Where GOP Senate Candidates Run Strong, Assembly Candidates Still Get Run Over
August 11th, 2008
The city’s Republican Assembly delegation is a gang of one: Lou Tobacco, who represents Staten Island’s staunchly conservative south shore.
Things were not always this way. From the Silk Stocking district of the Upper East Side to Southwest Brooklyn, there used to be neighborhoods which elected Republicans.
But as the state, and especially the city, have swung increasingly Democratic, the ranks of Assembly Republicans have slowly but seemingly irreversibly thinned, even in districts which overlap significantly with Republican Senate districts.
Richard Speranza, who is running against six-term Assembly Member Ann- Margaret Carrozza (D-Queens), is hoping to change that. And he is hoping his relationship with local State Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Queens), whom he knows through his service on Queens Community Board 13, will help. He has so far met with Padavan once since launching his campaign.
“I’m very proud to be on the same ticket,” Speranza said.
As a retired police officer with experience in public safety and crime-related community organizations, Speranza said he has name recognition, despite a near-empty campaign account.
Not far away, in the Howard Beach-Rockaway Assembly district, which has been represented by Audrey Pheffer (D-Queens) for two decades, Gerald Sullivan is taking a stab at public office.
Sullivan, a committee member of the Queens Republican Party, is banking on the independent streak of the Howard Beach community, which includes a chunk of State Sen. Serphin Maltese’s (R-Queens) district.
“It’s almost 3-to-1 Democrat to Republican,” Sullivan said. “But a lot of people vote across party lines—people with more conservative values.”
That habit has helped keep Maltese in office. Though the senator enjoys high name recognition and popularity, a plus for Sullivan in the overlapping portion of the Assembly district, Maltese is facing a strong challenge himself from Council Member Joseph Addabbo.
That has left Maltese with little time or money to give to Sullivan in his campaign.
“Frankly, my complete preoccupation, other than my constituents, is to make sure I win re-election,” Maltese said.
Maltese did give a somewhat rosy outlook for Sullivan’s prospects, given his competitive election, with McCain heading the ticket, will turn out a base of Republicans.
“The State Senate is right above the Assembly,” Maltese said. “They can do well by running on the same line as myself.”
As the two Queens Republicans must take on the long-time Assembly members alone in some respects, Bob Capano, a Brooklynite, is running in a district half of which is represented by unopposed State Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn).
Without a Democratic opponent himself, Golden said he would campaign with Capano, president of the Brooklyn Young Republicans club, former head of Rep. Vito Fossella’s Brooklyn operation.
The gerrymandered nature of the district—Republican Bay Ridge is spliced in half and connected to Democratic Coney Island by a sliver of waterfront land—puts Capano at a disadvantage, Golden said.
“It’s a tough seat, but it’s a seat that we can get back,” Golden said.
Though Capano is known throughout Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights through Fossella and community liaison to Borough President Marty Markowitz (D-Brooklyn), he plans to campaign hard in Coney Island, hoping his Democratic bona fides resonate with voters.
In the years ahead, Tobacco said he believes the GOP needs to do more to make serious efforts toward winning Assembly seats so he can have some company in Albany.
“There definitely needs to be a farm team so when these gentlemen retire,” Tobacco said, “there won’t be a void.”
Things were not always this way. From the Silk Stocking district of the Upper East Side to Southwest Brooklyn, there used to be neighborhoods which elected Republicans.
But as the state, and especially the city, have swung increasingly Democratic, the ranks of Assembly Republicans have slowly but seemingly irreversibly thinned, even in districts which overlap significantly with Republican Senate districts.
Richard Speranza, who is running against six-term Assembly Member Ann- Margaret Carrozza (D-Queens), is hoping to change that. And he is hoping his relationship with local State Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Queens), whom he knows through his service on Queens Community Board 13, will help. He has so far met with Padavan once since launching his campaign.
“I’m very proud to be on the same ticket,” Speranza said.
As a retired police officer with experience in public safety and crime-related community organizations, Speranza said he has name recognition, despite a near-empty campaign account.
Not far away, in the Howard Beach-Rockaway Assembly district, which has been represented by Audrey Pheffer (D-Queens) for two decades, Gerald Sullivan is taking a stab at public office.
Sullivan, a committee member of the Queens Republican Party, is banking on the independent streak of the Howard Beach community, which includes a chunk of State Sen. Serphin Maltese’s (R-Queens) district.
“It’s almost 3-to-1 Democrat to Republican,” Sullivan said. “But a lot of people vote across party lines—people with more conservative values.”
That habit has helped keep Maltese in office. Though the senator enjoys high name recognition and popularity, a plus for Sullivan in the overlapping portion of the Assembly district, Maltese is facing a strong challenge himself from Council Member Joseph Addabbo.
That has left Maltese with little time or money to give to Sullivan in his campaign.
“Frankly, my complete preoccupation, other than my constituents, is to make sure I win re-election,” Maltese said.
Maltese did give a somewhat rosy outlook for Sullivan’s prospects, given his competitive election, with McCain heading the ticket, will turn out a base of Republicans.
“The State Senate is right above the Assembly,” Maltese said. “They can do well by running on the same line as myself.”
As the two Queens Republicans must take on the long-time Assembly members alone in some respects, Bob Capano, a Brooklynite, is running in a district half of which is represented by unopposed State Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn).
Without a Democratic opponent himself, Golden said he would campaign with Capano, president of the Brooklyn Young Republicans club, former head of Rep. Vito Fossella’s Brooklyn operation.
The gerrymandered nature of the district—Republican Bay Ridge is spliced in half and connected to Democratic Coney Island by a sliver of waterfront land—puts Capano at a disadvantage, Golden said.
“It’s a tough seat, but it’s a seat that we can get back,” Golden said.
Though Capano is known throughout Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights through Fossella and community liaison to Borough President Marty Markowitz (D-Brooklyn), he plans to campaign hard in Coney Island, hoping his Democratic bona fides resonate with voters.
In the years ahead, Tobacco said he believes the GOP needs to do more to make serious efforts toward winning Assembly seats so he can have some company in Albany.
“There definitely needs to be a farm team so when these gentlemen retire,” Tobacco said, “there won’t be a void.”
