Canarsie State Senator and newly minted Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson’s move up the political ladder is starting to trickle down to Canarsie.
The Senator is poised to open a new office at 1222 East 96th Street between Flatlands Avenue and Avenue J, where a medical clinic once stood.
“With our coming into the [State Senate’s] majority and my elevation to chair of the judiciary committee, my responsibilities have increased exponentially,” Sampson told this paper. “We needed more space to deal with our constituents.”
As chair of the judiciary committee, Sampson said that he and his staff also needed more space to deal with “legal issues that extend all the way to Buffalo.”
The new digs are expected to be a vast improvement over the old office, which was located on Flatlands Avenue between East 91st and East 92nd Streets. The finishing touches are being put on the office as of this writing, as the senator’s representatives spread the word about the new offices at local civic meetings.
“It’s going to be state-of-the-art and spacious,” he said. “Another great thing about the location is that it has both a canopy and a back yard, so my constituents will have an opportunity to sit outside of the office on a nice day.”
Sampson said that the ribbon-cutting on the new office will be in the next few weeks, when he returns from a trade mission to China.
Yet he would not confirm if all of these new upgrades extend from the fact that Sampson was recently named Democratic Conference Leader, making him one of the most powerful Senators in the state.
The new position was made for Sampson following last summer’s Republican coup in the State Senate. While Queens State Senator Malcolm Smith managed to survive as Majority Leader, he has to share the spotlight with the Canarsie legislator, who is charged with making sure that the State Senators’ needs are being addressed.
When asked back in June if his new position came with a stipend or extra salary, Sampson said that those decisions “were not even on the radar.”
“It’s more responsibility with no perks,” he said.
