Weld in Rockaway; Local to Challenge Pheffer

"We went looking for a six foot, two inch Irishman who'd play well in a number of our communities. What we found instead, was a five foot, two inch, bald Jewish guy with a beard. God works in mysterious ways!"

Members of the 23^rd AD Regular Republican Club, out of Ozone Park, joined the newly chartered Rockaway Republicans at the Belle Harbor Yacht Club last Tuesday evening to hear former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld make his case for the GOP gubernatorial nomination and listen to a local intent on challenging Democratic Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer this November.

Weld, the former Massachusetts governor, was frank, articulate and substantive in his remarks as he laid out his case for carrying the state's GOP gubernatorial standard into November. He had no negative words for his remaining GOP opponent John Faso, who visited Rockaway last month himself, and spoke warmly of State Conservative Party leader Mike Long who has all but anointed Mr. Faso to carry the Conservative Party standard in the upcoming gubernatorial contest. Weld frankly acknowledged his interest in securing the support of the state's Independence Party as an alternative to the Conservative line.

He went on to point out that, as a former U.S. Attorney he had a better record of going after and prosecuting corruption than his likely Democratic opponent in November, NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, despite Spitzer's high profile campaign against a number of major financial firms. If anyone doubted his ability to deliver the goods as governor of a major state, he added, they need only look at his record as Massachusetts' chief executive in the late eighties and early nineties. He balanced the state budget every year, he noted, cut the Bay state's taxes significantly, and ran state finances so responsibly that the Wall Street Journal named him the most fiscally conservative governor in the nation.

Responding to questions about why he had resigned the Massachusetts gubernatorial post in the midst of his second term to accept a pending appointment as U.S. ambassador to Mexico by the Clinton administration, and whether he thought the early resignation ultimately undermined his chances for the appointment, Weld acknowledged that it may have. But he added he was within weeks of making the switchover at the time, was spending much of his energy preparing for it, and thought he was not being fair to Massachusetts voters by continuing to hold onto the governorship while busy elsewhere. So he decided to step down. Unfortunately, he agreed, this may have removed some of the incentive to appoint him since he was no longer a GOP governor in the Massachusetts state house who some may have wanted out of the way. The promised ambassadorial appointment ultimately failed to materialize.

Weld stressed his New York roots, noting that he was born and raised on Long Island and spent quite a bit of time growing up in the Adirondacks. Today he makes his home in both places and enjoys hunting upstate and boating downstate. Overall, Weld connected with the crowd, reflecting the ease with which he spoke about personal issues as he fielded a number of tough audience questions.

Rockaway Republicans chairperson George Greco of Belle Harbor presented the former Massachusetts governor with a campaign contribution of $107 as part of a recently established club tradition to support major GOP candidates by putting the club's money to work in the political process. Typically the group contributes $100 to visiting candidates but this time, noted Greco, "we upped it slightly to reflect increases in prices at the pump."

After Weld spoke, Rockaway Republicans President Tom Lynch addressed the two clubs jointly, reminding members of both that "The main purpose of political clubs like ours is to run candidates for local office. Our own club," he noted, "in its very first election cycle, ran thirty people for County Committee and won twenty-eight seats right out of the box. Now, this November," he went on, "our 23rd state assembly district is up for grabs . . . if Republicans are bold enough to field a candidate against an entrenched, multi-year Democratic incumbent who most people think is unbeatable."

Lynch continued: "We went looking for a six foot, two inch Irishman who'd play well in a number of our communities. What we found instead," he said, "was a five foot, two inch, bald Jewish guy with a beard who could have been a leprechaun in another life. God works in mysterious ways!"

Lynch went on to introduce the Rockaway Republicans' candidate for this year's Assembly race, Stuart W. Mirsky, a recently retired Assistant Commissioner for Operations at the NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. Mirsky is also Vice President of the Rockaway Republicans, a novelist and columnist for The Wave.

"Stu Mirsky," said Lynch, "has agreed to toss his hat into the ring this November in order to give local voters a choice between business as usual and sending a serious legislator to Albany, someone who cares about making laws and keeping government fiscally responsible."

Lynch noted that Mirsky has promised to run a "different kind of campaign" and added that "while Mayor Bloomberg recently spent over eighty million dollars to secure his re-election, Stu has promised to spend at least eight hundred dollars . . . and not a penny more! Stu will make his case on principles and ideals, not on dollars and cents," said Lynch, "to prove you don't have to be a millionaire to make democracy work."

Invited to the podium, Mirsky expressed his strong support for the prior speaker, Bill Weld, and then briefly outlined his own reasons for deciding to enter a race most see as unwinnable for any local Republican candidate.

"We can't leave people without a choice in the voting booth this November," he said. "It's against everything we stand for and contrary to why we formed the Rockaway Republicans. When incumbents routinely run unopposed on the peninsula, or anywhere, it's like we're back in the old Soviet Union . . . or present day Teheran."

Warming to the subject, Mirsky laid out his platform of restoring fiscal discipline to state government, opposing special perqs for legislators, ensuring open distribution of legislators' discretionary monies (otherwise known as "slush funds"), and supporting Governor Weld's call for a state constitutional convention to re-structure the way the state does its business. Noting that he has nothing personal against his opponent and even thinks well of her, he reminded the audience that she has been in office since 1987 and seems to have "more job security than a civil service worker. And that's saying something."

Likening Assemblywoman Pheffer to his own mother, Mirsky said he'd even run against his mom if she'd been in the same job for that long, suggesting he'd tell her "it's time to step aside and take a well earned rest in Florida." The incumbent Assemblywoman, Mirsky suggested, "is no longer a serious legislator. She votes the party line to tax and spend us into oblivion. A nice lady," he added, "and certainly well liked and well known in the 23rd AD. But, that's not why we send people to Albany. We elect legislators to legislate and Audrey has not been serious in that department for as long as I can remember."

Mirsky went on to charge that his prospective opponent is part of the current dysfunctional Albany system where "legislators have run amok, spending our dollars, incurring more and more debt for us and our kids, and allowing government to metastasize until its got its tentacles into everything. Big government means lots of red tape," he warned, "along with high taxes, and this is what's killing the state's overall economy even though we don't feel it yet downstate. But if things keep going like this," Mirsky suggested, "we'll be feeling it soon enough. You can't borrow and spend at the rate our state legislature does and not have to pay the piper eventually."

Mirsky ended by asking for support from his fellow Rockaway Republicans and the Ozone Park club, pledging to be a candidate they can be proud of. "And if, God willing, I win," he smiled, glancing upward significantly, "I'll be the best darn Assembly person ever elected from the 23rd AD."

Afterwards 23rd AD Republican District Leader Ed O'Hare came up to the podium and read a letter he and co-leader Terry Ariola had sent to Queens County GOP Chair Serph Maltese last week urging the County organization to join them in backing Mirsky's fledgling candidacy. O'Hare and Mirsky, who had been on opposite sides of a bitter fight for control of the district only a year ago, shook hands warmly and stood for a friendly photo op.

"You gotta do photo ops, it's politics and I'm pledged to do this on the cheap," said Mirsky afterwards. "But Ed and I have been on good terms since right after he trounced us in the leadership race. We don't hold grudges. We work together and move on."