State Senate (Queens):
SD 10: Two years ago, voters in the District did the State a favor by ousting the deeply disturbed Ada Smith for the adequate Shirley Huntley, significantly raising the State Senate’s level of mental health. This year, Huntley is being challenged by former Councilman Allen Jennings (who managed the miracle of making Tom White look preferable to something). Compared to Jennings, Ada Smith looks like Dr. Phil. Despite the fact that my specialty is writing humor, I beg voters here to return Huntley.
SD 15: This is a crucial pick-up target for Senate Dems; Republican Serf Maltese must go. Albert Baldeo has spared us the agony of a primary by dropping out, but he did so too late to get his name off the ballot. Vote for Joe Addabbo now, and again in November.
SD 16: Toby Stavisky is a smart pol, who serves her constituents well. Her opponent, Bob Schwartz, seems to be a GOP plant to soften her up for a fall campaign against a well-financed Republican. Vote for Stavisky.
State Senate (Bronx):
SD 33: Spare yourself the worry about who’s under indictment; if Pedro Espada is currently free from such worries, it is only a matter of time before he faces them again. It can be argued, in fact, that the legal process is the only option which may improve the quality of this district’s representation. Meanwhile, it is clear that, while incumbent Efrain Gonzalez sometimes rents himself to Republicans, his opponent, Former Senator Espada, is capable of selling himself to them outright; he‘s done so before. Also of note is Espada’s continued connection with Fred Newman and Leonora’s Fulani’s anti-Semitic cult. Hold your nose and vote for Gonzalez.
Assembly (Bronx): I’ve largely concluded that the internal war here is worthy of a plague on all houses. If Stanley Schlien is the personification of reform, maybe it’s time to take a second look at the City’s worst hacks. However, I make two exceptions.
AD 79: While I was once a fan of Mike Benjamin (AD 79), he lost me with his idiotic and offensive speech against gay marriage. However, Benjamin’s loss to a Bronx-machine clone is too high a price to pay. There are precious few Assemblymembers as independent and unpredictable as Benjamin, and the odds of obtaining more are far too slim. So, vote for Benjamin.
AD 85: In a disgraceful attempt to circumvent Democracy that occurs far too often, incumbent Luis Diaz got himself a new job after petitions were already filed, and a Committee on Vacancies (a mechanism that makes a County Committee vote look democratic) picked Nelson Castro to run in his pace. Mr. Castro has received subsequent notice for his laudable voter registration drive–15 voters alone in his own apartment! The only other candidate who filed for this seat is Mike Soto, and I would prefer not to learn anymore about him since it might disturb my moral clarity. Vote for Soto.
Assembly (Brooklyn):
40 AD: By all accounts Ken Evans is a great guy, but my priorities here are beating the choice of Charles Barron (his wife Inez) and the choice of convicted former Assemblywoman Diane Gordon’s crowd (Nathan Bradley); Earl Williams seems in the best position to do both.
42 AD: Rhoda Jacobs is a lovely person and a great humanitarian, who may be the last Jewish pol to have formed her ideals in the Labor Zionist and Civil Rights movements. She stands, and has always stood for, all the right things I was taught to believe in as a child. She survives in an overwhelmingly black district, without putting on free concerts or dressing in an ice cream suit, because she cares and everyone knows it. Someday, some opponent will make the case against her, but so far no one has.
59 AD: Alan Maisel represents the best sort of pol the Democratic organization tends to offer on a good day. He is intimately involved with the community and delivers for their needs, enabling him to vote his conscience. Go Alan!
Democratic State Committee (Manhattan)
69th AD: In 2000, incumbent Bob Ginsberg endorsed Ralph Nader for President. Fuck him! The name of Ginsberg’s opponent is Laurence Hirsch–that’s all I need to know.