Fleming for President 2008!
John Fleming loses race for State Senate
Danit Lidor and Dario Thuburn
Battered by a corruption scandal involving the previous Republican incumbent, the GOP in the state's 34th Senate District still managed to take 37 percent of the votes Tuesday.
John Fleming, the Republican candidate, a retired New York City Police detective who has never run for office before, came in second in the three-way race. Democratic Assemblyman Jeffery Klein garnered 51 percent of the votes and Assemblyman Stephen B. Kaufman, who ran on both the Conservative and Liberal tickets, received 12 percent.
Kaufman, a registered Democrat, lost in the Democratic and Republican primaries to Klein and Fleming, respectively.
In other Bronx State Senate races, Democrats won handily; tallying no less than 81 percent of the votes against Republican challengers.
The 18-year incumbent of District 34, Republican Guy J. Velella, was convicted in May 2004 on bribery charges. In September an obscure judicial committee granted Velella's release after he served three months of his yearlong sentence.
"It's lonely being a Republican in the Bronx," Fleming, 46, said while campaigning on Katonah Avenue in Woodlawn. He said he knew he had to win over presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry's supporters to gain a foothold in the local election.
His campaign manager, Jean Akey, said Fleming's plan to woo Democrats involved downplaying the association with President George W. Bush's re-election campaign. At the same time, the campaign highlighted national issues in a local context, such as security, abortion and lower taxes.
"Homeland security is the No. 1 issue in the district," said Fleming, a one-time bodyguard to former Mayor Rudolph W. Guiliani. "People are concerned. 'Are my schools safe?' 'Are my buses safe?'"
Akey said the campaign had deliberately focused its energy in Riverdale, where Fleming was born, and Woodlawn, an Irish working-class neighborhood.
Chris Higgins, a Klein supporter campaigning outside the Judith K. Weiss School in Woodlawn, said the neighborhood traditionally votes Democrat but residents were concerned about the party's views on abortion.
"Abortion is not the way to go," said Fleming. "We need to educate women better."
On the state level, Fleming has strong opinions, too. He labels himself a reformer, eager to make changes. "We need to open up Albany," he said. "The Assembly and Senate are not talking to each other. It's very undemocratic."
New York's legislature has been embroiled in accusations of cronyism for years. But Akey said that despite Fleming's party association with Velella, voters would not likely link the two. "John's a political outsider," he said.
"People don't really lock (the scandals) to one person," Akey said, standing outside the Fleming campaign headquarters on Williamsbridge Road. "People have a bad taste in their mouths about Albany in general."
Of the 62 members of the New York State Senate, 37 are Republican and 25 are Democrats. With the defeat of Olga Mendez on Tuesday, John Marchi of Brooklyn, Martin Golden of Staten Island and Serphin Maltese of Queens are the only Republicans of New York City's 25 state senators.
At Klein's headquarters on Bronxdale Avenue, Rodd McLeod, deputy campaign manager, said he was not concerned about an aggressive Republican challenge in the Bronx, now or in the future.
"The Bronx is a Democratic stronghold because in the Bronx we register more voters," he said. "We reach out to the people and we reach out to what the people want."
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