NEW YORK — Two incumbents facing corruption investigations — state Sen. Shirley Huntley and Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera — were voted out of office during their primaries yesterday.
Those upsets were among the few surprises in yesterday's election. Another incumbent under investigation, Assemblyman William F. Boyland, of the 55th State Assembly District, won by 37 percent of the vote, which was split by six challengers.
"Overall, the impact of yesterday's primaries in New York City was to reinforce the status quo," wrote Angelo Falcon, of the National Institute for Latino Policy, in his analysis of the election.
Below are the unofficial results from wire services for important races in New York City. Winners appear in bold. Incumbents are in italics.
State Assembly District 80 Dem - Primary
District 25
66 of 66 precincts - 100 percent
Nily Rozic 2,245 - 56 percent
Jerry M. Iannece 1,749 - 44 percent
District 33
71 of 71 precincts - 100 percent
Barbara Clark - 3,066 - 63 percent
Clyde Vanel 1,788 - 37 percent
District 38
55 of 55 precincts - 100 percent
Michael Miller - 1,441 - 71 percent
Etienne Adorno 580 - 29 percent
District 40
50 of 50 precincts - 100 percent
Ron Kim 1,136 - 27 percent
Yen Chou 974 - 23 percent
Ethel Chen 932 - 22 percent
Myungsuk Lee 619 - 15 percent
Martha Flores-Vazquez 521 - 12 percent
District 42
67 of 68 precincts - 99 percent
Rhoda Jacobs - 3,753 - 68 percent
Rodneyse Bichotte 1,778 - 32 percent
District 45
70 of 70 precincts - 100 percent
Steven Cymbrowitz - 1,774 - 54 percent
Ben Akselrod 1,530 - 46 percent
District 48
64 of 64 precincts - 100 percent
Dov Hikind - 3,021 - 84 percent
Mitchell Tischler 558 - 16 percent
District 54
76 of 77 precincts - 99 percent
Rafael Espinal - 1,979 - 65 percent
Juan Rodriguez 1,048 - 35 percent
District 55
92 of 92 precincts - 100 percent
William Boyland - 1,532 - 37 percent
Anthony Jones 610 - 15 percent
Roy Antoine 541 - 13 percent
Nathan Bradley 495 - 12 percent
Anthony Herbert 470 - 11 percent
David R. Miller 260 - 6 percent
Christopher Durosinmi 198 - 5 percent
District 57
92 of 92 precincts - 100 percent
Walter Mosley 4,295 - 63 percent
Olanike Alabi 2,078 - 30 percent
Martine Guerrier 493 - 7 percent
District 58
76 of 77 precincts - 99 percent
Nick Perry - 4,191 - 76 percent
Terry Hinds 1,340 - 24 percent
District 60
90 of 90 precincts - 100 percent
Inez Barron - 2,847 - 56 percent
Christopher Banks 2,280 - 44 percent
District 72
83 of 83 precincts - 100 percent
Gabriela Rosa 2,946 - 44 percent
Mayra Linares 2,305 - 34 percent
Melanie Hidalgo 1,039 - 15 percent
Ruben Dario Vargas 435 - 6 percent
District 74
96 of 103 precincts - 93 percent
Brian Kavanagh - 2,192 - 70 percent
Juan Pagan 924 - 30 percent
District 77
65 of 65 precincts - 100 percent
Vanessa Gibson - 2,837 - 90 percent
Anthony Curry 301 - 10 percent
District 78
48 of 53 precincts - 91 percent
Jose Rivera - 1,528 - 78 percent
Ricardo Martinez 434 - 22 percent
District 80
90 of 90 precincts - 100 percent
Mark Gjonaj - 2,407 - 52 percent
Naomi Rivera (i) 1,894 - 41 percent
Adam Bermudez 222 - 5 percent
Irene Rukaj 134 - 3 percent
District 82
110 of 110 precincts - 100 percent
Michael Benedetto - 2,960 - 89 percent
Egidio Sementilli 376 - 11 percent
District 84
77 of 77 precincts - 100 percent
Carmen Arroyo - 1,267 - 53 percent
Maximino Rivera 614 - 25 percent
Charles Serrano 529 - 22 percent
District 86
53 of 57 precincts - 93 percent
Nelson Castro - 2,193 - 84 percent
Richard Soto 409 - 16 percent
District 87
89 of 89 precincts - 100 percent
Luis Sepulveda 3,003 - 76 percent
Daniel Figueroa 969 - 24 percent
District 10
166 of 166 precincts - 100 percent
James Sanders - 4,979 - 57 percent
Shirley Huntley - 3,477 - 40 percent
Gian Jones 263 - 3 percent
District 16
153 of 153 precincts - 100 percent
Toby Ann Stavisky - 4,940 - 58 percent
John Messer 3,575 - 42 percent
District 17
163 of 166 precincts - 98 percent
Simcha Felder 6,345 - 83 percent
Abraham Tischler 1,336 - 17 percent
District 18
215 of 217 precincts - 99 percent
Martin Dilan - 6,679 - 67 percent
