Why is the Brooklyn Conservative Party Playing Around with Elections?
Susan Zhuang and Bill Colton must be drinking champagne and laughing tonight. The Brooklyn Conservative Party is putting Susan Zhuang on the Conservative Party line on the ballot.
There is something strange here. Nick Badolato went to the trouble of signing up to run against Susan and getting the required signatures for the petitions. Then he refused the Conservative Party line on the ballot. (See story: https://is.gd/NWGvpn)
It sounds like the Conservative Party was trying to stop someone else from running on their line.
This isn’t the first time the Conservative Party used a placeholder candidate in an election. Read about a well-known backroom deal in our elections: https://is.gd/bjWz3C
I like Councilwoman Zhuang – she is a good representative and she is present to the community. But election time is the time when things get done because the incumbent and the challenger discuss the largest community problems.
For the 43rd Council district, the first issue is dirty streets. People post pictures of bulk garbage on street corners and papers/food scraps on the street (especially 86th Street). While the Councilwoman has a cleaning company come once in awhile, the dirty streets return fast.
Yes, this is the 43rd District this year
The second issue would be mental health or crime. We just saw the horrific story of a father/uncle cut his daughter and nieces with a knife. People who need help aren’t getting help, possibly because of language barriers. Robberies would be third.
Now that Susan Zhuang is running unopposed, those discussions about the community won’t happen. The Conservative Party eliminated the debates and new ideas for this district. They don’t live in District 43, so they don’t care!
Placeholder candidate eliminates democracy. The Conservative Party may have blocked someone who was actually interested in running for office and wanting to help people. Those people are rare and the party should be embracing those people to run for other offices.
Hugs,
marlene
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