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General
Election Results
x-Helen M. Marshall, Dem 185,347 - 68 percent
Al C. Stabile, Rep 85,597 - 31 percent
Dorothy Williams-Pereira, Gre 3,228 - 1 percent
Primary
Election Results
Helen M. Marshall 78,653
Carol A. Gressler 46,155
Sheldon S. Leffler 24,416
(Official Vote Count from the
Board of Elections)
Incumbent: Claire Shulman
(can't run in 2001)
The Candidates:
For who has donated to these candidates see the Campaign
Finance Board:
Contributors
to Carol Gresser
Contributors
to Sheldon Leffler
Contributors
to Helen Marshall
Contributors
to Alfonse Stabile
Candidate
Forum
Queens Borough President candidates Carol
Gresser, Sheldon Leffler, and Al Stabile met August 22 to
answer questions from Queens residents (Helen Marshall phoned
to say she would be late, but did not show). The candidates
agreed on many topics, and Al Stabile said that that all
of the candidates would "make an excellent borough president."
The candidates also introduced specific proposals.
A full transcript of the forum
Campaign
Feature:
Marshalling The Old Clout?
While the role of the borough presidents was weakened by
the new City Charter in 1989, Queens Borough President Claire
Shulman remained one of the stronger civic voices in town.
She knew how to make the system work, and her alliance with
Mayor Rudy Giuliani paid dividends in terms of influence
and government money.
It will take a lot of work by her successor to gain the
kind of clout Shulman has achieved.
The Queens Democratic organization, as one of the few remaining
effective political machines in town is playing a big role
in choosing Shulman's successor, so its candidate is automatically
a legitimate candidate. In fact, when the organization made
its choice in May, several aspiring candidates immediately
dropped out.
The machine is backing a low-key councilwoman, Helen Marshall
of East Elmhurst. She is probably the least known of the
three leading Democratic candidates, but she is the only
African-American in the race, giving her a decided advantage.
Marshall is a veteran politician. She served in the Assembly in Albany for
eight years before her election to the
City Council in 1991, and she is also a Democratic
district leader. Her endorsement by the county Democrats
was the result of a political deal by Queens Democratic
Chairman Tom Manton.
Manton's candidate for mayor, City Comptroller Alan Hevesi , has had
trouble attracting black votes, so to keep Queens' growing
black community happy, Manton had to couple his endorsement
of Hevesi with backing for Marshall. Her endorsement was
also a recognition of the party loyalty of Queens black
voters and helped stifle quiet grumbling that Queens blacks
had little to show for faithfully pulling the Democratic
lever all these years.
Marshall's two opponents are Carol Gresser, former chairman
of the Board of Education, and Councilman Sheldon Leffler.
Gresser is probably the best known of the three from her
stint on the school board, even though she left under less
than happy circumstances-as a result of a falling out with
former mentor, Shulman.
Gresser has strong ties throughout the borough through
her contacts with local school boards and parents' associations.
She also has Hank Sheinkopf, one of the city's leading political
consultants, in her camp. That probably makes her the front-runner
at this point.
Leffler, who represents Little Neck and Douglaston, is
an iconoclastic councilman best known for his expertise
on law enforcement issues. He has tangled frequently with
the council leadership and Speaker Peter Vallone, giving
him the reputation of something of a loner on the council.
But he is very knowledgeable about city issues and has a
strong base in the Queens Jewish community. His major problem
may be the ability to raise enough money to run a competitive
race.
The winner of the Democratic primary will be a prohibitive
favorite in November, but there may be a Republican candidate
anyway-term limited Councilman Alfonso Stabile from Ozone
Park. However, Mr. Stabile is the subject of a criminal
investigation into his handling of a local Little League
funds, so his already slim chances have probably evaporated.
