14 The Courier sun • october 17, 2013 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com ▶ p olitics PHOTO COURTESY OF LEW SIMON CAMPAIGN Lew Simon, Democratic candidate for the 32nd Council District, received a stent after discovering partial blockage to his heart. Simon’s surgery won’t stop him BY MAGIE HAYES [email protected] A health scare has temporarily taken one candidate off the campaign trail, but he’ll be back up and running as soon as possible. Lew Simon, Democratic candidate for City Council District 32, felt chest pain and went to the hospital on October 9. Doctors checked out the hopeful pol and determined he had partial blockage to his heart. “It caught him a little bit by surprise,” said Doug Forand, spokesperson for Simon. Doctors first said he would need a bypass, which would have been a “bigger crimp” in his campaign, Forand said. After subsequent tests, it was determined Simon would instead need a stent, a less-invasive procedure. Simon underwent surgery October 11, Forand said. As of press time, Forand assumed he would be out of the hospital in a day or so and will “be back up on his feet immediately.” “What exactly he’ll do, we still have to defer to the doctors,” Forand said. The spokesperson added Simon, a high-energy candidate, should feel rejuvenated after the procedure. “We’re going to have a Lew Simon with a lot more energy out there,” he said. His camp is “fully confident” he will be fully back, up and running by the week of October 20. De Blasio, Lhota square off in debate BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA [email protected] Mayoral opponents Bill de Blasio and Joe Lhota faced off this week in the first of three general election debates between the two. De Blasio, the Democratic candidate and front-runner, spent much of the Tuesday, October 15 televised debate trying to tie Lhota to national Republicans and the Tea Party. “I think Mr. Lhota should be straight up with us about the fact that he does subscribe to the views of the national Republican Party,” said de Blasio, who mentioned Lhota’s attendance at a Staten Island Tea Party event and support of delaying Obamacare for a year. “Don’t lump me in with people who I’m constantly in disagreement with,” said Lhota, defending himself at one point. Lhota, who was deputy mayor under Mayor Rudy Giuliani and headed up the MTA, took aim at de Blasio by saying he has the direct management experience to be mayor. “I can be mayor on day one without any training, without any learning curve whatsoever, said Lhota. Though both candidates expressed a desire to change the direction of the city and agreed on some basic points, including creating more affordable housing, they were divided on many of the issues. Among the topics covered were charter schools, crime and stop-and-frisk, the government shutdown, job creation and narrowing the income gap. De Blasio spoke about his “Tale of Two Cites,” saying 46 percent of residents are living at or near the poverty the level, and his desire to tax the wealthy. He wants to use the tax increase to expand after-school programs Graziano crosses lines, endorses Saffran BY MELISA CHAN [email protected] The enemy of my enemy is my friend. That’s the proverbial message a northeast Queens Democrat is sending by crossing party lines to endorse the Republican candidate over the one who beat him at the polls last month. Paul Graziano, who came in third in the Democratic primary for District 19 to Paul Vallone, publicly endorsed Vallone’s general election opponent, Dennis Saffran, on October 15. “Voting for the best person in the race is more important than voting for your party,” Graziano said. The Flushing urban planner said the decision was not made lightly, but the move is not entirely surprising to spectators of the closely watched contest. Graziano had slammed Vallone multiple times in forums for being a registered lobbyist. He was also one of three primary foes targeted in accusatory hit pieces paid for by a political action committee called Jobs for New York, which endorsed Vallone. The fuming trio, who included THE COURIER/Photo by Melissa Chan Democrat Paul Graziano (right) crossed party lines to endorse Republican Dennis Saffran (left) over Paul Vallone. Chrissy Voskerichian and Austin Shafran, took turns grilling Vallone during a televised debate and at a press conference they held to call on him to denounce the mailers. “During the campaign, Paul Vallone refused to take responsibility for any of these acts,” Graziano said. “We’ve had four years of not having an adult in the room,” Graziano added, referring to the sitting but scandalscarred incumbent, Councilmember Dan Halloran. “To me, this is just a continuation, if not worse.” Runner-up Shafran, who narrowly lost by less than 200 votes, said he would not support either candidate. Voskerichian said she would not endorse Vallone and was not endorsing Saffran at this time. Vallone did get the backing of John Duane, however, who finished second to last. Duane was not attacked in the mailers but had a hand in calling Vallone out for them. The endorsement was not public and Duane did not give a reason for it. “Whatever differences Paul Graziano and I have is pale next to our differences with Paul Vallone,” Saffran said. Vallone’s campaign fired back, saying Saffran “has been missing in action in this community for over a decade.” “That probably explains why the leaders we know and trust have endorsed Paul Vallone, including Senator Chuck Schumer, the United Federation of Teachers and countless others,” said Vallone spokesperson Austin Finan. Vallone and Saffran will face off on November 5. Serpe has ‘22 Ideas for District 22’ BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] One candidate is ready to turn Astoria green. In June, Lynne Serpe announced she would be running to fill departing Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr.’s seat in the 22nd Council District, serving Astoria, Long Island City and parts of Jackson Heights. Serpe ran against Vallone for City Council in 2009. She is currently the project consultant for the Greening Libraries Initiative at Queens Library and an independent election administrator. She is also an active member of Two Coves Community Garden and the cofounder of Triple R Events: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Some of the ideas Serpe hopes to bring to Astoria if she gets elected are affordable housing and sustainable development, healthy schools and neighborhoods, clean energy and a green economy, and fair elections. Serpe has created a list called “22 Ideas for District 22” which can be found on her website at serpeforcouncil. org/22ideas. “Clean air, clean water, clean energy and clean streets are not partisan issues – they affect the quality of life for all of us,” said Serpe. Serpe will run against Democrat Costa Constantinides, Independent Party candidate Danielle De Stefano, Republican Daniel Peterson and Populist Party candidate Gerald Photo Courtesy Lynne Serpe Kann. and create universal pre-K. Lhota called de Blasio a typical “career politician” who says he’s going to raise taxes on the wealthy, but will end up also raising them on the middle class. Lhota added that de Blasio voting twice to increase property taxes when he was on the City Council and other parts of his record were proof of him “going back and taking money away from the middle class.” The two candidates will debate again on October 22 and 29.
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