Dear friends,
You may recall that I advised against voting too early in this month’s primary election. Had I written this post earlier this week, it would have read quite differently.
I don’t live in CD 10, but this race is important. My goal is to see a progressive in Congress to represent this newly-drawn district. That means that progressives have to unify behind a candidate who is not Dan Goldman.
Goldman has never run for office before. I don’t understand why he appears to be leading polls. Congressman Mondaire Jones has criticized Goldman for his self-financed campaign and the sources of his wealth.
Goldman’s financial disclosures with the House, which cover an 18-month period ending June 30, indicate that he has a line of credit from Goldman Sachs worth up to $50 million, and hundreds of investments, including in weapons manufacturer Sturm, Ruger & Company; in oil companies, including Chevron and Exxon Mobil; and even in Fox Corporation.
I was planning to go all-in for Yuh-Line Niou. I was excited to support a progressive Asian woman. Plus, she got the nod from the Working Families Party and an endorsement from Jumaane Williams. As a member of the NYS Assembly, she co-sponsored Fair Pay for Home Care and the Climate and Community Investment Act, two important pieces of legislation on pivotal issues.
Yesterday, however, a disturbing piece in the Daily Beast presented evidence that Niou was party to her parents’ business dealings when they owned Tri-Stone, a company that was exposed in the Panama Papers in 2016. The company was linked to a law firm in Panama which the Panamanian Attorney general called
“a criminal organization that is dedicated to hiding money assets from suspicious origins.”
When contacted by reporters, Niou
denied having ever heard of Tri-Stone Ltd. or possessing any knowledge of its activities. She acknowledged, however, that she and her two younger siblings were the main occupants of the Seattle address associated with the entity at the time of its incorporation, while she worked as a lobbyist in Washington State. Before cutting the call short, the lawmaker maintained her parents resided during that period at their property in Vancouver.
There seems to be evidence that Niou herself had power of attorney for her parents during this period and that she bought the property in Seattle that was listed as Tri-Stone’s address. Niou signed the mortgage on the property on behalf of her parents.
When her parents’ signatures appeared on documents, they were notarized in Shanghai. This does not support Niou’s claim that her parents were residing in Vancouver at the time, nor does it seem that she’s being straight about her knowledge of Tri-Stone.
For context, I’m including these paragraphs from the article by William Bredderman and Shannon Vavra:
Offshore entities are a common tool for evading tax officials and official capital controls and for acquiring hard assets overseas, noted James Lewis, vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“Rich Chinese people usually have two goals: 1) Get their money out of China (buying real estate is a normal trick for this), in case things go south with the Party,” the former diplomat wrote in an email. “2) Avoid paying taxes (not confined to wealthy Chinese).”
I’m suspicious of wealthy business people generally, and it seems that Niou is dissembling. This does not look good.
On Sunday, the Daily News endorsed Liz Holtzman. I am not eager to see yet another octogenarian white person in Congress, though I respect and admire Holtzman. Before the endorsement, I had daydreamed about asking her to drop out in order to throw her weight behind one of the young progressives with a stronger chance of winning. I’m still thinking of contacting Joanne Simon, whom I greatly admire, for the same reason.
Mondaire Jones is a good Congressman who has represented his district well and he has stood out as an effective freshman. The New York Post has tried to paint him as a carpetbagger, for leaving his Rockland Country district to run in CD-10. This lacks nuance, in a big way.
Jones’s (CD 17) district was redrawn; as a result, his Rockland home address was now in CD 16, which would have pitted him against fellow Black progressive Jamaal Bowman. He could have run in CD 17, facing off against Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Maloney wanted Jones to step aside rather than face a primary against him.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jones earlier this summer. He is charming and intelligent. I wished that he had been more wonky, and that he’d talked in detail about local issues and the Fossil Free Finance Act, of which he is the lead sponsor.
Mondaire Jones has been doing the job, though, and doing it well. I am an adherent of performance-based assessment, which is teacher-talk for showing that you can get real things done (instead of just passing a test).
Jones is passing with strong marks.
Carlina Rivera is my other top choice now, and I wish we could use ranked-choice voting, but that only applies in races in local NYC government. Rivera has been a progressive force in the city council and has endorsements from Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
As a council member, Rivera has spearheaded legislation to make sexual harassment a human rights violation under the New York City human rights law. In addition, she has stood up for and won better conditions Los Deliveristas. She has lived in the district for most (or all?) of her life. She would likely make a very fine Congresswoman.
If I were voting in CD 10, I’d vote for Mondaire Jones.
My mother-in-law, of whom I’m very fond, lives in CD 10 and State Senate district 26. She is voting absentee while spending the summer outside the city (and allowing us to stay in her apartment while we renovate).
I offered her this quick advice for the State Senate race.
David Yassky is running against Andrew Gounardes, whom I rather like. Yassky has been out of politics for a while, though he was elected to the first of his two terms in the city council in 2001. He represented parts of downtown Brooklyn.
Gounardes is a supporter of Fair Pay for Home Care whose district got redrawn. I did a little reading to confirm my good feelings about Gounardes.
The Working Families Party and many labor unions — including the state nurses association, public employees union DC37, the RWDSU retail workers union, and the CUNY faculty union — have come out for Gounardes, and shortly after Gounardes announced his candidacy in the new district, he got
a number of endorsements in the primary, including New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who represented Park Slope in the City Council prior to winning citywide last year, City Council Members Justin Brannan and Lincoln Restler, both of whose districts overlap some with the new Senate district.
Gounardes is in the job doing admirable work.
Vote for Andrew Gounardes for State Senate District 26.
Early voting begins on Saturday, August 13.
Check early voting hours and locations here.
with love,
L