I guess it’s true what they say: when it rains, it pours.

With one candidate already announced against State Senator, now a young Democrat has declared he’ll also challenge the Senator. His reason? The Senator has fallen “out of touch with the issues of the middle class.”

So it seems that Golden, who has not been challenged in either a primary or general election since 2002, will now face one of two potential Democratic challengers this year. This all begs the question (or indeed “the question begs”): is Senator Golden’s assumed political omnipotence dissolving?

The answer appears to be yes.

Here’s the story from Courier Life:

Twenty-nine-year-old Gravesend resident Mike DiSanto is still in grad school, but he wants to be your next state senator.

“We need more regular citizens to stand up and run for office,” DiSanto told this newsapper.

The president of New York University’s Integrated Marketing Association used Community Board 11’s January meeting on 84th Street in Bensonhurst as an opportunity to announce his intention to challenge three-term Republican State Senator Marty Golden for his 22nd District seat.

“He’s fallen out of touch with the issues of the middle class,” DiSanto says. “Maybe if he had a mortgage to pay, or rode the train. He had eight years, and our transit system is a mess.”

Fourteen months ago, Daniel Squadron became the youngest member of the New York State Senate representingDistrict 25 voters in both downtown Brooklyn and lower Manhattan.

Should DiSanto win, he couldbe the youngest senator in the legislature.

“People may criticize me for my youth and for a lack of formal experience in politics,” DiSanto says. “Youth is not a weakness. We have politicians in Albany with years of experience but they have not helped the people of New York.”

DiSanto, a registered Democrat, supports same-sex marriage, wants to institute term limits and believes there is too much waste in Albany that could be used for education.

“It is apparent to everyone that the state legislature is totally dysfunctional,” DiSanto says. “We need to get rid of the bad apples and put in people that will implement change.”

The lifelong West 8th Street resident also says that new programs need to be implemented to help first-time homebuyers.

When I was growing up in the 80s there was more a sense of community,” DiSanto says. “A lot of the kids that I grew up with couldn’t afford living here. That really hurt the sense of community that we had. I hope we can resurrect that feeling of community by insuring that our families can stay here.”

Stretching from Bay Ridge to Marine Park, the district encompasses some of the most conservative sections of the borough.

Nevertheless, DiSanto doesn’t believe his outspoken support for same-sex marriage will be a detriment to his campaign.

“It’s about equal rights,” he says. “This is an innate conviction – everybody deserves equal rights. That’s just a part of me. I hope people can understand that.”

DiSanto attributes much ofhis inspiration to run for office to his late father Mario, a school teacher and activist in the Italian-American community who ran for school board before he died of bone cancer in 1994.

“I think about my father who wanted so much to see a vibrant community here,” DiSanto explains, remembering how, as a child,he’d oftenaccompany his dad inside the voting booth at David Boody Junior High School on Avenue S.

DiSanto’s mom Josephine, still works for the Department of Education.

Despite the odds, DiSanto, is confident about his chances in the fall.

He hopes to appear on the Working Families line as well as the Democratic.

“I’m confident that I’m going to win,” DiSanto says. “Through my campaign I can encourage more young people to take an active role in government. There are so many smart people that aren’t given a chance to be heard.”

At 29, DiSanto could have a very long political career, indeed, should he be victorious. But that’s not his plan.

“I’m not a career politician,” DiSanto says. “I just want to get in there and help out, and pave the way for somebody else with new ideas.” 

***

So what does it mean that a man who has not been challenged before is now being challenged for the first time?

Is the Senator losing his touch with his constituents? Did a deal with the Democrats fall through (we’ve heard rumors of such détentes with Democrats)?

I must confess we here at Atlas Shrugs were very displeased with the Senator’s choice to endorse Craig Eaton for another term as Chairman of the Brooklyn GOP. The failures and losses that this party has endured under his tenure are unprecedented. The amount of division and scorn that have erupted in the party over its mismanagement and lack of success has been massive.

The Senator bears responsibility for that.

We are also watching his and the party’s actions in the 44th City Council District race with a close eye and are concerned over what has transpired thus far in that race.

And lest we forget the video of The Golden Prince at an ACORN rally last year, which has angered many Republicans given the national scandal that erupted over that corrupt organization’s controversial election “efforts.”

Thus far, we have not seen any penitence from the Senator for that severe blunder…

So, we will be watching this race very closely as the Senator faces a challenge for the first time in eight years.

What an interesting race it will be.

***

Read More at www.atlasshrugsinbrooklyn.wordpress.com 

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