Philip Lentz
posted 6/25/01
Previous Queens Race
Features
Campaign Trail
9/7/01
Helen Marshall will turn 72 years old this month and has been in politics
since she was 16, when a Democratic leader recruited her to stuff envelopes
for $2 an hour.She served on her local community board for 15 years, in the
state Assembly for 10 years and has been an East Elmhurst city councilwoman
for the past nine years. Now she wants to take Claire Shulman's place as
Queens borough president. Although Marshall doesn't often mention the issue
of race while on the stump, she would be the first African-American elected
to the post. (Daily News)
9/6/01
For Queens borough president, Newsday endorses City Councilmember Helen Marshall. The paper says Marshall "is no Claire Shulman, who, by force of personality, has deftly turned the position into a persuasive and productive platform. But of the three Democratic candidates, who include former Board of Education President Carol Gresser and Councilman Sheldon Leffler, Marshall is most likely to throw Shulman-like bombs, with a degree of accuracy." (Newsday)
The Daily News continues its series of profiles on Queens borough president candidates with an article on Carol Gresser. (Daily News)
9/5/01
Profile of Queens Borough President Candidate Sheldon Leffler. (Daily News)
9/4/01
The Daily News endorses Helen Marshall
(Daily News)
8/31/01
Queens: The race to replace outgoing Borough President Claire
Shulman includes three candidates: Helen Marshall and Sheldon
Leffler, both term-limited City Council members, and Carol
Gresser, former president of the Board of Education. Mr.
Leffler was a hard-working and intelligent Council member,
but he was not known for his abilities as a consensus builder.
Ms. Marshall, an African-American who proposes to carry
on Ms. Shulman's agenda, has the backing of the county's
Democratic Party. Her people skills are the best of the
group, but she does not seem to have the independence or
drive the job requires. Of the three, Ms. Gresser promises
to be less dependent on party regulars and more creative
in fighting for the borough's most obvious needs - more
classrooms and certified teachers and more affordable housing
and better services for seniors. Early in her career on
the Board of Education, Ms. Gresser tried to limit discussion
of diversity in public schools, but by the time she left
the post in 1998 she had grown into a thoughtful member
who showed her mettle in battles with the mayor and her
former mentor, Ms. Shulman. We endorse Carol Gresser. (NY
Times)
7/30/01
Veteran City Councilman Sheldon Leffler, who hopes to become
Queens borough president, grabs an inch-thick sheaf of paper
and thrusts it at a visitor. The pages summarize the 42
City Council measures on which he was the prime sponsor
and 102 bills on which he was one of several prime sponsors.
"I submit to you, with conviction, that nobody [else] can
give to you a list of 42 serious, specific laws that they
are the prime sponsor of," Leffler said. The laws include
some big ones: the 1989 law that established mandatory recycling
in the city, a measure requiring city vehicles to use alternative
fuels, laws regulating asbestos and banning the posting
of political signs. In his nearly 24 years on the council,
the Democrat from Glen Oaks has made his presence felt,
especially on environmental and public safety issues. Along
the way, he's often taken unpopular stands, infuriating
leaders of his party and the unions that are their traditional
allies, as well as a succession of police and fire commissioners.
Phi Beta Kappa at Princeton, cum laude at Harvard Law School,
master's degree in taxation from New York University Law
School, he is viewed as an intellectual on the City Council.
