Who else might throw their hat into the ring against the infamous Bronx senator? In December, City Hall News reported a number of possible contenders who’d floated the idea of running but then appeared to change their minds.
One name mentioned was Lilliam Perez, chief of staff for Manhattan Democrat Sen. Eric Schneiderman, who also represents Riverdale.
“It’s not my priority right now,” Perez said over the phone last week. “I’m not planning to run.”
But when asked if she would consider it somewhere down the line, Perez, who moved to Belmont from the Dominican Republic at the age of 12, said she wouldn't rule out the possibility.
“In politics, everything changes everyday, you don’t want to say never,” she said. “But I will say I’m not thinking about it at this moment.”
Perez first mentioned the idea of running to a Columbia Journalism school newspaper last fall.
Ms. Perez seems like a great potential candidate and someone I could easily support to get rid of Espada. However, she is losing my support with this "not thinking about it at this moment" stuff. What is she waiting for? An indictment from Cuomo? It may not come, and even if it does, if we wait too long, we won't have time to build a credible campaign against Espada. We ended up with Espada in office because establishment Democrats waited around and refused to put a credible candidate up against the criminally-tainted Gonzalez. Espada jumped into the void and won. We constituents of the 33rd Senatorial district can't afford to wait for the establishment again.
ReplyDeleteMs. Pilgrim-Hunter (also a great potential candidate) seems poised to put her hat in the ring soon. She will get my support over someone who wants me to wait.
Many are saying that Ms. Perez would be a better candidate than Ms. Pilgrim. She has worked in government for a while and understands the senate better than most. She also speaks spanish, which would help her reach the Latino community. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI support Lilliam, we need to vote someone with intergrity. Espada is a many full of tricks. He throws his arrows and tried to diverte his problems. But, it all has come to light. You can only hide for so long. She will win!
ReplyDeleteTO: Anonymous #2 and #3 -- Lilliam would be great -- but she says she isn't planning to run. We can't vote for someone who is not running. The first thing we need in a candidate is willingness to run. Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter may not speak Spanish, but she will have people on her staff to take care of that. From what I have seen so far, Desiree understands the needs of the community regardless of language or ethnicity. She certainly has much more integrity than Espada. If we had to chose between two candidates with integrity, Desiree or Lilliam, that, indeed, would be a difficult choice to make. As it stands -- we only have a choice between Espada and Pilgrim-Hunter. That is a very easy decision to make. Desiree has my vote.
ReplyDelete