewers what was so pressing.
“I don’t think the phone call had much to do with anything,” Golden told Liz Benjamin in 2010. “Had I have been on the floor, I would have voted â€no.’”
Golden has pushed legislation that would increase penalties for those who use guns in crimes but has been steadfast in his opposition to gun control legislation. When asked at the debate earlier this month whether he would support an assault weapons ban during the debate, Golden informed the audience member, “We already have a ban on assault weapons here in New York state.”
He went on to insist that Senate Republicans have put forward numerous proposals to crack down on illegal weapons but Assembly Democrats have refused to vote for them. All of the proposals had to do with increasing penalties for criminals who use guns in the commission of a crime.
“In 1991, we had 2,600 gun deaths,” Golden said. “This year it is going to be 500. That is still too many and we gotta do something. The only thing you can do is prosecute the bad guys and put them where they belong.”
This summer, under attack by Gounardes for his absence on the microstamping vote, Golden introduced a piece of legislation that would punish all gang members for community guns. "Gangs are a major problem in our courts and in our community and this is a way of going after those gang members,” Golden said at the time the bill was announced.
Gounardes has also focused on Golden’s voting record on women’s issues. When asked by Gounardes during the debate if he supported giving rape victims emergency contraception Golden seemed to agree, but Gounardes retorted, “Marty, you voted against that bill three times in Albany.”
Golden said at the debate that he voted against the equal pay bill because "it was flawed."
Women’s issues have become a touchpoint in the race after the press learned of an event Golden sponsored on etiquette for women. An advertisement for the event said it would help women learn about “handshakes, posture and feminine deportment.” Golden’s website said women who attended would learn to "sit, stand and walk like a model" and "walk up and down a stair elegantly.”
Gounardes poured it on and Golden cancelled the event. “This just goes to show that Marty Golden just doesn’t get it — either that or he lives in a cave and thinks 'Leave It to Beaver' is a new reality show,” Gounardes staffer Chris McCreight said in a statement at the time.
Golden’s spokesman defended the event until it was cancelled.
Perhaps the most tangible issue for Golden in this race is the reaction labor groups have had to his decision to cross a Communication Workers of America picket line last year.
Metal Lathers & Reinforcing Ironworkers Local 46 president John Skinner said in a statement, "When I heard that, I hoped we would have an opponent we could all support. Fortunately, we found that candidate in Andrew Gounardes. I trust he would never cross our picket line."
Golden said he crossed the picket line because he had to get work done for his constituents — and that it was the only way to do so. “I crossed a Verizon picket line because my phone had fallen in water. I crossed the line and exchanged the phone. I was out of communication,” he said.
Gounardes has also won major endorsements from the AFL CIO, the IBEW Local 3 and the 32 BJ SEIU, which could all turn out to be a lot of boots on the ground working to turnout votes.
But Golden still has the backing of many trades, including the police and fire unions. He says he is unconcerned about the groups that have backed Gounardes. “I’ve got about 99 percent of the unions,” Golden said. “I’ve got police, fire, 1199, most trade unions. You name it, I got it.”
Despite the number of fronts Gounardes is fighting on, the race may be out of his reach, since he has only about $155,000 in campaign funds to Golden’s $455,000. Senate Democrats are still in debt from their losses in 2010 and have been unable to bolster their candidate.
Meanwhile, Golden enjoys hefty support from Senate Republicans, individual donors as well as a number of business PACs. “We are gonna win this probably with 65 percent of the vote,” Golden said. “We are probably going to raise $300,000 at a fundraiser tonight and we have $400,000 in the bank.”
Gounardes said the race would come down to one issue: accountability. “This is about introducing Marty Golden to the voters,” he said. “Why vote against fair pay, emergency contraception, MTA budgets, school budgets? My job is to tell women he voted against the fair pay act, to tell union members he crossed the picket line. So many people think he is a Democrat but he votes as a conservative.”
As the debate at St. Philip's church wound down, supporters of Gounardes and Golden supporters converged on the front exit, forced to be next to each other after an hour or so of booing, haranguing and hissing at each other about their chosen candidate.
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Image of Golden and Gounardes, at debate in Brooklyn, provided by the Gounardes campaign.
NEW YORK — It was a showdown at Howard Beach last night between the two candidates vying for the 15th State Senate District seat.
The debate between Democratic incumbent Sen. Joe Addabbo and his Republican challenger, Councilman Erich Ulrich, was mainly substantive, but it had its quirks, too. The packed crowd at Our Lady of Grace parish was a mix of partisans and people who seemed legitimately torn that the two were challenging each other.
Each candidate was given the chance by moderators to defend themselves against negative mailers as well as to condemn mailers sent out by outside groups that attacked both men.
Addabbo defended himself against an attack made by an outside group saying, "I don't love parrots more than kids." Addabbo explained that he had introduced a bill in Albany about parrots at the request of a constituent but that he has two kids who he loves both. Both men decried the negative mailers that have flooded the district from PACS and said they wished they didn't exist.
During the lightning round, both men were asked to describe the other's campaign in one word. "Negative," Addabbo said. Ulrich paused and, with much gravitas, replied, "Dishonest."
Ulrich called the Democrats' control of the Senate in 2008 to 2010 an "abomination." Addabbo attacked Senate Majority leader Sen. Dean Skelos, saying Skelos did not have the people's interests in mind.
"You aren't running against Dean Skelos, you are running against me," Ulrich replied.
Ulrich insisted that he would be independent of the Senate Republicans and be able to deliver for his district, despite the majority's focus on upstate and Long Island issues saying, "They need me. I don't need them."
However, Ulrich has taken $10,000 from Skelos and $234,700 from the Senate Republican Campaign Committee and $250,000 from the New York State Republican Party.
When asked about campaign finance reform, Addabbo touted his work as a councilman reforming NYC's election process. However, he touted his support of casino gaming and his relationship with resorts world throughout the debate. Addabbo has received $10,000 from Genting New York, the force behind the proposed Queens convention center and casino.
Another major difference between the two was displayed when they were asked about The Dream Act. Ulrich said he supported "some version" of the act, while Addabbo said he didn't support it at all because people in his district can't find money to send their kids to college.
Both men also went to town on their differences on gun violence. Ulrich said it was a distortion that he wanted people running around the streets holding "bazookas" and said he felt microstamping was an unproven technology.
