In a fiercely contested election for a State Senate seat in Queens, Frank Padavan the longtime incumbent, has received the backing of Citizens Union, a nonpartisan civic organization founded more than a century ago to fight the corruption of Tammany Hall.Citizens Union Backs Senator Padavan
Mr. Padavan, a Republican who was first elected to the State Senate in 1972, was preferred by the organization over his Democratic challenger, City Councilman James F. Gennaro.
The organization said that it preferred Mr. Padavan “because of his long-held support for much of Citizens Union’s reform agenda and effective representation in Albany.”
Citizens Union, however, noted that Councilman Gennaro “is also an effective and well-liked Councilmember who could provide able representation in the Senate if he were elected.”; however, Citizens Union ultimately thought that a compelling enough case did not exist for it to no longer support Senator Padavan.
And in other State Senate campaign news - a fight over who is the better tweeder! Check this out:
Joseph Addabbo, Serphin Maltese duke it out over voting block
...the two were asked how they could bring funding into the South Asian and West Indian communities in areas such as Richmond Hill and Ozone Park.
Maltese noted he has funded 235 neighborhood groups. But only one - the United Hindu Cultural Society in South Ozone Park - was from those ethnic groups, he acknowledged.
Maltese put the onus on the South Asian and West Indian communities, charging them with "not communicating your needs and your wants to me."
"I ask you, respectfully, tell me your needs," he said. "I want you to knock on my door. I want you to request funding - you deserve it."
Addabbo pounced.
"It's not going to take me 20 years to get funding into your community - that is an absolute disgrace," Addabbo thundered.
He glared at Maltese.
"You should know the groups in your community that need funding," Addabbo charged. "You have not funded United Hindu for seven years now."
And finally:
Campaign for Control of State Senate May Prove to Be Most Expensive Ever
5 comments:
"You have not funded United Hindu for seven years now."
Tell me why government has to fund with taxpayer largesse private organizations anyway?
Because private organizations, including those that are faith-based, serve the community.
Not all of us are Hindu, but as long as the public funds benefit the community as a whole, it should not matter who receives them.
After-school programs, English classes, meal programs, voter awareness campaigns, all benefit the community.
Conrad Poppenhusen, a wealthy German-American businessman, founded the Poppenhusen Institute in College Point which provided the above-mentioned services in the mid 19th century. This was done as PRIVATE philanthropy. Andrew Carnegie built free libraries throughout the country through PRIVATE philanthropy.
Why does the government have to now step in? With handouts.
United Hindu Cultural Council runs a wonderful Senior Center, the only one in the city with a vegetarian lunch served. If Serfie funded it with a teeny fraction of the millions he spends on other programs United Hindu could continue to meet the needs of a senior population now sorely underserved.
United Hindu is open to all and operated for years with no public funding. Has some excellent programs and does great work especially with the elderly female population from a culture where many have been abused by men for many decades as a matter of course.
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