Candidates for the special election next week to replace Sheldon Silver are looking for volunteers.
If you’re interested, contact Coop Village Organizer David Weinberg at 917-232-4917 or email him at dmweinberg1@gmail.com for more information and to schedule a time to volunteer.
There are two Democrats on the ballot for state assembly on April 19 — though one of them is on the Working Families line — so there’s been some intrigue around endorsements.
At our candidates forum last week, Working Families Party candidate Yuh-Line Niou announced endorsements from prominent establishment Democrats in the Bronx and Queens, seemingly highlighting her opponent’s criticism that she’s parachuting in from outer boroughs with no LES street cred of her own. Since then, Niou has picked up more local endorsements, from our State Senator Daniel Squadron and neighboring Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh.
Despite being the official Democratic candidate, Alice Cancel has had a hard time picking up endorsements from Democratic elected officials. (Even her current boss, Comptroller Scott Stringer, has endorsed Niou, which Cancel called a “back-room deal.”) But this week councilwoman Rosie Mendez, a Cancel backer from the start, persuaded her colleague Margaret Chin to join her in endorsing Cancel. But there’s a catch: Chin supports community board 3 chair Gigi Li, who is already running for this seat for the September primary. So Chin’s endorsement lasts only until April 19; after that, even if Cancel wins, Chin says she’ll support Li.
The New York Times has been editorializing against Sheldon Silver for years, even endorsing his primary opponent Paul Newell in 2008. So it was no surprise that the paper this weekend backed Niou given that Cancel’s nomination has been credited (somewhat) to the support of Silver’s wife and chief of staff and other members of the Grand Street establishment. The Times called Cancel “a Silver apologist” and called for voters to reject “manipulators, hacks and cronies” and “disciples of the status quo who promise to reform the state government but never do.”
We had a great crowd in the community room last night — standing room only — for candidates Alice Cancel and Yuh-Line Niou (Lester Chang cancelled). Ed Litvak moderated, and members of the audience asked several pointed questions about a range of neighborhood and policy issues. Below are just a few excerpts from a lively debate.
The three main candidates for state assembly will meet for the first time this Tuesday at East River Coop to debate the issues and make a pitch for your support.
Tuesday, March 29
7:30 – 9:00 PMEast River Coop Community Room
477 FDR Drive (Section M)
In less than four weeks, we will have the chance to elect our first new representative in Albany in almost 40 years. Make an informed choice when you vote on April 19 by joining the candidates and your neighbors this Tuesday.
Yesterday the Post ran an article saying that Cancel “appears to be in hiding” citing a few sources — and political opponents — who claim she has not been campaigning for the special election on April 19.
Cancel replied today with a string of tweets from her little-used handle, explaining that an unspecified illness has kept her from campaigning:
I want to state that I am not in hiding. Unfortunately, I have been sick and unable to keep to the intense campaign schedule required of all candidates participating in the special election. So simply put, I’ve been trying to balance my health needs with that of the campaign.
I am working diligently going door to door to speak to my neighbors about my qualifications and commitment to the district that I lived in for 40 years and represented, in part, for 24 years as the Democratic District Leader.
Meanwhile, in a bit of political mischief, someone has registered domain names like alicecancel.com and cancelforassembly.com and redirected those URLs to the Post article. The Post claimed not to be able to find an Alice Cancel website; I admit I could not either until the Lo-Down pointed me in the right direction: alicecancel.businesscatalyst.com.
Finally, the New York Observer today highlighted the involvement of one of Sheldon Silver’s staffers in Cancel’s campaign: Monica Guardiola, who worked as Silver’s Hispanic liaison, is Cancel’s treasurer and scheduler. But Guardiola also has her own ties to Cancel through the Lower East Side Democratic Club, where she is president and Cancel has been district leader for 26 years.
It will be interesting to see in the coming weeks whether Cancel’s opponents can credibly link her to the convicted former speaker … and whether the connection will hurt or help her on April 19.
Expect a lot of heated campaign mailings over the next few weeks ahead of the April 19 special election for NY state assembly. A race expected to go to the Democrat now has two Democrats running — Alice Cancel on the Democratic line, and Yuh-Line Niou on the Working Families line backed by big unions like the United Federation of Teachers, SEIU-32BJ, and the Hotel Trades Council.
