Meng and Young ready for primary

With few noteworthy or competitive State Senate or Assembly primaries on either side of the political aisle taking place next week; one race that is likely to garner some significant attention is the Democratic Primary in the 22nd Assembly District in Flushing.
Incumbent Assemblymember Ellen Young, who just completed her first term in the state Assembly, will face a challenge in the Tuesday, September 9 primary from Grace Meng, a community activist and daughter of former Assemblymember Jimmy Meng. The race would have taken place in 2006, but Young challenged Meng’s residency disqualifying her attempt to run in 2006.
Young, who recently traveled to Denver for the Democratic National Convention, spent the last two years representing the community in Flushing, and she trumpeted her work to help bring back money for schools, reduce crime in the area and passing landmark legislation to help protect seniors. She also emphasized that she has passed five pieces of legislation that she introduced.
“The reason I worked so hard was not for reelection but for the people,” Young said.
However, Meng had a different spin on the legislation Young passed, saying that those five pieces of legislation were only extensions of previous pieces of legislation that were already in effect.
“I don’t think that Flushing should be satisfied with a lawmaker that only changes the date,” Meng said. “We deserve more here.”
Young believes that her experience in the Assembly serves as an advantage for her in this primary match-up.
“I am confident with my proven track record,” Young said. “I have been doing things that I believe an elected official should be doing, things that a public servant should do.”
In the days leading up to the September 9 primary, Meng said her campaign will continue to do what it has been doing for the previous months - go out and meet voters. She will talk about reducing class sizes in schools, expanding community policing and making sure senior citizen centers receive adequate funding.
“We believe that all the different communities that I have spoken to all have basic quality of life issues,” said Meng, who has campaign posters in five different languages spread throughout the district.