Team Diaz 2013 Left - 15th City Council Candidate Rev. Joel Bauza, Senator Ruben Diaz Sr., Mayoral candidate Erick Salgado, and 11th City Council candidate Cheryl Keeling.
The
New York Hispanic Ministers led by State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz
Sr. held a breakfast fundraiser to benefit their announced candidate
for mayor Reverend Erick Salgado of Brooklyn. Over 150 clergy members
from all over New York City came to the Bronx to help Senator Diaz
raise money for mayoral candidate Salgado. Diaz Sr. is a veteran of
many Bronx elections for District Leader, City Council, and State
Senate. His son Ruben Diaz Jr. has won elected office as an
assemblyman and now is the Bronx Borough President. Lately due to
the changes in the state senate with the passage of legislation that
goes against the moral principles of Senator Reverend Diaz and others
in the clergy, the New York Hispanic Ministers have joined together
to come up with candidates who have the same beliefs that they do.
The
master of ceremonies for the breakfast was Bishop Luis Bonano. In
attendance also were the Hispanic Ministers choice for the 11th
City Council District Ms. Cheryl Keeling, and 15th
City Council District Reverend Joel Bauza. 15th
Council candidate Rev. Joel Bauza spoke first about the importance of
contributions and how they are matched 6 to 1 by the Campaign Finance
Board to level out the playing field. There are limits on how much is
matched, and that is the key. Senator Diaz then spoke on how it has
been voting for Democrats in the past no matter who they were and
sometimes no matter where they stood on certain topics. Those topics
would never become legislation in the past, but now have. Diaz Sr.
said “it's about time people voted our way, and for our candidates
which includes Erick Salgado for Mayor”. When he introduced
Democratic mayoral candidate Erick Salgado Senator Diaz handed him
his check for $1,000.00.
Salgado
spoke at length on what is wrong with the city and how he would be a
mayor of all five boroughs, not just an area of lower Manhattan. He
wants to restore the police force to past levels, and spoke of being
stopped by the police but not frisked after he identified himself.
Salgado also spoke on the poor condition of the education system in
the city that he says is failing the children. He wants to support
small business, and reduce the government bureaucracy now in place.
Salgado added that he has support from others than only Hispanics,
which include Orthodox Jews, and the Russian community in Brooklyn
who are supporting him. There was even a reporter from a Russian
newspaper covering the event. He said these are the people who
believe in the same moral values that we do.
I
asked Reverend Salgado about the candidacy of former Bronx Borough
President Adolfo Carrion, which Salgado said would not hurt him. I
continued that Carrion might not affect the Democratic primary, but
in the November election he could steal enough votes from the
Democratic candidate for the Republican candidate to win. Then when I
asked Rev. Salgado if he would support the winner of the Democratic
primary if he did not win he did not answer, and said that he would
win adding that he would also be the candidate of the Conservative
Party. I called Bill Newmark the Bronx Conservative Party Leader who
said that while Rev. Salgado will be getting the endorsement of the
Bronx Conservative Party that two other county organizations would
need to also endorse him to allow the five borough New York City
Conservative Party to have Rev. Salgado on their line. Chairman
Newmark also told me that it looked like New York State Conservative
Party Leader Mike Long was trying to convince three of the other
borough Conservative leaders to endorse one of the Republican
candidates for mayor.
Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr. at the microphone as his 15th city council candidates Rev. Joel Bauza 15th and Cheryl Kelling 11th Council districts look on.
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