NEW YORK (AP) - Voters in Staten Island and certain sections of Brooklyn are getting another chance to make their political preferences known as a special election is held Tuesday to fill a vacancy in the state Assembly and another in Congress after a Republican’s tax evasion conviction.
GOP Rep. Michael Grimm stepped down from the 11th Congressional District post after he pleaded guilty in December to federal tax evasion. Democratic state Assemblyman Karim Camara left his position in the 43rd state Assembly District after he became the executive director of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Office of Faith-Based Community Development Services.
The 11th Congressional District isn’t just high profile because of the way the seat opened up but also because of the history of one of the men looking to fill it. Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, the Republican candidate, came to national attention last year when a grand jury he empaneled didn’t charge a white New York Police Department officer in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man, Eric Garner.
The grand jury decision led to protests and became part of a bigger dispute over policing and minority communities. It also was a perpetual presence as Donovan campaigned. At a debate between Donovan and Democratic candidate Vincent Gentile, a member of the New York City Council and a former state senator, someone in the audience yelled, “I can’t breathe,” a reference to Garner’s last words.
In an interview, Donovan said he had people ask him how the grand jury’s decision could have happened but it was a misconception that he could have determined the outcome.
“I always try to correct people when they say, ’You failed to get an indictment,’” he said. “That means that our goal should have been to get one. And our goal is to present fair and impartial evidence to 23 members of our community.”
The 11th Congressional District is considerably more conservative than other districts in New York City, as it includes Republican-heavy Staten Island along with a small part of southern Brooklyn. Grimm had won re-election in 2014 even under federal indictment.
The 43rd state Assembly District covers a section of Brooklyn that includes the Crown Heights and East Flatbush neighborhoods. And it’s got its own wrinkle - in the heavily Democratic district, there’s no one running on the Democratic line since the candidate who was chosen by the local party didn’t file the required paperwork on time.
Instead, Democrats are running on other party lines. Diane Richardson is on the Working Families line, while Shirley Patterson is on the Independence Party line and Geoffrey Davis is running on the Love Yourself party line. The Republican candidate is Menachem Raitport, who also is on the conservative line.
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