Last night members of the Ben Franklin Democratic Club held an endorsement meeting for the 33rd State Senate District that was put off from the previous endorsement meeting in late May. Three of the four candidates were present, and gave short presentations as to why the Ben Franklin Club members should cast a ballot for them over the other candidates. Incumbent 33rd State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. was a no show, and Councilman G. Oliver Koppell was adamant in saying that Pedro Espada Jr. must be defeated in this years election.
Candidate Dan Padernacht was up first, and said that he was a product of the local schools, he is a lawyer, is a member of Community Board #8 where he now chairs the Traffic and Transportation Committee. When asked he said that he gave in 4,672 signatures and has raised $20,000.00 so far with none of it coming from any unions, and had the endorsement of his mother.
Candidate Dan Padernacht was up first, and said that he was a product of the local schools, he is a lawyer, is a member of Community Board #8 where he now chairs the Traffic and Transportation Committee. When asked he said that he gave in 4,672 signatures and has raised $20,000.00 so far with none of it coming from any unions, and had the endorsement of his mother.
Candidate Gustave Rivera was second, saying that the 33rd district is ill served by the current senator, Pedro Espada Jr. Rivera said that jobs, economic development, rent stabilized apartments (of which he said he lives in one), and health care are his priorities, and that he would have voted for increasing the cap on charter schools. Mr. Rivera said that he handed in 6,200 signatures, and has raised $63,000.00. He rattled off several supporters, but when asked about a former employer State Senator Andrea Cousins Mr. Rivera said that he would not expect her to endorse against a fellow sitting State Senator.
Candidate Fernando Tirado was third and last to speak. Tirado said that he was asked by the community to run, has a grass roots organization, is a man of integrity that looks at the needs of the people, and that he belives in democracy.
There was a fifth option open to the Ben Franklin Club members, that being to check off the No Endorsement line on the ballot.
When the 53 voting members present cast their ballots the results were- Pedro Espada-0, Dan Padernacht-8, Gustave Rivera-43, Fernando Tirado-0, and No Endorsement-2.
While this was a club endorsement, it must be noted that over 90 percent of the 53 members who voted do not reside in the 33rd State Senate District.
Also on hand was Bill Samuels of the New Roosevelt Initiative (which has endorsed candidate Gustave Rivera) who said that "If we don't beat Pedro Espada it will send a bad message to the voters". Samuels added that the three items on the NRI agenda is 1- to build the best state party, 2- to have the best legislature, 3- to have the best state constitution, all while saying that the Cuomo agenda is right on the target.
It looks like Mr. Gustavo Rivera will be standing side by side with Andrew Cuomo in the campaign to oust Pedro Espada from the 33rd State Senate seat, and maybe the Democratic Party?
1 comment:
Robert:
My position on charter schools was misstated in the post. I strongly believe that public resources should be directed to public education system so as to serve the largest number and broadest range of New Yorkers. This is best done with public schools.
I did note last night that I would have voted in favor of the recent Senate bill expanding charter schools in New York State only because it took into consideration many of the concerns that I have about charter schools in general, including not granting new charters to for-profit companies, providing the state comptroller auditing authority over them and having a mechanism in place to negotiate shared spaces where public and charter schools are sharing a space.
In a nutshell, state education resources should be used so as to benefit the most students.
Thank you for this opportunity to clarify this important point.
-- Gustavo Rivera
Candidate for State Senate
Post a Comment