Avella attacks Padavan on special session absence
Posted on June 30, 2010 by Howard Koplowitz in District 11, State Senate
Tony Avella
State Senate candidate and former Councilman Tony Avella criticized his opponent, state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) for not showing up to a special session of the Senate Sunday.
But Padavan said he was in contact with Albany throughout the day Sunday and was told there was not going to be a special session because the governor’s budget proposals were not expected to be accepted by the Senate.
“While the state Senate held a special session in Albany [Sunday] to deal with a portion of the budget, where was Sen. Frank Padavan? Too busy campaigning in Queens,” Avella said in a news release titled “Where was Frank?”
Frank Padavan
“Padavan’s Albany absence is a slap in the face to the hardworking taxpayers in our district,” Avella said. “When he should be working to resolve the budget crisis and education funding, he was too worried about his own political future.”
Gov. David Paterson called the special session for 7 p.m. Sunday. Padavan had been at the Bayside Historical Society’s annual lawn concert at Fort Totten park during that time.
The legislators “went in and out for two minutes,” Padavan said. “There was no session. If I thought there was anything to be voting on, I would’ve been there in a minute.”