(Newsday)
7/20/01
City Councilmember Helen Marshall, running for Queens borough
president, received the endorsement of the Working Families
Party. She told them that her father was a porter, which
would endear her to the Service Employees International
Union, which represents porters. But she said in a recent
interview with a Newsday reporter that her father was a
merchant seaman who jumped ship and became a house painter
during the Depression. (Newsday)
7/17/01
The blessing of the Queens County Democratic Organization
seems to have done wonders for the fund-raising of Helen
Marshall, one of three leading candidates for Queens borough
president, according to records released yesterday. Marshall,
a city councilwoman who represents an East Elmhurst district,
has raised $213,000 to date - nearly triple the $76,915
she had raised by her January filing with the city's Campaign
Finance Board. One of her opponents Carol Gresser has raised
$329,000; the other, Sheldon Leffer, $156,000. (Newsday)
7/13/01
District Council 37's surprise backing of Council Speaker
Peter Vallone was part of a wider pattern in which the mammoth
municipal union has rewarded several term-limited members
of the City Council seeking higher office. For comptroller,
Herbert Berman; for public advocate, Stephen DiBrienza;
for Queens borough president, Helen Marshall; for Staten
Island borough president, Jerome X. O'Donovan. A little
inside insight into the Vallone endorsement: Karen Persichilli,
a longtime Vallone loyalist now running day-to-day campaign
operations, happens to be married to Mike Keogh, the union's
political director. (Newsday)
The three Democratic candidates for Queens
borough president say they all easily collected enough signatures
to get on the ballot. So, too, has the Republican candidate
Al Stabile. (Newsday)
All three Democrats, incidentally, have one
thing in common: None of them was born in Queens. Helen
Marshall was born in Harlem, grew up in the Bronx and moved
to Queens in 1960. City Councilman Sheldon Leffler (D-Hollis)
was born in Brooklyn and moved to Queens with his family
when he was 2 years old. Former Board of Education President
Carol Gresser was born on Long Island and moved here after
her marriage. (Newsday)
7/11/01
Carol Gresser, candidate for Queens borough president, received
the support of candidate Haydee Zambrana who dropped out
of the race and endorsed the former Board of Education president.
Zambrana, a community activist in Corona, had the support
of some Hispanic voters in the area. (Daily
News)
6/8/01
The Queens district attorney is looking into allegations
that Queens councilmember Al Stabile, candidate for Queens
borough president, mishandled hundreds of thousands of dollars
from a Little League he ran for 23 years. "There's no money
to take,"Stabile replied. (NY
Post)
5/22/01
The Queens Democratic Organization formally endorsed City
Councilmember Helen Marshall for Queens borough president
yesterday. Three candidates have dropped out and the field
for the Democratic nomination has been reduced to Marshall,
Councilman Sheldon S. Leffler and Carol A. Gresser, a former
Board of Education president. (Daily
News)
5/21/01
More on the Queens Democratic Organization's likely endorsement
today of Helen Marshall for Queens borough president, the
first time they will have endorsed a black candidate for
the office (NY
Times)
5/20/01
The meeting of the Queens Democratic Organization tomorrow
night will ratify Democratic boss Thomas Manton's endorsement
of Alan Hevesi for mayor and Helen Marshall for Queens borough
president. Among the 14 candidates the machine is likely
to choose to endorse for City Council seats (all seats in
Queens have no incumbents) include: Tony Avella in Bayside
(district 19), John Liu in Flushing (district 20), Peter
Vallone Jr. in Astoria (district 22) David Weprin in Queens
Village (district 21), Melinda Katz in Forest Hills (district
29). (Daily
News)
5/18/01
Councilwoman Helen Marshall will get the backing of the
Queens Democratic Organization in her run for Queens borough
president. (Daily
News)
5/16/01
City Councilwoman Helen Marshall may be the favorite for
the Queens Democratic party's pick for borough president.
(Daily
News)
5/15/01
The Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens endorsed Carol
Gresser for Queens borough president, narrowly choosing
her over Helen Marshall. (Daily
News)
5/13/01
With about a week to go before the Queens Democratic organization
makes its endorsements, the race to succeed Claire Shulman
as Queens borough president is turning nasty. Councilmember
Sheldon Leffler associated one of his rivals, former Board
of Education President Carol Gresser with Donald Manes,
Shulman's predecessor, who killed himself in 1986 as his
administration was mired in scandal. Gresser's husband Larry
was Manes' deputy. (Daily
News)
5/1/01
Former Board of Education President Carol Gresser announced
her candidacy for borough president of Queens yesterday.
