By Adam Kramer
Many Queens residents interviewed at random last week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to essentially give the election to Bush over Democratic challenger Al Gore welcomed the end of the prolonged political battle but were dismayed that the vice president lost.
The officials said even though Queens and the city voted overwhelmingly for Democrats from local politicians in state government to the U.S. Congress to the presidential race, Bush will have to pay attention to the city.
U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights) said the city and borough must wait and see how the president-elect will act toward an area which came out strongly for his opponent.
“If he is going to prove that this is going to be a bipartisan administration, there is no better place to prove it than in the big city of New York,” he said.
Nevertheless, the borough's elected officials do not seem worried that the new Republican administration will leave the city or Queens out in the cold. City Council Speaker Peter Vallone (D-Astoria) said New York City wields vast economic influence and it behooves the president-elect to acknowledge its power.
“New York City is a real test of George Bush's presidency,” Vallone said. “New York City is the financial and cultural capital of our country with a population larger than most states.
“For the last eight years, we have had an excellent relationship with the administration in Washington,” Vallone said, referring to fellow Democrat Bill Clinton, who occupied the White House. “They have recognized the importance of New York and have been responsive to our needs.”
He said even though Bush does not have a broad base of support in the city, he would be “ill-advised” to ignore Manhattan, Queens and the other borough and develop a strong relationship with them.
Gore made several campaign stops in New York and visited Queens, but Bush did not make an appearance in the borough during the presidential race.
Queens Democrats said the White House and New York City's largely Democratic congressional delegation must mend fences that were broken during the drawn-out battle over the outcome of the presidential race.
U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) said for the last eight years the Republicans have stalled legislation on the floors of the House and the Senate just because they disagreed with what the Democrats were trying to accomplish and because they did not like the Clintons.
Even though the president-elect is a Republican who barely won the electoral vote and lost the popular vote, Ackerman said the Democrats would not follow in the footsteps of the Republicans by creating a roadblock in Congress.
“The time to get even is not now,” Ackerman said. “The time is to get even in the next election. The Republican membership was filled with rancor and anger toward the Clintons. Now they're very concerned that Gov. Bush be given a free ride. They're interested in tearing down, we want to build up.”
Crowley said the House has been polarized with the Republican conservatives leading the charge against the Clinton administration. The new president has to decide which direction he is going to follow and make an attempt “to reach across the aisle,” he said.
“I think if he chooses that path, Queens benefits,” said Crowley, who was just elected to his second term in Congress.
State Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Glendale), who is head of the Republican Party in Queens, was more optimistic than the Queens Democrats and said he thought a Republican president would address the issues on the minds of Queens residents even though the borough voted heavily for Gore.
“I am familiar with and have met some of the people going into the new administration, including Vice President-elect Dick Cheney,” he said. “I don't pretend to have a close friendship, but I believe they were always interested in New York City and New York state but also Queens.”
He welcomed Bush's decision to name Gen. Colin Powell secretary of state, saying he is “someone we can talk to because he is a native New Yorker.”
When asked which of the two presidential candidates would have been better for the borough Ackerman said, “Gore has been to Queens. (Bush) probably couldn't tell you what the five counties of New York City are. (Gore) knew a lot of us, there was a relationship there.”
Ackerman, who served under the Republican administrations of former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, said he and his fellow Queens congressmen would work to meet the needs of their constituency and the borough.
During the Reagan and Bush administrations “that were not friendly to us, we did OK,” Ackerman said. “We just have to work harder and fight smarter.”
Ackerman said he was disappointed with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to stop the recount, essentially handing the presidential election to Bush, but he still would support him because he is the president.
“It was a shocking decision,” said state Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn (D-Forest Hills), referring to the bitterly divided U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in favor of Bush. “The one institution that many Americans believed to be above partisan politics handed down a blatantly political decision.”
Maltese said some might consider his views on the nation's highest court a bit biased, but he has been an attorney for more than 30 years and thought the court acted fairly.
“I think the decision could have obviously gone either way,” he said. “But by stepping in at that point in time the court saved the U.S. from protracted litigation, which would've been unnecessary, and saved us from a constitutional crisis.”
– Times-Ledger staff members contributed to this story.
