| As I was greeted in the bustling New Scotland Avenue restaurant, Darius, his communications director Ryan Streeter, and I, found we had some things in common as we discussed Shahinfar's background. Streeter and I were both recently interns in the New York State Assembly, and congratulated each other for having been there for the Session of Surprises of 2008. And as Darius explained his early career starting out as a paralegal, he congratulated me on having just started out in that profession.
On his website, Darius lists that he has experience in all three branches of government, as well as in the private sector. Darius began by managing a restaurant and working for the Legal Aide Society after college. "That's what inspired me to go on to law school, after seeing how people need to have a voice." he said.
Darius attended Albany Law School, and his election as class president might have foreshadowed later political involvement. Soon after this, he went to work in the New York State Legislature for State Senator Mary Lou Rath, a Republican. "I stayed on to work on smart-growth issues," he said of remaining as State Senate Fellow. "We wrote the first Smart Growth bill in New York State, a little bit ahead of our time."
Darius Shahinfar was registered as a Republican at the time he worked in Senator Rath's office, but had been registered as a Democrat in Massachusetts and an Independent in Virginia as he travelled the east. He explained it was simply a matter of changing registrations for the location, "I wasn't in a political family." he said, adding "I was never tied to party politics."
Shahinfar eventually got involved in politics, however, describing the first campaign he worked on: while still registered as a Republican, he worked on a challenge against John Faso. In the middle of his career movement from attorney in a large private firm to First Clerk of the 3rd Department. When Darius's career took him to the Capital District, he landed a job under Albany County Executive Mike Breslin as Deputy County Attorney.
"In the middle, I become more politically involved." Shahinfar said. "I think a lot of us owe a debt of gratitude to George Bush because I think it really energized a lot of people who weren't politically involved. It got us up."
He went on to describe people's attitudes from the Reagan and first Bush years to the loss of Congress in 1994, describing Democrats in general, at times, as complacent. When asked about a specific issue on which Democrats may have been lacking an edge, Darius mentioned the Supreme Court. "It's something that doesn't translate into politics," he explained "For the right-wing, it's a huge issue for them, and it hasn't become a big issue for the mainstream yet."
But when George W. Bush came and started to "change the law and do some real damage," it inspired many people, including Shahinfar, to step up. From there, he joined Kerry 2004 campaign as Regional Coordinator in northern Virginia. He jokingly remembered his wife telling him to stop yelling at the TV and do something about it, so Darius Shahinfar spent three months in Virginia trying to oust George Bush.
We all know what happened in that election. Virginia remained a Red State and George Bush remained President. But that did not faze Shahinfar. And his experience at a higher level in electoral politics ended up helping turn Congress towards a Democratic majority two years later when he started to work on Kirstin Gillibrand's campaign for Congress. Gillibrand was an acquaintance of Shahinfar's for many years, and he helped get her campaign up and running.
"I said to myself, this was an opportunity to bring about change nationally," Shahinfar said, saying that things in Upstate New York tend to be pre-decided.
In that aftermath of Gillibrand's victory, Shahinfar said "I hadn't even thought of what I wanted to do afterward." Gillibrand then offered him the position of Capital District Regional Representative. He was one of four reps in Gillibrand's office, and the only other attorney in Gillibrand's office besides the Representative herself.
"I ended up getting the stickier problems," Shahinfar said of his work experience, including the legal questions on proposed legislation. And, getting back to the present primary, reiterated: "I'm the only candidate in this race for Congress that has actually worked in Congress before."
Darius described his role in Gillibrand's office working on state-local-federal government cross-over issues, as well as his work on environment rule-making with the Army Corps of Engineers. He specifically mentioned having had a hand in the move AMD is making to the 20th.
"You really see how difficult it is for business to come because of the multiple layers of permitting that have to go through," Shahinfar said of New York State. "It's not so much 'red tape' because there's a reason why the process is in place. The problem is that there's multiple layers of it." Darius also pointed out his dislike of the cliché terms in politics, "red tape" included.
