Bronx Trifecta
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Voters in the Bronx will go to the polls on Tuesday to – among other things – determine the nominees of the Democratic, Republican, and Conservative parties to compete for the seat in the Senate that Guy Velella vacated when he resigned to go to jail. One candidate, Stephen Kaufman, is competing in all three primaries, hoping to emerge as the nominee of four parties. (He already has the Independence Party’s nomination.) You’ve heard of “Only in America.” This is an example of “Only in the Bronx.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Kaufman swung by lower Manhattan to join us, despite the storm, for breakfast. He was joined by another member of the Assembly, Nettie Mayersohn, known as Magnificent Mayersohn, for her long battle on behalf of what she calls common sense. She and Mr. Kaufman were co-conspirators in the common sense caucus that tried to oust Sheldon Silver as speaker, only to be outmaneuvered. They seem to have taken this in good humor, though our bet is that if Mr. Kaufman is defeated in his bid for the Senate he’s going to retreat from Albany altogether. No doubt that would please many.
We found Mr. Kaufman a sympathetic figure, a perfect example of the tragedy of so many Democrats who stuck with a party they hoped would maintain the ideals of, say, Truman, or FDR, or even JFK (with his call to go anywhere, bear any burden in the cause of liberty) only to find themselves surrounded by leftists with whom they just don’t agree – on, say, Israel, the war in Iraq, how to deal with the epidemic of AIDS, education reform. No doubt Mr. Kaufman has done this over the years in the Assembly in Albany because the idea of running for office as a Republican from the Bronx was a nonstarter.
Mr. Kaufman did break with his party to endorse Michael Bloomberg in his quest for the mayoralty, but given the alternative – and the liberality of Mr. Bloomberg’s positions – that wasn’t so difficult. On the issues, Mr. Kaufman is not necessarily more conservative than some of his rivals for the Senate seat. Mr. Kaufman supported the commuter tax, while Assemblyman Jeff Klein, who is running against Mr. Kaufman in the Democratic primary, favored repeal. Mr. Kaufman has favored the construction of an expensive water filtration plant for water that is already perfectly clean. Mr. Klein has flip-flopped on the issue.
There is a certain logic in the idea of throwing all the incumbents out of Albany. Mr. Kaufman was elected to the Assembly in 1988, and Mr. Klein in 1994. The new face in this contest is John Fleming, a former New York police detective who is running in the Conservative and Republican primaries. Mr. Fleming told us in a phone call yesterday that he opposes the commuter tax and backs important structural reforms like adding ballot-based initiatives and recall to the state constitution. We disagree with his extreme anti-immigrant position: “I’m for building a wall on the Mexican border,” he says.
Contested races in which incumbents face serious challenges are rare, which is one reason Albany is so dysfunctional. The best outcome in Tuesday’s primary would be for Mr. Klein to win the Democratic primary, for Mr. Kaufman to win the Republican primary, and for Mr. Fleming to win the Conservative primary. That would give all Bronx voters a genuine choice come November. And it would prolong the campaign, which, for all the accusations of mudslinging, is the best way of any to clarify the issues.