QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, September 15, 2016 Page 22
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Sanders tops Adams in 10th SD primary Vanel secures Dems’ nomination in the 33rd Dist.; Cook, Hyndman win by Michael Gannon Editor
State Sen. James Sanders Jr. (D-South Ozone Park) successfully held off a primary challenge on Tuesday, defeating Community Board 12 Chairwoman Adrienne Adams for the state Senate’s 10th District. Unofficial figures from the New York State Board of Elections gave Sanders 56.8 percent of the vote, while Adams received nearly 41.4 percent. The primary had been hardfought and in the closing days turned acrimonious. But Sanders said Adams was gracious in a phone call after the close of the polls, and that the two have agreed to work together. Sanders is not expected to face strong Republican opposition in November in the heavily Democratic district. Adams had secured the Queens County Democratic Party endorsement. She first entered the race when Sanders was working on a campaign to challenge Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-Queens, Nassau).
Assembly incumbents Vivian Cook, left, and Alicia Hyndman won their primaries handily. Clyde Vanel topped a five-candidate field in FILE PHOTOS the open 33rd District.
Sanders’ supporters had alleged that the party’s endorsement of Adams and even allegations of corruption being investigated by the FBI were retribution for the senator’s plans to challenge Meeks. Surrounded by supporters in Rosedale Tuesday night, Sanders credited Adams with running a strong race. He did not classify his victory as a vindication. “I’ll call it a mandate,” he said. “The people have spoken. ... Party leaders do not determine what is best for this district. The people deter mine what is best for the district.” Still, Sanders said he remains ready to work with any leaders in the county or Albany interested in advancing issues of importance in the 10th Senate District. He eschewed a suggestion that he might join the Senate’s Independent Democratic Conference, a breakaway group of five senators, including Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) who have had a power-sharing agreement with Senate Republicans in recent years. “I think I’m the original independent Democrat,” Sanders joked. “I’m even independent of the Independent Democrats. ... But all my life I’ve been a Democrat. I believe in democratic ideals — small ‘d’ is as important as capital ‘D,’ even more so.” Sanders said he hopes subsequent numbers show his support was evenly spread out in the district, and not just strong in his home base of the Rockaways. He also said he did not have to wait for the polls to close to be confident of the outcome. “You don’t win an election on election
State Sen. James Sanders Jr., right, chats with supporters in Rosedale Tuesday night following PHOTO BY MICHAEL GANNON his primary victory in the 10th Senate District. day — you can lose it,” he said. “But if you don’t go into election day knowing you’ve won, 10 to 1 you probably won’t.” In Democratic primaries for the state Assembly, attorney Clyde Vanel emerged as the top vote-getter in a five-candidate race for the nomination in the 33rd District. The seat has been open since the death earlier this year of longtime Assemblywoman Barbara Clark. Vanel, in uncertified returns, received 31.7 percent of the vote, outdistancing Nantasha Williams, who got 27.6 percent. Bryan Block, chairman of Community
Board 13 and the party-endorsed candidate, came in third with 24 percent. Roy Paul finished with 10.9 percent, while Sabine French got 3.5 percent. In the 32nd Assembly primary, incumbent Vivian Cook (D-Jamaica), with just under 75 percent of the vote, withstood a challenge from Rodney Reid, who won 21.5 percent. The race in the 29th Assembly District saw incumbent Alicia Hyndman, running for her first full term, get 72.1 percent of the vote. Lorraine Bridges got 20.6 percent, while Linda Guillebeaux received just over Q 6 percent.
Barnwell rips Markey over campaign mailer by Christopher Barca
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Associate Editor
Did Assemblywoman Marge Markey (D-Maspeth) tout endorsements she never received in a recent campaign mailer distributed throughout her district? That claim — made by her primary opponent, Brian Barnwell before he routed Markey in Tuesday’s primary — isn’t correct, but it isn’t completely wrong, either. In the mailer are photos of Markey posing with Borough President Melinda Katz, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria) below the line, “Her record has earned Marge Markey the endorsements of:” Underneath the photos are the logos of 10 unions and labor groups — including the New York State Nurses Association and the New York State AFL-CIO — along with the names of Schumer, Katz, Constantinides and other politicians, including Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) and Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Glendale). While the mailer doesn’t specify what year or race the endorsements were made in, Barnwell told the Chronicle last week that the longtime lawmaker did not receive an endorsement from Constantinides, 1199 SEIU, the United Federation of Teachers or 32BJ SEIU in 2016. But in researching his claim, the Chronicle confirmed only one of the four entities, 1199 SEIU, did not endorse Markey this year.
“We did not give her an endorsement,” 1199 spokesman Dave Bates told the Chronicle on Friday. “We endorsed her in 2014, but she did not ask for an endorsement this time around and we did not give one.” However, Barnwell was incorrect in claiming the UFT or 32BJ SEIU did not endorse Markey. Both unions list Markey as a recipient of their 2016 endorsement on their websites. Phone calls and emails left with the office of Constantinides — whom Barnwell, 30, previously worked for — went unreturned. The councilman was spotted at Barnwell’s victory party on Tuesday, however, and a staffer of his retweeted multiple posts about Barnwell winning that night. Markey’s office did not respond to a voicemail or email seeking comment before the primary, but Barnwell said Monday that voters shouldn’t trust anything Markey says. “Voters should care because she has a history of saying misleading statements that she never gets called out on,” Barnwell said. “That is exactly the problem in politics, politicians who aren’t telling the truth. If she lies about something like this, how can we trust her on other issues?” When asked about his incorrect claim that 32BJ and the UFT didn’t endorse Markey, the Woodside resident said his campaign had no knowledge of the endorsements because they were never publicized by the two unions.
Barnwell added that he was not endorsed by any unions, labor groups or politicians this year, something he said was expected. “We have received no endorsements as we are not a part of the Albany lobbyist machine that has seen Markey receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in political action committee money over her tenure,” he said. “The campaign finance shows she is funded by lobbyists whereas our campaign has been funded by the individual people in the community.” Barnwell became a popular figure in the Maspeth and Middle Village area, especially over the last month, as he’s been present at nearly every protest against the planned conversion of the 55th Road Holiday Inn in Maspeth into a homeless shelter, which was announced in early August. On Aug. 30, Markey signed onto a lawsuit with Crowley and state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) to stop the city from continuing with the plan. But at a Community Board 5 hearing on the subject on Aug. 31, Markey was heavily booed by hundreds of people, prompting her to ask, “Why are you booing me?” before waving to the crowd and walking out of the meeting. As predicted by civic leaders and residents alike, her absence at the nightly protests outside the hotel hurt her Q with voters in Maspeth and possibly beyond.