Discussion over a second cup of joe turned to the aspects of the race for Congress itself. The Democratic primary became packed, as expected, after the surprise announcement of Rep. Mike McNulty's retirement. Yet as I watched from the late 2007 announcement on, I observed that some candidates were getting a disproportionate amount of coverage in the mainstream media, and some weren't being covered at all. This is what spurred me to start blogging the race, and interviewing the candidates.
I asked Darius what he thought of the coverage of the election, and he thought I meant to Presidential race, and his humorous side took a realists' turn. "I watched the coverage on the Presidential election...and three people out of five people, all of them said the same thing. You know, why should all these people here get a lot of money?"
After we had shared a laugh about our general agreement, Shahinfar said of the coverage of the race in the 21st: "It's to be expected, I think. I don't think voters engage until later on in the campaign. But the coverage has been good. It's been fair."
He did say that there are more people energized to vote, new registrants, and the fight to grab these new voters from the Presidential campaign would be new targets, and actors, in the Congressional Primary. Darius also commended Albany for Obama's efforts, saying it was the kind of thing that Democrats had gotten away from.
"It's what you gotta do," Shahinfar said. "You have to do it on the ground. That's where the election is won and lost." Darius also confirmed that this was the way he viewed his campaign. "It's the way it has to be," he said matter-of-factly. During the interview, communication director Ryan Streeter looked out the window and noted a volunteer for Phil Steck, clipboard in hand, hitting the street.
Having touched on his grass-roots experience and enthusiasm, I asked him about the net-roots. Darius Shahinfar is the only candidate in this race thus far to have an account on DailyKos, and a reccommended diary at that. He attributes his decision to be active himself on the blogosphere to his campaign chair Andrew C. White.
"It has been a lot of the source for some of the main-stream media reporting." he said of the blogosphere in general and added "A lot of people read them." He expressed doubts about certain aspects of the format and getting "wrapped-up" in what was said, as well, but said blogs were an important part of the campaign getting his name out there.
When asked about the stakes in the Democratic efforts to win back the State Senate and how they might affect the primary in the 21st, Darius said that was for after the primary. "There are a lot of candidates in this race. One is going to win and eight aren't. A lot of people are going to be able to throw their efforts elsewhere." said Shahinfar. He specifically mentioned the possibility of extended post-primary efforts towards Kirstin Gillibrand's re-election.
Of the primary himself, Darius cited both the goodness of the open primary, but also the need for campaign finance reform. When asked if he thought the political season was too long, he joked "There's a lot of merit to the British system, where the political season is six weeks and that's about it."
When asked what differentiated him from the other candidates, he said there were general policy agreements on issues like health care, Iraq, alternative energy, and the economic crisis. Besides that, Shahinfar said people still probably needed more time to get to know the candidates a little more. He then noted he was one of the only candidates talking about property taxes, and how in New York they relate to many of the other issues (the half trillion dollar borrowed price tag for Iraq and the world's most expensive health care system included.)
"It's ridiculous how we fund our public schools in America on the backs of property tax payers." Shahinfar said, relating the issue to education. He imagined that those who drafted our Constitution would frown on a system in which only land owners pay for public education.
When we moved to the issue of Iraq, the discussion took a turn of personal importance for both of us. My brother recently joined the Navy as Republican Presidential candidate John McCain talked about being in the Persian Gulf for another 100 years. And Darius Shahinfar is a first-generation Iranian-American; his father emigrated from a country that some on the far right itch to invade.
As such, I pressed him on his pledged support for withdrawal from Iraq in reference to Barack Obama's plan to be out within 16 months. What if that time comes and goes, and another month, and then twenty months? I asked Darius what he would do as Congressman. He answered that a timeline would be needed similar to the ones introduced last year to send a signal to the Iraqis. "I don't want to sound too parochial here, but you [the Iraqi people] need to take the ball and run with it."
Darius Shahinfar was the first candidate in this race to sign on to the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq. However, I didn't know that Phil Steck had signed on as well at the time, and Darius corrected me with a grin. "It just goes to show that he's following my lead," he said jokingly.
I then asked Darius how he felt about the right-wing drum-beating towards an expanded war with Iran, and he said he was deeply troubled by it. Shahinfar described the Iranian people as a people that love America, and desire to come here as his family did. And he feared for the longevity of that feeling.
