Sasson vows to best Stavisky
Posted on July 7, 2010 by Connor Adams Sheets in District 16, State Senate
Isaac Sasson
Philanthropist, community activist and Democratic candidate Isaac Sasson is like the old New York Lottery slogan in it to win it this time in the race for state Sen. Toby Stavisky’s (D-Whitestone) seat.
Sasson, who lost to Yen Chou in last year’s Democratic primary for the Flushing City Council seat later filled by Republican Peter Koo and hit the $13 million Lottery jackpot in September 2007, said he is willing to dig deep into his winnings in order to capture the post.
“People ask me, ‘What’s a Lotto winner doing running for office? You should be traveling.’ I mean, I’ve lived in this community for 33 years in the same building and I don’t need a job,” said Sasson, who is committed to reforming the state Legislature. “I will spend whatever’s necessary to win the election. I feel it’s an opportunity to use some of the money I won to good use.”
He contends Albany has become ineffective and lost the faith of the people it is supposed to represent because of its loyalties to priorities that are not aligned with those of the average New Yorker.
Sasson, who used 15 percent to 20 percent of the lump-sum payment he received on the $13 million to fund a community foundation which has doled out $150,000 since January 2008, said becoming senator would benefit the people of his district because he is not in the pockets of special interests and would keep voters’ concerns paramount.
“When I win over an incumbent, it’ll send a strong message to the other senators that they’d better start listening to the people and not just to the lobbyists. I’m not beholden to anyone,” he said. “The people in office now are part of the problem, not part of the solution.”
Sasson, who lives in downtown Flushing, said if he were elected he would focus much of his efforts on creating jobs and keeping people and jobs in the state rather than driving them away with high taxes to fund unnecessary services and programs.
“We’ve got to give an incentive to small businesses, entrepreneurs and tech start-ups to come and create jobs,” the U.S. Army veteran and former cancer researcher said. “We’ve got to get people to move here and stop the bleeding of jobs.”
The state’s fiscal house must be put in order, Sasson said, before the house of cards comes tumbling down and New York reaches a Greek-style economic low. He said legislators need to look at longer-term budgets instead of simply taking money out to close fiscal gaps year after year.
And the state missed the boat during the booming early years of the last decade, comparing its failure to save money to the story of Joseph and the Pharaoh in the Bible’s book of Genesis.
“Joseph said now, in the seven years of plenty, let’s fill the granary for the seven lean years to come,” he said. “So we needed to fill the granaries during the good years and we didn’t fill the granaries.”
Sasson said savings might be found in the budget if it were opened up and more transparent, so legislators and others could examine where and how every state tax dollar is spent. He said savings could be identified in duplicative and unneeded programs and that some programs, such as Medicaid, may be particularly fraught with excessive waste, as New York spends vastly more per person on Medicaid than states such as California and Texas.
But his chief concern is to restore New Yorkers’ faith in their state government.
“Getting people again to have faith in Albany, that is critical to restore faith and restore trust in our elected officials,” he said. “That trust is gone.”
Born in Syria, Sasson grew up in Lebanon and moved to Brooklyn when he was 15. He served in the U.S. Army for several years, and holds a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Connecticut. He then moved to Flushing to do post-doctorate work at Queens College and spent almost 20 years teaching organic chemistry at the school and doing cancer research and other work at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and the Institute for Cancer Prevention.
Stavisky has been the senator for District 16, which includes part or all of the area stretching from Bay Terrace, Bayside and Whitestone to Flushing, Forest Hills and Woodside, since 1999. Oakland Gardens lawyer John Messer, a fellow Democrat, is also running for her seat. Robert Schwartz is opposing her on the Republican line.
I agree with Random guy and Danny,I met Isaac one day last month and he spoke to me about all the issues that concerned me as a voter.I dont care that soon to be former senator stavisky has a powerful but probably illegal lobbying firm backing her.I am going to vote for a Isaac Sasson,and I am telling all my friends to do the same.
What the name of that firm again anyways?The Darkside group?How fitting.
Having encountered Isaac many times over the last two years I can help but hope the fella wins. Not only has he stated he won’t take money from lobbyist and PACs he has pledge to have a more attentive and diverse staff. In a district as diverse as ours it is about time we had a senator who understands that only servicing only one portion of the community isn’t be a good representative.
