I’m writing [this] because I wanted to take a moment to speak candidly and share an observation about City Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn that you wouldn’t have necessarily read about in the headlines after Superstorm Sandy.
I wasn’t directly involved with the city’s relief efforts after the storm, but some of my loved ones and friends were. In particular, I have a friend who worked out of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) following the storm for what seemed like endless hours for many consecutive days.
And, while it seemed to me that many of our elected officials, some of whom are now mayoral candidates, seized the moment to cast stones or grandstand for the media, I heard how Quinn put in the same endless number of hours at OEM to help with arranging and coordinating the relief efforts. I heard accounts of her calling in every friend and every favor that she could to make sure that people without basic resources were getting supplies and shelter.
Quinn doesn’t come from a political lineage, nor does she require her staff to stand when she walks in the room, like some of her Democrat opponents. She comes from a middle-class home that raised her to care about basic things like keeping a roof over someone’s head without fear of wrongful deportation, not being able to get childcare while they work for a wage that can’t possibly make ends meet. For me that’s not a political philosophy, it’s humanity.
That’s what this city needs and she’s my candidate come this fall.
Nova Calise
