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GOP Challenger Says Bing Doesn’t Do Enough
Incumbent Democrat says he has record of delivering for constituents
By Edward-Isaac Dovere

For the past four years, Jonathan Bing has represented the most Republicans of any Assembly Democrat in the city. Now that he is seeking a third term, one of those Republicans is seeking to unseat him.

Robert Heim is a corporate lawyer specializing in securities regulation who says that Bing has not done enough to address state taxes, crime control and quality-of-life issues on the East Side.

The problems, he said, all have a common root: the disparity between the amount of money the city sends to Albany and what it gets back.

“One of the signature issues of my campaign is highlighting that the budget that the State Assembly passed, and that Jonathan Bing voted for, shortchanged the city because it sends billions of dollars back to Albany,” Heim said.

Heim grew up in Westchester, but moved to Manhattan after graduating from Fordham Law School. He has lived on the East Side for the past four years, and says he grew increasingly concerned with the fate of the neighborhood.

He has volunteered with New York Cares in nursing homes and public schools, and has conducted workshops in prisons on interviewing skills and drafting résumés.

With his private firm, Meyers & Heim LLP, more firmly established, Heim said that “I’ve been active in public service for all of my adult life and was eager to get back into service through the political process.”

In addition to looking to change state funding formulas, he stressed a commitment to changing civil confinement legislation, which regulates and monitors sex offenders who move into communities. Heim also would like to employ a private-sector approach to improving healthcare in the city, following the lead of his fellow Republican and prospective constituent, Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“New York City needs to do more to create the synergies that are there between the Wall Street and financial communities that we have and the top-rate healthcare centers that we have,” Heim said.

Heim is also the candidate of the Liberal and Independence Parties, which he believes demonstrates the breadth of his support.

But to Bing, the election will and should hinge largely on constituent services. Campaigning at supermarkets and subway stops in the past few weeks, he says he has encountered many people who have worked with him or his staff to resolve problems, even those as small as resolving disputes over health club memberships.

Sponsoring prominent legislation, like his 9-11 workers’ compensation bill, or working to include funding for arts organizations and libraries in the district also helped, Bing explained.

“It may be something having to do with a bill that I sponsored that became law which they’re happy about or with regard to a very local matter,” Bing said, explaining what he sees as a developed respect and popularity in the district he thinks will carry him through to victory in November.

He criticized Heim for being a “recent import” to the neighborhood without a long record of community involvement.

East Siders “don’t care about party labels, they care about results,” Bing said. “Generally, it’s all about accomplishments in the area.”

He said that his strength derives from his own record, but also from sharing a party with popular statewide candidates like Eliot Spitzer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are running in their own elections this year. The demonstration of that strength, Bing said, was evident in his fundraising prowess: as of the most recent campaign finance disclosure report, he had $190,000 on hand, which he plans to use on mailings on other campaign promotion in the last month before Election Day. Heim, meanwhile, had $1,500, on hand, more than half of which came from personal contributions.