To the people bashing Sasson you obviously don’t know the guy because I’ve never seen a hint of coldness or disrespect to women or minorities.
Three out of four respondents here have a negative view of Sasson. It’s no surprise.
Sasson uses Republican-style smear tactics, divide-and-conquer fear tactics and negative campaigning as developed by Karl Rove.
I did not stick up for anyone, but I will continue to express my disgust at Sasson’s smear tactics. Forget about the opponents he targets. It is an insult to the voters.
Read the earlier posts. Jimmy T. describes Sasson as “awkward” and “something about this person that is not right” and a feeling that he’s “hiding his real agenda.”
MetsMom notes that Sasson is “always so mean to women and minorities.”
These are accurate observations that are consistent with my own. It’s true that when you shake his limp hand, it’s like holding a dead fish. His frozen fake smile and screechy voice are creepy. He does seem insecure.
I don’t know if he really hates women and non-Whites, but he sure comes across that way and doesn’t seem comfortable with either.
Sasson likes to hear himself talk. He doesn’t listen because he thinks he knows it all. He’s rude and always interrupts others when they talk, yelling over everyone with his high-pitched screech. Everyone who has met him or seen him in public knows I speak the truth.
Without question, Toby Ann Stavisky is the better choice for State Senator.
Karl Rove didn’t invent that tactic ya moron. It has been around so long that it was being used at the founding of this country by the likes of NY Governor Clinton and Alexander Hamilton when they were fighting with one another.
Sticking up for Yen Chou and John Choe will get you no where fast.They were the two worst candidates foy city council in recent memory.
Last time I checked a republican had not won in Flushing in over 70 years but Yen Chou somehow made that happen.She made that happen because Sasson exposed her for what she circulated in her own campaign,as reported by the QUEENS TRIBUNE.By the way John Choe himself agreed with Sasson about Yen Chou and her tactics.Maybe you should start posting truths instead of nonsense
If and when there are indictments, then they’ll be real. Right now, they’re your dreams. Even the indicted are innocent until proven guilty, so surely the unindicted should be.
According to you, the target of an investigation is the Parkside Group. Senator Stavisky is not connected to the Parkside Group, as far as I know, although her son is one of the founding members. Yet, according to you, the mom of an unindicted person is somehow “damaged goods.”
If your story were real and substantive, it would be in every newspaper and on the evening news.
I don’t work for Stavisky. Your accusation suggests that probably you work for Sassoon. I’ve seen this affliction before. Psychologists call it “projection.” You even know where Sassoon gets his information from. How would you know such details? Oops!
But none of this matters. You’re not the candidate, only his water boy. Sasson has run enough times to show his true colors. His campaigns are fueled by negative attacks, and accusations with little to back them up. He is incapable of serving the diverse multicultural community that comprises the district, and will in fact, fuel disharmony.
Everybody that Sasson runs against is evil. In the past, it was John Choe and Yen Chou. This year it’s Toby Ann Stavisky.
It could be that projection thing at work again, by the candidate and his hapless campaign.
By the way, Danny boy, I noticed you didn’t address the issue of those campaign workers who claimed to have been cheated of their pay by the millionaire lottery winner last year.
There seems to be a lot of spin on this race,let’s clear that up really quick.First of all Mr.Fly on the wall,the impending indictments are VERY REAL.The Senate investigation started at the behest of Senator Padavans’ request after he defeated Gennaro 2 years ago.The investigation has focused on the relationship between Senator Stavisky,her son and the ParkSide Group.
Evidently, Honest Services does not apply to this case and the findings have been forwarded to the Manhattan District Attorneys Office for prosecution after the November elections.Evan Stavisky will be indicted and so will former senator stavisky.
I did not write that all of Parksides employees are under investigation just the ones that will testify against the indicted employees of Parkside. Convicted Felon ANTHONY SEMIENERO AND BRIAN MCGHLAUGHLIN apparently are singing like canaries to lighten their jail sentences or to get out on bail.The truth hurts sometimes but dont do the crime if you cant do the time.
As for John lius chief of staff,his campaign was a mess from the start and Sasson is not the NYPOST reporter who broke the story,Sasson was merely stating what the NYPOST was reporting all of last summer.So I guess the NYPOST is out to get Stavisky&co. also.