"The problem is not with the laws in New York but with the laws in other states," he said, insisting that illegal guns come into the city from states with laxer gun laws.
Addabbo said that he supports gun ownership, but wants an assault rifle ban because no one needs an "AK47" in their closet.
On hydraulic fracturing there were also stark differences. Addabbo painted the gas extraction process as a direct threat to Queens' business. "There have been fatalities," he said. He also joked that he couldn't go to Gino's (a local Italian joint with an excellent caprese salad) if their food was tainted by hydrofracking.
"I'm for clean drinking water, in case you are wondering," Ulrich said, before adding that he thought scientists should be given time to study the process. He also advocated testing the process in an area of New York where there are no major bodies of water.
Last night's debate was co-sponsored by Gotham Gazette's sister organization, Citizens Union, and the Queens Chronicle & The Forum Newsgroup.
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Addabbo and Ulrich posed for photos with local school children after the debate was finished. The two men are seen here just as the photo shoot ended. Photo by David Howard King.
NEW YORK — Michael Bloomberg's 2009 mayoral campaign worked to conceal $1.2 million in donations made in the days before voters headed to the polls, regulators say.
But the New York City Campaign Finance Board found that while the Bloomberg campaign's actions "contravened the spirit of disclosure," it could find no violation.
The board voted 3-to-1 to close the inquiry into Bloomberg's 2009 mayoral campaign yesterday. The mayor's office didn't respond to a request for comment.
But attorneys for Bloomberg's 2009 campaign said in papers released by the board that the allegations had no basis and should be dismissed.
In a sometimes pointed final report, the board slammed the Bloomberg campaign for taking advantage of a temporary loophole in election law to deliberately avoid public disclosure of the donations made on Oct. 30, and Nov. 2, 2009, to the Independence Party.
The money was intended to fund so-called "ballot security operations," poll-watching that some groups have criticized as potentially leading to disenfranchisement at the voter booth.
There is no evidence the money was ever spent on behalf of the mayor's campaign. John Haggerty, Jr., a Republican political consultant hired to oversee the ballot security initiatives, was convicted of stealing the money and using about $600,000 to buy a home.
In a review of extensive testimony from the criminal trial of Haggerty, the board found that top officials with the Bloomberg campaign were intricately involved in the "negotiations, financing and logistics of Haggerty's ballot security operation" and that they took deliberate actions to avoid having to make public the donations.
"The record before the board makes clear that [the Bloomberg campaign], with a stated intent to conceal the funding of its $1.1 million ballot security operation by 'do[ing] it on the outside,' moved to deprive the New York City electorate of the benefits of disclosure," the board report states.
The board's staff began looking into questions surrounding the donations to the Independence Party in February 2010, with Haggerty's trial generating "voluminous evidence and testimony" relevant to the inquiry, the report said.
The board also received a complaint from Gerald F. Kann, a political activist linked with the Green Party, urging a review of Bloomberg's donations. The board said that while the complaint "raises serious public policy consideration … it does not allege a violation of law upon which the board may grant relief."
However, the board said that it was "troubled" by the ability of Bloomberg to "make and conceal such payments in the first place." The money was donated to a party housekeeping account, which allow for unlimited contributions and few reporting requirements under state law. The board said such accounts are, "at best, hostile to the principles of fair play and transparency."
Richard Davis, an attorney, was the sole member of the city's Campaign Finance Board to vote against the motion to close the inquiry.
“I believe the evidence here warrants a notice of penalty for improper coordination and for making a payment for services designed to benefit the campaign," he said about his decision. "The issue then would be how much, if any, of the money was actually spent for the intended purpose rather than stolen.”
Read the complete report by the board below.
FBD 2012-1NEW YORK — The National Organization for Marriage, which is dedicated to limiting marriage to couples of the opposite sex and has enjoyed success in most states, is not giving up on New York, the biggest state to currently allow same-sex couples to marry.
The group is claiming the scalps of several legislators who voted for the bill in 2011 and lost primaries — and is pushing to knock off more in the November general election.
Most observers don’t see how same-sex marriage can be stopped in New York — 58 percent of registered voters supported it in a Siena poll in April 2011, including 45 percent of Republicans. But NOM hasn't given up. Far from it.
“If they passed it, they can reverse it," said Brian Brown, president of NOM, in an interview with Gotham Gazette. "Hopefully, [Senate Majority Leader] Dean Skelos will wake up and smell the coffee." Gov. Andrew Cuomo is also seen as an obstacle: "We’re going to need a better governor," Brown said.
But he conceded that the latter would "take some time" — more than the two years the group touted after the bill passed last year.
“We also hope the legislators will follow their own platitudes and give their constituents more say,” he said, arguing for the state Legislature to permit people to vote directly for constitutional prohibitions on same-sex marriage laws. Twenty-nine states have already done so, and 12 more ban it in law.
Meanwhile, NOM is putting its money where its agenda is. In the primaries alone, it spent well over $300,000 to defeat candidates who voted for same-sex marriage. Such a large expenditure for a group outside New York is unusual. The organization declined to respond to questions about how much it expected to spend for the general election.
Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, who shepherded the marriage equality bill through his house, said flatly, “The Assembly is not going to repeal." He emphasized that they "passed [the bill] five times" starting in 2007 before the Senate passed it last year. And Cuomo, who championed the new law and has seen his national prominence grow because of it, would surely veto any attempt to undo it.
But that doesn’t mean that some of those who voted for the bill have not paid a political price that may have repercussions for the movement to bring marriage equality to a vote in states such as Rhode Island, Maryland and Oregon, where activists on both sides are trying to sway legislators.
Political observers have looked to the results of the state’s 2012 primaries on Sept. 13 to learn what they say about the risks of voting for gay marriage when representing conservative districts. The results also raise the issue of the relative ability of pro-gay marriage groups to protect their allies and anti-gay marriage groups to defeat their opponents.
Of the four Republican Senators who voted for marriage equality:
Among Democrats who voted aye:
Campaigners for same-sex marriage are quick to point out that Huntley was under indictment (and pictured right before the elections in the city's tabloids wearing handcuffs); Rivera under an ethical cloud; and Alesi under fire for filing a personal injury lawsuit that many deemed frivolous.
But few would dispute that the marriage issue was high profile in the Grisanti, Saland, and McDonald races.