Jason Otano 3,303 - 33 percent
District 27
220 of 235 precincts - 94 percent
Brad M. Hoylman 7,376 - 68 percent
Thomas Greco 2,526 - 23 percent
Tanika Inlaw 868 - 8 percent
District 31
203 of 225 precincts - 90 percent
Adriano Espaillat - 9,902 - 64 percent
Guillermo Linares 5,566 - 36 percent
District 33
145 of 154 precincts - 94 percent
Gustavo Rivera - 4,364 - 70 percent
Manuel Tavarez 1,872 - 30 percent
District 15
164 of 164 precincts - 100 percent
Eric Ulrich 2,783 - 70 percent
Juan Reyes 1,217 - 30 percent
Bronx Civil Court District 2 Dem - Primary
399 of 408 precincts - 98 percent
Eddie McShan 8,828 - 60 percent
Juana Valentin 5,869 - 40 percent
Brooklyn Civil Court District 1 Dem - Primary
130 of 130 precincts - 100 percent
Richard Montelione 3,507 - 53 percent
Lara Genovessi 3,120 - 47 percent
Brooklyn Civil Court District 5 Dem - Primary
276 of 282 precincts - 98 percent
Steven Mostofsky 3,155 - 45 percent
Theresa Ciccotto 2,577 - 37 percent
Charles Finkelstein 1,277 - 18 percent
Manhattan Civil Court District 3 Dem - Primary
91 of 91 precincts - 100 percent
Lisa Sokoloff 2,440 - 55 percent
Olga Statz 2,031 - 45 percent
Surrogate Manhattan Dem - Primary
1,071 of 1,156 precincts - 93 percent
Rita Mella 24,674 - 60 percent
Barbara Jaffe 16,744 - 40 percent
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Photo by Hawaii/Flickr, used under Creative Commons license.
It is a testament to the corruption-as-usual air of the state capital that three or more current incumbents facing challenges in Thursday's primary election could very easily be reelected only to find themselves removed from office or jailed in the coming year.
Are voters paying attention? Will they be sending future jailbirds to Albany, or will they put their faith in people with unfamiliar names who promise change?
Better not to blame the voters — they are likely feeling nauseous from the stink of scandal emanating from Albany, where members of New York’s vaunted ethics panel spent Monday morning jousting with each other over transparency instead of talking openly about what everyone who pays attention to the news already knows.
The scandal they weren’t allowed to talk about in public involves not only the one-time overlord of Brooklyn politics, Assemblyman Vito Lopez, but no less than three of the most powerful men in the state: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver who has ruled the Assembly with an iron grip for nearly two decades; the second-term comptroller, Thomas DiNpoli, who was appointed by his colleagues after his predecessor Alan Hevesi was jailed for corruption; and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who although up until now was scandal-free, served in the Senate Democratic conference with a number of ethically challenged colleagues.
None of those men face a vote by the electorate this year, but plenty of other scandal-clouded pols do.
Voters won’t just be deciding who to send to Albany. They'll also pick people to build out the structure of their county committees. Voters in Brooklyn will have the chance to strip some power away from Lopez. And a few countywide judicial races will let New Yorker’s decide who gets to dole out justice from the bench.
Here are a few highlights from the dozens of primaries playing out in the city.
Assemblyman William Boyland of the 55th State Assembly District is the poster boy for Albany corruption and dysfunction. He wrote no bills last year and made up for it by authoring three this year. He has had one of the highest absentee rates of any legislator — and saying he has had some legal trouble would be an understatement.
Boyland was arrested on federal bribery charges in November of last year, three weeks after being acquitted in a different case. He is accused of soliciting more than $250,000 in bribes, some of it which he planned to use to pay legal bills from the previous case.
Luckily for Boyland, he faces six challengers who could easily split the vote and allow him to keep his seat. Boyland will again likely be too busy dealing with legal issues to actually legislate.
