In the midst of a bid to challenge the party-backed incumbent, state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone), for a newly formed seat, Harrison said…
By Alexander Dworkowitz
Former Flushing Councilwoman Julia Harrison rarely speaks to members of the Queens Democrat Party these days.
In the midst of a bid to challenge the party-backed incumbent, state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone), for a newly formed seat, Harrison said she has been shunned by members of her own party.
Nevertheless, in a recent interview with the TimesLedger, Harrison, 82, said she felt confidant about the race.
“I don’t think it hurt me at all,” Harrison said of the party’s decision to support Stavisky. “I feel very relaxed.”
Harrison, Stavisky and Forest Hills activist Marcia Lynn are seeking the Democratic nomination for the 16th Senate District. Created by combining sections of Stavisky’s and state Sen. Daniel Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) areas as part of the redistricting process, the seat primarily covers Flushing, Forest Hills, and Fresh Meadows, but also covers parts of Whitestone, Bayside, Bay Terrace, Rego Park, Elmhurst, Astoria and LaGuardia Airport.
Harrison condemned the party that she has served for over 30 years.
“In my own mind, I compare the Democratic Party of Queens to a corporate structure,” Harrison said. “It’s invested in profits and power.”
Harrison said her problems began when she approached Tom Manton, chairman of the Queens Democratic Party, with the idea of running against Stavisky several months ago.
Harrison asked that the party not make a designation, contending that Stavisky was not an incumbent because of the dramatic change in the shape of the district she had been representing.
“The first question they asked me was how much money have I got,” Harrison said. “I told them I had none.”
Since then the party has worked to exclude her, Harrison said.
A spokeswoman for the Queens Democratic Party would not comment on Harrison’s allegations.
A district leader, Harrison said she was not allowed to distribute applications for people who want to become election workers within her district, a duty typically assigned to district leaders. The former councilwoman also said the party had stripped her name from party literature, listing another person in place of her own for her district leader position.
Harrison’s recent troubles are not the first time she has had a conflict with her party.
In the past, Harrison challenged the party’s support of several major projects in the borough. She questioned the deal made for the USTA Tennis Center, complained about the placement of the escalator at Flushing’s subway station on Roosevelt Avenue and criticized the AirTrain project.
In 1996, Harrison said she was ostracized by Democrats after she was quoted in The New York Times as describing the Asian population in Flushing as “an invasion, not an assimilation.”
“Not a goddamn single Democratic Party person even spoke to me,” Harrison said. “How democratic is that?”
She, however, described herself as growing stronger with every criticism.
Having served in the state Assembly in the early 1980s and in the City Council from 1985 through 2001, Harrison said she is approaching the race without any preconceived plans.
“I’ve learned over the years that’s it’s kind of foolhardy to have goals in the abstract because the issues come from the community,” she said. “I’m finding issues in the process of collecting signatures.”
Harrison, who was forced out of office last year due to the City Council’s adoption of term limits, does not support a cap on the number of years that can be served as a solution to the problems she sees in politics.
Instead, it is stronger competition within parties, exemplified by her own run, that she views as crucial to improving the democratic process.
“I decided I was going to give the voters a choice,” Harrison said. “They can take me or they can leave me. But I’ll give them one reason to go to the polls.”
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 141.
