Today, Assembly member Ron Kim met with Council member Jumaane Williams in Flushing and officially announced his support for Williams' campaign for Lieutenant Governor. The two elected officials held a roundtable with prominent members of the community at Mulan Restaurant and invited local media outlets to the event. Assemblyman Kim and Councilman Williams introduced themselves and spoke on the importance of the upcoming September 13 primary election, and then fielded questions from the community members and reporters.
Councilman Williams thanked the Assembly member for his official endorsement and talked about his candidacy and platform. One of the major topics that he emphasized included the need to help small businesses, nonprofits, and everyday tenants deal with rapidly rising rent and costs. The Councilmember made it clear that the problems of gentrification and increasingly exorbitant cost of living in New York were things he had long fought as a community activist, and they represented issues he has continued to speak on as an elected official.
Both he and Assemblyman Kim praised the economic resilience of areas like Flushing, one of the few places which, unlike many other neighborhoods, remained largely unaffected and even continued to develop during the 2008 financial crisis. They each acknowledged the importance of assisting mom-and-pop shops, a long-standing cause for the Assembly member.
When asked about the SHSAT issue, a contentious topic among many in the Asian American community, Williams pointed out that he himself was a graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School, one of the Specialized High Schools. He stated that he was against getting rid of the test, and acknowledged that it played an important role in him being accepted into the first-rate school. Instead, he pointed to the systemic issues of segregation and uneven distribution of resources that plagued the city's entire education system.
He stated that in this, as in many other issues, instead of pitting communities against each other, it was far more important ensure all children had better access to a first-rate education. He and Assemblyman Kim noted that these and other recent issues seemed to wrongly place their two communities against each other. It was far more important, they noted, that their communities worked together to "expand the pie" of resources for all people.
Williams promised to embrace a more active, progressive and – if needed – independent role if elected as Lieutenant Governor. He noted that instead of just "ribbon-cutting", the role entailed many important executive duties, which he believed the current Lieutenant Governor did not always take seriously. These include serving as the President of the State Senate, sometimes as a tie-breaking vote, and even Acting Governor if the current one was incapacitated or for whatever reason left office. As the event came to a close, the Councilmember thanked the attendees for meeting with him and praised the unique and integral role of Queens' Asian American community. He noted that his own family were immigrants from the Caribbean, and that the two communities shared much in common.
Assemblyman Ron Kim said, "Early on in this race, I felt compelled to stand up for Jumaane Williams when Kathy Hochul’s campaign launched a vehemently negative attack against him over his past finances. Since then, the debt-shaming, dog whistling, and use of gendered language has only worsened. These are clear signs of an established political structure comfortable with using every ugly tactic imaginable to hold on to their power and maintain the status quo.
At a time when there is so much concentrated and centralized power in New York politics, which has led to shortsighted and corrupt behaviors, we need more checks and balances. I’m confident Jumaane Williams will help bring more transparency and counter balance to an executive office that has become too authoritarian and demagogic.
We need an independent statewide leader who can push back and dissent when the governor is acting out of line. For these reasons, I proudly support Jumaane for Lieutenant Governor."
