By Dustin Brown
This year’s race for state Senate in the 15th District is a case of history repeating itself.
State Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Glendale), a 14-year incumbent, is facing a challenge from Dorothy Williams-Pereira of the Green Party, who also ran against him the last time he came up for reelection two years ago.
A third candidate listed on the ballot, Pamela Peters of the Working Families Party, is not running a campaign, a spokesman for the party said.
The 15th state Senate district covers neighborhoods in central Queens, from Howard Beach and Ozone Park through Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, Middle Village, Maspeth, Woodside and Sunnyside, among others.
Maltese, 69, said he not only boasts a lengthy record of service in the state Senate but also an unblemished attendance card.
“As far as I know I’m the only legislator that in my 14 years of legislative service has a 100 percent attendance record,” he said. “Over the 14 years there are more than 170 Maltese bills that have become law, actually become statute for the state of New York.”
He said his efforts have focused predominantly on toughening penalties on violent criminals, improving education and helping veterans.
Maltese described himself as a spokesman for assisting public education in the city, not only on the primary and secondary level but also in college as he serves on the Senate’s higher education committee. He touted the legislation reforming school governance as an important step to improve accountability and reform a struggling system.
“I’m not a believer at just throwing money at the school system. It’s plain that we have not been able to do the job,” Maltese said. “I’m hoping that with the new policies on education that we can really make a difference.”
The drop in violent crime has allowed Maltese to shift his focus to quality-of-life concerns, which he addressed through legislation that criminalized graffiti vandalism and added jail terms.
“It has put some teeth in the anti-graffiti cause,” he said.
Williams-Pereira, 62, is a resident of Richmond Hill who is heavily involved in area civic groups.
“We need to change the community,” Williams-Pereira said. “We’re finding the community’s schools are failing, the business districts are becoming very shabby and rundown. Queens is going under and needs to get a boost.”
Although she described her prospects of winning the seat as “dark horse chances,” she added optimistically, “The Green Party has become more apparent and more recognized as a party than it was last time.”
She views herself as a candidate who stands in contrast to Maltese on many issues.
“He’s a very conservative Republican, and I’m a very liberal Green,” Williams-Pereira said. “I’m endorsing a lot of things that he isn’t,” she continued, citing her support of a woman’s right to an abortion and her desire to abolish the strict Rockefeller drug laws.
But a spokeswoman for Maltese said the senator does support reducing the penalties mandated by the Rockefeller drug laws.
“I think that people should have welfare and that they should have enough help so that they are comfortable and not prevented from going to school or college or vocational things,” Williams-Pereira said.
Williams-Pereira also wants to keep the borough’s libraries open for weekend hours and improve the mass transportation network.
“It’s like every transportation is running to go out of Queens,” she said. “It’s time to have the people through Queens served by the transportation system.”
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