"Ratcheting up pressure on Iran, irresponsibly," he said, "has done nothing but moved the people of Iran more into the arms of their leaders. He said a military invasion of Iran ("With what Army?" he noted) would only prove to set back any efforts to establish a more democratic Iran.
Darius Shahinfar made note that he felt that way as an American, not necessarily an Iranian-American. About that, he says, "It was pretty unremarkable," growing up. He recalled having a funny name in a heavily Polish and Italian community with a laugh, but he did relate being given school yard trouble the 1980 hostage crisis. Shahinfar brushed this aside, however, saying he was "an American first" who didn't focus too much on where we came from before.
However, his heritage in relation to his run for Congress has earned him some international attention, probably the only candidate to receive a look from overseas. A YouTube video on his campaign website regarding his heritage was translated into Farsi and broadcast on "Voice of America" in Iran. Darius Shahinfar has also attracted donors from across the country in the form of Iranian-American groups.
"I'm international," Shahinfar said, smiling half-jokingly, half-genuinely proud.
Talk of donors segued into a discussion about the other campaigns lists, soon to be disclosed. As I've raised here on The Albany Project, I asked Shahinfar specifically about the similarities between the campaign donors of Paul Tonko as Democratic Chair of the Assembly Committee on energy and of his Republican counterpart in the Senate, and whether this could be type of issue that matters in the campaign. The answer received made this blogger think well: "It can."
"That's the unfortunate reality of politics: there's too much money in politics." Shahinfar said, and he elaborated fully. "In my experience, the notion that money is being traded for policy is overblown. It does lead to the appearance of impropriety. And in politics, the appearance is often just as bad as the act."
"And the direct negative consequence of the point you raise is that people don't trust their elected leaders and believe that the lobbyists and campaign donors are the ones who are calling the shots." Shahinfar concluded. "We've lost a lot of faith in our government."
In fact, Shahinfar said his campaign theme of "Renew America's Promise" came about after reflecting on a conversation with his father upon his return from the Kerry campaign. His father, who had come to the United States from a foreign land, said it meant freedom and opportunity, and hope for a better life for his children. In deciding to run for Congress, Darius Shahinfar determined for himself that this was the promise of America, and the Bush administration had broken it.
That left me, jumpy from three cups of coffee with a Congressional hopeful, hopeful, even as a volunteer for another candidate for the same seat. I thanked Darius for his time, and he thanked me for what he called "a service."
As a nation, we have recently decided on a nominee for President to help renew that promise. With four Democrats having now made the ballot in a race of ten total candidates, it can be said that Shahinfar's slogan not only best sums up his own campaign, but the whole primary process as well.
While comparisons to the now truly historic presidential primary are not necessarily condoned by Shahinfar or others, I can't help but note how fitting it is that the big one should end right before another smaller one really gets going. The timing is perfect, especially for a solidly Democratic district that hasn't had an open primary choose its next Congressman in a half-century.
"Renew America's Promise" is the perfect all-inclusive way for us all to think of this entire primary. In 2008, all the Democrats in this eight-way cluster of candidates want to renew America's promise. This I hope is true of Democrats in Congressional runs across the States. Yet Darius Shahinfar is hoping that certain aspects of history repeat faster than other: Shahinfar described his logo, a torch, as a symbol of "Mike McNulty passing the torch to me."
Slogans, signs, and symbols are the tools that campaigns use to get their message out to voters in various outlets, two of which are broadcast and print media. Simple Google searches of the names Brooks, Tonko, Shahinfar, and Steck will clearly show the disparity between coverage in those outlets. Tracey Brooks and Paul Tonko have gotten considerably more coverage, and Phil Steck and Darius Shahinfar considerably less. Yet when articles on the blogosphere are taken into account, things begin to even out, with both Steck and Shahinfar start to even things out.
Still, the many names didn't faze Darius Shahinfar. What he said in the interview was "I'm not running against Paul Tonko, I'm not running against Phil, I'm not running against Tracey...I'm running for Congress."
And as a candidate who was subject to a media blackout and who a lot of insiders thought wouldn't make it...his calendar is still marked. Mark yours as well: Primary Day is September 9th. |
