By William Lewis
Padavan has pointed out that last year, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama carried his state Senate district with 70 percent of the vote. This one factor alone had a lot to do with the closeness of last year’s race. Padavan sees nothing like that happening again next year.
National elections in the second year of a new presidential administration usually favor the party out of power. Padavan is counting on that and the possibility that former Mayor Rudy Giuliani may be the Republican candidate for governor next year. He believes it can help the whole Republican ticket statewide, considering Giuliani’s name recognition and experience as the city’s chief executive administrator for eight years.
He also believes that if former Gov. George Pataki runs for the U.S. Senate next year with 12 years experience as the state’s chief executive officer, that will also help the state Republican ticket, including his own race.
Padavan indicated that 2009 has not been a good year for the people of New York, since the state Legislature increased the state budget by $13 billion. In terms of percentages, it increased the state budget by 10 percent. This meant an $8 million rise in taxes and fees.
Regarding social issues, a new law was passed that was made part of the state budget. It contained a provision which seals up to four misdemeanor or felony convictions of a criminal so the public will not know about them. This means when hiring prospective employees in education, financial institutions and government service, most records of criminal convictions will not be known. Next year Padavan intends to work on getting this law repealed.
Padavan this year was the prime sponsor in the state Senate of the school governance bill, which gave authority to Mayor Michael Bloomberg to set policy for the city public school system. The bill passed both houses of the state Legislature and was signed into law by Gov. David Paterson.
Turning to next year’s state Senate campaign in his 11th District, Padavan said, “We will be running on our record of performance on behalf of my constituents. We will be continuing our advocacy in many areas, including education and more assistance for the disabled.”
Regarding the election of our next mayor, within the Republican Party itself there is significant opposition to the candidate that received the party endorsement: Bloomberg. The state Conservative Party has put forth its own candidate for mayor, who it hopes will appeal to dissatisfied voters within the Republican Party and other political parties as well.
That candidate is Stephen Christopher, who presently serves as pastor of the Memorial Baptist Church in Brooklyn. He has served in that position for 20 years. He has also been a school teacher. Last year he was a candidate for the state Senate in the 20th District in Brooklyn.
In terms of issues, Christopher favors term limits, lower taxes and decreasing the size of local government. He believes there is too much waste in government and wants to combine various city departments and agencies, thereby reducing duplication of effort. In principle he supports mayoral control of the school system.
He also opposes the concept of eminent domain in most cases when the government can take over private property for public use after paying financial compensation to the owner. Christopher favors more money spent on classroom instruction geared toward mastering reading, writing and arithmetic. Once these disciplines have been mastered, he believes, students can then expand their educational base.
Christopher is a proponent of family values, including traditional marriage and the rights of the unborn.
The Conservative Party has mainly been running its own candidate for citywide office in recent years. The most successful Conservative mayoral candidate was William Buckley in 1965, when he received about 13.5 percent of the vote that year against Republican John Lindsay and Democrat Abraham Beame.
