Torres for Congress
Even as the coronavirus lurks and leaders continue on paper to forbid all types of gatherings (while allowing mass protests), New Yorkers begin early voting on Saturday for the June 23 party primaries, which are certain to determine who wins the general election in the fall. We urge everyone to forego in-person voting and make their preferences known via no-excuse absentee ballot.
This year, a rare open seat in the city’s House delegation has prompted stampedes of ambitious people.
In a South Bronx district with desperate economic needs, eight candidates are vying to replace José Serrano, who is retiring after 30 years. Councilman Ritchie Torres is the clear standout, a ceaselessly energetic legislator, bridge-builder and nimble thinker who, at the age of 32, has already made a lasting mark on city politics.
“I govern based on my own independent thought and conviction,” Torres told this board. “I do not view government as a battleground for an ideological crusade. I view it as a vehicle for solving practical problems.”
His record backs that up. For years, he’s fought to rescue the city’s Housing Authority from a perdition of mold, vermin, lead paint, broken boilers, leaky roofs and miserable management. Torres was ahead of the curve and against the grain in championing the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration program, which, if it had been embraced earlier by Mayor de Blasio, could’ve rehabbed thousands of additional units by now.
He has smart, detailed and workable ideas on how to spark development of new affordable housing; reform policing; create new jobs; defend immigrants; and drive down health-care costs.
Fellow Councilman Rubén Díaz Sr., a clownish character who outrageously claimed the Council was “controlled by the homosexual community,” must not win. Assemblyman Michael Blake, though very smart, played both sides of the fence on the Amazon deal, failing a big political test; plus, he’s too consistently hungry for potentially corrupting outside consulting cash for comfort. Melissa Mark-Viverito, an earnest progressive, is respectable but lacks new ideas.
Torres is something special.