State Senate Watch: Padavan Claims Dirty Tricks on Mailers, Gennaro Points to Ignored Immigrants
Mon, 12 May 2008 16:58:00
The campaign pitting veteran 18-term Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Queens) against well-financed challenger New York City Council Member James Gennaro (D-Queens) has been quiet so far, but both candidates said the contest is heating up and each party expected to spend more than $1 million trying to win the seat that arcs from Whitestone, Bayside and Douglaston in the north to Jamaica and Jamaica Estates in the south.
The race is one of a handful of seats Democrats are focusing their efforts on in the push to take the majority in the Senate. But according to Council Member Tony Avella, a Democrat representing parts of the Senate district, the efforts so far are hard to discern.
“I haven’t seen Councilman Gennaro in my end of the district. It is not clear to me a race is going on,” Avella said.
Gennaro said Avella had not seen him campaigning because Avella is waging his own dark horse campaign for New York City mayor next year, and had been out of the district himself.
Meanwhile, Padavan, 73, said public evidence of an underhanded campaign existed in the form of unnamed flyers and recorded calls targeting residents in the district. The blitz began in March and April, with attacks accusing him of voting to send city tax dollars to suburban districts for education funding.
Padavan rejected the accusations, and sent a letter to the state Board of Elections April 24 asking for an investigation of the calls and literature that he said violated election rules by not including the funder’s name.
A similar mailer with the return address of Altas Direct Mail of Long Island City turned up in mailboxes in the district of State Sen. Joseph Robach (R-Rochester/Parma/Greece/Brighton), another targeted Republican, Padavan noted.
Gennaro, 51, insisted he did not know who was behind the calls and mailers. But what mattered to him was that the criticism was on the mark.
“What is more important is the veracity of what is being distributed and not the signature on it,” he said. “I would like it to be signed, [but] I am not in the business of telling an entity how they should exercise their free speech.”
Gennaro, best known for being an outspoken advocate of green technology as the chairman of the Council’s Environmental Protection Committee, said he was taking on Padavan, a popular senator in a Democratic district, to fix the “undemocratic” system in Albany.
Democrats and Republicans gave their own spins on Padavan’s 60-to-40-percent victory over unknown and unsupported Democratic attorney Nora Marino in the 2006 general election.
Gennaro called that race close given that Marino got almost no support from Queens Democrats, and was outspent by Padavan by about four-to-one.
“Forty percent voted for nothing rather than for Frank Padavan,” Gennaro said. “If you barely break 60 percent in your own district, then you are in trouble.”
As of the latest state Campaign Finance report, Gennaro was far ahead, having raised more than $380,000 since the fall of 2006. He had more than $250,000 on hand, in mid-January. Padavan had less than half that on hand, $115,200. Both are expected to fill their coffers as the election season progressed.
Gennaro predicted he would get strong backing from people in ethnic groups new to the area, whom he accused Padavan of ignoring. His top donors—Herman and Sadna Bhupsingh and their mortgage company Tropical Funding—are Guyanese, and have already given $27,000.
“Frank Padavan has not been very kind to immigrants in his district,” Gennaro said.
Padavan dismissed this attack as well.
“The claims made by Councilman Gennaro are downright erroneous,” Padavan said in an e-mail. “As a grandson of immigrants, I am acutely aware of the valuable and lasting contributions immigrants make to our country and state.”
For now, the disputes continue by proxy. Gennaro and Padavan have not had a head-to-head debate yet, and none are yet scheduled.
The race is one of a handful of seats Democrats are focusing their efforts on in the push to take the majority in the Senate. But according to Council Member Tony Avella, a Democrat representing parts of the Senate district, the efforts so far are hard to discern.
“I haven’t seen Councilman Gennaro in my end of the district. It is not clear to me a race is going on,” Avella said.
Gennaro said Avella had not seen him campaigning because Avella is waging his own dark horse campaign for New York City mayor next year, and had been out of the district himself.
Meanwhile, Padavan, 73, said public evidence of an underhanded campaign existed in the form of unnamed flyers and recorded calls targeting residents in the district. The blitz began in March and April, with attacks accusing him of voting to send city tax dollars to suburban districts for education funding.
Padavan rejected the accusations, and sent a letter to the state Board of Elections April 24 asking for an investigation of the calls and literature that he said violated election rules by not including the funder’s name.
A similar mailer with the return address of Altas Direct Mail of Long Island City turned up in mailboxes in the district of State Sen. Joseph Robach (R-Rochester/Parma/Greece/Brighton), another targeted Republican, Padavan noted.
Gennaro, 51, insisted he did not know who was behind the calls and mailers. But what mattered to him was that the criticism was on the mark.
“What is more important is the veracity of what is being distributed and not the signature on it,” he said. “I would like it to be signed, [but] I am not in the business of telling an entity how they should exercise their free speech.”
Gennaro, best known for being an outspoken advocate of green technology as the chairman of the Council’s Environmental Protection Committee, said he was taking on Padavan, a popular senator in a Democratic district, to fix the “undemocratic” system in Albany.
Democrats and Republicans gave their own spins on Padavan’s 60-to-40-percent victory over unknown and unsupported Democratic attorney Nora Marino in the 2006 general election.
Gennaro called that race close given that Marino got almost no support from Queens Democrats, and was outspent by Padavan by about four-to-one.
“Forty percent voted for nothing rather than for Frank Padavan,” Gennaro said. “If you barely break 60 percent in your own district, then you are in trouble.”
As of the latest state Campaign Finance report, Gennaro was far ahead, having raised more than $380,000 since the fall of 2006. He had more than $250,000 on hand, in mid-January. Padavan had less than half that on hand, $115,200. Both are expected to fill their coffers as the election season progressed.
Gennaro predicted he would get strong backing from people in ethnic groups new to the area, whom he accused Padavan of ignoring. His top donors—Herman and Sadna Bhupsingh and their mortgage company Tropical Funding—are Guyanese, and have already given $27,000.
“Frank Padavan has not been very kind to immigrants in his district,” Gennaro said.
Padavan dismissed this attack as well.
“The claims made by Councilman Gennaro are downright erroneous,” Padavan said in an e-mail. “As a grandson of immigrants, I am acutely aware of the valuable and lasting contributions immigrants make to our country and state.”
For now, the disputes continue by proxy. Gennaro and Padavan have not had a head-to-head debate yet, and none are yet scheduled.