Mayor Mike Bloomberg, a late commer to the marriage equality cause (he came out for it in 2005 — the day he successfully appealed a court order to start issuing licenses to gay couples), donated heavily to the Republicans who voted for it and some of the Democrats (reserving his latest million-dollar donation to keeping Republicans in charge of the Senate). Cuomo offered his support to the four Republicans. Even Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Chelsea) said last year: “I don’t want to see them lose their seats.”
The Republicans also benefited from plutocrats such as Paul Singer, who has a gay son, and libertarian David Koch, who are fine with legislators voting for same-sex marriage as long as they are part of Republican majorities that do their bidding on their core agenda of deregulation and low taxes.
LGBT groups such as the Human Rights Campaign and the Empire State Pride Agenda also raised money for their newfound friends, but their ability to help win primaries for Republicans challenged from the right was complicated by the fact that none of the incumbents sought open endorsements from these groups and few of their members are active in the Republican Party in these districts.
Even the Log Cabin Republicans of New York State — an openly LGBT group — did not do formal endorsements of Saland and McDonald. They did endorse Grisanti and pro-marriage equality Republican Assemblywoman Janet Duprey, who won her primary.
HRC did not respond to a query about the level of troops they mobilized on behalf of marriage equality supporters in New York.
Lynn Faria, the acting director of the Pride Agenda, said, “We got involved in phone banking our supporters, donating staff time and direct financial support and helped the campaigns connect with our donors.”
She also said they had "more than 20 volunteers and a dozen seasoned Pride Agenda staffers on the ground" for the primary elections. They made an $11,000 donation to McDonald, $1,000 to Grisanti, and none directly to Saland, though “many of our supporters and board members did,” she said.
But compare that with NOM's efforts.
Brown said the organization "worked closely with folks disillusioned with Grisanti and McDonald and Saland."
"We will continue to do that. We spent a quarter million in the McDonald race. Some of it was issue ads. We highlighted his vote on same-sex marriage. On Saland we spent $50,000 to 100,000," he continued. "That race took people as a huge surprise. It was an uphill battle. Saland had been there for so long. No one expected Neil De Carlo to make it close, but he ran on it and made his position clear. We did automated calls. Email to our members. And that was the biggest issue in that race.”
The Pride Agenda did not run independent ads in these districts to help their Senate supporters, nor does it seem any LGBT group did.
Gregory T. Angelo, chairman of the Log Cabin, said that out of their 1,900 members in the state, they had “a couple of dozen on the ground” in these campaigns. They helped significantly with fundraising, but noted that while McDonald spent “an incredible amount of money” and lost, Saland’s close call may have had to do with the fact that “he had not had to fight in a primary in the past” and “did not do a lot of spending during the primary,” relying instead on “grassroots” and “a smart and aggressive absentee operation.”
Assemblyman O’Donnell said he was "disappointed and concerned about people who voted yes losing their seats."
"I am also concerned about groups that raised money on this issue not helping the people who got it passed,” especially Assembly Democrats who led the fight, he said.
Brian Ellner, a New York gay activist who worked with the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign in 2011 on the bill and helped raise big bucks especially for the four Republican Senators who voted for it, pointed out that "two of the three Republicans running who supported equality and fairness were re-elected."
"The one who lost was defeated by 100 votes on a record-low turnout. It demonstrates clearly you can do the right thing and survive," he said.
There is some question of how much McDonald even wanted to win. A poll conducted by Singer’s PAC showed McDonald with a 54 percent approval rating from all voters.
But when McDonald announced his support for the marriage equality bill in June 2011, he famously said, “You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn't black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing. You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, fuck it, I don't care what you think. I'm trying to do the right thing. I'm tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background. I'm trying to do the right thing, and that's where I'm going with this.” That kind of refreshing candor is usually reserved to former politicians.
NOM’s Brown is also predicting that Grisanti "is gone." "He’s going to lose the general,” he said.
Asked if he realized that their support for Conservative Swanick might deliver the seat to pro-gay Democrat Amodeo and help with a Democratic majority in the Senate, Brown said he didn't "really care."
“These Republicans betrayed their constituents and their Republican Party principles," Brown continued. Indeed, the Republican National Convention once again adopted a platform calling for a federal constitutional amendment limiting marriage to man-woman couples throughout the United States.
While both NOM and the LGBT groups are spinning the results of the primaries as victories for their respective sides, Paul Schindler, editor of the Gay City News who has covered this issue from its inception, said, “NOM came nowhere close to doing what they said they’d do — make heads roll. But the notion that no one can lose their seat for this vote is just not borne out. McDonald clearly did. Saland came close. And Jim Alesi probably made the decision to get out over it.
“NOM wants to overstate it and our side wants to keep saying you won’t lose. My concern is that community leaders need to be willing to take a hard look at this. We buy into the idea that the polls are moving in our direction and it [marriage equality nationally] is inevitable. But we lose all the referenda on it. We’ll know a lot more about those concerns on November 7th” — when four more states hold referenda on same-sex marriage.
Ellner is working on a social media campaign called The Four to win marriage equality in Maine, Washington and Maryland and to fend off an anti-gay marriage amendment in Minnesota.
In each of those places, statewide organizations are working for and against the referenda. National groups such as NOM are working to win them for man-woman marriage and HRC and Freedom to Marry are aiding the efforts to open marriage to gay couples.
O’Donnell said he believes New York’s passage of marriage equality was “a tipping point” for the country. The adoption of the law here was said to have heavily influenced President Obama decision this year to come out for same-sex marriage — a position he had held as a candidate for state Senate in Illinois years ago but abandoned when he ran for statewide and national office.
Even as the political struggle over same-sex marriage continues as a driving theme in local elections, it is also still playing out on the national level.
Obama’s Justice Department was in federal appeals court in Manhattan on Sept. 27 with the American Civil Liberties Union arguing for federal recognition of the marriage of New Yorker Edie Windsor, 83, widow of Thea Spyer. It is one of several cases the US Supreme Court has before it finishes this term. The case will determine if legally married gay couples should get federal rights denied them by the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, and whether the denial of marriage rights to Californians by Prop 8 in 2008 was constitutional.
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Andy Humm is the co-host of the weekly Gay USA cable TV show, a contributor to Gay City News, and a former city Human Rights commissioner. Image of National Organization of Marriage President Brian Brown by Fibonacci Blue, used under Creative Commons license.
