GOP State Senator Marty Golden and his Democratic opponent, Andrew Gounardes, faced off in a debate before the Dyker Heights Civic Association last night. It was an aggressive clash with both candidates facing off in front of a packed crowd that cheered, clapped, booed and even hissed. Read More
Brooklyn State Senator Marty Golden may be a conservative Republican, but he can still rack up influential union endorsements as he campaigns for reelection against Democrat Andrew Gounardes. To wit, the 200,000 member union SEIU 1199 announced their endorsement of Mr. Golden this morning.
“He has written and passed many important pieces of legislation that have improved and protected the health and well-being of all New Yorkers,” Kevin Finnegan, 1199′s political director, said in a statement. Read More
“In June, Beverly Neufeld, President of the New York Women’s Aenda and Director of the Equal Pay Coalition, called legislation that I co-sponsored, ‘…a welcome accomplishment for Equal Pay advocates and women across New York’” GOP State Senator Marty Golden wrote in a recent campaign mailing. “The Women’s Workforce Bill is now law and is the first piece of State legislation that acknowledges and addresses the gender wage gap. It will not be the last.”
However, in a press release provided by his campaign, Mr. Golden’s Democratic opponent Andrew Gounardes pointed out that Mr. Golden was not among the co-sponsors of the bill, which passed the State Senate unanimously. The statement connected the slight to the senator’s vote against the New York Fair Pay Act in 2011, and, of course, the now-infamous government mailer promoting a “feminine presence” class. Read More
On the heels of Senator Marty Golden’s upset loss of the AFL-CIO endorsement yesterday, the Republican state senator is out with a prominent labor endorsement of his own: Teamsters Joint Council 16.
“Senator Golden has proven that he will fight for working families,” the union’s president, George Miranda, said in a statement. “In these tough times, we need leaders we can count on to fight for every job and opportunity possible. That’s why Teamsters Joint Council 16 is pleased to endorse State Senator Marty Golden for re-election. He is effective, forthright and diligent.” Read More
State Senator Marty Golden unveiled new legislation this morning that would target those stashing “community guns” for others to use while avoiding carrying a gun for police to find traveling between locations. The move quickly earned the praise of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but Democrats are arguing that it is merely an attempt to shift the discussion away from a key issue that they have been steadily hammering him on for some time. Just two days ago, Senator Mike Gianaris, the head of the Senate Democrats’ campaign efforts, called Mr. Golden out on his lack of support for microstamping legislation while on Inside City Hall.
“Faced with mounting criticism over his poor record on actual gun safety, Golden is trying to deflect attention from his record and steal some headlines to create the illusion that he is tough on crime,” the press release declared, pointing to Mr. Gianaris’ recent package of gun control legislation as a more proactive solution. Read More
GOP State Senator Marty Golden has never struggled with fundraising, and facing his first serious challenger in years, continued to do so in his semiannual filing that just went online earlier this afternoon. Taking in $270,000 in contributions, Mr. Golden now has over $455,000 on hand as he aims to thwart Democrat Andrew Gounardes on Election Day.
“Senator Golden has given a lifetime of service to our community, through serving as a member of the NYPD, to leading the charge of small businesses, to serving in both the New York City Council and New York State Senate,”Jeffrey Kraus, Mr. Golden’s campaign manager, said in a statement posted a couple days ago on the senator’s website. “We are honored by the outpouring of support from seniors, moms, dads, and middle class families that have taken whatever they could and donated to our campaign.” Read More
“I demand that Senator Golden apologize immediately – if only on behalf of my mother and sister,” Democratic State Senate candidate Andrew Gounardes declared in a press release earlier today.
Mr. Gounardes was referring to Mr. Golden’s now infamous “Feminine Presence” seminar that drew national attention last week due to its rather antiquated rhetoric in its prescriptions for female constituents (i.e. “Walk up and down a stair elegantly”). And although it was ultimately canceled, Mr. Gounardes is clearly not interested in letting the issue go away. Read More
Earlier today, City & State reported on GOP State Senator Marty Golden’s somewhat antiquated-sounding seminar where female constituents can learn such subjects as, “The art of feminine presence. Sit, stand and walk like a model. Walk up and down a stair elegantly……and much more.”
And while Mr. Golden ultimately removed some of those phrases from his website, that didn’t stop his Democratic rival, attorney Andrew Gounardes, from pouncing.
“Tragically, this is Golden’s idea of the 21st Century woman,” Mr. Gounardes’ campaign manager Chris McCreight declared in a statement this morning. “This just goes to show that Marty Golden just doesn’t get it – either that or he lives in a cave and thinks Leave It to Beaver is a new reality show.” Read More
Andrew Gounardes is taking his fundraising pitch to the LGBT community as he seeks to unseat Republican State Senator Marty Golden. At a reception tomorrow evening, Mr. Gounardes will notably be joined by four openly LGBT elected officials: State Senator Tom Duane, Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, Councilman Daniel Dromm, and Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.
The event, also attended by Manhattan Borough President — and 2013 mayoral candidate — Scott Stringer, is even directly billed on Facebook as an “LGBT reception” and is jointly hosted with Brooklyn’s main LGBT club, Lambda Independent Democrats, so there’s little question as to the fundraising angle involved. Read More
The Democratic challenger for Brooklyn State Senator Marty Golden, Andrew Gounardes, wrote him a letter yesterday on redistricting, taking particular issue with a recent New York Post story suggesting Republicans in the State Senate were attempting to hold Governor Andrew Cuomo’s agenda hostage over the redistricting issue.
“[I]t is so unfortunate that you and your Republican colleagues in the Senate have chosen to break the New York Uprising pledge that you signed just 18 months ago,” Mr. Gounardes wrote, attaching a copy of the pledge with the letter. “In that pledge, you swore to support an independent and non-partisan redistricting plan based on the 2010 Census. I was raised to believe that a person’s word is as good as their bond. With broken promises like this, why should voters take you at your word in the future?”
“I call on you to disavow the legislative threats of your colleagues and to recommit yourself to the pledge that you so recently signed,” he concluded.
Reached for a response, Mr. Golden’s campaign defended the redistricting process and expressed support for its outcome. Read More