Read the Gazette's coverage of the election: Assembly's Boyland Faces Tough Primary Challenge • Five Primary Races Worth Caring About • Family Values at Play in State Senate Race in the Bronx
Another incumbent, Asssemblywoman Naomi Rivera, has been labeled an “absentee Assemblywoman” by BoroBeat writer Bob Kapstatter, but her record in the community over the past seven years isn’t likely to decide her race against three challengers for the 80th State Assembly District.
Rivera has been the focus of a scandal surrounding her appointment of her boyfriend to a political position despite the fact that he had no qualifications. The scandal keeps deepening and the Bronx district attorney is investigating. But with three other names on the ballot — Adam Bermudez, Estrada Rukaj and Mark Gjonaj — Rivera may just squeak through the primary.
The fallout of the Assemblyman Vito Lopez sexual harassment scandal may help shape the race in the 17th State Senate District, where challenger Jason Otaño hopes to further tie 10-year incumbent and Lopez ally Martin Dilan to Lopez’s sinking ship. Dilan and his councilman son, Erik, have helped Lopez keep a reign on political positions in Brooklyn.
But Otaño has been accused of being interested in the race only out of political revenge. Rep. Nydia Velasquez faced a primary challenge from Erik Dilan earlier this year, and Otaño’s run is seen by many as retribution.
Otaño admits to initially considering a run for Council and speaks openly of his loyalty to Velasquez. He also had to move into the 17th district to challenge Dilan.
One-term Sen. Adriano Espaillat took a risk this year and challenged long term incumbent Rep. Charles Rangel for his Congressional seat. After a series of headline-grabbing mishaps at the city Board of Elections that saw the race grow tighter than initially reported, Espaillat decided to concede and run for his 31st State Senate District seat.
The man who wants to unseat him is Assemblyman Guillermo Linares — Espaillat’s long-time political rival. Espaillat has attacked Linares for being beholden to real estate interests and, in a recent flyer, charged that Linares “betrayed” Latinos by backing Rangel in the Congressional race. In spite of being criticized for the flyer, the message was tuned to voters in the largely Spanish-speaking district.
Rangel has endorsed Linares and his daughter Mayra, who is running to fill her father’s Assembly seat. Espaillat seems to be winning the endorsement wars, however, enjoying the support of most of his legislative colleagues and a rare endorsement from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
More Gazette election coverage: Second-Longest Running Show Now on Broadway is Uptown • How the State’s Political Scandals are Reshaping the Primaries
Mike Miller faces a stiff challenge in Queens' 38th State Assembly District to his three-year incumbency from challenger David Adorno, a staffer for Councilman Robert Jackson. Miller has had to familiarize himself with new communities after redistricting reshaped the 38th district. Meanwhile, Adorno is trying to paint Miller as part of the old guard.
Also in Queens, seven-term Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky is battling John Messer, a former project manager for the Economic Development Corp., for the 16th State Senate District that was greatly redrawn during the redistricting process to better represent the Asian population.
Messer is trying to capitalize on the district’s Asian population with campaign material that spotlights his Asian wife. Stavisky has tried to paint Messer as a Republican, noting his contributions to Republican candidates. Messer has contributed a great deal of his own money to bankroll his candidacy.
Stavisky enjoys a large base of labor support and, like Espaillat, was endorsed by the governor.
Sen. Shirley Huntley may have the worst time getting relected this year than any other scandal-plagued incumbent. Rumors of misdeeds surrounding her nonprofit have lingered for the past two years — giving a viable challenger a chance to prepare for the race in the 10th State Senate District seat in Queens.
It didn’t hurt Councilman James Sanders chances that Huntley was indicted and arrested earlier this month for committing fraud in a conspiracy to defraud the state, or that The New York Post ran a picture of Huntley in handcuffs on its front page. Huntley should have had a major advantage going into the election, since she was first elected in 2006, has brought home major pork funding to her district and had seniority on a number of committees.
But her arrest has upended all that, leaving her stripped of her committee positions and her reputation further tarnished. Redistricting also altered the district so that it now includes parts of Sanders’ council district. Sanders has called on Huntley to step down to deal with her legal troubles. She has pledged to fight the charges.
Rodneyse Bichotte has an uphill battle in her challenge for Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs' 42nd State Assembly District seat in Brooklyn. Jacobs was first elected to the Assembly in 1978 — that is a whole lot of incumbency and comes with a whole lot of perks: fundraising know-how, name recognition and the rest.
