NY Assembly 23 Special Election Shaping Up

NEW YORK

• Queens Dems Respond To Koch Bid For GOP Vote Swing (John Toscano, Queens Gazette) In admonishing Koch for his opposition to Weprin, Silver acknowledged that Obama has a problem with Jewish New Yorkers, but electing a Republican to take the 9th CD seat was not the answer. Koch had said electing Republican Turner to the long-held Democratic seat would send a message to Obama that his position on Israel was wrong.
• QUEENS GOP NOMINATES THREE IN SPECIAL ELECTIONS (John Toscano, Queens Gazette) In the 23d AD (Rockaway), County Chairman Phil Ragusa announced, the party nominated Jane Deacy, of Rockaway, the candidate against Democrat Phillip Goldfeder, in the election to fill Audrey Pheffer’s seat. Deacy is a former police officer, a grandmother, and co-leader with Councilmember Eric Ulrich (R-C-Ozone Park).
• Previewing the Special Elections (Gotham Gazette/The Wonkster) The Towns faction and the Lopez faction have been at odds, and some see the outcome of this as a high-stakes proxy fight. ” If Deidra Towns is victorious, the argument goes, there would be a ripple effect for the congressional players involved…. The other races seem more clear-cut. In the 23rd Assembly District in Queens, Philip Golfeder, an aide to Sen. Charles Schumer and former aide to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and onetime City Councilmember Simcha Felder, has Democratic, Independence and Working Families Party backing for the seat in the 23rd district, left vacant when Audrey Pheffer left to become Queens County clerk. Jane Deacy is the Republican/Conservative candidate. Vivian Carter has filed to get on the ballot as the Green Party candidate but documents from the Board of Elections indicate possible problems with her filing papers.
• Party claims GOP stole its line (Justin Murphy The Citizen, AuburnPub.com) Leaders of the Cayuga County Independence Party, unhappy about the slate of Republicans that will appear on its ballot line this November, are asking the county Board of Elections to remove them.