Assembly District 80 - Bronx
Jul 26, 2004
GENERAL ELECTION CANDIDATES
Anthony Chiofalo (Con/Rep)Naomi Rivera (Dem)
PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS: Winner - Naomi Rivera (Dem)
PRIMARY CANDIDATES
Anthony Chiofalo (Con/Rep)
Anthony Friedman (Dem)
Naomi Rivera (Dem)
Joseph Thompson (Dem)
Campaign Feature
Another Rivera in the Bronx
A few names occur again and again in Bronx politics. Espada. Serrano. Diaz. Foster. And, of course, Rivera.
Jose Rivera has long been a force in Bronx politics, as a state legislator, member of the City Council and chair of the Bronx Democratic Party. In 2001, he resigned his council seat leaving it open for his son Joel, then a 22-year-old Fordham University undergraduate and now City Council majority leader.
Now another of Jose Rivera’s children is running for office in the Bronx. Naomi Rivera is seeking the Assembly seat from the 80th District that became open when incumbent Jeffrey Klein decided to give up the post to run for State Senate.
Naomi Rivera has three challengers: Joe Thompson, a former police detective and long-time community activist; Anthony Chiofalo, an attorney and founder of the Bronx Italian American Political Action Committee; and Anthony Friedman, who has run senior and youth programs in the neighborhood.
Any discussion of the race quickly comes down to a debate about the Rivera family. But residents – and the candidates – also express concern about the city’s plans to build a water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park. Other issues include education, services for seniors, economic development and a quality of life in what the candidates describe as a “wonderful” community.
Joe Thompson, Anthony Friedman and Anthony Chiofalo all oppose the city’s plan to build a water filtration plant beneath the Mosholu Golf Course driving range. They charge the construction will pollute the air in a part of the city where asthma rates are already high.
“It’s going to be 10 years of horrible traffic and increase air and noise pollution in a community that is home to so many schools,” Anthony Friedman said.
Although saying she is “as concerned as any mother is” about the effect the filtration plant could have on the community, Naomi Rivera stopped short of opposing it. If the plant proceeds – and she cautions that it is not “a done deal” -- she said the city must monitor the effects of construction on the health of neighborhood residents and work to ensure that the city does not use the $200 million the Bronx is to get as compensation for the plant as an excuse to shortchange the Bronx on other parks funding. She also wants to ensure that Bronx residents get jobs building the plant.
Joe Thompson, Anthony Friedman and Naomi Rivera all say they would try to improve schools in the district, partly by getting money to ease what they say is severe overcrowding. Chiofalo said he would work with the city and state and local medical institutions to establish an academically strong high school with a medical science orientation in the neighborhood.
Naomi Rivera has been active on domestic violence issues and said she would bring that focus to the state legislature, promoting more money for social services and for initiatives to address the problem in school. “A lot of our kids are angry, and they’re angry for a reason,” she said.
Both Anthony Friedman and Joe Thompson say they would work to stop any expansion of a pilot Meal on Wheels that, instead of daily deliveries, provides several frozen meals at a time to homebound seniors for them to microwave throughout the week. “That to me is horrendous,” Thompson said. “These are people who wait for the company the next day, and the people who do come can check on the seniors.”
As someone with a business background, Anthony Chiofalo says he would look at economic development of the district, such as developing respectable hotels on Interstate 95. He noted the many projects – such as the Nets arena – are currently under consideration for Brooklyn. “In the Bronx, nobody’s even thinking about that type of project,” he said. "We need something beside retail.”
Anthony Friedman mentions his background working with young people and said he would work to provide youth centers and other programs for youngsters in the district.
But perhaps more than any single issue all the candidates cite their commitment to the community and what they have done for it.
“If you’re used to working in the community, you’ll know how to get things done and if you love the community, you’ll fight to get things done,” Joe Thompson said. As someone who is on the community board and precinct council as well as a Little League vice president, Thompson said that being an assembly person would not “be a new job for me. It’s an extension of what I already do.”
Although he grew up in Astoria, Anthony Chiofalo said he fell in love with the Bronx when he attended Fordham University and has been there ever since. That commitment, along with his background as a lawyer and experience building consensus as an executive with a Japanese company, qualify him for the post.
And Anthony Friedman cites his life spent in the community as well as his “broad base” in the neighborhood - a product of working with seniors, teens, working class parents and others in the neighborhood.
Naomi Rivera also notes her commitment to the district, saying she moved there six years ago and has chosen to raise her son there. “It’s my home,” she said. She sees her family as an asset. “I come from a family that values community and public service and I wanted to make a contribution,” she said, explaining why she decided to run.
