Under normal circumstances, David Weprin would be heavily
favored to beat Bob Friedrich in their Assembly special election on Tuesday.
Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district by nearly
four-to-one. Weprin’s younger brother, Mark, had nothing to worry about when he
held what was once his father’s Assembly seat for over a decade.
The only reason the Assembly seat is open at all is because
Mark Weprin glided to an easy victory for his brother’s Council seat—defeating
his Republican opponent, Bob Friedrich, without ever having to break too much
of a sweat.
But next Tuesday is not last fall, and the special election
is not a typical campaign.
“Normally a Democrat would be a shoo-in,” David Weprin said.
“But this is not a normal election.”
Turnout for the special election is expected to be no higher
than your average school board election, with many of the snowbirds that are
likely Weprin voters in Florida for the winter and available only by absentee
ballot, according to his campaign manager, Corey Bearak.
In addition, after their special election victory in
Massachusetts and other recent successes, Republicans are expected to be more
energized to turn out than Democrats, with the Republican Assembly Campaign
Committee sending out daily e-mails drumming up support for Friedrich.
When Friedrich ran for the Council, he first ran in the
Democrat primary, then again as a Republican in the general election. Now,
Friedrich—still a registered Democrat—is running for Assembly only as a
Republican, and says he will conference with them if elected.
Friedrich is also running on Conservative Party line, which
he did not seek during his Council campaign. But this has raised questions
about his potentially contradictory positions on gay marriage.
During his interview with Queens County Conservative Party
chair Tom Long two weeks ago, Friedrich said he was against same-sex marriage,
according to Long.
“He told me that marriage was between a man and a woman,”
Long said.
Friedrich reiterated the same thing in a recent endorsement
interview with the Queens Tribune.
But during a Queens
Tribune endorsement interview when he was running as a Democrat for the
Council, Friedrich was asked a yes or no question about whether he favored
same-sex marriage. He responded that he was in favor, according to several
people in the room, including Swaranjit Singh, a candidate in that race, and
the paper’s managing editor, Brian Rafferty.
Also, when Friedrich filled out a candidate survey for
Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens, he wrote that he was favor of gay
marriage, said the club’s spokesman, Larry Menzie.
Weprin said he believes Friedrich changed his position as part of a deal to get the Conservative endorsement.
“That’s a position where you hope somebody would take a
moral position,” Weprin said.
When asked about these contradictions, Friedrich at first
denied even discussing the topic of gay marriage with Long. Then, when told of
Long’s differing account, he shifted.
“I apologize—when I said it wasn’t discussed, what I meant to say is that I didn’t have to make a deal,” Friedrich said.
Friedrich said that he is in favor of civil unions, and
always has been. As for the differing accounts about his position from Council
race, Friedrich said: “I guess their recollection is incorrect.”
Friedrich is also catching heat after he sent a letter
several weeks ago to the district’s sizable South Asian community asserting
that Singh, an influential member of that community, had endorsed him—even
though Singh says he is actually backing Weprin.
Singh said that he promised Friedrich during the Council
race that he would back him during a hypothetical Assembly run—but changed his
mind in the intervening months.
“He’s backstabbing me on everything,” Singh complained.
Weprin, the former chair of the Council Finance Committee,
is relying on union support, and has the United Federation of Teachers phone
banking for him to drum up turnout. Local synagogues are placing calls to their
congregants to notify them of the special election. The Weprin campaign is also
hoping for good weather, believing higher turnout would be to their advantage.
Friedrich, meanwhile, is playing on an anti-incumbent
sentiment as Weprin tries to win a seat that has been in his family since 1971,
when his father, Saul Weprin, first won it.
“It’s playing well, because it’s truthful,” Friedrich said. “This should not be the family business.”
miracle
