I was disappointed when Desiree Hunter dropped out of this race last week, but the silver lining is that there will now be less candidates splitting the anti-Pedro vote. And a big chink of that vote will now be going to Gustavo Rivera. I don't know much about Rivera, but I'm inclined to support him if only because now the WFP machinery makes him the only challenger capable of beating Pedro.
His website is sparse on detail but he seems to support marriage equality and seems to be in the Democratic mainstream on most issues.
Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter, the community activist who led the local fight to defeat the mayor's plans to build a mall in the Kingsbridge Armory, told the Bronx News Network late on Tuesday that she was ending her candidacy for state Senate in the 33rd District.
"This has been one of the hardest decisions I'll ever have to make," she said. "In the interest of making sure that [incumbent state Senator] Pedro Espada is out of office, and also building power in my community, I've decided to withdraw."
Money, or lack of it, was the main reason she decided to end her bid, she said. Despite several fundraisers in supporters' homes, she had raised only $30,000, while Espada already has more than $300,000 on hand.
According to the campaign, she had collected about 3,000 signatures, enough to get on the ballot even after disqualifications. This represents a "go/no go" moment for a primary campaign, since once you're on the ballot it's almost impossible to get off it. While this is disappointing for many, it's beneficial if there's only one challenger to Espada going into September, so as to not divide the anti-Espada vote. It looks like Gustavo Rivera is going to be it.
It appears the Democratic Leadership has finally decided that it is no longer worth it to have the party's image tainted by the vermin otherwise known as Pedro Espada:
JACOBS: ESPADA IS NO DEMOCRAT
COMPLAINT CHARGES ESPADA ONLY DEM FOR PERSONAL GAIN, NOT PRINCIPLE
Today, the New York State Democratic Committee initiated legal proceedings to cancel Senator Pedro Espada Jr.'s affiliation as a Democrat. In a complaint submitted to the Bronx County Democratic Committee, the State Democratic Committee charged that Senator Espada became a Democrat for "ulterior motives," including his own financial gain, not out of a commitment to Democratic principles.
"Time and again, by word and by deed, Pedro Espada has put his own naked financial interest ahead of bedrock Democratic ideals. Espada has run rough-shod over campaign finance rules devised by Democrats, has played fast-and-loose with state residency requirements, and - most egregiously - appears to be a Democrat purely for personal profit, not a commitment to our core values," said Jay Jacobs, chair of the NYS Democratic Committee.
"By initiating this proceeding, the Democratic Party seeks to make official what has long been true in fact: Pedro Espada is no Democrat. With any luck, the results of today's action will - once and for all - end any pretense that Pedro Espada is a member in good standing of the Democratic Party," added Jacobs.
New York law allows a political party to revoke a voter's party registration where "the voter is not in sympathy with the principles of such party." New York State Election Law ยง 16-110 (2). The process was formally initiated in writing by Edgar Santana, the Deputy Executive Director of the NYS Democratic Committee and a registered Bronx Democrat.
This is great news. If Pedro is out of the party, it is less likely that he will be able to get the Democratic nomination in September, which is essentially the general election in the 33rd district. The key is what Jeff Dinowitz and Carl Heastie will do. Heastie has stood by Pedro thus far, but we'll see if the full weight of the Democratic establishment will get him to change his corrupt ways. Dinowitz's democratic club, the Ben Franklin Reform Club has been generally anti-Espada but witheld on an endorsement last month in order to see which of his possibly three challengers stands the best chance of beating him. But Dinowitz could earn some serious brownie points from reformers if he makes the right decision on this.
In other Pedro news, the feds appear to be nearing an indictment from his Soundview cash cow.
Of course, what the party does is always secondary to what the voters can do in September, which is elect Desiree Hunter to the Senate seat in the 33rd.
Scumbag Pedro Espada's challenger, Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter is having a community meeting tomorrow in the Bronx (from email):
You are invited to participate in the first of a series of community meetings where residents of the 33rd Senate District will come together to learn more about Desiree and how we will lead our campaign for honest leadership in the Northwest Bronx.
Desiree's campaign is built upon the belief that people who love their community can change it. She is building a powerful grassroots network that touches every neighborhood in the district, and with your help we can elect someone with real ties to our community and a proven record of fighting for people in this district.
The details for this first community meeting are below. Please join us as we campaign to bring real change and a fresh start to the 33rd Senate District.
