Teachout endorses Kemmerer for state senate in Bay Ridge

Golden campaign dismisses move

October 8, 2014 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Former gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout came to Bay Ridge Wednesday to endorse fellow Democrat Jamie Kemmerer (left) for state senate. At right is Tim Wu, who ran for lieutenant governor. He also endorsed Kemmerer.

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Jamie Kemmerer, the Democrat hoping to unseat longtime state Sen. Marty Golden (R-C-Bay Ridge-southwest Brooklyn), injected some political star power into his campaign on Wednesday when he accepted an endorsement from Zephyr Teachout, the woman who ran against Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic Primary last month, earning a respectable 35 percent of the vote and becoming a progressive icon in the process.

The endorsement announcement took place on 76th Street in Bay Ridge, down the block from the Bay Ridge Manor, a catering hall owned by relatives of Golden. Tim Wu, who ran on Teachout’s ticket as lieutenant governor and lost to Kathy Hochul, also endorsed Kemmerer.

Teachout praised Kemmerer, a tech entrepreneur who lives in Bay Ridge, as a candidate who will clean up Albany corruption and look out for the interests of everyday citizens.

Teachout called Golden “one of the worst examples of the old boys club and the broken system of governing in our state,” and blasted the incumbent who, she said, funneled money the Bay Ridge Manor by holding campaign events there. “His family business has received half a million dollars in campaign funds. He has been taking from the public at a time when we are in dire need,” she said, adding that the state’s anti-corruption laws need to be strengthened.

Wu called Kemmerer “the kind of person who needs to be in New York politics.”

Kemmerer accepted the endorsements from Teachout and Wu and then laced into Golden, charging that the incumbent “uses taxpayer dollars to promote events at his family’s catering hall.” He said the state needs to “close that loophole” to prevent such actions.

Friends of Marty Golden, the senator’s campaign committee, has paid the Bay Ridge Manor $541,599 since Golden first won the senate seat 12 years ago, Kemmerer said.

Kemmerer proposed legislation, which he called “The Golden Rule,” to prevent state lawmakers from enriching themselves or using taxpayer or campaign money to boost their own — or a family member’s — business. “We are not standing in front of a catering hall. We’re standing in front of a bank,” he said.

Golden’s campaign spokesman, Ray Riley, dismissed the accusations. “It’s never a surprise when Occupy Wall Street gets together,” he said in a statement, charging that both Teachout and Kemmerer were part of the protest movement. “It’s unfortunate when it comes to Bay Ridge. Jamie worked hard to try to keep Governor Cuomo from getting the Democratic nomination and Zephyr is returning the favor. It’s what some would call a political quid pro quo.”

Another source in the Golden campaign laughed off the charges leveled by Teachout and Kemmerer and said Golden’s dealings with the Bay Ridge Manor have been above board and in keeping with state laws. “The only reason they know about this is because we put it in our campaign filings. We wouldn’t be putting it in our disclosure forms if we were corrupt and had something to hide,” the source told the Brooklyn Eagle.

Golden has represented the 22nd Senate District since 2002. The district includes parts of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, and Gerritsen Beach.

Election Day is Nov. 4.