Across New York City there are 16 Democratic primary contests for state Assembly (yet only one for state Senate). Maybe it is due to the new campaign matching funds program or ambition or retirements. There are three contests that we would like to highlight today and make endorsements for what we consider open seats.
On the northern end of the Upper West Side, Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell is ending his tenure after 11 terms, opening up the seat after 22 years. While there are five candidates on the ballots, there are three leading contenders.
O’Donnell is backing for his replacement Eli Northrup, a public defender, as was O’Donnell earlier in his career. Melissa Rosenberg is a housing expert and Micah Lasher was policy director for Gov. Hochul (he stepped down to make this run). The caliber of the Assembly would improve with the addition of any of this trio, who share many of the same views, reflecting probably the most liberal neighborhood in the United States.
But voters have to pick one and we urge Democrats to choose Lasher. He ran for state Senate in 2016 and narrowly lost to a very uninspiring Democrat, who started 2016 as a left-wing Bernie Sanders Democratic convention delegate, yet after winning the Senate seat then joined the Independent Democratic Conference to caucus with the ruling Senate Republicans. She only lasted a single term. We endorsed Lasher in 2016 and the case for him is only stronger.
Lasher worked as a top aide for the mayor, the state attorney general and now the governor, where he crafted Hochul’s excellent plan to boost housing — a plan the Legislature refused to touch. While Lasher is supported by the teachers union, he disagrees with the union and his two rivals and supports strong mayoral control of the schools. That is showing independence. Vote for Lasher.
Another seat soon to be vacant is in East Elmhurst and Corona and has been held for 32 years by Jeff Aubry, the man who ran the chamber as speaker pro tempore. In 1999, when speaker and future federal felon Shelly Silver betrayed New York City by repealing the commuter tax (which has cost City Hall $19 billion) seven Queens Democratic Assembly members voted for repeal, the most of any borough. But Aubry voted no to protect the city.
For his replacement, Aubry wants Larinda Hooks, who works at a local nonprofit social services organization. She is a regular in the Queens Democratic machine, but that’s a very good thing here because Hooks, a solid citizen, is the only person preventing the return to public office of Hiram Monserrate, a creep we have long called Monster Rat.
Monster Rat was expelled from the state Senate in 2010 when he was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend. The feds then sent him away for 21 months for stealing from the public from his earlier stint as a councilman. He keeps running again for public office and losing. While we don’t want him barred from the ballot, as the Council wrongly did last year (and which is still being fought out in court) the voters must say no.
Ironically, the final bill that Aubry got passed, and for which he was applauded by his colleagues, would remove the lifetime ban on jury duty for convicted felons. It would apply to Monster Rat. Let Monster Rat serve on a jury, but not in the Assembly. The Daily News endorses Larinda Hooks. Please vote for her.
In another Queens contest, Democratic primary voters made an error two years in electing Juan Ardila over our choice of the far superior Johanna Carmona, a former sex crimes prosecutor, for an open seat. Since then Ardila has been credibly accused of sexual assault by two women and everyone from Hochul on down has called on him to resign. Ardila has basically been a no show for his whole term. Get rid of him.
Voters of Ridgewood and Sunnyside must correct the mistake from last time and elect Carmona, who is running against him. The Daily News endorses Johanna Carmona for Assembly, again.
