By Nathan Duke
City Councilman James Gennaro (D−Fresh Meadows) drew elected officials representing Queens and other boroughs at the city and state level last weekend to rally for his bid to unseat state Sen. Frank Padavan (R−Bellerose) before sending out the rowdy crowd of more than 50 supporters to canvass Fresh Meadows door−to−door.
Gennaro, who will be term−limited out of his City Council seat next year, said he predicted a Democratic sweep on a national and statewide scale in the Nov. 4 election that could change the face of Albany’s Republican−controlled Senate.
“We have a perfect storm that can take the Republicans out,” he said. “If not, we’ll be stuck in a Republican prison.”
But Padavan brushed off attacks from Gennaro’s supporters.
“How do you respond to political rhetoric and demagoguery?” Padavan said of the weekend rally. [Gennaro] has surrounded himself with Democratic officeholders. It was a political caucus.”
Padavan was first elected to the state Senate in 1972 and currently serves as the governing body’s vice president pro tempore. Padavan is one of two Republican state senators representing the borough whom Democrats have targeted in the November election. City Councilman Joseph Addabbo (D−Howard Beach) is currently running an aggressive campaign against state Sen. Serphin Maltese (R−Glendale).
The 11th Senate District covers Bayside, Douglaston, College Point, Little Neck and Glen Oaks, as well as parts of Whitestone, Kew Gardens and Fresh Meadows.
City Council members Peter Vallone Jr. (D−Astoria) and James Vacca (D−Bronx) turned out to support Gennaro’s bid, as well as state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D−Whitestone), state Assemblyman Jose Peralta (D−Corona), Assemblyman Eric Schneiderman (D−Manhattan) and Paul Vallone, Peter Vallone’s brother, who is running for City Councilman Tony Avella’s (D−Bayside) seat next year.
Vallone praised Gennaro, chairman of the Council environmental committee, who has consistently aided his district on a number of environmental issues.
“I consider myself a big environmental advocate,” Vallone said. “Whenever I’ve needed [Gennaro], he’s been there to fight new power plants in western Queens.”
Peralta said he believed Gennaro could win and predicted a huge turnout for Democrats in the race for the White House and state races.
“Change is in the air,” he said. “You can see what is happening on a national level. We are on the verge of getting a Democratic president [U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D−Ill.)] and state Senate.”
Schneiderman told attendees that the election was the “most important” in their lifetimes.
“You can see people who might have traditionally voted Republican waking up and saying, ‘This is not working,’” he said. “We need to help our distinguished colleagues like Frank Padavan to move on to the happy retirement they deserve. Joe Bruno is waiting for you, Frank.”
Supporters knocked on doors in the neighborhood following the rally.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e−mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 156.