Bichotte has made inroads with the district's immigrant population, but many insiders are skeptical that the young electrical engineer will be able to topple someone with Jacobs’ legacy.
Among a handful of noteworthy Democratic primaries for countywide judicial elections, the standout race is in Manhattan for the job of Surrogate Court judge, overseeing sometimes bruising cases involving wills and estates.
The candidates, Barbara Jaffe and Rita Mella, are competing for a 14-year term on the bench. Jaffe is an acting New York State Supreme Court Justice, who has worked on the matrimonial bench. Mella is a county Civil Court judge, a position she won in a general election in 2006.
The New York City Bar Association, which evaluates candidates, has approved both. The Independent Judicial Election Qualification Commission, described as a "network of independent screening panels for judicial candidates," has rated both candidates as "highly qualified."
The New York Times also weighed in on the contest, picking Mella over Jaffe.
"Both contenders are thoughtful and hard-working, and both support court reforms. In a close call, our endorsement goes to Ms. Mella. We are impressed by her solid grasp of the office, excellent people skills and obvious passion for the court’s work," the newspaper wrote.
There are also a number of primary elections for 14-year term Civil Court judgeships in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan.
A group of reform-minded Brooklyn Democrats have mobilized to rival the power of the Kings County Democratic political machine personified only days ago by boss Lopez (until he resigned from the job amidst sexual harassment allegations) .
The reformers are running candidates for unpaid positions within the party structure in a bid to change it from the inside.
District leaders — also known as state committee persons — are unpaid officials elected every two years to represent each state assembly district throughout the city. While the job is rarely talked about except by party insiders, many politicians start their careers as district leaders. Each district has a male and a female district leader.
One race to watch is in Brooklyn, where District Leader Lincoln Restler, 28, was elected by a slight margin two years ago, and has used his position to rival the Lopez-led establishment. Restler is running for re-election against a Lopez-backed candidate, 65-year-old Chris Olechowski, a Greenpoint activist.
Read the Gazette's coverage of the battle to defeat Brooklyn's political machine.
The position of county committee is sometimes considered a stepping stone for anyone wanting to get involved in the inner workings of local party politics. County committee members are supposed to attend meetings called by the county chair, debate issues on party stances and help to select candidates for higher office.
According to the Grassroots Initiative, a nonprofit that provides information for people considering a run for public office, each election district has two-to-four elected county committee positions. The county committee contains representatives in a county party for about 700-to-1,000 registered voters within an election district. But thousands of these positions are vacant.
The process for running for county committee requires petitioning within the election district. The New Kings Democrats, a Brooklyn political reform club that also backs Restler, has recruited 260 local Brooklynites this year to run for county committee positions, a few of whom will run in contested races.
The polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday. Don't know if you are registered? Call 1-888-VOTE-NYC
The city's Board of Elections is the go-to spot for information on voter registration and poll sites. They recently updated their website, too. The city's Campaign Finance Board has a comprehensive list of all the races, plus links to a sample ballot and voter registration lookup.
Good government groups are working to inform voters, too. Citizens Union, the Gazette's sister organization, compiled a voter directory to competitive races. So did The League of Women Voters, which can be found here.
If you're a registered Republican, Democrat, Independent or Working Families party member, you can vote. If not, you'll have to wait until the general election. The goal of the primary election is to give party-affiliated voters the opportunity to pick their candidates.
The polls are located throughout the city, and you can find yours using this handy locator offered by the city's Board of Elections.
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David Howard King is Gotham Gazette's state government editor in Albany. Additional reporting contributed by Kamelia Kilawan and Cristian Salazar in New York City. Map links courtesy of the Center for Urban Research at the Graduate Center, CUNY.
William F. Boyland, pictured here in 2005, from the assemblyman's website.
NEW YORK — William F. Boyland Jr., the four-term assemblyman representing the 55th district in Brooklyn, went on what for him might be described as a bill-drafting binge during the legislative session earlier this year — introducing a total of three measures in Albany.
That exercise of his legislative duties contrasted with 2010 and 2011, when he introduced a total sum of zero bills.
But Boyland’s lack of productivity and the fact that he missed one-third of all votes last year — or that he was caught playing the video game Cityville on Facebook rather than preparing for Assembly sessions he failed to attend — are the least of the reasons why he is facing the greatest challenge to his control of the seat he virtually inherited from his father in this Thursday’s primary. After all, none of those foibles carry with them criminal charges.
