MARCH 19 PRESS CONFERENCE INCLUDES SEN. RIVERA, TENANT LEADERS & 2 CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES
Two Bronx tenant leaders, State Senator Gustavo Rivera and two candidates for City Council in the March 23 special election, Mino Lora and Elisa Crespo, are holding a press conference at 11 a.m. Friday, March 19, to protest the attempt by wealthy real estate interests to elect candidates they consider more friendly and oppose the Latino candidates in each race pledged to strongly support tenants. Wealthy outside special interests have also opposed Sen. Rivera.
There are strict limits on how much candidates can spend during a special election, but by using separate committees, special interest groups can spend unlimited amounts. Real estate backed committees have already spent tens of thousands of dollars supporting candidates in the campaigns for City Council in Districts 11 and 15.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
State Senator Gustavo Rivera seems to have forgotten that it was $250,000.00 dollars of outside money given to him in 2010 from Lieutenant Governor candidate Bill Samuels that won him his state senate seat. This reporter had Dan Padernacht who was running against Gustavo Rivera and incumbent State Senator Pedro Espada picked as the winner in the 33rd State Senate race in 2010. Padernacht was receiving tremendous pressure however from local elected officials Oliver Koppell (who is coincidentally supporting Padernacht's City Council opponent Jesica Haller), and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (who coincidentally is supporting his son Eric Dinowitz in the same City Council race) to withdraw from the state senate race so Gustavo Rivera could win for the good of the Democratic Party.
After speaking to Dan Padernacht in 2010 as to why he withdrew from the 2010 State Senate race his answer was that he was under tremendous pressure from the local elected officials, and even the New York State Democratic Party to withdraw so then candidate Gustavo Rivera could defeat rouge incumbent Senator Pedro Espada for the good of the Democratic Party. Padernacht added that he could not compete with all the money candidate Gustavo Rivera was receiving from outside sources.
I was with then State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. Primary night 2010, and five minutes after the polls closed Diaz Sr. said to me, "The vote is coming in heavy in the north part of the district, it looks like I am going to lose an amigo friend". Diaz Sr. was referring to the Four Amigos of which he and Espada were a part of, which gained them extra clout and resources so they would not join the Republican minority to change the balance of power in the state senate. That vote was the drop down vote from the landslide victory of new State Attorney General Eric Schniderman which would have gone to Dan Padernacht that would have made him the new State Senator from the 33rd District.
My how we have changed over the years State Senator Gustavo Rivera.
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