26 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 13, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Another sexism claim rocks Queens DA campaign
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
For the second time in a week week,
Borough President Melinda Katz charged
on June 7 that one of her Democratic
rivals in the Queens district attorney race
has launched sexist ads against her — but
the allegation this time was against one of
her three female opponents.
On Friday, Katz decried a two-minute
online ad from public defender Tiff any
Cabán published that day. Cabán singles
out Katz as a remnant of the Queens
Democratic Party machine despite there
being fi ve other hopefuls in the June 25
primary, saying that Katz accepts campaign
funds from the real estate industry.
“But the corrupt Queens political
machine doesn’t want me to win because
they get rich off of foreclosures, they’ve
taken millions from developers and I
can’t be bought and controlled. Th at’s why
they’re going all in to elect Melinda Katz,”
Cabán says in the ad. “Here’s the simple
choice: Your next DA could be a career
politician, a career prosecutor or a career
public defender. Who would you trust?”
But Katz countered out with a Twitter
thread that began with the claim that sexism
had played a role in Cabán’s campaign
ad.
“Let me be clear. For someone who is
supposedly running a “diff erent kind of
campaign,” this ad was full of the same
sexism & half-truths that the worst kind
of campaigns use,” Katz said. “Th e truth:
I fi rst ran on a 3rd party line to challenge
the men in power & have spent years supporting
women doing the same. I have
always been my own woman & always will
be, despite the sexist refrain the Cabán
campaign is pushing.”
Continuing on in the thread, Katz went
on to point out that Cabán has the highest
number of small donors and out-ofstate
contributors, including many from
her own staff . Katz also pointed out that
the Queens County Bar Association had
declared Cabán “not approved” for the
race, the only one of the seven in the
Democratic fi eld to receive that ranking.
“Tiff any Caban seems to have taken to
desperate, dishonest campaigning pretty
quickly,” Grant Fox, a spokesman for
Katz said. “She’s completely unqualifi ed
according to the non-partisan Queens
Bar Association, she was caught lying on
her campaign fi nance forms while being
funded by billionaires, and now she’s
smearing other women to advance her
own career. Melinda has been endorsed
by the UFT, the National Organization
for Women, criminal justice advocates
at all levels of government, and Planned
Parenthood because she has the experience
and a real reform agenda that can
fi x our broken criminal justice system
while keeping Queens safe. Th e contrast
couldn’t be clearer.”
Th e race has grown increasingly hostile
between the candidates with Katz accusing
retired Judge Gregory Lasak of sexism
as well for mailers sent out that claimed
Katz as unqualifi ed.
Th at same day, at a Sunnyside candidates
forum, Mina Malik took Lasak to
task for his reputation as a prosecutor
with the nickname Mr. Murder.
Th e Queens DA race also features
Councilman Rory Lancman, Jose Nieves
and Betty Lugo. Th e Democratic primary
is June 25.
Queens offi cials celebrate ‘historic’ rent regulations deal
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Lawmakers in Albany came to an
agreement late Tuesday on a wide-ranging
package of tenant protection legislation
that so many Queens residents have
been demanding for years. Th e measures
address a wide variety of tenant issues
that will aff ect nearly 2.5 million people
across the city.
Th e legislation will eliminate vacancy
decontrol and the vacancy bonus,
extend preferential rents for the duration
of a tenancy, dramatically reform MCIs
and IAIs, and extend tenant safeguards
statewide, among other changes. State
Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris
of Astoria said the legislation provides the
strongest tenant protections in New York
state history.
“Aft er years of displacement caused by
rent laws that worked against them, New
York’s tenants fi nally have a seat at the
table thanks to a new Senate that is working
with our Assembly partners to eagerly
champion housing aff ordability,” Gianaris
said. “Th is sweeping legislation provides
the strongest protections since the rent
laws were enacted decades ago and I am
proud to have worked with incredible
grassroots organizers to deliver this historic
progress.”
Groups like the Jackson Heights-based
Make the Road New York.
“Th is deal marks a major victory for
tenants across New York, who have fought
for many years to strengthen protections
for renters and remain in their homes,”
MTRNY Co-Executive Director Javier H.
Valdés said. “With provisions like ending
the vacancy bonus, ending vacancy
decontrol and closing the preferential
rent loophole, the agreement between the
Senate and the Assembly, when signed
into law, will strip away incentives for
landlords to evict rent-regulated tenants.”
However, the deal left out a series of
“good cause” eviction protections that had
been pushed by tenant groups.
“Th e was the best deal possible this year
in Albany, where real estate barons have
held power for decades, and marks the
growing muscle of the statewide tenant
movement,” Valdés said.
Th e real estate industry disagrees and
called on Governor Andrew Cuomo to
reject the deal. Taxpayers for an Aff ordable
New York, a coalition of property owners
fi ghting for responsible rent reforms
released a terse statement.
“Th is legislation fails to address the
city’s housing crisis and will lead to disinvestment
in the city’s private sector rental
stock cosigning hundreds of thousands of
rent-regulated tenants to living in buildings
that are likely to fall into disrepair,”
the coalition said. “Th is legislation will
not create a single new aff ordable housing
unit, improve the vacancy rate or
improve enforcement against the few dishonest
landlords who tend to dominate
the headlines. It is now up to the governor
to reject this deal in favor of responsible
rent reform that protects tenants, property
owners, building contractors and our
communities.”
Cuomo said he would sign the package
of bills if the legislation passes it. Senate
Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins
and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said
the reforms give New Yorkers the strongest
tenant protections in history just
days before the existing rent laws were set
to expire.
Read more at QNS.com.
Photos: Mark Hallum/QNS
Tiff any Caban (left) and Melinda Katz
Courtesy of The Legal Aid Society
politics
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