She previously was on the staffs of Bronx borough presidents Fernando Ferrer and Adolfo Carrion and deputy director of the Bronx County board of elections. As a volunteer, Naomi Rivera said, she worked to raise money to help hurricane victims, participated in voter registration drives and was founder and director of a program that introduced youngsters from deprived backgrounds to the theater.
And Naomi Rivera says her family and her background in government as an asset that will “get me off the ground running” in Albany.
Her opponents disagree. Anthony Chiofalo says that Naomi Rivera “has come out of nowhere” to seek the seat. Residents of the 80th are not the Rivera family’s usually constituency, he says, being more middle class and more likely to be homeowners that people in many other parts of the Bronx. “It’s fine to have a family business in the private sector but that’s not what public service is all about,” he said.”
“I’m going to be a voice for the people in the district,” Anthony Friedman said. “I’m not going to do what my father tells me.” Interestingly, Friedman’s father, George, served in the state assembly and, Anthony said, has helped with his campaign. But Anthony said, that unlike the Riveras, his father did not keep one seat in the assembly while tying to wangle another one for his child.
Whatever the pros and cons of the Rivera dynasty, the Bronx Democratic organization usually wins, making Naomi Rivera the frontrunner in this race. She has already garnered the endorsement of City Councilmember Oliver Koppell, who reportedly said he was supporting her partly to mend his fences with the party organization. Outgoing Assemblymember Jeffrey Klein has not yet made an endorsement.
Despite that, Joe Thompson believes his record of involvement will bring him to victory. “It’s a question of are you listening to what somebody says they’re going to do or to someone who’s already doing it,” he said. And his opponents generally praise Thompson’s record of community service.
Anthony Friedman believes his base in the district – and support and help form his father – will work to his advantage. And for his part, Anthony Chiofalo is looking beyond the primary to the general election. Although he is running in the Democratic primary, he has also filed as a Republican and a Conservative for November – and he thinks the district that for years elected Guy Velella to the state senate could go Republican in the fall.
Of course, many would say that the only thing less likely than defeating the Riveras in an election is defeating them with a Republican.
CAMPAIGN UPDATE
(Posted 09/09/04)Anthony Chiofalo failed to stay on the ballot as a Republican. He will, though, be able to take on whoever wins the Democratic primary -- now a three-way contest -- in November as he runs as a Repubican and a Conservative.
As the Democratic contest heated up, Naomi Rivera, who had previously stopped short of opposing the proposed walter filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park, came out against the plan, according to the Daily News, even though her powerful father backs it. But Rivera's connections still seem to be paying off. She says she has received a raft of endorsement from prominent Democrats, including State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, State Comptroler Alan Hevesi, former Governor Mario Cuomo and City Comptroller William Thompson .
CANDIDATE BIOGRAPHIES
Anthony Chiofalo: A native of Astoria, he attende Fordham University and has lvied in the Bronx ever since. He is a lawyer who has specialized in international and real estate law. The founder of the Bronx Italian American Political Action Committee (BIAPAC), he has run unsuccessfully for judgeships.
Anthony Friedman:A lifelong resident of the neighborhood, he is a graduate of Lehman College. He was director of the Sue Ginsberg Senior Center for five years and previously ran youth programs in the district. Anthony Friedman is the son of George Friedman, a former member of the State Assembly.
Naomi Rivera: A former aide to Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, she most recently served as deputy director of the Bronx County Board of Elections. She attended Manhattan County Community College. She is the daughter of Bronx County Democratic chair Jose Rivera.
Joe Thompson: A former police detective and Air Force officer, he has lived in the community for 35 and been actively involved in the neighborhood for 15 years. He is vice president of the Pelham Parkway Little League and serves on Community Board 11 and the 49th Precinct Council.
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
9/9/04
In a debate for candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in the 80th District opponents Naomi Rivera and Anthony Friedman fought to assert themselves as political independents serving their respective communities and not as the members of a political machine. Rivera is the daughter of Assemblyman Jose Rivera; Friedman is the son of former leader George Friedman. The other candidates, lawyer Anthony Chiofalo and community activist Joe Thompson, accused Friedman and Rivera and their fathers of backroom dealing and nepotism. (Norwood News)
08/10/04
What does a controversial $1.2 billion water filtration plant and a political family feud in the Bronx have to do with a new Yankee Stadium?
