One can only wonder where former City Councilman Tony Avella will wind up after he loses the state Senate race against Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose).
Let’s see where he came from. He started his ambition to be an elected official by working for former Sen. Leonard Stavisky. After Stavisky died, Avella ran for the Council and lost. He tried this for three unsuccessful elections. In 2001, he finally won and became a councilman. He did what he had to do to pander for future votes.
The big mistake he made was making promises to community advocates and not keeping his word. I was one of those advocates and I complained. He barred me from his office.
Avella is nothing more than a hack for the Queens Democratic organization. Just look at those pols who are endorsing him. All have kissed the ring of the leaders of the organization to get their backing. When I ran against Avella and was president of the Citizen’s Action Committee for Change, I will never forget how some of my loyal members told me they would love to support and vote for me, but they will only vote for who the Queen’s organization tells them to vote for. I was flabbergasted!
There are some Democrats in Queens who do not care who the organization tells them to vote for. They are enough to keep electing Padavan. In fact, I started a group called “Democrats for Padavan.” Padavan is not my senator, but he has been there for my needs within the community every time I reached out to him. I did not reach out to the pols in my district who are there to protect and serve me because they were the anointed ones by the Queens organization and all they do is write letters. Padavan goes further and ensures he gets the needs of the people accomplished.
Avella’s mantra and only negative comment he can throw out is that Padavan is anti-choice while he, Avella, is pro-choice. Other than Padavan being a champion in Albany for women — voting for free mammograms, making stays in hospitals shorter after giving birth, voting for free detection of osteoporosis — he is a champion for seniors and has written laws to protect us. Avella should check his facts before throwing them out to get women to vote for him. The Senate has absolutely nothing to do with a woman’s choice. It all stem’s from Washington, D.C.
Remember to check the records of the pols before you vote for them. If you did, you would certainly vote for Padavan.
Joyce Shepard
Bayside
