While I was lugging my shopping cart through the streets of Bay Ridge Brooklyn today I came across a few people tabling for a petition against healthcare cuts. The petiton was directed to my cheesy Congressional Rep. Vito "Cheney's Pal" Fosella.
I know, how can a borough like Brooklyn have such skeez as it's rep? Because my district. NY-13, is mostly Staten Island with a little sliver of southern Brooklyn. Staten Island is filled SUV-driving, spiky-gel-haired homeowners.
In any event, I dutifully signed the petition and got to talking with a tabler and found that we both worked on Barbaro's campaign against Fosella in '04. Currently, no one is running against Fosella - Barbaro is in his 70s and enjoying retirement.
If I didn't have to work, for Pete's sake, I would. Can't the dems come up with someone? For right now, it is not to be.
It would be a perfect narrative to say that I met the next Rep. from my district. I did not but maybe the future rep.
While chatting, I was introduced to Janele Hyer-Spencer, an attractive woman with an inquisitive and intelligent demeanor. She is running in New York State's Assembly District 60 which, like NY-13, is chiefy in Staten Island. I told her about how I petitioned for Dean, wrote LTE's for Kerry, and phone-banked for Barbaro. She immediately wanted my number because good help is hard to find.
When I asked about her idols and her background, the first person she mentioned was Marion Wright-Edelman and the second person was Bill Clinton.
She is a lawyer who has worked chiefly in child-abuse and domestic violence and has done a lot of pro-bono in that regard. She was also a member of Young Lawyers Club for the Human Rights Commission and work specifically with laising with Afghani women. She said since the Iraq war came into being, that channel to providing legal assistance to Afghani women has come to a halt.
I liked what I heard. I looked at her website, found here:
http://www.janele.com/ and read a little bit more about her. It is clear that women's rights are important to her, as well as legal protection for all American's. I know little about her opponent, the current assemblyman Matthew Mirones except he is an expert on prostethic limbs and is very forcefully pro-death penalty. He is a law and order dude, and is very kissy-face with the aformentioned Fosella.
It was stimulating to talk to a real politician at length.- A first time experience for me. I am excited. And while I still call my Senators and write my letters, it feels good to have chance to be in the mix again. If any Staten Islanders have feedback I am all ears.