More than most New Yorkers realize, say some Bronx officials. In a borough where incestuous political battles are the stuff of legend, no one quite recalls a family feud like the one over the Mosholu water filtration plant. Lined up on one side are Bronx Democratic Party boss Jose Rivera and his son Joel Rivera, the City Council's majority leader. Opposing them is Naomi Rivera, daughter of Jose and sister of Joel, and currently a candidate for one of the borough's Assembly seats. Last week, Naomi publicly blasted the $1.2 billion water filtration plant that Mayor Bloomberg wants to build in Van Cortlandt Park in the north Bronx. Her father and brother, however, back the mayor's plan, largely because Bloomberg offered them more than $200 million in "park and playground improvements" elsewhere in the borough in exchange for the Council allowing construction of the filtration plant under a portion of Mosholu Golf Course. But two Bronx officials close to negotiations claimed yesterday that final agreement on how that $200 million would be used has been held up by a last-minute effort by Gov. Pataki. The reason? To earmark some of the money for park improvements related to a new Yankee Stadium. (Daily News)
8/16/04
The Rivera family has kicked Bronx political nepotism up another notch [with the candidacy of Naomi Rivera]. Ms. Rivera advertises herself as a "mother, a neighbor and a leader." Her claims of motherhood are impeccable, but she is a neighbor of only recent vintage, having just moved to her current residence last year. As for her local record of leadership, there is no evidence of any community involvement, unless you count her $64,000-a-year patronage post as the deputy director of the Bronx Board of Elections. (NY Sun)
07/28/04
Naomi Rivera, daughter of Assemblyman Jose Rivera, faces Joseph Thompson, a well-known neighborhood activist, in what will certainly be a lively battle.
(Norwood News)
07/26/04
After first ensuring that his son, Joel, had a seat on the City Council - and its majority leadership - Bronx Democratic chief Jose Rivera is pulling out all the stops for his daughter Naomi in the party primary for the 80th Assembly District seat. The district stretches from Pelham Parkway to Bedford Park. But former Bronx Democratic county leader George Friedman is backing his son Anthony for the seat, which is being vacated by Jeff Klein. (Daily News)
7/15/04
City Councilmember Oliver Koppell, a former
member of the state legislature, has endorsed Naomi
Rivera in her bid to win election to the State
Assembly. Koppell conceded part of the reason for the
endorsement was an effort to mend relations with the
Bronx Democratic Party Organization. Rivera's father,
Jose Rivera, is Bronx Democratic Party chief.
(Norwood News)
7/15/04
A rare open seat has ignited a heated
Democratic primary in the 80th Assembly District,
pitting a local community leader against the Bronx
Democratic organization. Naomi Rivera, daughter of
Jose Rivera, faces Joseph Thompson, a well-known
neighborhood activist, in what will certainly be a
lively battle.
The competition began when current Assemblyman Jeff Klein jumped into the race for the 34th Senatorial District, left open by Guy Velella's resignation after he plead guilty to bribery charges.
Anthony Friedman, son of former Assemblyman George Friedman, has also jumped into the race. (Norwood News)
6/28/04
Democratic Party chief and member of the state
Assembly Jose Rivera made it official and has backed
his daughter, Naomi, for the soon-to-be-open Assembly
seat now held by Jeffrey Klein. Klein is involved in a
hotly contested race for the state Senate held
previously held by Guy Velella, who is now in jail on
corruption charges. (Daily News)
6/10/04
With Assemblyman Stephen Kaufman, who
currently represents the 82nd Assembly District, and
Assemblyman Jeff Klein, who currently represents the
80th Assembly District, considered the two main
contenders for the Senate seat vacated last month by
Guy Velella, the coming weeks and months should prove
quite interesting in terms of who is or isnt running
for office in the Bronx this November.
As for Klein's seat, Joe Thompson, who serves as president of the 49th Precinct Community Council and of the Pelham Parkway-Allerton Patrol, as well as on the executive board of Community Board 11, and Naomi Rivera, who currently serves as deputy chief clerk at the New York City Board of Elections, appear to be the top contenders.
Klein said Tuesday that he expects to make a decision as to whom he will endorse to replace him in the Assembly by week's end, and will be speaking with Thompson, Rivera and possibly other as-yet to-declare candidates in the coming days to determine where his support will go. "Joe Thompson and Naomi Rivera each bring experience, talent, skills and dedication with them, and I believe either of them would be outstanding legislators," Klein said.
Thompson said he believes that he is well-suited for the Assembly seat, given his years of service to the community and his activism in various capacities and through a number of organizations. (Bronx Times)
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