Politics

by Peter C. Mastrosimone / Editor-in-Chief

• Breaking

Matthew Silverstein, the Democratic state committeeman from Bayside who reportedly turned down a run in his party's crowded primary for the new 6th Congressional District, revealed today that he has his eyes on a more local prize: Dan Halloran's City Council seat.

Silverstein announced the creation of an exploratory committee for a run next year for the 19th District seat. Its first event will be a May 2 fundraiser in Manhattan.

"Over the past two years it truly has been a great honor to serve as the Democratic State Committeeman for the 26th Assembly District," Silverstein said in a prepared statement announcing the move. "While walking about the district, talking to constituents, I have heard the many concerns about our great city. They range from the future of our school system, tax equity for our co-op and condo owners, protecting senior citizens, finding jobs for New Yorkers, or helping our returning veterans re-integrate into society, people seem to feel that New York City is on the wrong track.

"I believe we can do better," he continued. "The people of the 19th Council District deserve better, and together we can make a difference."

Halloran won the seat in 2009 and is one of four Republicans on the 51-seat City Council. Whether he will be Silverstein's opponent in 2013 is an open question, however, because he is the GOP candidate for the same Congressional seat Silverstein declined to run for. He will face any one of six Democrats vying for their party's nomination in a primary. If Halloran wins, he goes to Washington. If he loses, he retains his council seat.

Silverstein's fundraiser will be held at a tavern called the Irish Rogue. That leaves open the possibility that some speaker at the event will joke about the irony of raising money at the Irish Rogue for a run against an Irish Rogue. The boisterous and colorful Halloran himself might even appreciate such a line.

By Anna Gustafson

While there has been plenty of drama in the race for the 6th Congressional District (say, a candidate dropping out because he was outed as having set fire to his own apartment), those running for the seat are still aiming for the political tried and true.

Some of the Democratic candidates vying to represent the district, which runs from Ridgewood in the southwest through communities like Kew Gardens and Fresh Meadows to Oakland Gardens in the  northeast, ushered in a new week with a series of endorsements.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) landed the support of the Transport Workers Union Local 100, the 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East announced they are backing Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows); and the Alliance of South Asian American Labor, South Asian Youth Action, SEVA and others from Queens’ South Asian community, threw their weight behind Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing).

Crowley, Lancman and Meng are three of six running in the June 26 Democratic primary for a district where there is no incumbent because U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) decided not to run again. The winner will face off against Republican Dan Halloran (R-Bayside).

Jeff Gottlieb, a Democrat, recently dropped out of the race after The New York Post ran a piece about him setting fire to his Flushing apartment in 1971. Stephen Greene, an attorney from Rosedale, replaced Gottlieb. Robert Mittman, a Bayside allergist, and “Ada” Juan Sheng, a public access director and producer from Flushing, are also running.

“We think Elizabeth is going to be a dynamic new voice in Congress for New York’s working families,” TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen said of Crowley in a prepared statement. “We are thrilled to be endorsing a person with such a strong union background, and a person who we believe will advocate aggressively for a strong national policy for public transportation.”

 TWU Local 100 represents 38,000 workers and 26,000 retirees in the city’s public transit system.

“Local 100 is currently fighting for a fair contract from the MTA, and Crowley fully supports Local 100’s decision to fight back against multi-year pay freezes and cuts to member benefits,” the prepared statement said.

Lancman, meanwhile, received the green-light from 1199 SEIU, which represents 275,000 healthcare workers in the state.

“Right now, working New Yorkers who have borne the brunt of this economic crisis need a champion in Washington to fight for them, and that champion is Rory Lancman,” 1199 SEIU President George  Gresham said in a prepared statement. “Rory is someone who understands the challenges that working families face, and time and time again has gone above and beyond to deliver for New Yorkers who work for a living.”

And for Meng came the backing of South Asian leaders.

“Grace Meng is by far the best qualified candidate to stand up for middle-class workers and families in Queens,” said Maf Uddin, founder and president of the Alliance of South Asian American Labor. “Whether it’s supporting small businesses or making sure millionaires pay their fair share, we can count on Grace to be our voice in Washington.”

Meng’s press release also included praise from Annette Seecharran, former director of SAYA, and Gurpal Singh, the co-founder of SEVA, a Richmond Hill-based nonprofit that works with immigrants and community advocacy. She also got shout-outs from Sayu Bhojwani, the former city Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs; Reshma Saujani, a former deputy public advocate; and Morshed Alam, president and founder of the New American Democratic Club in Queens.

