(Editor’s Note: On May 1, 2008, anti-abortion activist Christina Fitch of Liverpool won the designation of the Onondaga County Republican Party.)
The choice for voters in the 119th state Assembly District is — once again — shaped by 18-year incumbent Joan Christensen, D-Syracuse.
The Republican Party has until May 1 to nominate a candidate. As of April 29, the party had no challenger against Christensen.
“She’s not your typical Albany Democrat,” said Charles Duprey, the political director for the Onondaga County Republicans. “She’s a long-time public servant and has taken positions that may make it hard for her to be challenged.”
The Democratic Party will officially designate its candidates on May 15. That’s the deadline for potential challengers to notify the party of their interest in challenging Christensen for the Democratic nomination.
In past elections, Christensen has also received endorsements from the Working Families and Veterans parties. The 119th Assembly District includes Syracuse, DeWitt, Onondaga and Salina. The district also includes Syracuse University, Le Moyne College as well as the Veterans Affairs, Crouse and University hospitals.
Christensen is not holding her breath until the Republican designation meeting to find out if she will have a challenger. “I’ve never run unopposed. I’m sure they’ll find someone,” she said.
The election is Nov. 4, 2008.
Christensen’s chances of re-election are strong, say political experts.
“She’s got wide name recognition because she’s been around for 18 years,” said Bob McClure, the Chapple Family Professor of Citizenship and Democracy in the Maxwell School of Citizenship at Syracuse University. “She’s got party resources that come with seniority in the assembly. So it would take a very bold, very successful, very skillful Republican opponent to beat her.”
Christensen already has a warchest of campign funds. Her campaign has at least $25,365 on hand and has received at least $1,596 in donations for the upcoming election, according to her campaign finance report filed with the State Board of Elections. The report covers from January of this year and was filed on April 15, 2008.
During the same filing period in the 2006 election, Christensen’s campaign had raised at least $4,214 and had a balance of $33,464.
Since her victory in the 2006 state assembly race, Christensen has raised almost $17,850 in 2007.
Working in the state assembly
For the upcoming election, Christensen lists her top concern in four letters: Jobs.
“Jobs, jobs, jobs and more jobs,” Christensen said. “The upstate economy. The ability to live here and raise a family and enjoy a family life.”
Over the years, her focus has remained the same, she said. “It’s the economic issues. It’s the jobs. It’s education. It’s healthcare. It’s security. I mean, it sounds redundant to say that time after time, but it’s what you’re protecting and that’s what I’m protecting,” she said.
In her latest term, Christensen served on the housing, insurance, labor, real property taxation and small business committees. She was the chair of the commissions on skills development and career education committee.
“I think education is a key tool. So the skills, the training commission, allows me to go out to talk to other people about other jobs that are available in trade and others in other career choices.”
She would like to believe that she follows Democratic ideals, Christensen said. “Philosophically, the working men and women of this country are the concern of the Democratic party and those issues that directly affect the quality of life and that’s where I’d like to be,” Christensen said.
Here are some highlights from her votes in her past term: It would also make it mandatory for those with a history of drug abuse to participate in a substance abuse treatment program (Bill passed).
Christensen does not always vote with her own party. When the Democratic majority proposed requiring vaccination of teen-age girls against a sexually transmitted virus, HPV, Christensen opposed it. The vaccination is an individual right, she said, and the decision to have it should be left to parents and their daughters.
These more conservative, moderate stances help Christensen connect with voters in her district, Duprey of the Onondaga Country Republicans said.
As in the past, Christensen is also likely to receive support for the Working Families Party, said Dan Levitan, the spokesman for the party. Because it is so early in the election process, the party has not formally endorsed any candidate.
“I can tell you that there is a lot of support for her within the party now. But of course everyone has to go through the process,” Levitan said. “I think she’s likely to be endorsed again,” Levitan said.
To win the Working Families Party endorsement, Christensen must show her support for their issues. These include family leave, minimum wage, healthcare, government reform and education, according to the party’s Web site.
“We endorsed her in the past because of her help on issues like minimum wage, paid family leave — you know the things that working families in New York state need. And for that reason we’ve been with her,” Levitan said. “We endorsed her because she’s shown real leadership on those things.”
Adds Christensen about her platform this year: “My ideals are the same. My philosophy is the same — to help the working family and the middle class which is being squeezed and struggling to see a better quality of life.”
A history in politics
While Christensen is an 18-year veteran of the state assembly, her political career goes much deeper. She got into politics, she recalled, as a way of coping with a divorce.
“I decided that I wanted to be proactive in things that would make life better than myself and my children and anybody in a situation like me,” Christensen said. “So I decided to work on other people’s campaigns, became visible to the community and found myself being directed to run for office.”
She was the first woman to serve on the Syracuse Board of Assessment Review, which uses the assessment of the city’s properties to create the annual tax bill. She served three terms on the Syracuse Common Council.
In politics, Christen said, she found her calling.
“I just found a niche in life that I weirdly liked — the constituent service and everything about it. So I just delved into it. I just worked hard at it, enjoyed at it and got some pretty good recognition for the fact that I was working hard, doing the right thing by my constituents and just having an enjoyable career choice,” she said.
In 1990 Christensen made the leap from local to state politics as she ran for the 119th District seat in the state assembly. She defeated 14-year Republican incumbent William E. Bush of Camillus.
Christensen calls herself “a family person.” She has four children — two boys and two girls — who have all graduated from college and grown up to have families of their own.
Even though her children are adults now, her family is her top priority, Christensen said. The Number One rule in her office, she said, is she must take any family calls. She’s even learned how to text message to keep in touch.
Christensen still remembers the effect winning an assembly seat had on her family. For the first time, she said, she was able to financially support her family. “I could actually make ends meet,” she said. “It was amazing, it was astounding.”
Looking toward the future
If she’s elected again, this will be Christensen’s tenth term in office. “I must be doing something right,” Christensen said.
She attributed a lot of her success to her political philosophy. “I think that elections are won from the bottom up, not from the top down. And we’re definitely a bottom up type office,” Christensen said. “We work with the people. It’s not big corporations and all that stuff. It’s not the power; it’s the privilege of serving that’s important here.”
Christensen added: “I just enjoy it. It keeps me young. It’s more than satisfaction. It’s a real high from helping people.”
(Bryan Young is a sophomore newspaper journalism and political science major.)
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