NEW YORK — On a warm Sunday morning in September, a pastor at the The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ozone Park, Queens, speaks about the importance of being both a U.S. citizen and a leader for God. An American flag is perched just a few feet away.
While the sermon might be at the forefront of their minds, parishioners are unlikely to have forgotten that two members of their congregation are locked in a heated political battle. When they go home at night, they probably see their councilman’s commercials, where Councilman Eric Ulrich walks the streets of Queens talking about local business.
They’ve probably seen their state Senator, Jospeh Addabbo, at events across the district. It’s an uneasy feeling for a good deal of the parishioners here who say they wish the two men weren’t opponents.
“I wish they wouldn’t run against each other... but it is politics,” said Ruben Martinez, who has been an active member of the congregation for 16 years. He said he knows Joseph Addabbo Jr. through the Knights of Columbus and Erich Ulrich through the parish. “I’m up in the air about who to vote for,” he said.
The two men vying for the 15th State Senate District in Queens know each other fairly well beyond their shared congregation. As councilman and Senator, both men have appeared at political gatherings together despite being from opposite parties. They also attended the same school and live near each other — Addabbo in Howard Beach; Ulrich in Ozone Park. Each claims to be independently minded, and not bound by party loyalty.
But on the issues that matter to their community, they are mostly far apart. And each has been working to paint the other as someone who either believes the wrong things, or won't actually stand up for what they believe in.
The two men had strikingly different starts in life. Ulrich was the first in his family to earn a college degree when he graduated from St. Francis College with a degree in political science. He worked for the Transportation Security Administration and the New York City Board of Elections. In 2005, at age 20, he ran for a Republican district leader post and lost by 120 votes.
Then, in 2009, he ran and was elected to the Council, where he is the youngest member of the body. Ulrich was also chosen by the Mitt Romney campaign to be their chairman in New York City.
In contrast, Addabbo comes from a well established political family. His father, Joseph P. Addabbo Sr., served 13 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and became a noted critic of defense spending during the Reagen years.
Addabbo Jr. has sought to link his work as a lawmaker with his father’s legacy. After spending several years practicing law following his graduation from St. John’s University and Touro Law School, Addabbo Jr. ran for and won election to the City Council in 2001. He served for seven years before defeating 10-term Republican incumbent Sen. Serphin Maltese in 2008 to represent the 15th district.
Things have gotten ugly quickly in the race between the two men.
Ulrich has attacked Addabbo for “flip-flopping” his vote on same-sex marriage. Addabbo voted against the measure in 2009, but voted for it in 2011. Now, though, Ulrich says the vote shouldn’t even be an issue.
“It’s the law of the land,” he said. “I would not have voted for it if I was in the Senate at the time because of religious beliefs, but now that it is the law it is not going to be repealed and, if it came up for a vote, I would not vote for repeal.”
But Ulrich is willing to attack Addabbo forcefully on other subjects. “I think he has been a lap dog to his party. He went to Albany and forgot his constituents in Queens and raises taxes on small businesses,” he said.
Addabbo has stressed his experience and independence. “Listen, I watched Eric in the community and he has played my playbook,” the senator said. “I was involved with the local police council, community groups — that was my playbook before I was elected in 2002. But I have a lot more experience that he does. He has only been in public service for three years.”
Addabbo also emphasizes his time on the City Council as a formative experience that has prepared him for his service in Albany.
“He has not had to deal with anywhere near as bad budgets as I’ve had to deal with,” he said. “We had the worst city budget in history in 2002 and then, when I was elected to the Senate, we had the worst state budget in history. During tough times who do you want representing you?”
Ulrich has been successful at setting the terms of the debate so far. His commercials focus on small businesses in an obsessive manner.
As Liz Benjamin of the State of Politics noted, “Ulrich mentions the phrase â€small business’ once every six seconds on average,” and he has attacked Addabbo repeatedly on his record of helping small business.
Addabbo has responded with events in the district focused on business, like a small business walk and he has cited work to cut tax breaks to companies that outsource jobs overseas.
Addabbo may be playing defense because Ulrich’s campaign is much better funded. Ulrich has been the winner in fundraising, with his committee having raised nearly $299,000 in 2012. Addabbo’s committee has raised $150,311.
Ulrich has touted a National Federation of Independent Businesses report card that gave Addabbo a 50 percent score. The NFIB is a right-wing group that donates heavily to Republican candidates. The scorecard is based on seven bills the group supported. Addabbo voted for three of their measures, including a property tax cap; but he also voted against three, including a bill that would impede the state from imposing regulations on Voice over Internet Protocol services.
Addabbo also got a bad score from tne NFIB for missing a vote on Tier VI pension reform because he had walked out of the chamber in protest with the rest of the Senate Democratic conference.
But Ulrich has a list of his own disagreements with Addabbo’s votes. “He voted to repeal the STAR rebate” — a property tax rebate — “and then voted two years later to restore it. He voted for the MTA payroll tax which hurts small businesses — I would not have voted for it, and he supports more charter schools because he is beholden to the teachers union,” Ulrich said.
He also said he feels Addabboo “half-heartedly” supports stop-and-frisk. “It seems to be that he wants his cake and to eat it, too,” Ulrich said.
State Sen. Michael Gianaris, the head of the state’s Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, said the issue of small business and job creation actually favors Addabbo.
“There is only one candidate in this race that produced jobs, only one who actually supports a minimum wage hike and equal pay for women and is not an extremist right winger,” Gianaris said.
Scott Reif, a spokesman for the Senate Republicans, said Ulrich is viewed as an up-and-comer. “There is every indication that he has been a great councilman fighting for his community, and fighting for the middle class,” he said.
Addabbo notes that he has passed legislation to give tax credits to small business and has worked to lower utility bills for small businesses in his district. He also says that while Ulrich is focused on one important issue, his campaign has the experience to deal with a multitude of issues facing the people he represents. He points to job fairs he has held across the district; environmental issues facing the area; and concerns about rising rents.
Ulrich says that, unlike Addabbo, he won’t be beholden to his party. “They are in for a surprise. I told [Majority Leader Sen. Dean] Skelos I’m not going to be tapped on the shoulder and told how to vote,” he said.
For instance, Ulrich says he supports a hike in the minimum wage — which Skelos has labeled “a job killer” — saying it will help workers and communities.
