Met Council EndorsesKrueger
for State Senate in Feb. 12 Special Election

by Kenny Schaeffer

Gov. George Pataki has called a special election for February 12 to fill the State Senate seat on Manhattan’s East Side vacated by Roy Goodman, the last of the Rockefeller generation of Republicans. Goodman has accepted a position in Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s administration. Housing and hunger advocate Liz Krueger--who challenged Goodman in 2000 with strong tenant support, and narrowly lost after disputed absentee ballots were counted--is facing Republican Assemblymember John Ravitz. Krueger, a nationally recognized policy expert, presented compelling testimony at the Rent Guidelines Board in the last two years against the "poor tax" surcharge on low-rent apartments, which was finally defeated by a 5-4 vote in 2001.

"Unlike John Ravitz, whose party has devastated rent and eviction protections and intends to continue in 2003, I have fought to preserve and extend tenant protections," Krueger declared.

"Tenants in the 26th District need a real friend in Albany, not a Republican voting with the anti-tenant majority," added East Side district leader and Waterside Tenant Association president Steve Smollens.

The entire state legislature, as well as Pataki, is up for election this November, and the state’s rent-stabilization law is due to expire the following June, although efforts are under way to raise the issue this year, before the election.

Two years ago, Goodman trumpeted his supposed pro-tenant record in full-page ads and mass mailings to the district, which has a high concentration of tenants from Stuyvesant Town to the Upper East Side. It will be much more difficult for Ravitz to capitalize on this appeal, because as a member of the Republican Assembly minority, he has had little impact on legislation. Ravitz is expected to spend $2 million, and to break Bloomberg’s record of $72 per vote set in November.

State Senator Eric Schneiderman, head of the campaign to wrest control of the upper house from Republican Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, calls the February 12 special election "a huge race that could affect the balance of power in the Senate as we go into the 2002 campaign cycle and as we prepare for the battles over rent regulation in the coming year. Liz Krueger is one of the best candidates I’ve ever seen and a great advocate for tenants."

To help, contact lizforsenate@aol.com or call the campaign at (212) 988-2270.