Citizens Union's Weak Argument For Padavan

First off I'd like to commend Citizens Union for endorsing Joe Addabbo against Serf Maltese. Maltese is part of the old establishment up in Albany that has done nothing for the likes of good government. However, Frank Padavan is a part of that broken system and should have also given a shove towards the door by CU. Instead of endorsing the progressively-minded Gennaro, they went with the status quo in the 11th Senate District.

From NYT Cityroom:

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.

Since when has Senator Padavan supported the goals of Citizens Union? He may have given a nod to an independent redistricting commission but actions speak louder than words. Frank has been around for 36 years and how far has CU got in terms of reform with Padavan in office? Yeah, exactly my point. The Senate needs to be shaken up and Padavan is a giant rock in the way of change. Jim Gennaro of course had a response to this.

In response, Mr. Gennaro said that he considered it “surprising that Citizens Union would choose to endorse the Republican Frank Padavan, who has done nothing in his 36 years in office to challenge the Senate Republican Majority to push for the things that good government groups care about, like campaign finance reform, budget reform and legislative rules reform.”

He added: “My record of reform is clear, as demonstrated by my vote last week against the term limits extension bill in the City Council.”

Jim Gennaro has proven he deserves the endorsement and not just tepid praise. Dadey and CU went with a safe pick of an incumbent to give off a non-partisan look while Padavan is hardly a model of good government. The man names parks and schools after himself while in office in order to create his "institutional" character in the district. The state government would be much better served by Jim Gennaro in Northeast Queens, not the same old crap from Padavan.