Addabbo insists he is also not just a cog in his conference’s machine. “I am a proud Democrat but I won’t put party interests before my people,” he said. “My voting record is out there. You can see when I didn't vote with my conference because I didn’t think it was right for my people.”
As for Ulrich’s support of the minimum wage, Democrats point out that the councilman missed hearings on a resolution in support of it.
But Ulrich campaign spokeswoman Jessica Proud said that while he might have been absent from the committee meetings, he voted in favor of the resolution when it came before the full Council later that afternoon.
Ulrich, she said, “has been a consistent and vocal supporter of raising the state's minimum wage... . If anyone is trying to suggest otherwise, they are simply wrong.”
When asked if he believes Ulrich does not truly support a hike in the minimum wage, Addabbo declined to speculate, but noted that he supports it and may have supported it before Ulrich.
He did, however, point to another issue that makes him question Ulrich’s independence.
“When he actually said he is for hydrofracking and gave the same line Sen. Tom Libous delivered on the floor of the Senate about how it will benefit the upstate economy I was taken aback. Do you know what it would do to the people and businesses of this district if our drinking water was tainted? It would be a disaster. So if he is pulling the Republican line, I don’t know how independent he can be,” Addabbo said.
Regardless of Ulrich’s own beliefs, Democrats argue that keeping the Republicans in the majority in the state Senate will prevent votes on a minimum wage hike, tougher gun laws and other legislation.
But Ulrich has broken ranks with his party before — he supported full immigration reform and was the only Republican on the Council to vote for rent stabilization. “He certainly has been an independent voice, but our conference is made up a lot of different voices,” Reif said of Ulrich.
Another issue on both candidates’ minds is reforming the culture in Albany. Ulrich says he wants to see the state Board of Elections get tougher on candidates who violate state regulations.
“The state Board of Election needs to increase its enforcement,” he said. “It needs a robust financial enforcement unit … and if the laws are vague we need to change them. Candidates should not be able to use campaign donations as a piggy bank for themselves while they are in and out of office.”
Addabbo cites his time as the chair of the Senate elections committee, where he championed a number of bills that broadened voter access, as a sign of his commitment to reforming Albany and good government. But he would like to take election reform further than increasing enforcement rules. During his time on the Council, Addabbo worked on campaign finance reform and public financing of elections, and says he wants to use his experience on the issue in Albany.
“Unfortunately, both sides of the aisle like getting big corporate checks with little oversight and reporting,” Addabbo said. However, he says he hears there is motion in Albany on larger campaign finance reform, including possible movement on bills he has co-sponsored.
“The bottom line is we have to do this,” he said. “I implore the governor to go further because we won’t restore credibility to Albany without it.”
So who will be more independent, and who will stick to the party votes? Addabbo says he doesn’t think that is how voters will think about their choice between the two candidates in the end.
“My people don’t care about who is more Democrat or Republican, they don’t care about commercials or billboards. They care about, â€what are you gonna do for me?’” he said.
Regardless of what any candidate says is the most important issue of the race and how much they claim independence, each of them are beholden — at least financially — to partisan interests.
For instance, Ulrich received a donation fo $10,000 from Friends to Elect Dean Skelos, and the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee has given Ulrich $234,700. The New York State Republican Committee has given Ulrich $250,000.
Addabbo, on the other hand, received much of his campaign cash from the committees of his fellow Democratic Senators, such as Liz Krueger, Kevin Parker and Mike Gianaris. Friends of Mike Gianaris has given Addabbo over $10,000 in this election cycle.
Other major donors to his campaign include various trade unions and gambling interests. Genting New York LLC, the company that was involved in lobbying Gov. Andrew Cuomo to build a mega casino in Queens, has donated over $10,000 to Addabbo.
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Kamelia Kilawan contributed to this report.
ALBANY, N.Y. — Weeks of front-page scandal was not enough to drive voters to the polls in droves as yesterday’s primary saw most incumbents re-elected by comfortable margins.
In New York City, the Democratic enrollment is so strong that most legislative races are decided in the primary rather than in the general election. However, a few heated contests remain for the general election, including the race between Sen. Joseph Addabbo and Councilman Eric Ulrich. But the majority of city residents now know who will be representing them come next year.
Not every every scandal-ridden politician survived unscathed. Sen. Shirley Huntley, indicted for forging documents in a conspiracy to defraud the state, lost to Councilman James Sanders by 4,979 votes to 3,477. And Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera, accused of appointing unqualified lovers to government positions they were unqualified to do, lost her seat to Mark Gjonaj by 2,407 votes to 1,894, with two other challengers drawing votes in the hundreds.
In both races only a fraction of eligible voters made it to the polls. It’s also worth noting that both incumbents were the focus of many front page stories in the lead-up to the election.
In Brooklyn, pundits who expected those associated with scandal-plagued Assemblyman Vito Lopez would suffer brutal defeat were proven wrong as Sen. Martin Dilan easily bested challenger Jason Otaño. And, as of writing, the face of the Brooklyn reform movement, Democratic District Leader Lincoln Restler, was trailing the Lopez-backed Chris Olechowski by a few hundred votes. While it was Lopez’s machine doing the work, it’s clear voters weren’t inclined to punish everyone associated with the legislator.
As was expected, Assemblyman William Boyland was able to overcome the taint of his federal bribery indictment and the fact that he was one of the worst legislative records in the state thanks to the multitude of his challengers. Six challengers split the vote allowing Boyland another term in the Assembly — however long it might last.
In non-scandal voting news, Sen. Adriano Espaillat handily defeated his challenger and long-time rival Guillermo Linares. Espaillat took in 64 percent of the vote to Linares’ 36. Two major influences seem to have been at play in the race. One, Espaillat clearly improved his brand and name recognition with his failed run against Rep. Charles Rangel and, two, Espaillat’s tactic of painting of Linares as a traitor to their shared Dominican heritage because of his support of Rangel worked despite the brief backlash Espaillat suffered in the press.
