Assembly candidates square off in series of debates, by George Fiala

Joan Millman’s decision not to seek reelection came as a shock to some. She has represented the 52nd Assembly District in Albany since 1997, and would no doubt be re-elected to as many terms as she wanted. However, at age 74, and with a promised job in the City administration, she decided that her traveling days to Albany should be over.

Millman’s choice as her successor is Jo Ann Simon. Simon has the support of many political leaders, including Nydia Velazquez and Velmanette Montgomery. She is also supported by most of the Brooklyn political clubs, including the Central Brooklyn and Lambda Independent Democrats. She has served as Female Democratic District Leader in the 52nd AD since 2004, and ran for City Council in 2009, losing to Stephen Levin. Simon had been in consideration to replace Vito Lopez as head of the Kings County Democrats, a position eventually granted to another lawyer, Frank Seddio. In her professional life, Simon specializes in disability discrimination lawsuits. She served as President of the Boerum Hill Association in the 1990’s.

Sikora surprise
On June 2nd, members of the Independent Neighborhood Democrats (IND), the club that meets atop the Scotto Funeral Home, were met by a well dressed gentleman on their path upstairs to their endorsement meeting. It turned out that the gentleman was Pete Sikora. In what many deemed an unexpected twist, Sikora won the IND endorsement at the end of a long, steamy session. The vote was extremely close, and left Simon supporters fuming.

Sikora is a lobbiest in the NYS legislature, representing the Communication Workers Union, and has also worked for NYPIRG. He was active in the fight against the closing of LICH, founding a group called Parents for LICH.

Wild card
Doug Biviano also ran in the 2009 Council race won by Levin. He is a lifelong Brooklyn Heights resident with a degree in Civil Engineering from Cornell. While the other candidates have raised close to $200,000 each in this campaign, Biviano is running a low budget operation, and until recently was not taken very seriously as a candidate.

The race itself has picked up intensity as the summer winds down and the September 9th Democratic primary date looms. All three candidates spoke separately before a Brooklyn Heights meeting of Citizens Defending Libraries on August 24. The next day they held their first actual debate which was televised on Time Warner News 1. Then, on the 27th they held a lengthier debate at the Duryea Presbyterian Church in a forum sponsored by the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council. This debate was moderated by WNYC economics reporter Janet Babin.

This surge of actual campaigning seems to have invigorated the candidates, who were somewhat uncomfortable during on Sunday and Monday. Simon seemed more comfortable, Sikora calmer, and Biviano – who tends to gets overly excited while making charges against the political establishment – calmed down a bit.

The questions came from the audience as well as from Babin. The candidates were asked the usual – housing in the park, selling off library assets and the school system.
Some questions stood out. They were asked who they will support in the governor’s race. This was the day after the NY Times refused to endorse Andrew Cuomo.

Sikora and Biviano both said they would support Zephyr Teachout, who is running a long-shot campaign against Cuomo’s $35 million war chest. Sikora is supported by the Working Family Party, who endorsed Cuomo. Simon said she was disappointed with Cuomo, especially in his involvement with the closing of LICH, but declared herself as yet undecided.

Parking permits
Prospect Heights lies in the shadow of the Barclay Center, and the question of residential parking permits was brought up. All three candidates are in favor of them. Biviano called the parking problem one of overbuilding made possible by tax giveaways to luxury condo developers. Simon said she spearheaded a study on traffic calming, and Sikora mentioned his endorsement by StreetsPAC.

A question about Sheldon Silver was next. Silver is the Democratic leader in the Assembly, and it is said that nothing happens without Shelly’s direct approval. At one time he and Vito Lopez were the leading Democratic power brokers. He fends off conflict of interest and other charges of corruption as easily as Captain America uses his shield. Both Simon and Sikora said they would support a worthy challenger to the speaker. Simon because of allegations that he covered up Vito Lopez’s improprieties, and Sikora because he has seen corruption first-hand as an Albany lobbiest. “I’ve been in the belly of the beast,” he said. “It’s gotten worse.” He said that he would seek rules changes that would drop some of the speaker’s power down to committee heads.

BerlinRosen
Doug Biviano used this question, as he did with many others, to excoriate the consulting/PR firm BerlinRosen. BerlinRosen is used by many candidates as well as office holders, including Mayor di Blasio. They are advising Sikora in this race. Co-founder Jonathan Rosen’s wife is Silver’s chief of staff. They also represent Sikora supporters Steve Levin and Brad Lander, as well as developers Forest City and Two Trees. Forest City is building the always controversial Atlantic Yards and Two Trees developed Dumbo and is now building at the Domino Sugar Factory on the Williamsburg waterfront.

Biviano claims that this pervasive company presents many conflicts of interest and is instrumental in “taking government away from the people.” He said that he would never support Silver, which was, in fact, a stronger statement than either of the other candidates.

Fundraising
The next question had to do with the amount of funds raised by each candidate. Simon claimed $190,000 in donations, but “none from developers with projects in the neighborhood.” Her money was from the people, she said. Sikora claimed $194,000 in donations thus far, coming from almost 600 different donors. He claimed not to have taken a cent from real estate developers. Jo Anne piped in that he has “taken advantage of every loophole,” a charge Sikora was not given time to defend. There is a campaign filing statement due on Friday the 29th. These statements are all available online at the NY State Board of Elections web page.

Doug Biviano announced that he will never take any money from special interests. However, he doesn’t take much money from anyone, claiming a total of $7,000 raised for his grassroots campaign thus far.

As in many political debates, not all questions were answered, as politicians running for office are trained to repeat their talking points at every opportunity, and these candidates were no different.

There will be at least two more debates before the September 9 primary. On September 2, the Brooklyn Heights Blog is hosting a debate at St. Francis College. It begins at 7 pm in Founders Hall, 180 Remsen Street. The Star-Revue is providing one of the panelists.

Then on September 3rd, the candidates meet up at the BRIC House, 647 Fulton Street, at 7 pm. This debate is sponsored by BRIC and will be televised and streamed, on Brooklyn’s Time Warner Cable 756, Verizon FiOS 46, Cablevision 70, or stream it online at  BRICartsmedia.org/bkindiemedia