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Volume XXI • Number 28 • July 10 - 16, 2014 •
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Klein supporters outpace Koppell’s in petition numbers State Senator Jeff Klein’s reelection campaign rolled on this week, as the incumbent filed a huge number of petitions and picked up a key labor endorsement. State Senator Klein’s campaign filed 9,000 signatures with the Board of Elections this past week, more than qualifying him to appear on the ballot in September. The petitions, bound in four volumes, contained nine times the number of signatures required for a state Senate candidate to get onto the ballot. The campaign filed three days in advance of the deadline on Thursday, July 10. “This illustrates my support in every corner of the district. It’s tremendously gratifying when 9,000 Democrats want you to be the standard bearer of the Party. I want to thank each and every person who knocked on doors throughout my district and each and every person who signed one of my petitions for their support. I’d also like to thank the political clubs that carried my petitions through the 34th State Senate District,” said State Senator Klein. In addition, powerful labor union 32BJ SEIU endorsed State Senator Klein this past week. The decision came after unprecedented coalition of labor unions, community organizations, Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, other progressive elected officials and the Working Families party that has come together to elect a Democratic majority in the state Senate in November. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to endorse Jeff Klein for Senate,” said Héctor Figueroa, president of 32BJ SEIU. “Sen. Klein fought to secure state funding for full-day pre-K for all of New York City children and has committed to passing legislation that would allow the city to increase its minimum wage, broaden tuition assistance to include qualified immigrants (known as the DREAM Act), and reform campaign finance laws. “Equally important as Sen. Klein’s promises on progressive legislation is his pledge to end the Independent Democratic Caucus’ alliance with the Republicans and work for a Democratic majority in the Senate,” Figueroa added. “We need a Democratic Senate to make good on our promises to working families, and we will mobilize our members to make sure Sen. Klein is re-elected with a mandate to do so.” The endorsement of 32 BJ was seen by insiders as a huge blow to the candidacy of former Attorney General and City Council Member G. Oliver Koppell, who is challenging State Senator Klein in the September primary.
Labor support was seen as crucial to any momentum Koppell would need to keep his campaign afloat, especially larger unions such as 32 BJ. However, since last week’s announcement that State Senator Klein and his Independent Democratic Caucus would work to see the Democrats take a majority in the State Senate, labor unions that had considered Koppell’s candidacy have largely walked away. “The most important political victory for working families in November will be a Democratic majority in the Senate,” said Figueroa. “Remaining neutral in some primaries will allow us to put more resources into securing a Democratic Senate, which could help to shrink the income gap and open up educational opportunities for more young people.” “Any rationale for Oliver Koppell’s candidacy disappeared when Klein made that deal,” said one Bronx political insider. “This is just about Oliver’s vanity at this point.”
State Senator Klein also picked up the endorsement of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, Sergeants Benevolent Association, the Metallic Lathers and Reinforcing Iron Workers Local 46 and the Bridge and Tunnel Officers’ Benevolent Association this past week. “Jeff Klein cares about the safety of our members, who build structures at great heights and need protections like the Scaffold Law. As a leader, Jeff Klein is a great listener and is always immediately responsive to the concerns of the men and women who make up our union -and he gets things done. Metallic Lathers and Reinforcing Iron Workers Local 46 endorses state Senator Jeff Klein for reelection,” said union president John Skinner. In contrast, Koppell told reporters this week that he had no plans to end his campaign, even though State Senator Klein had made a deal with Senate Democrats to partner on a Democratic majority, despite having said that he would end his campaign if such a deal
were made. “Jeff Klein has been partnering with Republicans and serving their agenda ever since forming the IDC, as evidenced by his refusal to fight for increased minimum wage, and he will not change his stripes. New Yorkers deserve honest State Senators who will not waver from fighting for an increased minimum wage, equal rights for women, the DREAM Act, and campaign finance reform. Klein turned his back on all of those issues in the last legislative session,” Koppell said on his facebook page. Koppell’s campaign has had a tumultuous few weeks, culminating with his firing of his former campaign manager, Robert Akleh, after he made a series of anti-Semitic comments on his Facebook page. Koppell has taken on a new campaign operative, Jennifer Firestone, who previously worked for the unsuccessful campaign of Cliff Stanton for City Council last year. Firestone was also a leader of the failed boycott of this newspaper.
The local candidates of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club are shown holding nearly five hundred sheets of petitions containing nearly forty six hundred signatures of enrolled democrats to place the local democratic slate on the ballot. The signatures, which will also qualify for the ballot over three hundred members of the Bronx Democratic County Committee, were collected the old fashioned way: through grass roots, door-to-door canvasing. Pictured from left to right are Male Democratic District Leader Candidate Eric Dinowitz, Female Democratic District Leader Randi Martos, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, Democratic State Committeeman William Weitz, Male Democratic District Leader Bruce Feld, and Democratic State Committeewoman Hellen Morik.