Upstate races told some interesting stories as well. Nine-term incumbent Sen. Neil Breslin easily dispatched his challenger, Albany County Legislator Shawn Morse, in an ugly and personal race. The Gazette reported earlier this year that Morse had the support of the Independent Democratic Conference. The IDC is led by Sen. Jeffrey Klein, who leads the breakaway faction of Democrats that tend to vote with the Republican Majority on major legislation. Senate Republicans see the IDC as an insurance policy against any Democratic gains this November. The IDC funneled major financial support to Morse, but in the end it proved futile. The Breslin name is simply ubiquitous in Albany politics. Gov. Andrew Cuomo also took the rare step of endorsing Breslin. After declaring victory, Breslin said he hoped the IDC would consider coming back to the Democratic fold.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares won an ugly primary contest against Lee Kindlon. Soares has unique abilities to prosecute Albany legislators because of his Albany County jurisdiction. Soares drew the ire of Cuomo earlier this year when he refused to prosecute any of the Occupy Albany protesters who were camped out in parks next to the capitol.
Gay rights supporters who had been anxiously watching primary contests between Republicans who broke with party ranks and voted for same-sex marriage and their conservative challengers didn’t get a clear message after polls closed. In the 43rd State Senate District, Sen. Roy McDonald and challenger Kathy Marchione are separated by only a few hundred votes. About 1,000 absentee ballots will help to decide the race. Marchione has the backing of the Conservative Party.
Absentee ballots will also likely decide the 41st State Senate District contest between Sen. Steve Saland and Neil Di Carlo.
Saland not only broke ranks to vote for same-sex marriage, but was involved in crafting the bill so that other Republicans could feel comfortable voting for it. “The people in District 41 showed tonight that they want a socially and fiscally conservative state senator to represent them,” Di Carlo told reporters Thursday. “Sen. Saland has been desensitized to the liberal agenda.”
Meanwhile, Mark Grisanti who was expected to have a tough time keeping his seat in the 60th State Senate District, defeated challenger Kevin Stocker handily. Grisanti was the target of a graphic anti-gay flyer during the last week of the campaign. Stocker denied any involvement.
The National Organization for Marriage is touting victory despite the fact that two of the races are undecided and is even claiming that it was the issue of same-sex marriage that led to Huntley’s defeat — although Sanders didn’t have much to say on the issue during the campaign.
“The primary results were the beginning of what is sure to be a spirited and engaging campaign season leading up to the November general election,” the Empire State Pride Agenda said in a statement.
NEW YORK — Two incumbents facing corruption investigations — state Sen. Shirley Huntley and Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera — were voted out of office during their primaries yesterday.
Those upsets were among the few surprises in yesterday's election. Another incumbent under investigation, Assemblyman William F. Boyland, of the 55th State Assembly District, won by 37 percent of the vote, which was split by six challengers.
"Overall, the impact of yesterday's primaries in New York City was to reinforce the status quo," wrote Angelo Falcon, of the National Institute for Latino Policy, in his analysis of the election.
Below are the unofficial results from wire services for important races in New York City. Winners appear in bold. Incumbents are in italics.
State Assembly District 80 Dem - Primary
District 25
66 of 66 precincts - 100 percent
Nily Rozic 2,245 - 56 percent
Jerry M. Iannece 1,749 - 44 percent
District 33
71 of 71 precincts - 100 percent
Barbara Clark - 3,066 - 63 percent
Clyde Vanel 1,788 - 37 percent
District 38
55 of 55 precincts - 100 percent
Michael Miller - 1,441 - 71 percent
Etienne Adorno 580 - 29 percent
District 40
50 of 50 precincts - 100 percent
Ron Kim 1,136 - 27 percent
Yen Chou 974 - 23 percent
Ethel Chen 932 - 22 percent
Myungsuk Lee 619 - 15 percent
Martha Flores-Vazquez 521 - 12 percent
District 42
67 of 68 precincts - 99 percent
Rhoda Jacobs - 3,753 - 68 percent
Rodneyse Bichotte 1,778 - 32 percent
District 45
70 of 70 precincts - 100 percent
Steven Cymbrowitz - 1,774 - 54 percent
Ben Akselrod 1,530 - 46 percent
District 48
64 of 64 precincts - 100 percent
Dov Hikind - 3,021 - 84 percent
Mitchell Tischler 558 - 16 percent
District 54
76 of 77 precincts - 99 percent
Rafael Espinal - 1,979 - 65 percent
Juan Rodriguez 1,048 - 35 percent
District 55
92 of 92 precincts - 100 percent
William Boyland - 1,532 - 37 percent
Anthony Jones 610 - 15 percent
Roy Antoine 541 - 13 percent
Nathan Bradley 495 - 12 percent
Anthony Herbert 470 - 11 percent
David R. Miller 260 - 6 percent
Christopher Durosinmi 198 - 5 percent
District 57
92 of 92 precincts - 100 percent
Walter Mosley 4,295 - 63 percent
Olanike Alabi 2,078 - 30 percent
Martine Guerrier 493 - 7 percent
District 58
76 of 77 precincts - 99 percent
Nick Perry - 4,191 - 76 percent
Terry Hinds 1,340 - 24 percent
District 60
90 of 90 precincts - 100 percent
Inez Barron - 2,847 - 56 percent
Christopher Banks 2,280 - 44 percent
District 72
83 of 83 precincts - 100 percent
Gabriela Rosa 2,946 - 44 percent
Mayra Linares 2,305 - 34 percent
Melanie Hidalgo 1,039 - 15 percent
Ruben Dario Vargas 435 - 6 percent
District 74
96 of 103 precincts - 93 percent
Brian Kavanagh - 2,192 - 70 percent
Juan Pagan 924 - 30 percent
District 77
65 of 65 precincts - 100 percent
Vanessa Gibson - 2,837 - 90 percent
Anthony Curry 301 - 10 percent
District 78
48 of 53 precincts - 91 percent
Jose Rivera - 1,528 - 78 percent
Ricardo Martinez 434 - 22 percent
District 80
90 of 90 precincts - 100 percent
Mark Gjonaj - 2,407 - 52 percent
Naomi Rivera (i) 1,894 - 41 percent
Adam Bermudez 222 - 5 percent
Irene Rukaj 134 - 3 percent
District 82
110 of 110 precincts - 100 percent
Michael Benedetto - 2,960 - 89 percent
Egidio Sementilli 376 - 11 percent
District 84
77 of 77 precincts - 100 percent
Carmen Arroyo - 1,267 - 53 percent
Maximino Rivera 614 - 25 percent
Charles Serrano 529 - 22 percent
District 86
53 of 57 precincts - 93 percent
Nelson Castro - 2,193 - 84 percent
Richard Soto 409 - 16 percent
District 87
89 of 89 precincts - 100 percent
