Allow me to extend my congratulations to former New York City Council Finance Committee Chairperson Democrat David Weprin in winning the February 9 Special Election to fill the 24th Assembly District seat previously held by his late father – New York State Assembly Speaker Saul and younger brother Mark Weprin. After losing races for NYC Council Speaker in 2005 and NYC Comptroller in 2009 – it is nice to win one for a change. I would disagree with my fellow Queens Courier colleagues Victor G. Mimoni and Daniel Egers who both wrote in last week’s January 11 edition about Weprin winning in a "landslide." When you look beyond the headlines, it was hardly a landslide, let alone a winning mandate for newly elected State Assembly member Weprin. With 68,428 registered voters including 40,321 Democrats, Weprin running on the Democrat, Independence and Working Families party lines received only 4,282 votes. Bob Friedrich running on the Republican/Conservative party lines garnered 2,633 votes. When you add the 61,493 voters who stayed home with Friedrichs votes, 94% of district voters opted for someone else — be it Friedrich or none of the above rather than Weprin.
The results for Weprin are terrible when you consider: (1) the district has been gerrymandered to elect a "Weprin" family member (his father – the late Democratic Speaker Saul Weprin and brother Mark) for decades; (2) David has been continuously campaigning for public office since 2001; (3) he has sent out dozens of mailings to voters over the same time period — many at taxpayers expense; (4) he has the so called famous "Weprin" family name; (5) he had endorsements from most major labor unions; (6) the Queens Courier, Queens Gazette and Queens Tribune weekly newspapers all endorsed him; (7) he raised far more "Pay for Play" campaign funds which afforded him the opportunity to outspend his opponent Bob Friedrich by $130,000 to $35,000 and (8) his last minute mailing on hate crimes claiming Friedrich was an extremist included a Nazi swastika. It was conveniently sent out with no time for any public debate or media coverage by local or daily community newspapers on the merits of his charges. This was reminiscent of campaign tactics by late President Nixon and his infamous "plumbers unit". Instead of hiding behind his campaign manager – Corey Bearak, perhaps Weprin owes Bob Friedrich, local community newspapers and residents of the 24th Assembly District a public apology. Weprin said "I am not going to get into divisive politics" (Source: "Weprin wins brother’s 24th Assembly seat by Liz Rhoades — Queens Chronicle, February 11) is contradicted by the actions of his own campaign. Any candidate including Weprin must take responsibility for the actions of his own campaign staff such as scurrilous mailings.
Weprin had two local Democratic political clubhouses with several hundred county committee and active members. They were supplemented by numerous major labor unions such as the United Federation of Teachers, District Council 37 and others who combined to conduct a vigorous telephone/mail/E-mail/door to door get out the vote operation. Fredrich had to rely primarily on ordinary local non political community based volunteers. The 24th Queens Assembly District Republican and Conservative party organizations are virtually non existent. They have few active members and numerous vacant county committee positions.
Remember the past 2009 September Democratic Primary results for David Weprin’s NYC Council seat? Brother Mark Weprin only received 50% of the votes. The other two opponents — Bob Friedrich – President of the Glens Oak Village Co-op and local community activist Swaranjit Singh split the remaining 50%. A majority of registered Democrats stayed home. It is only a matter of time when the Weprin family dynasty ends. Sooner or later both NYC Council member Mark Werpin and State Assembly member David Weprin will be returning full time to their current part time lucrative private sector jobs. Even with another round of gerrymandered New York City Council and State Assembly district boundaries (based on the 2010 census results) to help keep both in public office – change will come.
Starting in the 1990′s, the Weprin family political base has been declining. Sons and daughters of Jewish, Italian, Irish and Catholic voters upon college graduation or marriage have moved to Long Island, Hudson Valley, Connecticut, New Jersey or other states. Older voters continue to move out of the district upon retirement or die of old age. An emerging new generation of immigrants from Latin America, South Asia and East Asia are becoming the new majority replacing the old Jewish/Italian/Irish coalition of decades ago.
Swaranjit Singh has a strong appeal to new immigrant voters making him a likely candidate to replace either brother David or Mark in a future contest. A majority of residents are now foreign born. Remember the old adage, if you don’t succeed the first time, try again and you’ll end up winning the second or third time. This applies to both Swaranjit Singh and Bob Friedrich. I predict State Assembly member David Weprin will face further serious challenges in round two — the September Democratic Primary and round three — the 2010 November General Election.
