Brooklyn Assembly Race: Simon, Sikora and Biviano Spar on NY1 Debate

Courtesy of NY1

In the first televised debate of the 52nd Assembly District on NY1 Monday, the  three Democratic candidates battling in a primary race for Brooklyn's 52nd Assembly District -- Jo Anne Simon, Doug Biviano and Pete Sikora -- sparred over Long Island College hospital, Brooklyn Bridge Park and more.

Jo Anne Simon was on her A game, especially in regard to Long Island College Hospital, where she pointed out, "I was involved long before the cameras arrived." She discussed the flawed RFP scoring, the loss of health care, and the need for an appropriate mix of housing on the LICH campus (assuming the hospital is gone).

She said she planned to introduce a bill that will require DOH to collect data about the health needs of the community before making major decisions.

Sikora said that he had demonstrated his commitment to saving LICH during rallies with the group Parents for LICH. He stood up for Bill de Blasio, who as mayor seemed to loose interest in the cause, and said people should be blaming the governor for the hospital's closure instead.

Biviano said the community has lost control of decisions like LICH, libraries and development because special interests control the elections.

He threw out accusations that Sikora and Berlin Rosen were coordinating a black money campaign (he appeared to be trying to tar Sikora with the Gary Reilly-LICH-mailer fiasco).

Sikora said, "Those are pretty wild accusations," and pointed out that Berlin Rosen also represents GreenPeace.

NY1's Errol Lewis Louis had to interrupt Biviano several times when he steamed ahead with accusatory statements instead of answering questions constructively.

"Don't do that Doug, just don't do that," Lewis said.

Watch the full debate here.


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