New Bronx Family Feud?

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

Martinez for The 78^th Assembly Seat

The Chairman of the Committee of 100 Democrats, State Committeeman from the 78^th A.D., and our good friend Mr. Ricardo “Ricky” Martinez has announced that he will be running for the 78^th Assembly Seat. This was found out by us at the Bronx Puerto Rican Day parade when current 78^th Assemblyman Jose Rivera snubbed his State Committeeman to photograph his daughter's opponent Mr. Mark Gjonaj in the 80^th Assembly race while Mr. Gjonaj was speaking to the crowd. 

We spoke to candidate Ricardo “Ricky” Martinez to find out exactly why he decided to run this year against a man who he called at one time his mentor. Mr. Martinez said that his friendship with Assemblyman Rivera goes back to when he used to go out with the assemblyman's daughter now Assemblywoman Rivera. Mr. Martinez said that while he and many others have been very loyal to the assemblyman that the assemblyman has not as proven by his actions, the latest being redistricting his son Councilman Joel Rivera into the 78^th Assembly District so Jose can pass the assembly seat down to his son when his son is out of a job in 2013. Candidate Martinez continued that the the 78^th A.D. is not a kingdom that gets passed down to the next generation.

Many people and political insiders have said that they thought Ricardo “Ricky” Martinez would run for the assembly seat in 2010, and have encouraged him to run this year. Now that word is getting out that he is running, Martinez said that his support is growing every day. Candidate Ricardo “Ricky” Martinez said that Assemblyman Rivera knew that he wanted to run in 2010, but that he was diagnosed with an early stage of cancer that he has survived and is now ready to run for the assembly seat. By the way Rivera, who we were told is 75, allegedly has health problems so it would be easy for him to say that he has to retire in midterm so his son could run in a special election. However if that were to happen we have been told that there is another person close to the current Democratic County Leader (that took control of the county leadership away from Rivera) who was redistricted out of the 78^th A.D., but has moved back into the new 78^th A.D. and could be waiting for such an opportunity.

Ricardo “Ricky” Martinez is running on a platform of “The Community and the People First.” Mr. Martinez, unlike the current assemblyman, is in favor of term limits for all elected positions. “If there are term limits for the President and the City Council, why are there no term limits for statewide offices.” Better education, more and better jobs, better housing, better transportation, are only a few of candidate Martinez's goals, and he said that some of those in office often think of themselves or their family first and Assemblyman Rivera is a perfect example of that.

Staying on the subject of Assembly races we have been told that incumbent 80^th State Committeewoman Diane Cerino will not be on the petition of the current assemblywoman but will be on the petition of Mark Gjonaj for the 80^th Assembly District. We now have three assembly races in the 78^th, 80^th, and the open 87th assembly districts that we will be watching. In two weeks we will get out our crystal ball to predict the winner in the 13^th Congressional race that is on Tuesday June 26th, which has now turned into a real battle. 

If he is reelected Congressman Rangel may need to take several weeks or even months to recuperate.

Lastly go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com to see photos that I took of the Bronx Puerto Rican Day parade along with the details of how the parade went. It looked like a washout for a few minutes as the rain started to pour, but the sun quickly came back out after the brief shower. Thousands marched, and thousands more enjoyed those who marched with the cars and floats.

If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.