In her first mailing this weekend, Niou highlights an article in the New York Times that linked Cancel to Sheldon Silver and his chief of staff Judy Rapfogel (an East River cooperator), casting a shadow on the Democratic selection process. Niou backed out of that process at the last minute — just hours after herself meeting with Grand Street’s Truman Democratic Club — having already received the Working Families nomination that would guarantee her a spot on April’s ballot.
The mailer is intended to push Niou’s anti-corruption bona fides, stating: “Albany’s corruption does more than erode our trust — it hurts our families and undermines our schools and seniors, our tenants and taxpayers.” Niou takes a position in favor of stripping pensions from corrupt politicians, a good-government reform facing an uphill battle in Albany, and highlights Cancel’s priase of Silver, convicted in December on federal corruption charges, as a “hero.”
The mailer also includes an endorsement by John Liu, former NYC Comptroller, whose campaigns for Comptroller and Mayor were tainted by illegal fundraising practices. Which I guess I’m pointing out just to remind myself that integrity, like beauty, can be in the eye of the beholder.
Update Sunday: At an event today in East River Coop, Yuh-Line Niou described in more detail her decision to drop out of the Democratic convention last month. She said the meeting she had the morning of the convention was not with the Truman Club, but was a meet-and-greet scheduled weeks earlier with some Democratic committee members. Niou says she had decided three days before to exit the Democratic party process after she witnessed first-hand the trading of committee spots among candidates; in particular, the influence of Silver loyalists, in her opinion, would cast a shadow on whoever emerged as the party nominee.
A fourth candidate has entered the race on the Green Party line: Dennis Levy is a longtime AIDS activist and president of the New York State Committee to Legalize Marijuana. Here’s Levy’s announcement video:
Finally, keep in mind that this special election will quickly be overshadowed by the campaign for September’s primary for the same seat. Democrats Paul Newell, Jennifer Rajkumar, and Gigi Li all lost the closed-door nomination fight last month but have promised to run a full campaign in the fall.
Yesterday’s New York Times looks at the special elections in Manhattan and Long Island to replace convicted felons Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos and finds a key difference: no potential Skelos successor is willing to stick up for him, while the Democratic candidate to replace Silver has called him a “hero” and dismisses his conviction on federal corruption charges as something “in his private life.”
It’s a sign that Silver’s reputation as a defender of the community — in particular, a reliable supplier of state funds to local charities and public projects — may withstand the revelations that he was eager to leverage his office for personal profit.
Since the moment Sheldon Silver was convicted of federal corruption charges in December, we’ve been without a representative in the New York Assembly. On April 19, voters of the 65th assembly district will go to the polls to elect someone to fill out Silver’s term — and now we know who the candidates are going to be:
Niou came into the meeting on the wings of the Working Families nod and endorsements from NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer and former Comptroller John Liu. But during her short speech before the vote, Niou withdrew from consideration citing the undemocratic nature of the selection process. She remains on the ballot in April on the Working Families line.
Paul Newell, who ran an unsuccessful primary against Sheldon Silver in 2008, had a spirited presence at the committee meeting, with supporters and volunteers waving signs. But he was battling for support within his own Democratic club, Downtown Independent Democrats, with his fellow district leader, Jennifer Rajkumar, also a candidate. Rajkumar ran an unsuccessful primary against City Councilwoman Margaret Chin in 2013. Chin, meanwhile, endorsed CB3 chair Gigi Li, who received a total of zero votes on Sunday.
After April’s special election, everyone who wants will get a chance to run for a full term in September’s regular primary and November’s general election.
Here are some notable links to news on the race:
Democratic Committee members will meet this Sunday to designate a nominee for the April 19 special election to fill Sheldon Silver’s vacated seat in the state assembly. Given our district’s high percentage of registered Democrats, their pick will likely become our next representative in Albany.
There’s no official sign-up sheet for candidates, but the Lo-Down has been tracking potential contenders. Notably, there is no candidate from Grand Street, and the local Truman Club — one of four major Democratic clubs in the district — has not endorsed any of the people currently seeking the party designation.
Committee members will meet Sunday starting at 2:00 at the Manny Cantor Center on East Broadway. After nominations, ballots will be taken until one candidate reaches a majority. After each ballot, the lowest vote-getter will be dropped from the next ballot.
