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DOWNTOWN AREA VOTER GUIDE TO THE NOVEMBER 4 GENERAL ELECTIONCV%u2014 /> it e n A m __nr..o c e i u g e j j r u r i v i u r e E l e c t i o n n e w s :Candidates%u2019 Election CountdownBY ROB TAYLORWhile the six State Assembly seats andthree State Senate seats in the downtownBrooklyn area are officially being contestedin the November 4 general election, theoverwhelming number of registeredDemocrats in the districts keeps thepolitical competition to a minimum.Four of the Assembly seats and two of theSenate slots feature incumbent Democratswho won their primaries with no opposition.The lone Brooklyn GOP member of theState Senate, Chris Mega, had no primaryopposition either.In the other two downtown AssemblyDistricts, the incumbent Democrats wereremoved from their primary ballots fortechnical problems with their cover sheets.Both remain on the general election ballotas Liberal contenders.The following is a wTap-up of all the downtown Brooklyn races:Senate Hopefuls GoFor Round Three InTheir Ridge/Slope RaceIt has been described as one of the longestrunning political shows in local historybecause the State Senate race in theSlope/Bay Ridge 23rd District is not only arepeat engagement, but it is also one of thefew New York City races where a Democratand Republican are battling down to the wire.The campaign reaily began more than fouryears ago when Joe Montalto, the districtmanager of Sunset Park%u2019s Community BoardSeven, challenged the then four-year GOP incumbent Senator, Chris Mega. Montalto wonthat 1982 race by a slim margin, but Megareturned in the presidential election year of1984 and won back his seat with a sizeablemargin. Montalto, however, vowed tochallenge Mega again and Mega, knowingthat Montalto would be a strong candidate,says he has worked vigorously to stay in office ever since.%u201cI made a mistake four years ago becauseI didn't work hard enough,%u201d conceded Megaduring a debate two weeks before the electionat the Bensonhurst Community Council. %u201cButin the two years since I went back to Albany,Mega has worked harder for this district thanany other senator,%u201d he said.Quick on the draw, Montalto retorted, %u201cHeonly works hard when it%u2019s politically important.%u201d Montalto maintains that he was thefirst full-time State Senator from the district,while Mega has kept the doors open to hisBay Ridge law practice during his tenure inoffice. %u201cHe has only been a part-timelegislator.%u201dThe charges and countercharges arefamiliar as they have been voiced in morethan 26 public debates between the two candidates since 1982. Over the four years,regardless of whether they were in office,both men have spent an excessive amount oftime posturing and posing as either the incumbent or the unofficial sate senator, issuing press releases and appearing on a widerange of local platforms, talking about localissues and projects.The years and the battles have alsobenefited the residents of the 23rd SenateDistrict, according to both candidates,thanks to the approximately $7 million ofState money that has been returned to theneighborhoods through education, housingand other social service grants.Ironically, the voter registration in the 23rdSenate District shows that Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly three to one,64,298 Democrats and 25,287 Republicans.But on issues like the death penalty andState-funding of abortion, the voters appearto be more conservative causing localDemocratic leaders to complain that thereare too many %u201ccloset Republicans%u201d in thearea.%u201cThe bottom line is that this district isalways going to have a real horse race between the two parties,%u201d said Montalto onemorning recently during a campaign appearance at the 86th St. subway station inBay Ridge. Shaking hands at subway stopscan be one of the most tiring aspects of acampaign and Montalto dutifully beganmeeting people at targeted stationsthroughout the district in late summer.From 7am to 8:30am and then again at 5pmweekdays, Monatalto shuttles from his current job as executive director of the SenateMinority Task Force on Affordable Housingto the stops to meet the voters. Some candidates say they get a charge from meetingthe constituents and others say they wouldrather stay at home, but Montalto knows thatit is a tradition that no New York City politician can afford to overlook, least of allhimself.At the subway stops and in their debates,the two have tried to remind voters of theirpositions on issues and their records of service to the community. Mega says he iscounting on his experience in the StateSenate, and before that as a three-termAssemblymember, to return him to the office.Montalto charges that the record is not asgood as Mega claims and calls him a %u201cmouthpiece%u201d of the GOP Majority leader in theState Senate, Warren Anderson. %u201cMy opponent has never spoken out againstAnderson,%u201d says Montalto accusing theRepublican leadership of preventingnumerous pieces of legislation from passing.Mega calls this negative campaigning, butas the insurgent, Montalto, has little choicebut to challenge Mega%u2019s reputation.On the issues, the two candidates could notbe more different. When Mega supports thedeath penalty, Montalto opposes it. If Montalto claims there is a transportation problem, Mega says it is not as bad as Montaltobelieves. When Mega votes with hisRepublican leaders on an issue, Montaltoasserts he should have voted with theDemocrats.As much of the 23rd Senate District is fairlyprosperous, economic development and jobissues are not overly important to the voters.Montalto has had to struggle to try to showhis effectiveness on issues that Mega claimsdo not exist at all.The future of the N-Line subway is one example. Montalto tells the public that it lookslike the service to Bensonhurst will be discontinued. According to an April 29, 1986newspaper article, the Transit Authority isstudying the possibility. %u201cI am working tomake sure that the subway line is not closeddown,%u201d he told the audience gathered at adebate two weeks ago in Park Slope.Mega insists, however, that the danger isnon-existent and accuses Montalto of using%u201cscare tactics.