Tenants Political Action Committee

NEWS
For Immediate Release: Contact:

August 12, 2010 Michael McKee (917) 669-2977

mmckee@tenantspac.org

Tenants rescind endorsements of three Senate Dems

Endorse G.O.P. incumbent Padavan, and WFP nominee for Governor
Will work for Bill Perkins and Gustavo Rivera in September 14 primary

At a board of directors meeting this week, Tenants Political Action Committee took the
extraordinary step of rescinding the endorsements of three Democratic State Senators,
including two Tenants PAC helped elect, who voted against tenant bills on August 3.

Tenants PAC also endorsed incumbent Senator Frank Padavan, the only Republican who
voted for the tenant bills. For Governor, the board endorsed Kenneth Schaeffer on the
Working Families Party line.

Tenants PAC has organized a phone bank and other grass roots effort s to re-elect Senator
Bill Perkins, and to help challenger Gustavo Rivera defeat pro-landlord incumbent Pedro
Espada, Jr. in the September 14 primary.

Rescinded endorsements

The Tenants PAC board voted to rescind the endorsements of Darrel Aubertine, Brian
Foley and David Valesky after the three Senators helped defeat two minor tenant bills on
the floor of the Senate the evening of August 3. “It was especially upsetting to watch
Darrel Aubertine and Brian Foley vote against us after we helped elect them, when the
New York City real estate lobby was doing everything they could to keep these seats in
Republican hands,” stated Tenants PAC board member Michael McKee.

Earlier this year the Tenants PAC board of directors had voted to endorse the three, and
to contribute $3,000 to each of them before the November 2 election. All three have
Republican challengers and represent districts that have no rent-regulated housing.

In February 2008, Tenants PAC helped elect Aubertine in a special election for an open
Senate seat in the North Country that had been represented by a Republican for more than
100 years. Tenants PAC contributed $3,000 to his campaign, and ran a phone bank in the
weeks before the election, calling voters in Oswego County. Seven members of Tenants
…. more ….
PAC traveled from downstate to the City of Oswego the weekend before the election and
spent four days helping with Get Out The Vote efforts. One of the seven was arrested on
Election Day on trumped-up charges by an over-zealous Republican police officer.

In the fall of 2008, Tenants PAC helped Foley defeat an entrenched Suffolk County
Republican incumbent, Caesar Trunzo. The PAC contributed $3,000 to Foley’s campaign
and paid travel, food and lodging costs for several volunteers who traveled to the Long
Island district the last four days to help with GOTV activities.

The Aubertine and Foley races were crucial steps in the multi-year campaign by the
Democrats to win the majority in the State Senate. Of the eight seats that flipped from the
G.O.P to Democratic control between the 2004 and 2008 elections, Tenants PAC had a
direct role in electing seven. In 2008 Tenants PAC contributed $57,000 to Democratic
State Senate candidates.

Despite the promises of the Senate Democratic leadership that once they won the
majority they would restore and strengthen the state’s weakened rent protection laws,
there was no action on tenant legislation for almost two years. Finally, on August 3, two
lesser pro-tenant bills were brought to the floor of the Senate, where both failed to pass.

Seven Democrats voted against tenants, including two from New York City whose
districts contain rent-controlled and rent-stabilized housing (Pedro Espada and Carl
Kruger), one from Nassau County whose district includes rent-regulated housing (Craig
Johnson), and four from areas of the state without rent controls: Aubertine, Foley, and
Valesky, and William Stachowski of Buffalo.

“It was clear to those of us in the Senate gallery that evening that the Senate Democratic
leadership attached no importance to our issues, and that their promises to deliver for
tenants meant nothing,” declared Tenants PAC board member Michael McKee. “After
tramping around in the snow in Oswego for several days to help the Democrats win
control of the Senate, I felt that this was a terrible betrayal.”

The canceled $9,000 in contributions will be re-allocated to legislators who support

tenants. “The funds we raise this fall will go to candidates we know we can count on,”
McKee added. “We will not support legislators who vote against tenants’ rights.”

Tenants PAC endorses Frank Padavan for re-election

Tenants PAC endorsed Senator Frank Padavan, the lone Republican to vote for the two
tenant bills on August 3 who represents a district in northeastern Queens. “Frank Padavan
has been a steadfast supporter of tenant protections, and has consistently been with us
against the wishes of his party leadership,” said McKee.

Padavan is being challenged in the November 2 general election by former City Council
Member Tony Avella, a Democrat who has been a staunch supporter of tenants. “It was
…. more ….
not easy to choose between two strong tenant supporters,” McKee stated, “but the board
decided that an incumbent who stands up to his leadership for tenants, and who has
proved himself a true friend, deserves our endorsement.”

Priorities for September 14 primary: Bill Perkins and Gustavo Rivera

Tenants PAC has identified two priorities for the Tuesday, September 14 Democratic
primary: to re-elect Bill Perkins to the State Senate in the 30th State Senate District in
Harlem, and to elect Gustavo Rivera in the 33rd SSD in the northwest Bronx.

“Bill Perkins has been heroic in his defense of tenants’ rights, both in the Senate and in
the City Council,” said McKee. “The real estate lobby has targeted him for defeat, in part
as payback for the lead paint poisoning prevention law he got through the City Council
over opposition from the Mayor, the Council leadership, and the real estate lobby. His
defeat would be a huge loss for tenants.”

Gustavo Rivera is running against the scandal-scarred incumbent Pedro Espada, Jr.,
whom McKee described as “the point person for landlords in Albany.” The tenant
organizer charged that Espada, as Senate Housing Committee chair, has kept pro-tenant
bills bottled up for the last two years, refusing to allow them to be reported to the floor.
“Just look at Espada’s campaign disclosure reports and you will see why he fronts for the
landlords,” said McKee. “His contributors are a Who’s Who of the real estate industry.”

McKee continued, “In contrast to the incumbent, Gustavo Rivera is a true progressive
and a person of integrity who is concerned about the welfare of the people of the 33rd
State Senate District, not in lining his pockets.”

Tenants PAC has contributed $6,000 to Perkins, and $6,000 to Rivera, the maximum
allowed. Tenants PAC is running a nightly phone bank into these two districts, calling
voters who live in rent-regulated and other kinds of rental housing to ask them to support
Perkins and Rivera.

Tenants PAC supports Working Families Party candidate for Governor

Tenants PAC endorsed Kenneth Schaeffer, a Legal Aid Society attorney who is the
gubernatorial candidate on Row E, the Working Families Party line. “It is essential that
WFP get the 50,000 votes for Governor to retain its automatic ballot line during the next
four years,” McKee said. “The party is under attack from the right because it has pushed
progressive candidates and issues, including tenants’ rights. The Independence Party, by
contrast, is openly collaborating with the New York City real estate industry to elect
candidates who will work to end all rent and eviction protections once and for all.”

Additional endorsements on the Tenants PAC web site: www.tenantspac.org.

-- 30 --

For more information: Tenants Political Action Committee, 277 Broadway, Suite 608,
New York NY 10007. (212) 577-7001 or (917) 669-2977. action@tenantspac.org.