In Queens, a Fight to Challenge a Veteran State Senator
A year ago, Albert J. Baldeo, a little-known lawyer in Queens, came close to toppling one of the most venerable Republican leaders in New York City: State Senator Serphin R. Maltese. In fact, Mr. Baldeo came within about 900 votes – roughly 2 percentage points – of winning. In the months since November, Mr. Baldeo has been planning his next campaign against incumbent, having raised $200,000 by his own account for the 2008 election.
After coming so close, one might expect Queens Democratic leaders to cheer on the enthusiastic Mr. Baldeo. But nothing could be further from the case.
“I’ve gotten support from everyone but the Queens County Democratic organization,” Mr. Baldeo said. “And I think that sends a bad message. The days of cronyism and the old boys’ club should no longer be the way to go. As a Democratic organization, if you don’t stand behind the candidate with 49 percent in the last race, who will you stand behind?”
The answer to that question is becoming clear: Many Democratic leaders are encouraging City Councilman Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. to run against Mr. Maltese. Democratic leaders reason that the councilman has a record of getting votes in a district that covers about half of the Maltese district’s terrain. He also won his seat from a Republican. And topping it off, his is a well-known name. His late father was a congressman from Queens.
Mr. Addabbo said he is not yet prepared to announce what he will do next year. But he sounded very much like a candidate in an interview this week. “I have an exploratory committee and I’m very interested in this race,” he said. “My campaign will be built on new ideas. I would like to see the district keep up the pace with what’s going on in Albany.”
It is more than a year until the Democratic primary. But the race is already red-hot.
Michael H. Reich, the Queens organization’s executive secretary, said that, even at this early stage, Mr. Addabbo was seen as the preferable candidate.
“The problem with Mr. Baldeo is that he operates on his own and he’s never sought to work with the Queens organization,” Mr. Reich said. “His last campaign was funded by his own money and I don’t think he’s a Michael Bloomberg who can finance the kind of campaign to match what the Republicans are going to put behind Serph Maltese.” (Mr. Baldeo said that about 40 percent of the money he has raised for 2008 was his own.)
He and other Queens Democrats paint a picture of Mr. Baldeo being, well, a little off-balance. They accuse Mr. Baldeo, a Guyanese immigrant, from keeping his face off of campaign literature in an effort to fool voters into thinking he was of Italian heritage. And others point to an incident in a City Council primary campaign in 2005, when Mr. Baldeo was arrested on charges that he waved a gun at the wife of a rival Democrat. The charges were dismissed. “It was a conspiracy to get me off the ballot,” Mr. Baldeo said.
But Mr. Baldeo said it is the Queens Democratic party that is viewing his campaign through a biased lens. “I have been all over the community and people know who I am and what I look like,” he said. He said Mr. Addabbo is motivated only by a desire to have elective office after the election of 2009, when he is barred by term limits for running for re-election to the Council.
“He should be running because he cares about jobs and health care,” Mr. Baldeo said. “He’s only running because he wants a job. Any job.”
If the party ignores the Baldeo candidacy, he said, “what are they saying to the loyal Democratic voters in this community who, like me, have invested in the party?”
There is one Queens official who seems thrilled by all the intraparty turmoil: Mr. Maltese.
“My best bet is to sit back and let the Democrats fight it out,” Mr. Maltese said. “I’m an incumbent. I’m well-known in the district and I’m running against people who have to sort out their affairs. I’m going to get ready for whoever they pick.”