Boyland was arrested on federal bribery charges in Brooklyn in November 2011, about three weeks after being acquitted in a separate Manhattan case. Prosecutors allege that Bolyand tried to solicit more than $250,000 in bribes, some of which was intended to pay for the attorneys in the Manhattan case.
Boyland pleaded not guilty to the charges outlined in the second bribery case.
The Albany County district attorney and the state controller are also investigating Boyland in two separate cases involving travel expenses and state-issued credit cards.
The assemblyman did not return phone calls from the Gazette requesting comment about the allegations or the primary.
The Boyland family has been referred to as the “Kennedys of Brownsville,” and have been in power in the district since the 1970s, when Thomas Boyland, Assemblyman Boyland’s uncle, was first elected to the state Legislature in 1977. Boyland Jr. currently occupies the seat his father relinquished in 2003 after a 21-year career.
Even with the charges hanging over his head, one of the biggest hurdles Boyland’s six challengers face are each other, since they could ultimately split the vote, helping the well-known incumbent.
This year’s challengers include Tony Herbert, who works as a vocational education specialist at a shelter for homeless women who are mentally challenged; Roy “Uncle Roy” Antoine, the owner of a local clothing store; Anthony Jones, a former youth counselor and long-time resident who was close with the late Councilman James Davis; Nathan Bradley, who serves as both Community Board 5's chair and as a deputy chief of staff for state Sen. John Sampson; David Miller, a member of Community School Board 16; and Christopher Durosinmi, aide to state Sen. Martin Dilan.
Only Herbert could be reached for comment. “The Boyland name has come under serious fire and I don't think they're going to survive this,” Herbert said, referring to the bribery allegations brought against Boyland. (Citizens Union, the sister organization of Gotham Gazette, has endorsed Herbert.)
Herbert maintains he has far more legislative experience than the other candidates, including Bradley and Durosinmi, each of whom works for a different state senator. He notes that Boyland follows the Democrat Party line, and while he said he "respect[s] the ideology of the Democrats," he says "the purpose of office is to serve the people," not to be a "party hack."
While generally critical of Boyland on the issues, Herbert says the lack of banking options in the district is particularly frustrating, given that the assemblyman serves on the housing, economic development, local government, banking and aging committees. Boyland is also the chair of the subcommittee on senior outreach and activities.
On his website, Boyland emphasizes his support of efforts to stem crime, including the DNA databank expansion that passed earlier this year.
“Ever since its inception, DNA evidence has revolutionized criminal investigations, helping solve thousands of cases that might have gone unsolved without it,” Boyland said in the statement. “By expanding our offender DNA databank, we will help our police officers and local officials solve more crimes and put dangerous criminals behind bars.”
The district, predominantly composed of much of Brownsville and Ocean Hill, as well as parts of Bushwick, Crown Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and East New York, is among the densest in the state, due in no small part to the number of housing developments within its boundaries.
According to New York City CompStat reports, precincts in the district remain among the highest for crime in the city. Further, about half of all residents receive some form of assistance such as social security's supplemental security income, welfare or Medicaid, and the district is among the highest in foreclosure rates and lowest in high school graduation rates, according to official studies undertaken by the state.
There's a lot of work to be done in the district that's just not getting done, Herbert said, adding that the date of Boyland’s upcoming trial is “extremely problematic.” If Boyland is found guilty, it could undercut “the democratic process,” he said. Boyland’s trial is scheduled to begin three weeks after the primary.
Herbert said a guilty verdict in Boyland’s most recent case would deprive the voters of a chance to pick their appointed official because the Brooklyn County Democratic Committee would end up deciding who would fill the district seat.
It is also unclear where Boyland is getting the money to finance his campaign. Boyland's three fundraising committees have been sued over 40 times by the state for failure to file financial information relating to his campaigns, said John Conklin, a spokesman for the Board of Elections. All told, the suits tally approximately $23,000 in fines.
Of Boyland's three committees, the Committee to Re-Elect William F. Boyland, Jr., hasn't submitted a filing since 2009, but remains active according to the BOE website; Friends of William F. Boyland Jr. filed a 'no activity statement' in July 2012, its first filing since 2009; and the William F. Boyland Jr 2010 Re-Election Campaign, though still active, has not had a report filed since 2010.
Conklin said the state can only go after the treasurer of a committee after it is closed. “We've done everything we can do under the power of the law,” he said.
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Matt Hunger, a Brooklyn-based freelance journalist, writes on everything from municipal issues to the arts and sports. He can be reached at matt.hunger(at)gmail.com.