BHB: Let’s talk about the other 800lb gorilla in your campaign: the Working Families Party. Can you talk about why there might be some concerns with the influence of your party?

PS: I’m proud to be endorsed by the Working Families Party and to get their support in this race. I agree with the values that they stand up for and that’s why they endorsed me. I am a progressive who gets results. That’s the same energy that the WFP and I bring to this race.

The WPF—just like any one of my supporters—there may be cases in the future where we have to agree to disagree, and that’s what will happen.

[Editor’s Note: Despite an affiliating with Working Families Party, Mr. Sikora is not known for a strong position on the Atlantic Yards project (now known as Pacific Park), WFP’s signature issue.]

I understand that lobbyists in general are not serving the public’s interest. BUT, I’ve pushed the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, fought off tuition increases at SUNY and CUNY, helped raise the minimum raise, fought for campaign finance reform. That’s the kind of lobbying we need more of.

BHB: You have not actually served in government in any level but have primarily worked as a lobbyist.

PS: Let me just take issue with this lobbyist [designation]. I know that you’re not saying it in a loaded way but my main opponent [Jo Anne Simon] is. She uses “lobbyist” like it’s a four-letter word, which it often is.

I’ve stood outside of the [NY] Senate chamber lobbying for pro-consumer legislation on telecommunications and there are 13 Verizon lobbyists standing around me that I recognize. 13 of them lobbying on the other side against the legislation that I’m running a campaign in support of.

I understand that lobbyists in general are not serving the public’s interest. BUT, I’ve pushed the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, fought off tuition increases at SUNY and CUNY, helped raise the minimum raise, fought for campaign finance reform. That’s the kind of lobbying we need more of.

The implication of what [Ms. Simon] is saying is that groups like NYPIRG and Consumers Union should not be lobbying. I just disagree with that.

There’s a real distinction here in that I’ve engaged in policy fights locally, [and at the’ city, state, federal [levels]. I’ve actually done that and my opponents have not. On local issues I want your readers to understand that I’ve been a key part of three campaigns that affect this district very specifically.

The most important for Brooklyn Heights is the Hudson Avenue Generating Station, which is the smokestacks right next to Manhattan Bridge. That used to be a ConEdison power plant that [was] the most polluting power plant in New York City. It burned # 6 dirty fuel oil. The top of that smokestack is right next to the top of the Farragut Houses. When [ConEd] would turn that on, it would belch dirty exhaust all over the neighborhood including directly into the Farragut Houses.

This while area’s air quality was worsened by this facility. I ran the largest aspect of NYPIRG’s campaign to pressure ConEd and the DEC to shut down the [plant], to improve air quality and fight climate pollution. We won that campaign. The power plant shut down later for economic reasons, [partially because of] the pressure campaign we ran, both on the litigation side and by getting the Dumbo Neighborhood Association, the Vinegar Hill Neighborhood Association, City Tech students, and community activsits to protest at public hearings.

We put a lot of pressure on ConEd and the DEC to shut that facility down, and that’s exactly what they did.

Secondly, Walmart wanted to come into the city in 2004. That was their first attempt to gain a beachhead here. They were looking at several different locations in Brooklyn, one of them was the Albee Square Mall.

When I was with Consumers Union I did a street campaign called “Walmart No Way.” I was friends with some film people, so we had the idea of shooting a really sophisticated TV ad that we would [air] to expose Walmart and put presure on them. We did a street campaign where we raised $18,000 dollars by selling t-shirts and asking for money. We got thousands of people to sign a petition, thousands of people to call 311 to urge Mayor Bloomberg to [prevent] Walmart from [moving into] New York City because… they destroy neighborhoods.

Walmart is still not in the city or in Brooklyn—not because of [our] sophisticated TV ad or [the] street campaign that we generated or the thousands of people we got involved—that wasn’t the reason they didn’t enter NYC. But [our campaign] was part of that.

