Photos courtesy of Jim Quinn’s campaign, Offi ce of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, Dao Yin’s campaign
TIMESLEDGER |10 QNS.COM | MAY 29-JUNE 4, 2020
BY JACOB KAYE
Former candidate for
Queens District Attorney Tiffany
Cabán announced her
support for Jessica González-
Rojas, a reproductive health
advocate and insurgent candidate
in the Democratic primary
for State Assembly District
34.
“In a district that is 88%
people of color, we need to elect
community champions who
will fight these injustices — at
the root and with an unwavering
commitment,” Cabán said
in a statement. “I’m proud to
announce my endorsement of
Jessica González-Rojas.”
González-Rojas, who is one
of four candidates challenging
six-time incumbent Michael
DenDekker, said she was proud
to receive the endorsement.
“I’m thrilled, ecstatic,
proud and humbled to receive
her endorsement,” González-
Rojas said. “She’s someone I
volunteered for and supported
and I believe in her vision.
She’s changed the narrative
of how justice can be possible
in this state, city, borough and
country. We are very much
value aligned.”
Cabán chose to endorse
González-Rojas over Nuala
O’Doherty-Naranjo, Joy
Chowdhury and Angel Cruz,
the three other challengers vying
for the seat.
O’Doherty-Naranjo, who,
along with González-Rojas
and Chowdhury, volunteered
on Cabán’s DA campaign, has
expressed disappointment in
Cabán’s endorsement. As a
Manhattan prosecutor, she
said her support for Cabán during
the DA run, lent credence
to the reformer’s calls for
changes to criminal justice.
“It’s disingenuous for
Cabán to endorse González-Rojas
because I feel like I gave her
legitimacy as a former prosecutor,”
O’Doherty-Naranjo said.
“I helped her make it work.”
Additionally, O’Doherty-
Naranjo accused González-
Rojas of not being “a local
person.” González-Rojas has
lived in the district, which covers
Jackson Heights, Woodside
and East Elmhurst, since 1999.
O’Doherty-Naranjo has lived
in the district since 2001.
“Although this is her residential
address, she’s not involved
in local activities,”
O’Doherty-Naranjo said. “She
was in Washington doing
great work, yes, but she wasn’t
here.”
González-Rojas, however,
maintains that while her work
may have taken her out of the
district at times, it’s been for
the benefit of her local community.
“I’ve worked both locally
and nationally,” said González-
Rojas, who was the founding
member of several organizations
that serve the undocumented
and immigrant communities
in her neighborhood.
In recent months, González-
Rojas has received endorsements
from several political
groups, including Make the
Road Action, a immigrant
rights organization. She has
also gotten support from
the Working Families Party
and City Councilman Daniel
Dromm, who’s district overlaps
with Assembly District 34.
DennDekker, who was first
elected in 2009, said that his
primary concern at the moment
is helping his constituents
through the COVID-19
crisis.
“I am proud of my work
for my neighbors in Jackson
Heights, East Elmhurst,
Woodside, and Corona, and I
believe my record outshines
that of any other candidate,”
DenDekker said.
BY JACOB KAYE
One former candidate and
one current candidate for
Queens borough president
will continue their fight in
court to reverse Governor
Andrew Cuomo’s executive
order that canceled the special
election for Queens borough
president.
The special election was
originally scheduled for
March 24 and rescheduled
to June 23 before being canceled
outright. Jim Quinn
and Dao Yin, who both ran
in the special election prior
to its cancellation, separately
filed an appeal earlier
this week against the court’s
decision to uphold the governor’s
order.
The pair have argued in
court that the governor’s decision
was unlawful. While
many of the candidates, including
Yin, remain on the
ballot for the June 23 primary,
the decision to cancel the
special election eliminated
Quinn, who had only petitioned
for the special election,
from the ballot.
“We brought this case
forward in the name of democracy
and the rights of
Queens voters,” Quinn said.
“The judge in the lower
court was in agreement with
the merits of our argument
that Governor Cuomo took
extreme and unnecessary
action in canceling the election,
which makes his decision
not granting us relief
even more disappointing
and confounding.”
Quinn said the decision
to cancel the special election
after early voting had
already begun was an act of
disenfranchisement against
Republicans and conservatives,
a group whose support
the former Queens assistant
district attorney had garnered.
“The voters — thousands
of whom had already cast
their ballot in the special
election — have a right to
an elected borough president
before January 2021,”
Quinn said. “We live in a
democratic republic, not a
dictatorship, and I will not
sit by silently while the voters
of Queens are disenfranchised.”
Yin, who has jumped to
Quinn’s side, has made similar
arguments in court. “The
Executive Order canceling
the special election is not
only unnecessary and unconstitutional,
but it is also
dangerous in that it establishes
a precedent for other
politicians to overstep their
authority and interfere with
a future election under the
guise of an ’emergency,’ real
or perceived,” Yin’s lawyers
said in their appeal.
The appeal comes after a
string of unusual events that
led to the cancellation of the
election.
It began with former
Queens borough president
Melinda Katz’s election to
Queens district attorney in
2019.
The vacant seat was filled
by her deputy, Sharon Lee,
who is currently serving as
the acting borough president.
A special election was
scheduled for March 23, the
winner of which would serve
until January 2021.
Citing threats to public
health, Cuomo eventually
canceled the election outright,
an act that allowed
all candidates in the special
election — except Quinn
— to remain on the ballot
for the June 23 Democratic
primary.
The winner of the primary
will face Republican
Joann Ariola in the November
general election.
Councilmen Donovan
Richards and Costa Constantinides,
former Councilwoman
Elizabeth Crowley,
retired NYPD Sergeant Anthony
Miranda and Yin will
appear on the ballot in the
June Democratic primary.
Jessica González-Rojas (l.) and Tiffany Cabán. QNS fi le photos
Quinn, Yin appeal decision
to uphold executive order
canceling special election
for borough president
Cabán endorses
González-Rojas
/QNS.COM
