From Luke Henry's website:
New York, New York (July 15, 2008)—Assembly candidate Luke Henry today calls upon his opponents to join him in three debates between now and election day on the issues facing Lower Manhattan.
"For 22 years, Sheldon Silver has been able to coast to re-election without a primary challenge," said Luke Henry. "This year, his constituents have the opportunity to hold him accountable and force him to make a case for his re-election. Over his lengthy tenure, Silver has presided over the erosion of affordable housing in his district, blocked efforts to address the public health crisis created by traffic congestion, and failed to secure essential reform in order to combat legislative dysfunction in Albany. I challenge him to defend his record in open debate."
Speaker Silver elected not to attend a May 18 forum hosted by the progressive organization Democracy for New York City. Henry had written to the incumbent in April encouraging him to attend that forum. "Downtown New Yorkers have a right to know where the candidates stand on the issues most important to them. I sincerely hope that Speaker Silver will accept my invitation to debate in order to give the voters all the information they need to decide who will best represent them in Albany," Henry said today. The May DFNYC debate did give the public an opportunity to compare Luke Henry's message with that of Paul Newell, who is also challenging Sheldon Silver. After evaluating the two challengers, DFNYC endorsed Luke Henry by a two-to-one margin.
Henry filed over 3,000 petition signatures last week—over six times the required number of 500—and his campaign is confident it can easily withstand any challenges and will appear on the primary ballot on Sept. 9.
For more information, please contact Kate Tomassi at (646) 408-4452, press@lukehenry.org.
Hmm, well it is a powerful statement, especially with the backing of his 3,000+ signature count and Newell's count also speaks volumes about how the two challengers are charged up and have active grassroots support that show Silver better do something to hold on to his seat.
However, this is Sheldon Silver we are talking about. He has thrown many bones to his constituents in AD-64 and they can be pretty meaty, especially since he is Speaker of the House and one of "three men in a room" up there in Albany.
My take on this? One of Sheldon's aides will show the press release to him, he'll chuckle and then take comfort in the fact that there are two challengers that will split the anti-Silver vote. As long as Newell and Henry are both fighting him, there is a slim to none chance that Shelly will lose his seat this year. It may hurt him down the road, but as for 2008, he is good to go.
|