You say in your post that sasson sends mailings to only “jewish sounding names”,WOW;if that is not a racist statement you should have your head examined.It is not racist to send political mail to ones base,get over it,people have a right to run for office.
By the way I noticed in your first paragraph you mispelled alienating then corrected it in your last paragraph.Good for you!I am glad you took my advice and using that Theasaurus often.Did you get it fromn Barnes&Noble?They have them on sale.
Its obvious you work for Senator Stavisky because you not only defend her but you vehemently defend Parkside.So Sad,I hope she is paying you well.
So in Closing Mr.Fly on the wall,do what flies do and BUZZ OFF!
If your plug for Sasson consists of accusing me of “butchering” the English language for one misspelling, and an attack on Stavisky that there may be, in your words, an “impending indictment” which means a “maybe accusation” not against Stavisky, not against her son, but against “various” consultants associated with a company co-founded by Stavisky’s son, then that speaks volumes.
Why didn’t I mention it? Um, maybe because, unlike you, I don’t grasp for straws.
Sasson, on the other hand, is an aleinating, polarizing, character-assassinating figure, based on behavior which has manifested itself in the many campaigns he has lost.
People who worked his campaigns have complained publicly that they were cheated of payment from the millionaire lottery winner, and while it’s hard to know who is in the right, such allegations against Sasson have been made repeatedly by different individuals, and seemed to have the ring of truth to them, especially after Sasson responded by not responding.
In fact, slandering employees of a company co-owned by Stavisky’s son, as you have done, is very similar to the way that Sasson attacked John Liu’s chief of staff. They couldn’t find anything on the candidate so they had to scrape for something else and then make allegations against a relative, employee, or, as in your case, maybe an employee of a relative.
In the past, Sasson has sent out mailings only to people with Jewish-soundng names, accusing an office worker of one of the candidates of being anti-Semitic, by some extreme stretch of his warped imagination. That’s the best he could do, poor baby.
Sasson, an alienating figure and negative campaigner, will be a disaster in the state legislature. He will divide the community along cultural, ethnic, and religious lines.
Most of the poeple I know in Flushing are not interested in that type of leadership, or that type of leader.
To Mr. Fly on the wall,
You completely discredit yourself when in your post you write and claim as follows:
A)Sasson has run character assassinating campaigns in the past without naming one.
B)While supporting Stavisky you admit “Senator Stavisky is not perfect” WOW that is most certainly the understatement of the political season thus far.
C)You neglect to mention the impending indictments to various Political Consultants from The ParkSide Group Lobbying Evil Firm,to whick Staviskys’ son Evan is a founding partner.
D)You butcher the English Language by spelling the word Divisive as “Devisive”.
My advice to you is that you grab a thesaurus ,learn how to spell,follow closely the ineptitude of the current State Legislature,Vote For Sasson.He will bring trust back to Albany.Peace.
Sasson has been devisive, and shows poor judgment. He has run digusting character-assassinating campaigns in the past, and It’s unlikely that this will be any different. In any event, he’s already shown his true colors, and they ain’t pretty.
Senator Toby Ann Stavisky is not perfect, but she performs her job with dedication and professionalism. She has maintained a clean record, which is saying a lot in Albany these days. She is highly intelligent and very knowledgeable. She is progressive minded, and has served the people with distinction.
Sen Stavisky is the best candidate running for the seat she now holds and therefore deserves to be re-elected by the voters.
I met Sasson last year at a candidate debate for flushing.I just remember how awkward he was.I even shook his hand and it was ice cold – in july.There is just something about this person that is not right and he is hiding his real agenda. He scares me, I will vote for a real notable such as John Messer.I saw John Messers’ poster up on a deli by my apartment,he seems like a good family man,a good father and husband also. Something sasson with all his lottery winnings cannot buy – love for his family,because he has none.And this is a FAMILY district,what can Sasson offer hard working families in the district,nothing.
How come Isaac Sasson doesn’t talk about what he really thinks of Senator stavisky?Why is Isaac always so mean to women and minorities?These are questions that he will have to answer sooner rather than later,and he cannot run from these questions just because he is running for state senate.