Thursday May, 13th at 6.30pm
Cosmopolitan Church: 39 West 190th Street, Bronx, NY
Translation will be provided
If you're interested in removing the single worst piece of filth our filthy Legislature has to offer and replacing him with an impressive community organizer, living wage champion, and corruption fighter, then you should go check it out.
Now that we've vanquished the Slasher, we can turn to the next pathetic embarrassment that calls himself a legislator: Pedro Espada.
Espada's challenger, community organizer Desiree Pilrgim-Hunter, is having a fundraiser on March 22:
Please join us in supporting Desiree Hunter's campaign to bring integrity and accountable leadership to NY's 33rd Senate District. Join with residents of the district and others to support this important campaign for progressive change in Albany. Meet Desiree, hear her vision, ask questions and meet other supporters.
* 6:30pm-8:30pm, Monday, March 22, 2010
* At the home of Miriam Ford and Jack Marth
3853 Cannon Place, Bronx NY 10463 -- Link to Map
RSVP by making a contribution below or email jmarthbx@gmail.com or call (718) 549-4415
If the media is going to take Desiree's challenge seriously, she needs to start raising some cash. I suggest everyone attend if you can afford it. Defeating Pedro is going to be a lot harder than defeating the Slasher was, primarily because it appears he is going to have the support of the corrupt Bronx Democratic Party (please prove me wrong, Carl Heastie). So Desiree is going to need all the help that a truly insurgent campaign needs- please show her some love.
Tonight there were more than a few surprises at the ballot box. The Senate's longest-serving incumbent, Martin Connor was beaten by progressive newcomer, Dan Squadron. Alice Kyrzan took atvantage of the Davis-Powers mudfight to pull a Kerry in Iowa. Incubents Ed Towns and Sheldon Silver won their re-election bids by roughly 2-1. And happily, Bronx Senator Efrain Gonzalez, who is facing federal corruption charges, was defeated by fomer Councilman Pedro Espada Jr.
As I have been covering the AD-64 race with the most interest, here are a few observations. First off, Shelly does have a Republican opponent, and let me say that I wholehartedly endorse him against his Republican opponent. While we Democrats have the privilege of being picky in our primaries, even the worst Democrats are better than even the best Republicans any day. Vote Sheldon Silver in November.
Secondly, I am hoping Shelly can learn from this primary fight. Shelly had a roughly 30-1 cash advantage against his opponents, and more importantly, he had the backing of the WFP and every union that decided to endorse in that race. He also had almost every member of the Assembly and their staffs pounding the payment, taxpayer-funded constituent mailers, and $7 million worth of pork to slather his district with. Newell had 40 volunteers, zero endorsements by any elected officials, and an office rented in a dance studio. Shelly also had the downtown Democratic clubs and there were people handing out pro-Shelly literature on virtually every corner of that district today. And still 1/3 of the Democrats in his district cast votes against him. Shelly did about 10 points better than Martin Connor did in 2006 (who was facing a much better financed opponent), and we know what happened to Connor tonight.
To his credit, after Shelly's leadership was challenged from within his caucus in 2002, he got the message and changed his behavior afterwards. Let's hope he draws the same lessons from today. If he actually starts passing rules reform in his house and works with out soon-to-be Democratic Senate to pass campaign finance reform and redistricting reform, it will be because of this courageous primary challenge by Paul Newell. And let me say also, that if Shelly does these things, I will stop railing against him on a daily basis on this blog. But he has to do those things first.
On another note, the real winner tonight was the WFP. I don't think they lost a single race where they endorsed. Very impressive.
And finally, I am looking forward to having a real reformer going to Albany in January by the name of Dan Squadron. For a challenger to beat the former minority leader by almost 10 points is almost hard to describe in its impressiveness. With a victory like this, Albany will have to take notice of Squadron's 11-point plan for reform, which includes Clean Money Clean Elections, redistricting reform, and rules reform. I'm looking forward to Squadron taking this plan forward with the same force as did in his enormously successful campaign.
So celebrate tonight everyone, because we live in a democracy where we can have these discussions in public without fear of government retribiution. Even if your candidate lost, you can't argue with the voters having their say.
Looking real good for Squadron.
UPDATE: Marty Connor is running out of reporting precincts, folks. He'd better have a few thousand votes stashed somewhere.
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