In the past four years Electoral District 46 in Brooklyn has become an incubator of up-and-coming Russian-Jewish political candidates. This is not surprising considering that the electoral district encompasses the neighborhoods of Brighton Beach, Coney Island, Seagate, Luna Park, Vorbas, Trump Village, Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge. This year was no different.
Last week, 27-year-old Inna Kaminsky, who intends to run for the position of State Assemblywoman for the 46th district, and 27-year-old Cole Etman, who is running for office as New York State Senator from the 23rd district, which consists of parts of south Brooklyn and north Staten Island, held a press conference in front of 3601 Surf Avenue, Coney Island. The candidates were accompanied by their lawyer and advisor, Alan Rokoff. Etman and Kaminsky studied in the same Brooklyn school, and they both came out to challenge the current Assemblywoman Adel Cohen. Inna and Cole are both Democrats, with Odessa roots. Kaminsky arrived from this Black Sea city to New York almost 20 years ago, and Etman’s great grandparents emigrated from Odessa.
A great part of the press conference was devoted to criticizing Adel Cohen’s questionable actions, observed during the September 2002 Democratic primary, when Susan Lasher lost by only 87 votes. Kaminsky and Etman have turned to the Federal Justice Department, Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as a number of community and human rights organizations, with the request to ensure the 46th district a fair and honest primary on September 14. Rokoff noted that in spite of attempts by Adel Cohen to exclude Kaminsky by judicial order from the ballot, the New York State Board of Elections has nevertheless registered the young Russian-speaking immigrant as candidate for the assembly position.
Journalists at the press-conference, however, were less interested in the intrigue concerning Cohen, than the personal profiles and policy positions of the candidates themselves. Inna Kaminsky is a young woman with excellent English and a good American education. She works as administrator in a medical office, where she helps elderly people fill out forms and assists them with other pressing problems. Kaminsky is married, has two children – a seven-year-old son and a year-old daughter. One of Kaminsky’s grandfathers was a Polish Rabbi who survived the Holocaust. Her other grandfather is a World War II veteran who now lives in Brooklyn and, according to the candidate, has given his blessing for her to enter the political race.
Kaminsky spoke at the press conference of the need to support Israel and her desire to organize fundraisers for Israel as well. She praised the social and political activism of Oleg Gutnik, Anatoli Eizenberg and Alec Brook-Krasny. Kaminsky is not personally acquainted with any of the activists of the Russian-Jewish community in New York, besides Jean Borsh. Still, she was not discouraged by the scant political connections or lack of experience working with Jewish communal organizations. "I’m 27 years old and have been in the race about one month, but I know many good things are still to come. There have been many examples in American politics where political novices successfully deal with challenges that professional politicians could not manage," Kaminsky said.
Kaminsky and Etman also brought attention to the lack of progress in Albany in passing a budget for the next fiscal year. If elected, they promised to fight for stronger public safety measures in Coney Island, additional funding for local schools and increasing employment opportunities in South Brooklyn. Kaminsky also discussed building an escalator at the Ocean Parkway subway station and improving street cleaning services in Brighton Beach.
Present at the press conference were 25-year-old Maxim Zaslavsky and Stephen Bender, employees of Alliance Mortgage Banking Corp. They are volunteers on the Kaminsky and Etman campaigns and have collected hundreds of petition signatures. According to them, "Brooklyn politics needs new blood, new ideas, and an inflow of energy."
Cole Etman, a resident of Seagate, has worked as an assistant to Brooklyn City Councilman Howard Lasher and as a campaign manager for Susan Lasher. More recently, he worked with Unity Council, a non-profit institution that struggles against teenage violence.
"Charles Schumer and Anthony Wiener were younger than us, when they were elected to office,” said Etman. “Now Schumer is a U.S. senator and Wiener a congressman. Why should our age be an obstacle for us?"
It should be noted that the winner of the Democratic primary for the 46th State Assembly District will run against the Republican candidate in the November 29th election. The candidate is attorney Alex Kaplan, who immigrated to the United States from Kiev when he was two years old.
