I’m Not The Only One

It was definitely an interesting election this year.  Nationwide, Obama’s dropping approval rating has hurt Democrats in local elections.   That is certainly the case in New York and especially in nearby New Jersey, where proverbial fat cat Dem John Corzine (who deserved to lose for poking fun at his Republican opponent’s weight problem in his campaign literature) lost to the literally fat Republican Chris Christie, who oddly resembles a Sopranos cast member.

My home neighborhood of Flushing, Queens witnessed a spectacular upset.  The City Council district representing Flushing has been represented by Democrats since the 70s.  2000 saw the election of Flushing’s first Asian-American Council member, John Liu.  Liu, was termed out this year, leaving a rush of candidates eager to replace his seat.  Among these were Republican Peter Koo, an immigrant from Hong Kong who has called Flushing home for 30 years. Koo owns Starside, a chain of pharmacies throughout Flushing whose low prices and great service have done far more for the community than anything Flushing’s Democratic leaders have ever done.   I should admit some bias as my family have been patrons of Starside Pharmacy for years.  His stores encourage customers to recycle their prescription bags by bringing in 100 used Starside Pharmacy bags in exchange for a $10 gift certificate towards the purchase of any over the counter item at his stores, a godsend for Flushing’s low-income and senior community who often obtain their prescriptions via Medicaid.

The spectacular part about this year’s election in Flushing is that the district is so heavily populated by registered Democrats that in the past, the New York GOP has rarely bothered to run or support a Republican candidate for a Flushing election, and whoever wins the Democratic primary becomes the de facto  winner of the general election.  Most general elections in Flushing have been mostly ceremonial, with the Democratic primary winner lightly campaigning as a token gesture rather than as an effort to garner votes.  But Koo’s campaign, coupled with President Obama’s low approval rating, turned the tides.  Already Koo plans to make good on his first campaign promise-to donate his City Council annual base salary of $112,000 to local charities in Flushing, something his liberal predecessors have never done.

The neighborhood right next to Flushing also had an interesting victory, not just for conservatives, but for libertarians and religious minorities as well.  The Council district in nearby Bayside was also up for grabs as their representative in the City Council, Democrat Tony Avella, could not hold the position due to term limits.  Avella’s election in 2000 was a huge upset in this largely white, affluent neighborhood because the area had been represented by Republicans for decades.  But this year’s election was between Republican Dan Halloran and Democrat Kevin Kim.  Proving my theory that most liberals are closet bigots, Kim ran a smear campaign against Halloran citing the Republican candidate’s religious beliefs.

Dan Halloran, while born Irish Catholic, converted to Theodism, a Pagan religion focused on the veneration of Norse deities such as Odin and Thor.   Unfortunately, Odinism is also the preferred faith of white supremacists and neo-Nazis, so Kevin decided to use this connection to paint  Halloran in his campaign literature as an anti-Semite and Nazi sympathizer, the equivalent of declaring Islam to be a terrorist religion because a handful of terrorists happen to be Muslim.  So much for liberals being tolerant of people who are different! Halloran, a self-described libertarian responded by openly acknowledging his Pagan faith and insisting it had nothing to do with the issues affecting the district.  He stuck to the issues and won, not only being the first openly Pagan elected official in New York but the only one in the United States as well.

Personally, I think Pagans get a bad rap, especially when you consider the Pagan roots of modern Christianity, which I’ve always seen as a healthy mix of Judaism and Paganism.  So good for you, Council member-elect Dan Halloran!  Perhaps the mighty hammer of Thor came smashing down on the campaign of liberal bigot Kevin Kim.

Let’s not forget the Republican-turned Independent Mike Bloomberg, who beat his Democratic opponent Bill Thompson.  Looks like there’s a new kind of “Obama effect” afoot, and it’s working against Democrats.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Barack Obama, Spirituality, New Yawk, Voting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.