Newsday Endorses Craig Johnson for State Senate

Newsday, a leading Long Island paper, has delivered a major endorsement to Craig Johnson. Newsday boils it down to this: "Newsday endorses Johnson, who was willing to take a tough vote as a Nassau legislator and will do so again in Albany." Here's the full endorsement:

NEWSDAY ENDORSES: The choice in 7th SD

Johnson has shown that he is willing to take the tough votes

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has tried to transform the race to fill a vacancy in the 7th Senate District into a referendum on his reform agenda. He says that fellow Democrat Craig Johnson, a Nassau County legislator, will back his efforts to alter Albany's culture of dysfunction, and that Republican Maureen O'Connell, the county clerk, will not.

However earnest, Spitzer's assessment is a bit simplistic. It ignores the reality that a senator is likely to vote to protect his or her district, that both candidates back recent reform plans, and that the district's voters, who last year went heavily for Spitzer and for former GOP Sen. Michael Balboni, are independent minded.

In the end, the choice should go to the candidate not with the most powerful backers - including admirable ones like Spitzer - but the one with the best skills, experience and policies. That is Johnson.

A fiscal conservative but social liberal, Johnson has worked hard on local projects, but he also has a sensitive understanding of the needs of poor students in New York City and Long Island. He showed courage in backing a county property-tax hike several years ago, needed to undo the damage of GOP mismanagement. He also was a bulldog in forcing the Cradle of Aviation Museum to come up with a better business plan. We believe him when he says he generally will support fundamental reform in all areas of state government, including school aid and Medicaid, but that he won't be a "yes man" for Spitzer or other Democrats.

O'Connell has an appealing personal and political story, rising from nurse and village official to health-care lawyer and state assemblywoman. As clerk, an office she hasn't held long enough to judge her overall performance, she seems to have begun to reduce a chronic backlog in deed filings.

But for someone who has spent time in Albany and worked in health care, she is disappointingly unclear about recent key changes in Medicaid and other major issues. And in 2003, this page called one of her Assembly votes on the budget a profile in cowardice and cynicism. She tried to have her cake, by overturning a veto of school-aid cuts, and eat it too, by not being willing to pay for it with an income-tax surcharge.

Newsday endorses Johnson, who was willing to take a tough vote as a Nassau legislator and will do so again in Albany.

And here's the press release:

NEWSDAY ENDORSES CRAIG JOHNSON

Campaign Surging With Momentum

Leading Long Island Paper Says Democrat Has "Best Skills, Experience and Policies"

Democrat Craig Johnson snared yet another crucial endorsement as Newsday, Long Island's only daily newspaper, came out in support of his campaign today.

An editorial in today's paper says:

"In the end, the choice should go to the candidate not with the most powerful backers - including admirable ones like Spitzer - but the one with the best skills, experience and policies. That is Johnson."

The editorial also reminds voters of O'Connell's record of fiscal irresponsibility:

"[i]n 2003, this page called one of her Assembly votes on the budget a profile in cowardice and cynicism. She tried to have her cake, by overturning a veto of school-aid cuts, and eat it too, by not being willing to pay for it with an income-tax surcharge."

The full editorial is included at the end of this press release and online here: http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-avpend315073657jan31,0,5066926.story?coll=ny-editorials-headlines

Johnson has also been endorsed by Governor Eliot Spitzer, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Lt. Governor David A. Paterson, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, State Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, the Planned parenthood Action Fund of Nassau County, NARAL Pro-Choice New York, People for the American Way, the Empire State Pride Agenda, the Nassau County PBA, the New York Professional Nurses Union, SEIU Local 32BJ, Communications Workers of America District 1, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), United Auto Workers Region 9A, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 and The New York Times.

The 7th Senate District encompasses the entire town of North Hempstead. It also includes the communities of Elmont, Floral Park, South Floral Park, Stewart Manor, Bellerose, Franklin Square, and part of Hicksville. Craig Johnson, a member of the Nassau County Legislature, is running for the open Senate seat as the Democratic and Working Families Parties candidate.

As Johnson endorsements pile up, here's a roundup of endorsements the WFP Blog has covered:

• Nurses Union and 7 Other Unions Endorse Craig Johnson for State Senate
• Sierra Club Endorses Craig Johnson for State Senate
• NYLCV Endorses Craig Johnson for State Senate
• New York Times Endorses Craig Johnson for State Senate
• NY Ed-PAC endorses Craig Johnson
• SEIU Local 32BJ Endorses Craig Johnson for State Senate
• Nassau County Police Benevolent Association endorses Craig Johnson for State Senate
• Jimmy Dahroug endorses Craig Johnson
• Sen Schumer Endorses Craig Johnson for State Senate
• Brian Keeler Endorses Craig Johnson for State Senate
• Gov Spitzer Formally Endorses Craig Johnson for State Senate
• Community Alliance Endorses Craig Johnson for State Senate
• Working Families Endorses Craig Johnson for State Senate
  

6 days until Election Day!

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