(Daily
News)
3/29/01
Queens Democratic Party Leader Thomas Manton dominates the
most disciplined party organization in the city, which considers
primary contests strife, and avoids them. But this year,
five people are vying for the open seat of borough president,
all 14 City Council seats in Queens have no incumbent because
of term limits - some have as many as eight candidates -
and two Queens pols, Hevesi and Vallone, are running for
mayor. Manton has a lot of deciding (endorsing) to do, but
has not done it yet. (NY
Times)
3/25/01
St. Albans Councilman Archie Spigner is poised to deliver
his potent Guy R. Brewer Democratic Club to aid Helen Marshall's
bid for Queens Borough President. (Daily
News)
3/21/01
Tony Seminerio decides not to run for Queens Borough President.
(Newsday)
3/15/01
City Councilman Sheldon Leffler has a slight lead over the
pack of eight other borough president hopefuls in raising
funds for the race. According to the Campaign Finance Board,
Leffler had $431,115 -- including matching funds -- in his
war chest as of Jan. 11, the first deadline of the year
for candidates' campaign finance disclosures. Second in
fund raising was Queens' former Board of Education representative
Carol Gresser with $423,022.(Times
Ledger Newspapers)
3/8/01
Although the Queen Republican Party organization has not
announced its choice for the borough president race, most
informed opinion says that Queens Councilman Al Stabile
will be the GOP choice. Over the past week, Tony Seminerio
has told the GOP that he will not be a candidate for the
Borough Presidency, leaving only northeast Queens Councilman
Mike Abel to challenge Stabile for the Republican nomination.
Abel, however, has been able to raise only $3,000 for his
BEEP bid. (Queens Courier)
3/7/01
A prominent local Republican, former Queens Republican head
Fran Werner, endorses Democrat Carol Gresser for Queens
borough president. (Daily
News)
2/22/01
Haydee Zambrana, a bilingual education counselor
in Corona, becomes first Hispanic, ninth candidate, in the
race for Queens Borough President. (Newsday)
2/6/01
Helen Marshall wants to be the first black borough president
of Queens. (City Limits)
1/28/01
Real estate developers and other businessmen "who need a
friend in City Hall," as Bob Liff puts it, are the major
contributors to Democratic candidates, often giving to several
candidates in the same race. For example, both Red Apple
supermarkets owner John Catsimatidis and publicist Howard
Rubenstein gave to all four of the leading Democratic contenders
and to both candidates for comptroller. Rubenstein also
gave to two candidates for Brooklyn borough president, and
two for Queens borough president. (Daily News )
1/17/01
For Queens borough president: former Board of Education
president Carol Gresser, $200,000; City Council member Sheldon
Leffler, $124,000; Assembly member Audrey Pheffer, $70,000;
City Council member Karen Koslowitz, $53,000. The amount
for City Council member Helen Marshall was unavailable by
press time, and Assembly member Anthony Seminerio did not
file. (Daily News)
1/08/01
Arthur Nitzburg in his column on politics (Queens Courier)
lays out the political landscape in Queens. There are already
100 candidates for the 14 open council seats. "What total
chaos. What a mess we are all in. How delightful." Then
he adds: "But wait until they get into the Council. The
winners won't believe how meaningless a job they've won."
Of course, all this new blood could (and probably will)
change the Council itself for the better." There are at
least eight candidates to succeed Claire Shulman as Queens
Borough President, he says. There are two Republicans, Mike
Abel and Al Stabile, both current members of the City Council.
There are six Democrats, each one representing "an entirely
different section of this intensely diverse county," Nitzburg
says, and one of them likely to win, since Queens has not
elected a Republican borough president for 40 years. "My
best guess at this moment is that the race will come down
to two key contenders - Douglaston's Carol Gresser or Corona's
Helen Marshall. But don't count out the other candidates-Audrey
Pheffer, Karen Koslowitz, Sheldon Leffler and Tony Seminerio."