%u201d After learning that Montaltowas going to make an issm of the suhwavline, Mega, however, also held a Transportation forum and asked MTA chairman RobertKiley and Transit Authority president DavidGunn whether the N-Line was in jeopardy.Kiley told the audience that it was not beingdiscontinued.23rd S en ate D istrict candidates C hrisM e g a (left) and Joe M o n talto (right) squaredo ff in their 26th debate since 1982 at theB ensonhurst C o m m u n ity C ouncil(P h oenix/T aylo r Photo)7 %u20185V --------Montalto has not given up on the issue andsays that if it is being studied by the TA thenthe State Senator should be working to makesure the study does not take place.%u201cThis is a subway line that is very important to the transportation needs of this community,%u201d Montalto told the Bensonhurst audience during their debate. %u201cI ride the subways and I know that people don%u2019t want tohave to pay two fares to get to work everyday.%u201dWhile Montalto might be able to scoresome points on this issue, Mega takes centercourt on their battle over law and order. Aschairman of the Senate Crime and Corrections Committee, he says, %u201cIf people don%u2019t reelect Mega they know they will be losingsomeone w h o is tough on crime.%u201dMontalto claims that Mega%u2019s support of thedeath penalty is just his way of showing thathe is concerned about crime. %u201cIf he was really concerned about crime he wouldn%u2019t havevoted against the life-without-parole legislation that I supported,%u201d says Montalto, referring to a Democratic alternative to the deathpenalty.Mega calls this approach a %u201ccop-out%u201d andpoints to several initiatives from his committee that illustrate his record including legislation supported by Governor Cuomo increasing penalties for selling drugs close to schoolgrounds and another bill making the prosecution of organized crime suspects easier.At the Bensonhurst debate, Mega clearlyfelt comfortable talking about his record andmoved in front of the podium to talk. %u201cI havethe endorsement of every major policeorganization in the state,%u201d he reminded theaudience.Despite their stands on these issues, muchof this race appears to be undecided. In 1982,Montalto won with 296 votes and admits thatpart of the victory was due to GovernorCuomo%u2019s position at the top of the Democraticticket.Mega%u2019s 1984 victory by 4,828 votes camewith no popular Democrat leading the ballot.Mega acknowledges that Cuomo%u2019s spot onthis year%u2019s ballot will hurt his campaign, buthe claims it will only be minor.Montalto has been waging on a coat-tailsvictory this year, issuing campaign literaturethat prominently features the Governor%u2019s endorsement. Local Democratic DistrictLeaders are complaining that Cuomo has notcome down to the district to help campaignfor Montalto. They say that with the Governor%u2019s popularity, especially in the Italianneighborhoods of Bay Ridge and DykerHeights, Montalto should be able to take thevotes from these areas that have caused himtrouble in the past.While the Governor%u2019s lack of active supportfor Democratic State Senate candidates hascaused some friction with the Senate Minority Leader, Manfred Ohrenstein, Montaltosays he is not disappointed with Cuomo. %u201cTheGovernor is not a street-campaigner, I don%u2019tthink that%u2019s his style,%u201d Montalto says.%u201cCuomo is not running his own campaignthat way.%u201d Montalto adds that he still expectsto see Cuomo in the district before thegeneral election.With just five days left before the election,the candidates are concentrating efforts onvoter turnout. Both say it is important fortheir election. Mega is looking more confident and at the Bensonhurst debate, particularly with a large crowd of supporters inthe audience, seemed more prepared for battle than at previous meetings.Montalto, a little tired, but still determinedto win, says, %u201cIt is coming down to the wireand we just have to wait and see.%u201dAssemblyman VannHopes To Win ByA Very Liberal MarginFor Bedford-Stuyvesant DemocraticAssemblymember A1 Vann, this electionseason has been a frustrating one. Vann, theDemocratic incumbent, is running for reelection on the Liberal Party line this year asthe result of a State Supreme Court rulingthat eliminated him from his own party%u2019sprimary election.The same thing happened once before, in1980, and Vann was re-elected and returnedto Albany. With 43,975 registered Democratsand 2,053 Republicans and only 667 Liberals,Vann%u2019s task during the general election campaign has been to convince traditionalDemocratic voters to cross party lines andvote for him.To do this, he has called on all the local support he could, organized phone banks andpassed out palm cards with the message,%u201cRe-elect our Democratic Assemblyman onthe Literal Line.%u201dWith 12 years in the State Assembly and ahistory book full of activity in BedfordStuyvesant, Brooklyn and New York Citypolitics, Vann has made a lot of friends to callin for support. Most of the support comesfrom within the district, however, because hehas angered many of the other Democrats inContinuedPage 8, TH E P H O E N IX , O cto ber 30, 1986