The four-way Democratic primary for the new 6th Congressional District got a little more interesting over the weekend, when the New York Post reported that one of the candidates set his own home on fire 40 years ago.

Jeff Gottlieb, the former teacher who now works for the Board of Elections — a job he'll have to quit if he gets on the ballot for the June 26 primary — pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal mischief in 1972, according to the Post. He had initially been charged with second-degree arson, a felony, after setting a fire in his Flushing apartment that destroyed his home and damaged several others, the Post reported. The story did not say why he set the fire, but reported that no one was injured.

The Gottlieb campaign did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of the incident. But the Post story quoted campaign spokesman Jay Golub as saying, “He went through some bad times. He momentarily allowed himself not to do the right thing.”

A teacher at Benjamin Cardozo High School at the time, Gottlieb took an unpaid leave from his job for "restoration of health" from April 15, 1972 until the end of that school year, the Post reported, returning to teach in September.

Gottlieb is one of four Democrats vying for the party's nomination in the recently redrawn 6th District, which stretches across Queens, from Ridgewood in the southwest to Bayside in the northeast. The party's choice is Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing), but she is being challenged by Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows) and City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village).

The winner will face Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Bayside), the presumptive Republican nominee.

Gottlieb's candidacy has been controversial from the start. Only a week before announcing, he was volunteering for the Meng campaign. After he announced his own run, Lancman charged that he was actually in the race just to be a spoiler, hoping to take some of the Jewish vote away from the assemblyman to help Meng come out on top. Both Lancman and Gottlieb are Jewish. The story was bolstered by a report on the City & State website that said a party insider had asked Matthew Silverstein, a Democratic state committeeman who is also Jewish, to run but was turned down — just before Gottlieb announced.

Gottlieb, however, says he is making a legitimate run.

Crowley chairs the City Council Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice and had received the endorsement of the Uniformed Firefighters Association even before it was revealed that one of her opponents had once set his own home on fire, allegedly using gasoline as an accelerant.

— Peter C. Mastrosimone

By Anna Gustafson

Years after U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (D-Long Island) first spent much time in Queens, newly drawn Congressional maps are sending him back to his childhood roots.

“I spent every Sunday of my youth in Queens,” Israel, who is running for re-election in a district that will now include parts of northeast Queens, said during a sit-down interview with the Chronicle on Thursday. “My grandparents lived in Flushing. I feel I have Queens in my blood.”

A panel of federal judges in March approved new political boundaries for New York’s Congressional districts, which added Bay Terrace, Beechhurst, Whitestone, Douglaston and Little Neck to the district for which Israel is vying. Israel currently represents the 2nd Congressional District, made up solely of neighborhoods in Suffolk and Nassau, and is running to represent the newly drawn 3rd CD.

Republican Stephen LaBate, a Deer Park resident who graduated from St. John’s University in Jamaica, is challenging Israel.

During Israel’s interview with the Queens Chronicle, which we’ll be writing about more extensively in this week’s paper, the congressman said he immediately began meeting with civic leaders, borough politicians and other Queens residents after the judges approved the new lines.

“I said, ‘Gary, I’ve got a lot to learn,’” Israel said in reference to U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Queens, Long Island), who recently announced he would not be running again.

After being drawn into the new 3rd Congressional District, Ackerman announced he would not run against Israel, nor would he make another bid for the 6th Congressional District, which represents much of northern Queens.

“It won’t be very long until people in Queens say, ‘We can’t get rid of this guy,’” Israel joked.

Describing himself as leaning right on issues regarding Israel and national security, and left on civil rights, gay rights, education and the environment, Israel was tapped by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) to head the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2012. Now the fifth highest-ranking Democrat in the House, Israel said he has particularly focused on veterans’ issues, infrastructure and middle-class economics while in Congress.

His focus on economics has not always landed him in the same camp as President Obama, Israel said.

“The president said, ‘We should raise taxes on the rich,’ and I said, ‘Fair enough, but what’s your definition of rich?’” Israel said. “He says $250,000. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars may make you rich in Nebraska, but $250,000 does not make you rich in Little Neck, where you’re paying the highest cost of living in America.”

As for other local issues, Israel said he would likely not be a fan of expanding the JFK Airport’s runways into the Jamaica Bay.

“I would lean against anything I’d consider to be potentially degrading to the environment,” Israel said.

On a more international scale, Israel said he believes the U.S. “should use all the tools in our tool box” when it comes to addressing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, including keeping the possibility of a military strike on the table.

“Right now the sanctions are crippling the Iranian regime,” Israel said. “We need to continue applying those sanctions.”