Luis Sepulveda 3,003 - 76 percent
Daniel Figueroa 969 - 24 percent
District 10
166 of 166 precincts - 100 percent
James Sanders - 4,979 - 57 percent
Shirley Huntley - 3,477 - 40 percent
Gian Jones 263 - 3 percent
District 16
153 of 153 precincts - 100 percent
Toby Ann Stavisky - 4,940 - 58 percent
John Messer 3,575 - 42 percent
District 17
163 of 166 precincts - 98 percent
Simcha Felder 6,345 - 83 percent
Abraham Tischler 1,336 - 17 percent
District 18
215 of 217 precincts - 99 percent
Martin Dilan - 6,679 - 67 percent
Jason Otano 3,303 - 33 percent
District 27
220 of 235 precincts - 94 percent
Brad M. Hoylman 7,376 - 68 percent
Thomas Greco 2,526 - 23 percent
Tanika Inlaw 868 - 8 percent
District 31
203 of 225 precincts - 90 percent
Adriano Espaillat - 9,902 - 64 percent
Guillermo Linares 5,566 - 36 percent
District 33
145 of 154 precincts - 94 percent
Gustavo Rivera - 4,364 - 70 percent
Manuel Tavarez 1,872 - 30 percent
District 15
164 of 164 precincts - 100 percent
Eric Ulrich 2,783 - 70 percent
Juan Reyes 1,217 - 30 percent
Bronx Civil Court District 2 Dem - Primary
399 of 408 precincts - 98 percent
Eddie McShan 8,828 - 60 percent
Juana Valentin 5,869 - 40 percent
Brooklyn Civil Court District 1 Dem - Primary
130 of 130 precincts - 100 percent
Richard Montelione 3,507 - 53 percent
Lara Genovessi 3,120 - 47 percent
Brooklyn Civil Court District 5 Dem - Primary
276 of 282 precincts - 98 percent
Steven Mostofsky 3,155 - 45 percent
Theresa Ciccotto 2,577 - 37 percent
Charles Finkelstein 1,277 - 18 percent
Manhattan Civil Court District 3 Dem - Primary
91 of 91 precincts - 100 percent
Lisa Sokoloff 2,440 - 55 percent
Olga Statz 2,031 - 45 percent
Surrogate Manhattan Dem - Primary
1,071 of 1,156 precincts - 93 percent
Rita Mella 24,674 - 60 percent
Barbara Jaffe 16,744 - 40 percent
____
Photo by Hawaii/Flickr, used under Creative Commons license.
It is a testament to the corruption-as-usual air of the state capital that three or more current incumbents facing challenges in Thursday's primary election could very easily be reelected only to find themselves removed from office or jailed in the coming year.
Are voters paying attention? Will they be sending future jailbirds to Albany, or will they put their faith in people with unfamiliar names who promise change?
Better not to blame the voters — they are likely feeling nauseous from the stink of scandal emanating from Albany, where members of New York’s vaunted ethics panel spent Monday morning jousting with each other over transparency instead of talking openly about what everyone who pays attention to the news already knows.
The scandal they weren’t allowed to talk about in public involves not only the one-time overlord of Brooklyn politics, Assemblyman Vito Lopez, but no less than three of the most powerful men in the state: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver who has ruled the Assembly with an iron grip for nearly two decades; the second-term comptroller, Thomas DiNpoli, who was appointed by his colleagues after his predecessor Alan Hevesi was jailed for corruption; and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who although up until now was scandal-free, served in the Senate Democratic conference with a number of ethically challenged colleagues.
None of those men face a vote by the electorate this year, but plenty of other scandal-clouded pols do.
Voters won’t just be deciding who to send to Albany. They'll also pick people to build out the structure of their county committees. Voters in Brooklyn will have the chance to strip some power away from Lopez. And a few countywide judicial races will let New Yorker’s decide who gets to dole out justice from the bench.
Here are a few highlights from the dozens of primaries playing out in the city.
Assemblyman William Boyland of the 55th State Assembly District is the poster boy for Albany corruption and dysfunction. He wrote no bills last year and made up for it by authoring three this year. He has had one of the highest absentee rates of any legislator — and saying he has had some legal trouble would be an understatement.
Boyland was arrested on federal bribery charges in November of last year, three weeks after being acquitted in a different case. He is accused of soliciting more than $250,000 in bribes, some of it which he planned to use to pay legal bills from the previous case.
Luckily for Boyland, he faces six challengers who could easily split the vote and allow him to keep his seat. Boyland will again likely be too busy dealing with legal issues to actually legislate.
Read the Gazette's coverage of the election: Assembly's Boyland Faces Tough Primary Challenge • Five Primary Races Worth Caring About • Family Values at Play in State Senate Race in the Bronx
Another incumbent, Asssemblywoman Naomi Rivera, has been labeled an “absentee Assemblywoman” by BoroBeat writer Bob Kapstatter, but her record in the community over the past seven years isn’t likely to decide her race against three challengers for the 80th State Assembly District.
Rivera has been the focus of a scandal surrounding her appointment of her boyfriend to a political position despite the fact that he had no qualifications. The scandal keeps deepening and the Bronx district attorney is investigating. But with three other names on the ballot — Adam Bermudez, Estrada Rukaj and Mark Gjonaj — Rivera may just squeak through the primary.
The fallout of the Assemblyman Vito Lopez sexual harassment scandal may help shape the race in the 17th State Senate District, where challenger Jason Otaño hopes to further tie 10-year incumbent and Lopez ally Martin Dilan to Lopez’s sinking ship. Dilan and his councilman son, Erik, have helped Lopez keep a reign on political positions in Brooklyn.
But Otaño has been accused of being interested in the race only out of political revenge. Rep. Nydia Velasquez faced a primary challenge from Erik Dilan earlier this year, and Otaño’s run is seen by many as retribution.
Otaño admits to initially considering a run for Council and speaks openly of his loyalty to Velasquez. He also had to move into the 17th district to challenge Dilan.
One-term Sen. Adriano Espaillat took a risk this year and challenged long term incumbent Rep. Charles Rangel for his Congressional seat. After a series of headline-grabbing mishaps at the city Board of Elections that saw the race grow tighter than initially reported, Espaillat decided to concede and run for his 31st State Senate District seat.
