Lasher the best choice in 31st District primary

One would be hard-pressed to find a state Senate district more ethnically diverse than the 31st in Upper Manhattan, which includes parts of the Upper West Side, west Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood. The array of issues facing the different neighborhoods and constituencies in this district makes endorsing a candidate in the Democratic primary very challenging.

Fortunately, the three Democrats vying for this Senate seat – Marisol Alcantara, Robert Jackson and Micah Lasher – all bring unique qualifications to the table that make the race to replace departing Sen. Adriano Espaillat (elected in June as the Democratic candidate for the 13th Congressional seat) one of the most competitive in the entire state.

While all three candidates are impressive in their own right, we believe that Lasher’s big-picture perspective would best serve the district’s range of ethnicities and income levels.

Lasher, a former aide to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and chief of staff to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, has a depth of understanding on key issues such as affordable housing, ethics reform and education that rivals the most policy-fluent legislators in Albany. His specific proposals to rewrite the state’s rent control laws and his work on behalf of tenants in Schneiderman’s office demonstrates his understanding of the anxiety that exists in a district that has become synonymous with gentrification.

Alcantara, a union organizer for the New York State Nurses Association, has been extremely active in the district’s Dominican community for years. Her past work on behalf of low-wage workers for unions like SEIU 32BJ and SEIU 758 leaves little doubt that she would be a fierce advocate for working men and women if she were elected to the state Legislature.

Jackson is the only candidate in the primary who has prior experience in elected office, having served three terms as a New York City Councilman, which would shorten the learning curve for him in the Senate. Jackson has also shown a willingness to speak out against injustices. His advocacy for equitable education funding for city public schools and pointed criticism of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pro-charter stance would be a breath of fresh air in the state capital, where our elected officials too often back down from challenging the executive chamber.

We strongly believe that the state Legislature must have more ethnic and gender diversity. But Lasher has proven in his experience and in the campaign that he will be an inclusive representative of the district. And while Alcantara and Jackson would lead to more visible diversity that is clearly lacking in Albany, both have flaws that gave us caution in endorsing them.

Alcantara’s interest in joining the Senate’s Independent Democratic Conference, which has played a significant role in enabling Gov. Cuomo’s perceived obstruction of Senate Democrats’ legislative priorities, is a strikingly counter-intuitive decision for someone with decidedly progressive policy positions that the Democratic conference supports. Jackson certainly has the requisite experience in elected office, but he also left the City Council with little to show in terms of notable legislative accomplishments after 12 years.

Certainly, some of Lasher’s positions could be deemed unrealistic. Specifically, his ideas for creating affordable housing through a new Mitchell-Lama program and funding NYCHA involve various taxes on the wealthy, which may be a heavy lift in the Legislature. But having negotiated with the Legislature on behalf of the Bloomberg administration, Lasher should have an awareness of what it takes to get legislation passed.

Some will paint Lasher as a well-funded outsider, but one could easily make a similar argument that Alcantara and Jackson are too beholden to organized labor and the Democratic establishment. Sometimes being a Democratic insider can be advantageous, but the Senate has enough of those types of legislators to make room for a candidate with fresh ideas that would benefit the entire district, regardless of ethnicity or neighborhood.