Robert Jackson and Tuesday’s other Primaries

Democratic Primaries in NYC for State Assembly and State Senate are usually ho-hum affairs, pitting local organizers who have become insiders against local organizers who would like to become insiders. The winner of most of the primaries then win the general election, many unopposed.

This time there’s a few interesting races.

State Senate 33rd District. Bronx. Gustavo Rivera, incumbent, you might yell at me for saying so, but relatively undistinguished, faces an opponent who has a reputation as a social conservative, including some anti-gay history, and doesn’t deserve any votes against Gustavo, who is also running on the Working Families Party line.

State Senate 36th District. Bronx. Wide open, with the incumbent having moved on to the Cuomo administration, with five? choices. Jamaal Bailey is close to speaker Carl Heastie, has a bunch of labor endorsements, and has the WFP line. I suspect he will win, but low turnout may be a factor.

But one race really has my attention: In the NY State Senate 31st, Inwood, Washington Heights, West Side of Manhattan and Marble Hill, Robert Jackson, champion of the children of New York City, is running against a school reform scumbag and a candidate who wants the right-wing to run the senate. These two might be worth voting against, no matter who their opponent was. But this is not a least of three (really four evils) situation.

Robert Jackson is a hero of public education. He walked to Albany in 2003 – 150 miles with a group of public education advocates. They demanded fairer funding for NY City schools. And they won.

Robert Jackson as a city council member fought fiercely for education. But that’s not all.

Robert Jackson stands for the best sort of immigration reform. He is a tenants’ advocate of the first order. His environmental record is superb. I’m not going on, but I could.

If you are a registered Democrat in the 31st NY State Senate District, get to the polls Tuesday and support Robert Jackson.