Taking on the Last Senate Republican in Queens
By Mike Connery on 04/16/2010 @ 09:26 AM
Two great press hits coming out of the Queens Courrier yesterday. The first is a wide-ranging profile of Tony Avella and his effort to unseat GOP incumbent Frank Padavan, He's In It To Make a Difference.
Tony Avella insists he hates politics, but that’s not stopping him from running for another elective office. “I’m not in it for the money or the ego,” Avella said. “I’m in it to make a difference.”
The former city councilman, who served the 19th District for two terms, is now seeking the 11th state Senate District seat, which has been held by Republican Frank Padavan for the last 38 years. He believes Padavan is part of why the state Legislature is dysfunctional and that it’s time for a change.
On why he's running, and the electoral math:
Known as a maverick in Democratic circles, Avella is in the enviable position now of being the fair-haired boy. “The Democrats need to maintain the majority in Albany,” he said. “I can have an influence because the voices for change aren’t loud enough.”
He believes Padavan has become entrenched because the district has been gerrymandered in his favor. “It will be a mini-mandate if I win,” Avella said, noting his former council district overlaps the Senate area, which he considers a plus.
For this race, the party sought him out to run. “They are embracing me,” he said. “It’s helpful for the Democrats to have a maverick and a reformer.”
In the last Padavan challenge, City Councilman Jim Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) lost by only 480 votes, after a recount that lasted for several months. “Padavan insists it was close because of the Obama vote, but we have found a huge drop off of people who voted for Obama but not the others,” he said. “Voting a straight party line doesn’t exist like it used to. Some people voted for the president and left some of the others blank.”
On the issues:
Avella also believes there are a lot of other things that can be done in Albany that affect the city, especially schools. “We have narrowed the gap, but upstate schools still get too much money,” Avella said. “We also need to eliminate the huge amount of waste in the city school system and I think we can do it.”
He recommends firing bad teachers and that ones up for review be given a speedy trial by hiring more arbitrators.
Avella is also no fan of discretionary funds, whereby elected officials dole out money to favored groups. “These groups should apply directly to the budget in a grant application process, not to the elected official,” he said. “It would give an extra level of review.”
Avella favors retaining community boards, panels which Mayor Mike Bloomberg is widely believed to want discontinued or at least diminished in their authority. “Decentralization works,” Avella said. “People know best what’s going on in their neighborhoods.”
Avella indicated he is not about to change his persona in Albany. “I feel I can have an influence and make change,” he said. “If I have to be a pest, I will. That’s why I’m going to Albany. I want to get things done.”
The second article took a hard look at the electoral math in the Queens Senate District and wonders if this might be the year that the last GOP Senator in Queens finally falls -
In 2008, out of 95,000 votes cast - Padavan came within 480 votes of losing to Gennaro partially due to his disappointing voting record. This includes consistently voting to increase deficits, annual excessive spending twice to three times the rate of inflation, supporting several hundred million dollars worth of yearly member item pork barrel projects and participating in the adoption of 30 out of the past 36 budgets late during his term in office. Under Padavan and the former GOP Senate majority -- New York became number two nationally in debt. Each resident is responsible for $4,115 of the $60 billion total. State debt grew from $27 billion in 1995 to $60 billion today growing by billions more in future budgets. State public authorities debt is $72 billion. These combined liabilities plus interest total $196 billion dollars. The voting record for Padavan morphed from being a conservative Republican to RINO (Republicans In Name Only) GOP Senator. Avella may run to the right of Padavan making the case that he is the real fiscal conservative. In 2010, the odds of Padavan remaining in office will be heavily stacked against him. Even if Padavan were to survive in 2010, his current gerrymandered district would probably be redrawn making any attempt to run in 2012 mathematically impossible.
Both articles are worth a look and provide a great overview of what will be one of the most-watched races this cycle.
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