The third was LICH, which I already described.

I have worked in depth on local issues that affect this district, and I’ve been successful at them. I’ve led those campaigns. I initiated those campaigns.

BHB: Talk about how you’re getting your message out.

PS: We’re reaching out to everybody in the district. I’ve personally knocked on over 3,000 doors. There’s not enough time to do the whole district.

One of the things that bothers me is that this campaign started just before the petitioning period, when Joan Millman announced her retirement. She’s been a great elected official. But, the sense of a handover of power, in a quasi-incumbency sense, in a short timeline does bother me. The day that Joan Millman was announcing her candidacy, [Millman] and Jo Anne Simon were calling around to elected officials for support; the next day Jo Anne Simon was announcing her campaign.

BHB:. A revisionist approach to the LICH photo op with Bill de Blasio in 2013—an event that helped propell Mr. de Blasio’s campaign for mayor—is that it was entirely orchestrated for maximum media exposure.

PS: Of course the context of then-candidate, Public Advocate de Blasio’s actions were influenced by the mayoral election. I think he also was operating absolutely in good faith. He understood the issue—and I talked with him about it—we had a give and take on strategies and tactics. They had a wall between the Public Advocate’s office and the campaign so I was talking to both at the same time, there’s no restrictions on me talking to both. He was personally engaged in LICH on the legal front and played a critical role in the litigation. Without the Public Advocate getting pro bono litigators, that facility would have closed way before it did.

[Bill de Blasio] understood [LICH] was a facility which could be saved with restructuring. And that’s what Andrew Cuomo should have done. He should have done what President Obama did with GM, which is put everyone around a table and force everyone to come up with a solution.

He did a report that analyzed the effect of closing an ER and how much longer the drive times would be for ambulances. That was an immensely substantive piece of research that helped… show why this institution was so vital. Behind the scenes during his campaign [de Blasio] was lobbying the Cuomo administration. So he was burning political points with Andrew Cuomo while he was running for mayor. He was operating in good faith—it wasn’t just a stunt.

All of us and the workers at the facility felt like they [SUNY and Governor Cuomo] were just ramming this destructive [decision] down our throats and we were going to fight back any way necessary. At that point SUNY understood that this [confrontation] was headed to an “occupy Wall Street” type of situation. Bill understood that situation too. So when he came to [an] event [the third of four we organized] he was outraged by the process, not just the substance, which was bad [but] he understood this was a facility which could be saved with restructuring. And that’s what Andrew Cuomo should have done. He should have done what President Obama did with GM, which is put everyone around a table and force everyone to come up with a solution.

LICH was very poorly marketed, it was very poorly run, it didn’t do it’s billing properly but it was not losing the amount of money that SUNY [claimed] it was losing. It was losing much less money than that—we know that from Judge Demarest’s decision and the Comptroller’s audit. Had they done that kind of restructuring, this facility could have been saved. The Public Advocate understood that. He was actually quite angry, and I’ve never seen him [so angry before].

After the election he was personally engaged, continuing to lobby the state and the Governor to keep the facility. We were unable to save a full service hospital, but I think the Mayor is being unfairly maligned for not saving LICH when it’s a state-level decision. The Governor, SUNY and the state Department of Health are responsible for closing LICH to sell it off for real estate. I take issue with activists who focus on Mayor de Blasio rather than focus on Governor Cuomo. I think it’s misplaced.

BHB: What differentiates your candidacy for your opponents.

PS: My opponents—from what I have heard them say—and I on the surface have similar positions on Brooklyn Bridge Park and the proposed luxury condo development. But, your readers should know that I don’t receive any money from the real estate industry for my campaign, I’m not funded by any lobbyists for the real estate industry or any developers. My opponent [Jo Anne Simon] is. She is taking thousands of dollars from the real estate industry and from the people who are pushing housing in Brooklyn Bridge Park. That’s a difference I think is relevant for [BHB] readers.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sikira Campaign