[shumozar]

Challengers Emerge Aiming To Topple Silver

Luke Henry, 33, Says Silver Is 'Obstacle Toward Real Reform'

By GRACE RAUH
Staff Reporter of the Sun
April 9, 2008

Luke Henry is new to the political practice of shaking hands and passing out fliers, and it shows as he awkwardly zeros in on passersby in front of a Gristedes supermarket in Battery Park City.

The 33-year-old attorney who lives in the East Village should get the hang of it soon enough: Two weeks ago, he took a leave of absence from his job to launch a full-time campaign to oust the speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver. Although the fliers Mr. Henry is handing out say "Choose Change," his motto might as well be "Get Rid of the Roadblock."

"Speaker Silver is the obstacle toward real reform," he said yesterday."Nothing is going to change in the state Assembly while he's still there and you can sit back and watch or do something about it and people want to do something about it, and I am one of them."

Taking his campaign to the city's streets a day after Mr. Silver refused to send congestion pricing to the floor of the Assembly for a vote, effectively killing it, it's clear Mr. Henry will be able to tap a new wave of raw outrage and frustration from voters who blame the speaker for the demise of Mayor Bloomberg's traffic plan.

While campaigning yesterday, Mr. Henry approached an older man in a red baseball hat, handed him a black and white photocopied flier, and explained that he's running against Mr. Silver, who has been in office 32 years.

"That's 32 years too long," the man, James Basset, 70, said. Another who took a flier, Clifford Brundage, said he too was upset with the speaker. "Anything against Silver," he said.

Mr. Brundage, 74, told Mr. Henry that although he is a registered independent, he'd be willing to become a Democrat to vote Mr. Silver out of office during the primary. Then he offered some advice.

"Silver's going to be tough," he warned the challenger. "He's like a molar, you have to just pull him out."

Mr. Henry, who is running for his first political office, said he's brought in a team of "pros" to help run the campaign. He's keeping some cards close to his chest at this stage, saying he's not ready to name the people he's brought on board, and he declined to say how much he's raised so far.

He said that when the next fundraising figures are released in July, there would be "a strong and very credible figure" by his name.

Mr. Henry's campaign Web site details his stance on a host of issues, indicating that he'll advocate repealing the Urstadt law so that local officials would have control over the city's rental laws; fight for public financing of state elections and a ban on political contributions from lobbyists and corporations, and work to create universal health care coverage in New York State.

He said he is focused on trying to ease the "housing crisis" in Lower Manhattan, which he says is one of the biggest issues raised by voters in his district who are worried about getting priced out of their neighborhoods. He said he hears from residents who say after-school programs are disappearing, as well as good jobs. In the end, though, it seems the campaign always comes back to Mr. Silver.

"Silver is an obstacle towards making progress on these issues. None of these issues are easy and they require a real professional legislator and experts who can look at these issues seriously and everything that is done in Albany is done in a ham-handed way," he said. "Removing Silver is a way towards achieving progress on these issues."

Mr. Henry was born in New York City and grew up in Westchester, attending the Brunswick School in Greenwich, Conn., before earning a degree in biology at the University at Albany. He moved to the city in 1995 and went to Fordham Law School, where he was president of the Fordham Law Democrats and the founder and co-president of the Fordham Law American Constitution Society. He now works as a contract attorney at the law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, LLP.

He had been living in Lower Manhattan, but not in the district he is seeking to represent. He moved into the district in September 2007, and now lives with his wife in a two-bedroom apartment on East 4th Street between avenues A and B. They are expecting their first child, a boy, in August. Mr. Henry, who says Mr. Silver hasn't been challenged in a Democratic primary in 20 years, said he hasn't faced any pressure from the Democratic Party or members of local Democratic clubs to drop out of the race. He is facing off against one of the most powerful men in state politics, but appears to be drawing upon a deep reservoir of frustration to fuel his campaign. Mr. Henry, who supported congestion pricing, said Mr. Silver's performance this week on the issue is just the latest example of his leadership style.

"I'm sick it," he said. "I'm sick of a secretive Albany, secret votes, secret rooms. We don't have any idea what goes on there except that we know our real problems aren't being solved."

Copyright 2008 The New York Sun.

[Solo3uc4]

Let's see now? The voters in Silver's district could either keep the most powerful man in Albany as their representive, or could elect this nobody, who likely couldn't get anything done for them. Who's do you think is going to win?

[kiosokkn]

Lets see now, people in that district could be frustrated that "the most powerful man in Albany" does not seem to be doing a damn thing for them.

Lets hope it, at the very least, rattles his 30+ year old cage enough that he starts looking beyond his own bars and concerns himself with the people he is supposed to serve.

[Lymneterfeiff]

I know your comments are based on the congestion pricing failure. I would have liked to have seen the breakdown of the mail he got on the subject. That might have been the basis of his decision.

And his cage has been rattled a lot harder than this guy is going to be able to do it. A few years back, he faced a major, well organized revolt in Albany, and quite effectively squashed it. This guy hasn't had the Assembly under his thumb for all these years by not knowing what he's doing (politically).

Lets see now, people in that district could be frustrated that "the most powerful man in Albany" does not seem to be doing a damn thing for them.

Lets hope it, at the very least, rattles his 30+ year old cage enough that he starts looking beyond his own bars and concerns himself with the people he is supposed to serve.