Squadron for Senate

Voters in Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Williamsburg and Greenpoint have
been represented for 30 years by state Sen. Marty Connor, an affable,
behind-the-scenes power broker who has quite simply not been the same
since he was deposed as Senate Minority Leader (by future Gov. David
Paterson, no less!) in 2002.

Connor is a tired figure who conceded to our editorial board that he
would not even be running for re-election if he didn't think that
Democrats had a chance to retake the Senate. He claims that he would
be reenergized if his party retakes power -- maybe yes, maybe no -- but
what if the Democrats don't? Then we'd be certain to get another two
years of worn-out representation.

And on one of the most significant issues in the district -- the
subversion of Brooklyn Bridge Park from an urban oasis with the
potential to rival Central and Prospect parks, to an economic
development site driven by condominium and commercial development --
Connor let us all down. It was Connor's bill in 2005 that created the
financing scheme that sets aside park residents' payments in lieu of
property taxes as the maintenance budget of the park, a faulty plan
likely to give residents of the supposedly public park more control
over what goes on there. It also allows commercial development in the
park to take place without public scrutiny.

Connor's opponent, Daniel Squadron, is an ambitious politician like
his patron, Sen. Charles Schumer. But unlike Connor, who has been
content to sit on a minority bench in the Senate for so many years,
blaming his party's lack of control for lack of performance, Squadron
is a man on the move who will fight hard and work diligently, if only
to make himself electable to Congress someday. Political ambition is
hardly a sin.

We do have some reservations about Squadron. He's barely worked
outside the political world and, in fact, he doesn't need to work at
all, thanks to a trust-fund established by his late father, the
ultimate insider legal eagle, Howard Squadron. That trust-fund,
together with the Schumer machine, is responsible for this contest;
voters in the district might be excused if they were unaware that
there was even a contest -- Squadron's slick, sometimes negative direct
mail pieces came almost daily; responses by Connor's underfunded
campaign were too little, too late.

We don't agree with every one of Squadron's proposals, but we're
impressed with the fact that he has energized political discourse in
the district. On virtually every topic in which voters are interested
-- transportation, reforming Albany, neighborhood character and
affordability, Brooklyn Bridge Park, the environment and schools --
Squadron has put forth positions that remind voters of how little
energy Connor has brought to bear on these intractable problems.

For these reasons, we endorse Daniel Squadron for the 25th state
Senate district.

(c)2008 The Brooklyn Paper