Gotham Gazette Previews Upcoming Primary

By on July 15, 2010 9:54 am in Brooklyn Heights, Election 10, Government, News

52nd Assembly District Map

As a sign that the race between Doug Biviano and Joan Millman might actually be competitive, yesterday, the Gotham Gazette analyzed this contest.  However, despite the coverage of this race by the influential Gotham Gazette, there is approximately a 30-1 difference in the campaign war chests.  Can you guess which candidate has more money to get elected?

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  • WillowtownCop

    I don’t know anything about either candidate and I’m not endorsing one or the other, but all you have to do is look at the above map to see that gerrymandering is taking place to keep the same people in office year after year. I think it’s outrageous that the same person has been our fearless leader since 1996 (I was in high school!). No wonder nothing happens but corruption. Read the article: “Currently, 98 percent of incumbents return to the capital if they seek another election.” I say it’s time for two term limits for all politicians, at all levels of government.

  • Obama?

    Millman is deeply embedded in Albany’s rampant corruption!

    Time for change.

  • T.K. Small

    For me, the problem is that elections are not really competitive. A proposal that has been considered, but rejected by the establishment, is to hold open nonpartisan primaries. Basically in the first round, a large pool of candidates contest with each other and then the top two candidates have a runoff.

  • wonk

    Biviano is a naive, slightly crazy person. He says:

    “We need to elect assembly members who have the guts to stand up to entrenched interests in Albany and force change.”

    Christ, what a bunch of sweet-smelling ambrosia salad. In politics, you can’t ‘force’ anything. The only place from which to make laws from the top down is the Supreme Court.

  • Reggie

    “…Biviano said, ‘Money comes with the incumbent’s name on it.’ Groups that receive the money may therefore be reluctant to throw their support behind someone else and risk that funding.”

    Last time I voted, I voted individually and behind a curtain. People affiliated with organizations can bite the hand that feeds them. No one will know and besides, the freshman representative will likely fund most of the same groups … because the work they do is worthy, not to get votes.

    WillowtownCop, the map above is actually a pretty cohesive district.

  • my2cents

    Nothing will really change in Albany until Sheldon Silver is out. And even then, there are such a bunch of dimwitted power hungry people up there that we might end up with someone even worse pulling the strings. I love new York, but I hate the legislature up in Albany. Did they even pass a budget yet??

  • ashton

    I cannot consider Biviano a serious candidate. He is an opportunist. An educated man who decided to be a non-union super for a building that ultimately begged him to leave. He makes Yasskey seem like FDR.

  • nabeguy

    ashton, Joan Millman is a firmly entrenched politico with a large campaign war chest and deep roots in the machine. Going up against her is not exactly what I’d consider an “opportunity”. Nut’s, perhaps, but not an opportunity. Biviano may be swinging at windmills, but you have to respect him for picking up the sword. Personally, I’d be more prone to vote for a candidate who concerns themselves with the future of their constituents than one who only worries about their future at the polls.

  • Reggie

    Swinging at windmills, or tilting for the fences? Either way, Millman wins this by at least 15 points.

  • T.K. Small

    A law school classmate/friend ran against the previous Assemblywoman. He had almost 10 times the dollars as Biviano, and didn’t even get to 40%. Unless Millman makes an incredible mistake, Biviano has a straight uphill journey.

  • Obama?

    @Reggie: “Millman wins this by at least 15 points” And nothing will change!

    @wonk: Surely you jest when you say the Supremes “make” the law, rather than merely interpret the law.

  • wonk

    Obama?,

    No, I do not jest. How would you characterize New York Times v. Sullivan, Dred Scott, Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade?

    Regardless of what side you come down on, this were not interpretive decisions.