BY DENNIS LEVY | The special election in the 65th Assembly District, covering Lower Manhattan and the Lower East Side, was a political slugfest, featuring some of the most powerful politicians in New York State.
I was the poor Green Party candidate with a front-row seat who was unable to be heard through the noise as New York City politics played out on the Lower East Side. Indeed, solutions to real problems in the 65th A.D. were ignored in favor of the political fight.
Convicted Assemblymember Sheldon Silver had a big influence in the election’s outcome, as well as Joe Crowley, the Queens Democratic Party boss who was accused of meddling in the Lower Manhattan race. State Senator Daniel Squadron, among others, supported Yuh-Line Niou and City Councilmember Rosie Mendez was an Alice Cancel supporter.
Silver represented the community in the state Assembly for nearly 40 years and served as speaker of that body for 21 of those years. The truth is his conviction and removal from office has not erased his huge impact in the neighborhood. The community will not soon forget that the speaker directed millions of dollars in funding to nonprofit organizations that provide social services to the community, including after-school programs and meals for seniors.
Furthermore, Silver had helped elect several district leaders who worked with the Manhattan Democratic Party. They, in turn, guide the local political clubs. Shelly is a longtime member of the Truman Club, which was instrumental in the selection of Cancel, the Democrat candidate who ultimately won Silver’s former seat. The people of District 65 ultimately lost because all the political fighting drowned out the real policy differences.
Even with Silver’s coronation of Cancel, she basically only split the special election vote with Niou, who ran on the Working Families Party line. Soho activist Sean Sweeney of the Downtown Independent Democrats political club said Niou was a “Queens machine candidate backed by the Working Families Party.”
The interference from outside of the district and the political involvement of elected officials made the special election a real political slugfest and everybody was mixing it up.
At the end of the day, the voters on the Lower East Side were the real losers. I participated in four candidate forums. My positions, such as closing down the Indian Point nuclear power plant, moving us away from fossil fuels to clean natural energy sources, like air, sun, etc. and ecologically green retrofitting apartment buildings for poor and working-class people, didn’t break through the political noise and money — but some people heard me.
The Green Party platform resonated with poor and working-class black, Latino, white and Asian people who live in Battery Park City, New York City Housing Authority developments and tenements in Chinatown. Unfortunately, money played too big a role in this race for me to overcome. Cancel raised $5,000 for her campaign while Niou raised an incredible $140,000. I campaigned with just $200.
At the end of the day, it was about the candidate with the most political backing and money. The Green Party has no political club on the Lower East Side. It should be noted, political clubs are the base where parties recruit volunteers and build “get out the vote” networks. I have already moved to resolve this deficiency by starting the Lower East Side Green Party Club. I promise the next election will be about the candidate who will best serve the community.
Unfortunately, the mainstream New York media is still crowing about Democrat Alice Cancel defeating three other candidates to win Silver’s old seat. It should not be surprising when the media has given a reality-show entertainer, Donald Trump, a chance to be president. Alternative party candidates, like the Green’s presidential candidate, Jill Stein, are not mentioned. Such is politics in the U.S. and the 65th A.D. post-Sheldon Silver.
I could go on ranting about the special election and how my long résumé and the Green Party’s platform best qualified me to be the assemblyperson. But, I won’t waste your or my time. More important, I’m thinking about running again in the September primary because, as they say, a winner never quits, and a quitter never wins.
