By Daniel Massey
Although James Gennaro is the overwhelming favorite to replace term-limited City Councilman Morton Povman (D-Forest Hills), he is running his campaign as if the race was too close to call.
Gennaro, an environmental policy adviser to the City Council and an adjunct professor of political science at Queens College, has just one opponent in the Nov. 6 general election: Green Party candidate Lori Zett.
Barry Grodenchik, who was defeated in the Sept. 25 primary, remains on the ballot as a Working Families Party candidate, but he is not running a campaign and said he has endorsed Gennaro.
“I think I would operate the same way if I had 10 opponents or if I had no opponents,” said Gennaro, who is hoping to represent the 24th Council District, which covers northern Forest Hills, southern Flushing, Kew Gardens Hills, Fresh Meadows, Briarwood and Jamaica Estates. “The campaign is an opportunity to inform the voters about who I am and to be informed by them as to what they need from me.”
Zett, a labor rights consultant, does not believe she has much of a chance to defeat Gennaro.
“I would be a fool to think there’s any possibility I could win the race,” she said. “I’m running with zero funds against somebody who has an unimaginable amount of money.”
As of Oct. 26, Gennaro had spent $174,969 on his campaign, according to his filings with the Campaign Finance Board.
Discouraged by the political process, Zett said her message is not getting out to the voters. “There is no way the people can hear my voice,” she said. “If there is silencing of voices, then we don’t have democracy.”
Gennaro, however, said New York City’s campaign finance laws are “the most progressive” in the country. “Without the campaign finance programs someone who was an insurgent like myself running against the machines would never have had a chance,” he said.
Gennaro defeated Grodenchik, the choice of the Queens Democratic Organization, and David Reich, legal counsel to state Sen. Seymour Lachman (D-Brooklyn) in the Sept. 25 Democratic primary.
“I didn’t have any of the machines,” he said “My campaign was financed by the people and that’s exactly where I took my message.”
Zett said her ideas are “a little bit to the left of the average voter in the district,” particularly when it comes to the Sept. 11 disaster. Both Gennaro and Zett offered their opinions about how the terrorist attacks have affected the city.
Zett, who opposes the U.S. bombing in Afghanistan as retaliation for the Twin Towers assault, believes a reluctance to think about the world beyond our borders has been evident since Sept. 11.
“It wasn’t local issues that caused the attack on New York,” said the candidate, who has a master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University.
Gennaro said the biggest change since the attacks is in the realm of public safety. “The NYPD is now not dealing just with a criminal element, but with a terrorist element as well,” he said.
He said the city will be forced to make difficult budget decisions in the coming years, but issues such as education and senior services that were important prior to Sept. 11 remain at the top of his agenda.
Despite what Zett described as her inability to reach the voters, she said her candidacy is good for democracy in Queens.
“I think it’s important to have another choice,” she said. “Right now, if I wasn’t in the race, it would just be one Democrat. At least there’s somebody else with very different ideas.”
Reach reporter Daniel Massey by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
