Republicans Capano and Cammarata
Challenge Brook-Krasny, Hyer-Spencer
By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
BAY RIDGE — Republican-Conservative candidate Joe Cammarata’s petitions in his campaign against Democratic Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer (Northern Bay Ridge-Staten Island) are being challenged.
And at the same time, Republican Bob Capano has picked up the endorsement of former Assemblyman Matthew Mirones in his race against Democratic Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny (Southern Bay Ridge-Gravesend-Bath Beach-Coney Island).
Challenging Cammarata’s petitions are Staten Islander Peter Killen, a retired detective who served three decades in the 68th Precinct in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. “I have been the objector,” said Killen, about qualifying candidates’ petitions filed on the July 10 deadline date.
Killen is also a supporter of Democratic Staten Island Councilman Mike Mahon in the 13th Congressional District in his primary race against Bay Ridge attorney Steve Harrison.
“We’ll look first at signatures collected at subway stations, bus stops and shopping malls, since it’s more likely many could be invalid. Door-to-door petition signatures within the 60th Assembly District (AD) are likely to be valid,” said Killen. “I doubt that Cammarata has enough valid signatures to qualify for a place on the ballot.”
“It’s only a formality. I expect just about every petition signature to be valid,” said unworried Staten Islander Cammarata, a global history teacher at Nazareth High School in Brooklyn. “We didn’t do supermarkets and malls. We went door to door in the district, getting over 1,200 signatures when 500 are needed to qualify. The response in Bay Ridge was great.”
The Board of Elections will check each signature with Killen present, for valid registered Republicans and Conservatives voters residing within the 60th AD. Once the checking is complete, and if more than 500 signatures are valid, Cammarata’s name will be on the ballot for the Nov. 4 general election.
Capano, running against incumbent Democratic Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny in the 46th AD, said of Killen’s challenge, “It’s unfortunate to be playing at political games to deny an excellent candidate access to the ballot. I have every confidence that Killen’s challenge will fail, that Cammarata will be victorious in this, and in November, Joe and I will be strong partners in Albany.”
The 60th AD covers most of northern Bay Ridge roughly above 82nd Street except an eastern sliver, a strip of blocks along the Narrows down to the Verrazano Bridge, and Staten Island’s East Shore. The 46th AD encompasses most of southern Bay Ridge below 82nd Street, Fort Hamilton, south Dyker Heights to the west and, to the east, Sea Gate, Coney Island and Gravesend, connected by a stretch of Bath Beach shoreline.
Cammarata Tells Issues, Hyer-Spencer Cites Record
Of his campaign against Hyer-Spencer, who won in 2006 by a margin of 700 votes, an optimistic Cammarata said, “We’re going to do it. We’re going to win.”
Among his top issues, he said, are reducing vehicle carbon emissions by encouraging and supporting more public transportation, and advocating stronger school discipline rather than smaller class sizes as “the key to educational reform.” He also favors increased senior-citizen housing and medical research funding, enforcing building codes while reigning in “reckless overdevelopment,” and family protection measures.
Cammarata, 62, who is married with three children and five grandchildren, is also a retired detective with 20 years in the NYPD, a St. John’s University adjunct professor, and a Vietnam War veteran who fought in the Tet Offensive of early 1968.
In 2006, when Mirones announced he would not seek another term, Cammarata entered a primary election, losing 38 to 62 percent. Hyer-Spencer, a former chief of staff for Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights Councilman Vincent Gentile, won the overall vote.
Hyer-Spencer has district offices in Staten Island and Bay Ridge. She serves on several assembly committees in Albany: Aging, Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, Children and Family, Judiciary, Transportation, and, most recently, Energy.
“Joe Cammarata is a gentleman and veteran campaigner who has run but lost elections for the City Council and the Assembly,” said Hyer-Spencer, although she also noted his work in the NYPD, the military and teaching.
“But I have the advantage of getting key legislation passed and providing funding to our district. These include, just now, a new capital grant for the Bay Ridge Center for Older Adults and the 68th Precinct with a $50,000 grant for a new criminal justice and crime prevention program.”
Mirones Supports Capano
Mirones, who served two terms in the 60th AD, recently endorsed Republican-Conservative Capano in the 46th AD. “Bob’s a natural leader who has been on the front lines fighting for Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and so many other communities in Brooklyn,” Mirones said.
“As a former assemblyman, I experienced the dysfunction, and I know that Bob is the right person to reform our dysfunctional government in Albany, end reckless taxing and spending, and strengthen laws to fight crime,” said Mirones. Noting Capano’s experience as a community aide to Borough Presidents Howard Golden and Marty Markowitz, both Democrats, Mirones praised Capano’s “ability to work with” other political parties.
Russian-born Brook-Krasny, a well-known businessman who once operated Fun-O-Rama, has said he “welcomes the challenge of the campaign.” He shares a Bay Ridge district office with Councilman Vincent Gentile on Third Avenue at 87th Street.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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