Zambrana,…
By Adam Kramer
In a bid to expand their political base in the battle for the Queens borough presidency and a seat on the City Council, Haydee Zambrana and Jairam D. Thakral announced they have joined forces in a “unification” campaign on the Democratic line.
Zambrana, the first Hispanic woman candidate for borough president, hopes to succeed Claire Shulman in the borough’s highest elected office. Shulman is prevented from seeking re-election due to term limits.
Thakral, the first Indian candidate for Council District 23, hopes to take over from Sheldon Leffler (D-Hollis) — a political fixture in the district, which stretches from Hollis to Douglaston and Queens Village to Glen Oaks, for the past 23 years. Leffler, like Shulman, cannot run again because of term limits.
“We met at one of those public hearings at the Eastern Queens Democratic Club,” Zambrana said. “We discussed the importance of dealing with issues and talked about our common philosophies.”
The two political hopefuls announced the union at a joint press conference April 11 in front of about 35 people from the Hispanic and South Asian communities at the Milan Restaurant at 248-08 Union Turnpike in Bellerose.
Zambrana faces stiff competition from a list of political insiders, which include Queens’ former Board of Education representative Carol Gresser, Democratic City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), Leffler, City Councilwoman Helen Marshall (D-East Elmhurst), state Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Rockaway) and City Councilman Alfonso Stabile (R-Ozone Park).
Zambrana said they both thought they were being overlooked as political candidates and pushed away from the borough’s Democratic political mainstream. Queens is the most diverse county in the United States and the immigrants’ voices are not being heard, she said.
“We want to let people know two diverse communities are joining together to get political empowerment,” Thakral said. “We will work together to represent the people who are not being represented.”
Thakral said that even with the new term limits, newcomers are not being brought into the political fray. He said the people running and getting all of the media attention are the sons, brothers, sisters, cousins and the staff of sitting council members.
He is up against two longtime Democratic insiders, Bernice Siegal, former legal Counsel for Leffler, and David Weprin, the son of the late state Assembly Speaker Saul Weprin.
According to the latest U.S. Census figures, the Hispanic population now accounts for 24 percent of the borough’s more than 2 million inhabitants, while the Asian population accounts for 17 percent.
Zambrana said she decided to go into politics because the Hispanic community lacked representation, but she was hesitant to enter the race due to the time constraints of her two jobs.
The Queens Village resident works as a guidance counselor for the Board of Education at the Alfred E. Smith Vocational High School in the Bronx and is the director of Latin Women in Action in Corona. The non-profit multi-service agency, which she founded 11 years ago along with a group of women, helps people obtain U.S. citizenship, solve immigration problems, make referrals for employment and escape domestic violence. She said the group, originally earmarked for Latin women, now serves all of Queens’ immigrant communities.
Thakral, 63, said he decided to become involved in politics because he wanted to give something back to the country “that has given me so much.”
The Fresh Meadows resident said he is proud to be an American and is grateful to the city and state that adopted him in 1971 when he immigrated to the United States from India.
Thakral, an accountant, served as the chief financial officer of Kings County Hospital — the city’s second largest hospital — until 1988 when he took early retirement to help his daughter set up her accounting practice. In 1990 he started working for the state as the chief financial officer for the Long Island State Veterans Home at Stony Brook University.
“We want to represent everyone,” Zambrana said. “Not just a piece of the pie for our ethnicity, but for everyone.”
“We are going to make history,” Thakral said. “We are going to create diversity and political empowerment.”
Reach reporter Adam Kramer by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.
