Frustrated Mayor Must Adjust To New Dem Senate Leadership

We can understand Mayor Michael Bloomberg's frustration over the legislation that would have continued mayoral control over the New York City public school system not being passed.

Considering the absence of any activity by the state senate for most of June and into July, and then the abrupt end of the senate stalemate, resulting in Senator Pedro Espada's assuming the role of senate majority leader, however, a normal resumption of activity in the senate, including a quick vote on the school control bill passed by the Assembly months earlier was hardly to be expected.

The newly installed leadership in the senate, anxious to show the public that they were now running the show and wanted some changes in the law, were in no real hurry to vote on the Assembly bill without first considering changes to it.

The mayor, frustrated by the new senate leadership's actions, demanded that the Assembly bill be taken up immediately, but that just wasn't going to happen. It's not unusual for unexpected changes to occur in the legislature's operations and for delays in action on a very important and sensitive issue, such as school control, to come about.

From the looks of things as they now stand, the new senate leadership won't be ready to deal with the school control bill until the legislature returns from summer vacation. At that time, there may be enough votes in the senate to pass the Assembly bill without undue restrictions on the mayor's authority or other changes.

We see a possibility of many Democrats and some Republicans supporting the mayor's wishes sufficiently to pass the Assembly bill. However, we don't think pressures from Espada and his cohorts to influence the way some Democrats will vote when the bill comes up and what amendments will be attached to it cannot be discounted. Also, Espada's alliance with Republican senate leader Dean Skelos during the stalemate can affect how some GOP senators will vote, too. It's a whole new ballgame with Espada in control, especially when issues of importance to minority communities come up, such as the school control bill, and senators from minority areas form a coalition to advance their point of view.

In that context, the question arises as to whether the mayor's election prospects may be affected by his present public dispute with Espada and his allies. According to press reports, Bloomberg's campaign strategists see him gaining some strength over his efforts to get the school control bill passed. That should be a comfort to him, but school control is a very emotional issue to many parents in the city and bears close watching as the election campaign goes forward.

City Comptroller William Thompson Jr., the presumed Democratic opponent of the mayor, has not made school control a major issue up to this point. It would be interesting to see how much traction he could get out of it if he decided to pursue it with some intensity.

LEAVITT OPPOSES MARSHALL IN PRIMARY: We erred when we wrote in last week's column that Borough President Helen Marshall will have no opposition in the Democratic primary on September 17. She is being opposed by Marc Leavitt, a 60- year-old attorney from Sunnyside who's been active civically in that area for more than three decades. Although he is a member of the West Queens Independent Democrats, Leavitt said his opposition to Marshall is based on "what she has not been doing" during her two terms, rather than on their respective political ideologies.

"We need more energetic leadership," he feels, and we need our widely diverse population to be more informed about our local government. Also, Leavitt said, "We need to get better recognition about our diverse ethnic groups and their cultures so that we can be recognized as a world model for our diversity."

Leavitt, who was a member of School Board 30 in the early 1980s, is a member and former president of Sunnyside Kiwanis and also serves as pro bono counsel to Sunnyside Community Services, among his community activities.

As for political activity, he and his supporters got 12,000 signatures on his nominating petitions, three times the minimum 4,000 signatures required to get on the primary ballot, he said.

The winner of the Democratic nomination will face Republican- Conservative Robert Hornak in the general election.

LOOKS LIKE OGNIBENE VS. LIZ CROWLEY: Former City Councilmember Tom Ognibene of Middle Village has filed more than 3,000 nominating petitions, putting him on the November 4 ballot as the Republican- Conservative- Independence Party candidate against incumbent Elizabeth Crowley in the 30th City Council district.

The district includes Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth and Middle Village. Ognibene served as the district's councilmember from 1991 to 2001 while Rudy Giuliani was mayor. Crowley became the local councilmember in the district earlier this year. She was designated as the official Democratic Party candidate and does not appear to have any challenger for her party's nomination.

In announcing that he had submitted 3,000 signatures, "far exceeding the 900 minimum", on his nominating petitions, Ognibene said he would be supported by former state Senator Serphin Maltese, who previously served as Republican Party county leader and had Ognibene as his second in command over a long period of years.

Ognibene has also been endorsed by the current Queens GOP leadership headed by Phil Ragusa and Vince Tabone. Ognibene stated, "I believe that my experience will provide an energetic and aggressive voice on behalf of the forgotten, hard-working, middle class taxpayers of our community."

However, if Crowley is Ognibene's opponent, as expected, it should be a lively campaign, since she also is a hard campaigner and Queens Democratic chairman, Congressmember Joseph Crowley (her first cousin) will pull out all the stops to keep the district in Democratic hands.

Presently, the only Republican councilmember is Eric Ulrich of Ozone Park, who won the district last year.

LIU GETS MORE LABOR SUPPORT: Fresh from filing 160,000 petition signatures to get a line on the ballot in the Democratic Party primary for city comptroller, a new record, according to Councilmember John Liu, the Flushing lawmaker has picked up the endorsements of four more labor organizations.

Liu identified them as the United Auto Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the National Association of Letter Carriers and the CSEA Region 2.

Previously, Liu had been endorsed by, among others, the 125,000 member District Council 37, the largest municipal workers union. He has also been endorsed by the Working Families Party, assuring him a line on the ballot in the November 4 general election.

Also running in the Democratic primary for the comptroller nomination are fellow Queens Councilmembers David Weprin (Hollis), Melinda Katz (Forest Hills) and Brooklyn Councilmember David Yassky. Liu is the designated choice of the Queens Democratic organization.

POWERFUL UNION ENDORSES DEMS: After previously announcing the endorsements of eight incumbent city councilmembers from Queens who are seeking re-election, the politically powerful Service Employees International Union, Local 32 BJ has also endorsed the four Democrats running for "open" council seats.

They are Assemblymember Mark Weprin (District 23, Hollis), who's running to replace his brother David, a candidate for city comptroller; Jimmy Van Bramer (District 26, Long Island City), seeking to replace Eric Gioia, who's running for Public Advocate; S.J. Jung (District 20, Flushing), who's running to replace John Liu, also running for city comptroller, and Frank Gulluscio, (District 32, Howard Beach), challenging Councilmember Eric Ulrich, the only Republican in the council.

Local 32 BJ had previously also endorsed Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Republican/Independence Party candidate for mayor, and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, a Democrat.

Local 32 BJ, the largest property service union in the country has 70,000 members in New York City, 17,600 of them in Queens. As part of its political program the union intends to mobilize thousands of members to turn out Queens voters in support of these candidates, according to a release announcing the endorsements.

CONSERVATIVES ENDORSE

MARAGOS: Citing Angelo Maragos' position as a business analyst for a major financial institution, the Queens Conservative Party has endorsed the Long Island City resident in the race for councilmember of the 26th district covering Long Island City, Woodside and Northwest Queens in general. Maragos is already the designated candidate of the Republican Party. The 26th district seat is being vacated by Councilmember Eric Gioia, who is running for Public Advocate instead.

Maragos stated, "We must improve access to health care, revitalize and attract new business and improve education. We need a new generation of leadership."

CANDIDATES' FORUM IN 26TH COUNCIL DISTRICT: Advocates for affordable housing will hold a candidates' forum for 26th Council District candidates tonight at Sunnyside Community Services, 43-31 39th St., Sunnyside, beginning at 7 p.m. The district includes Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Astoria and Maspeth. Among the issues to be discussed are rent regulations, lack of affordable housing, foreclosures, tenant issues and the increasing number of evictions.