ICYMI: New Feature Story in The Capitol: “Assembly Republican Target Number One? Staten Island’S Hyer-Spencer”
Huffington Post picks up on The Capitol’s article about RACC “keeping Assemblywoman honest” on her votes to hike taxes, kill jobs
In case you missed it (ICYMI), The Capitol has a new article on how the New York Republican Assembly Campaign Committee (RACC) is keeping Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer (D-Staten Island, Brooklyn) honest about her repeated votes to hike taxes and kill jobs.
The Huffington Post has already picked up on The Capitol’s story.
This year alone, Hyer-Spencer voted for the largest tax hike in New York’s history ($4.4 billion in A.157-B) and to eliminate STAR property tax rebate checks (A.153-C). Hyer-Spencer raised taxes on beer and wine sales (A.157-B and A.156-B) and voted for a series of tax and fee increases on health insurance, auto insurance and home purchases (A.158-B and A.156-B).
Perhaps most notoriously, Hyer-Spencer hiked DMV fees by 25 percent on driver’s licenses, vehicle registrations and license plate renewals (A.159-B) — a vote so reviled that it has galvanized the public and a wide swath of local and state officials to successfully reverse the new DMV license plate plan.
“In the article, Janele claims to be the quickest, best, and brightest. Yes, Janele, we agree you are when it comes to hiking taxes in Albany,” said Kathleen Hennessey, Spokeswoman for the New York Republican Assembly Campaign Committee (RACC).
The Capitol’s article is linked above and pasted below.
The Capitol
Assembly Republican Target Number One? Staten Island’s Hyer-Spencer
Kolb touts plan to run in every district, but so far mostly focused on one Democrat
Andrew J. Hawkins
Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:00:00
To hear the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee tell it, two-term Staten Island Democrat Janele Hyer-Spencer is responsible for all the dysfunction in New York, from joblessness to soaring energy costs to the state’s overwhelming tax burden.
“Staten Island Assemblywoman voted to allow drug dealers who sold to kids to apply for re-sentencing and possibly be freed from state prison,” screams one press release.
“Staten Island, Brooklyn jobless rate near 10 percent, as Assemblywoman Hyer-Spencer hikes taxes, spending,” wails another.
Unsatisfied with their position as a permanent minority, Assembly Republicans, down to a new membership low, are determined to capitalize on what they believe is an anti-incumbency mood among voters by winning as many seats back from the Democrats next year as they can.
Minority Leader Brian Kolb went a step further recently, declaring the ambitious goal of running a Republican candidate in each of the 109 districts held by Democrats in 2010.
But so far, most, if not all, of their attention appears to be focused on Hyer-Spencer.
“I’m really livid,” she said of the Republican attacks. “It has nothing to do with me or my legislative career. They want the seat and that isn’t going to change.”
Hyer-Spencer said that she will always be a target for Republicans as long as her district represents such a narrow margin between Democratic and Republican voters.
“It could be me or Mother Teresa holding the seat,” she said. “It’s not the person they give a shit about, it’s the seat they want back.”
Hyer-Spencer narrowly won the seat vacated by Republican Assembly Member Matthew Mirones in 2006, beating her opponent by less than 1,000 votes. Two years later, buoyed by an intensive door-to-door campaign, a strong-looking legislative track record for a freshman legislator and the Obama-Democratic momentum, Hyer-Spencer beat Joseph Cammarata by more than 3,000 votes. But Republicans are still encouraged by the large number of registered independents in the district—over 15,000—and say they will be looking for any opportunity to tie Hyer-Spencer to a deeply unpopular Democratic governor and a general level of disgust among voters with Albany.
“Her last races were closer than she would have liked for an incumbent,” said John Friscia, chair of the Staten Island Republican Party. “She may even be target number one next year.”
As for the progress of Kolb’s grand strategy to run a candidate in every district in 2010? Kolb says things are going swell so far.
“There’s been a great influx of people that are interested and feeling now they have a reasonable chance at running,” he said.
Kolb declined to discuss any particular seats he had hopes of flipping, but said he believed the results from the 2009 elections, where Republicans made huge gains in Westchester and Nassau counties, portend a strong showing in 2010. But he stressed that he is also a realist, noting that the odds in New York have never been in the GOP’s favor.
“You know I usually just tell it like it is, but I think right now I’d like to just be saying: I’m very, very optimistic,” he said, when asked to predict how many seats his conference will pick up next year. “It’s going to be more than a handful.”
Friscia and Brooklyn GOP chair Craig Eaton recently met with Kolb to begin plotting a strategy for 2010, with Hyer-Spencer’s seat presenting the best opportunity for a pick-up.
“Matt Mirones did a great job bringing back resources to the district,” Eaton said. “We want to return that seat to a Republican.”
But Hyer-Spencer’s district, which covers the eastern coastline of Staten Island and a small portion of Brooklyn, may have moved far beyond the Republicans’ grasp. Working Families Party-backed Council candidate Debi Rose’s solid victory against Kenneth Mitchell, a moderate Democrat and former staffer to Rep. Michael McMahon, shows how parts of the district are trending leftward, Hyer-Spencer said.
“The district went overwhelming for Debi,” she said. “For the first time in a while, this district is voting for the person, not the party.”
She countered criticism that she rarely attends rallies, steers clear of giving interviews with the borough’s main newspaper and is a close ally to Speaker Sheldon Silver by talking up her attributes.
“I am the quickest, I am the best and I am the brightest,” she said, sounding every bit like the former beauty queen she is. “[Republicans] should come up with something original. I’ve been very vocal about what I support. I don’t owe them bullshit press releases.”
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