N E W S FEBRUARY 14 L E H A V R E BY MELISSA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com A former mainstay in the Cuomo administration has officially announced his intent to run for City Council. Austin Shafran, 32, resigned from his post as vice president of public affairs for Empire State Development (ESD) on January 18 to enter what is now a four-way Democratic primary race for the 19th District. “I’ve played a leading role in Governor Cuomo’s efforts to make government work better, cost less and produce more for taxpayers,” Shafran said of his ESD job, “and now I want to put that same record of results to work for the communities I grew up in.” He wi l l take on Democratic State Committee Chair Matthew Silverstein, former Assemblymember John Duane and attorney Paul Vallone — the son of former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr. and brother of Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. The primary winner will likely face off with incumbent Councilmember Dan Halloran in the November election if no other Republican contenders surface. Shafran is the Democratic leader in the 25th Assembly District. The ESD’s mouthpiece for nearly two years, he also served as senior advisor to the agency’s head, Kenneth Adams. Prior, he was a community liaison for former Congressmember Gary Ackerman and communications director for then-Councilmember David Weprin. “Working with Congressman Ackerman and Governor Cuomo, I’ve developed the experience and the clear vision to deliver better schools and safer streets and an economy that works for middle class families,” Shafran said. “Those are things that we’ve been lacking in these communities for the past four years. We can do better.” The district extends from College Point to the borders of Nassau County. Photo Courtesy of Austin Shafran Austin Shafran, a former top official for the Cuomo administration, is officially running for City Council in the 19th District. Shafran’s hat in the ring LHOTA ENTERS MAYORAL RACE BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA ctumola@queenscourier.com It’s offi cial. Joe Lhota, former CEO and chair of the MTA, is a mayoral candidate. On January 17, Lhota filed papers with the Board of Elections to become the 109th mayor of New York City. That morning, on his newly-created campaign website and Facebook page as well as on both his personal and campaign Twitter accounts, he made the announcement. He also tweeted an image with the slogan “A mayor for all of New York, proven leadership” and a Photoshopped picture of Grand Central’s Mercury clock with “Joe Lhota for Mayor” written below it. The ex-transit head stepped down from his MTA position at the end of 2012. Lhota, a former deputy mayor for operations during the Rudy Giuliani administration, will reportedly run as a Republican. Among his own party Lhota is a top contender, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week. Twenty-three percent of New York City voters said they would vote for Lhota in a Republican primary for mayor. Coming in second was supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis with nine percent, followed by newspaper publisher Tom Allon with fi ve percent, former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion with three percent and Doe Fund founder George McDonald with two percent. But 53 percent of those surveyed were still undecided. “Both George McDonald and Joe Lhota are promising candidates who will bring sensible executive leadership back to the city,” said Republican Councilmember Dan Halloran. “McDonald has excellent private sector experience as does Lhota, and Lhota has done an outstanding job leading the MTA particularly in the wake of Sandy. Both have the kind of leadership background needed to work with the council, business owners, unions and city agencies to get the job done.” The same Quinnipiac poll also found that voters would back several potential Democratic candidates, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and City Comptroller William Thompson, over Lhota by a 3-1 margin or more. Photo courtesy of MTA New York City Transit/Marc Hermann 14 LEHAVRE COURIER | FEBRUARY 2013 | WWW.QUEENSCOURIER.COM
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