The man who wants to unseat him is Assemblyman Guillermo Linares — Espaillat’s long-time political rival. Espaillat has attacked Linares for being beholden to real estate interests and, in a recent flyer, charged that Linares “betrayed” Latinos by backing Rangel in the Congressional race. In spite of being criticized for the flyer, the message was tuned to voters in the largely Spanish-speaking district.
Rangel has endorsed Linares and his daughter Mayra, who is running to fill her father’s Assembly seat. Espaillat seems to be winning the endorsement wars, however, enjoying the support of most of his legislative colleagues and a rare endorsement from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
More Gazette election coverage: Second-Longest Running Show Now on Broadway is Uptown • How the State’s Political Scandals are Reshaping the Primaries
Mike Miller faces a stiff challenge in Queens' 38th State Assembly District to his three-year incumbency from challenger David Adorno, a staffer for Councilman Robert Jackson. Miller has had to familiarize himself with new communities after redistricting reshaped the 38th district. Meanwhile, Adorno is trying to paint Miller as part of the old guard.
Also in Queens, seven-term Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky is battling John Messer, a former project manager for the Economic Development Corp., for the 16th State Senate District that was greatly redrawn during the redistricting process to better represent the Asian population.
Messer is trying to capitalize on the district’s Asian population with campaign material that spotlights his Asian wife. Stavisky has tried to paint Messer as a Republican, noting his contributions to Republican candidates. Messer has contributed a great deal of his own money to bankroll his candidacy.
Stavisky enjoys a large base of labor support and, like Espaillat, was endorsed by the governor.
Sen. Shirley Huntley may have the worst time getting relected this year than any other scandal-plagued incumbent. Rumors of misdeeds surrounding her nonprofit have lingered for the past two years — giving a viable challenger a chance to prepare for the race in the 10th State Senate District seat in Queens.
It didn’t hurt Councilman James Sanders chances that Huntley was indicted and arrested earlier this month for committing fraud in a conspiracy to defraud the state, or that The New York Post ran a picture of Huntley in handcuffs on its front page. Huntley should have had a major advantage going into the election, since she was first elected in 2006, has brought home major pork funding to her district and had seniority on a number of committees.
But her arrest has upended all that, leaving her stripped of her committee positions and her reputation further tarnished. Redistricting also altered the district so that it now includes parts of Sanders’ council district. Sanders has called on Huntley to step down to deal with her legal troubles. She has pledged to fight the charges.
Rodneyse Bichotte has an uphill battle in her challenge for Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs' 42nd State Assembly District seat in Brooklyn. Jacobs was first elected to the Assembly in 1978 — that is a whole lot of incumbency and comes with a whole lot of perks: fundraising know-how, name recognition and the rest.
Bichotte has made inroads with the district's immigrant population, but many insiders are skeptical that the young electrical engineer will be able to topple someone with Jacobs’ legacy.
Among a handful of noteworthy Democratic primaries for countywide judicial elections, the standout race is in Manhattan for the job of Surrogate Court judge, overseeing sometimes bruising cases involving wills and estates.
The candidates, Barbara Jaffe and Rita Mella, are competing for a 14-year term on the bench. Jaffe is an acting New York State Supreme Court Justice, who has worked on the matrimonial bench. Mella is a county Civil Court judge, a position she won in a general election in 2006.
The New York City Bar Association, which evaluates candidates, has approved both. The Independent Judicial Election Qualification Commission, described as a "network of independent screening panels for judicial candidates," has rated both candidates as "highly qualified."
The New York Times also weighed in on the contest, picking Mella over Jaffe.
"Both contenders are thoughtful and hard-working, and both support court reforms. In a close call, our endorsement goes to Ms. Mella. We are impressed by her solid grasp of the office, excellent people skills and obvious passion for the court’s work," the newspaper wrote.
There are also a number of primary elections for 14-year term Civil Court judgeships in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan.
A group of reform-minded Brooklyn Democrats have mobilized to rival the power of the Kings County Democratic political machine personified only days ago by boss Lopez (until he resigned from the job amidst sexual harassment allegations) .
The reformers are running candidates for unpaid positions within the party structure in a bid to change it from the inside.
District leaders — also known as state committee persons — are unpaid officials elected every two years to represent each state assembly district throughout the city. While the job is rarely talked about except by party insiders, many politicians start their careers as district leaders. Each district has a male and a female district leader.
One race to watch is in Brooklyn, where District Leader Lincoln Restler, 28, was elected by a slight margin two years ago, and has used his position to rival the Lopez-led establishment. Restler is running for re-election against a Lopez-backed candidate, 65-year-old Chris Olechowski, a Greenpoint activist.
Read the Gazette's coverage of the battle to defeat Brooklyn's political machine.
The position of county committee is sometimes considered a stepping stone for anyone wanting to get involved in the inner workings of local party politics. County committee members are supposed to attend meetings called by the county chair, debate issues on party stances and help to select candidates for higher office.
According to the Grassroots Initiative, a nonprofit that provides information for people considering a run for public office, each election district has two-to-four elected county committee positions. The county committee contains representatives in a county party for about 700-to-1,000 registered voters within an election district. But thousands of these positions are vacant.
The process for running for county committee requires petitioning within the election district. The New Kings Democrats, a Brooklyn political reform club that also backs Restler, has recruited 260 local Brooklynites this year to run for county committee positions, a few of whom will run in contested races.
The polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday. Don't know if you are registered? Call 1-888-VOTE-NYC
The city's Board of Elections is the go-to spot for information on voter registration and poll sites. They recently updated their website, too. The city's Campaign Finance Board has a comprehensive list of all the races, plus links to a sample ballot and voter registration lookup.
Good government groups are working to inform voters, too. Citizens Union, the Gazette's sister organization, compiled a voter directory to competitive races. So did The League of Women Voters, which can be found here.
If you're a registered Republican, Democrat, Independent or Working Families party member, you can vote. If not, you'll have to wait until the general election. The goal of the primary election is to give party-affiliated voters the opportunity to pick their candidates.
The polls are located throughout the city, and you can find yours using this handy locator offered by the city's Board of Elections.
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David Howard King is Gotham Gazette's state government editor in Albany. Additional reporting contributed by Kamelia Kilawan and Cristian Salazar in New York City. Map links courtesy of the Center for Urban Research at the Graduate Center, CUNY.