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CNG Boro Politics

Final debate for Heights Senate seat

By Sarah Portlock
The Brooklyn Paper

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A Republican candidate for the Brooklyn Heights state Senate seat took his last licks at favored Democratic newcomer Daniel Squadron during a debate on Tuesday night, charging that Squadron is part of the same “Democratic machine” that clogs up legislation in Albany — but Squadron sat quietly, knowing that his general election victory was all but guaranteed when he won the Democratic primary in September.

John Chromczak, a former public school teacher running in the overwhelmingly Democratic district that includes Carroll Gardens and parts of Williamsburg, said his “friend” Squadron “is part of the Democratic machine.”

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“We have to send somebody up there who’s willing to go against the machine,” he said. “As a regular guy, I’m sick of those empty promises.”

Squadron reminded the crowd of 50 at St. Francis College that he has not yet served in Albany, and that Republicans, not Democrats, have controlled the state Senate for nearly four decades.

“My primary campaign [against 30-year incumbent Marty Connor] was about a change of guard, but now I’m about getting Democrats in the majority,” Squadron said. “The only way to change [the GOP-controlled Senate] is to pull the rug out from under them.”

Chromczak (pronounced KROM-zak) shot back: “Listen to Squadron saying, ‘The Democratic party.’ I don’t see Dan challenging his party.”

Squadron took the criticisms in stride during the 90-minute debate, which was hosted by the Brooklyn Heights Blog.

The men stuck to their respective party lines on taxes, and were also at odds over how to fund the Brooklyn Bridge Park waterfront development, which is required to be self-sufficient. Residential development inside the park’s footprint is supposed to generate enough revenue, but Squadron has rejected that financing scheme. He favors hotels in the park instead of housing, which he said would limit public access to the park.

At the debate, he again said that the state legislature needs to properly raise and budget money for the park, particularly in our current economy, but Chromczak said the state “cannot tax ourselves out of this” financial crisis, and that housing in the park is an “unfortunate” reality to create self-sufficiency for park funding.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

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