Senator Kruger Faces Primary Opposition
Igor Oberman, the man opposing Sen. Kruger in the State Senate 27th District Democratic Primary. Photo courtesy of Mr. Oberman’s campaign website.
For those following transit news for some time, the name Senator Carl Kruger rings an ominous bell. He was part of the group dubbed the “Fare Hike Four” as they notoriously helped create yet another stop-gap solution to the MTA’s funding woes last year.
Mr. Kruger’s name has made headlines again as for the first time in ages, he is facing opposition in the Democratic Primary for the State Senate 27th District. Harold Egeln of The Brooklyn Eagle has more in this report:
A Brighton Beach attorney whose family fled the former Soviet Union in 1981 when he was eight is getting ready to make state Sen. Carl Kruger, in office for 16 years, flee Albany via the ballot box.
“Current politicians have done us severe harm,” charged Igor Oberman on the Friends of Oberman campaign web site with the banner “New Leadership for Our Community.” “They care more about power and special interests than their constituents. But now we have an opportunity to change that.”
Calling himself “a true Democrat,” Oberman is now in the race, his first political foray, for the 27th state Senate district, aiming to unseat Kruger, who calls himself “an independent Democrat.” Oberman cites Kruger’s siding with Republicans in Albany on several issues.
“It’s time for a new choice and a new voice that will represent south Brooklyn with a drive to make a difference for our future,” Oberman declared, citing his community experience. “I’ve gained a grassroots understanding of issues facing ordinary New Yorkers.”
The candidate faces off with Kruger in the Democratic Party primary election on Sept. 14. Kruger went unchallenged in the last few elections.
The district has the largest concentration of Russian-Americans in the city. Oberman’s family fled Russia in 1981 when he was eight. The district that has been his home for three decades covers Bergen Beach, Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Midwood, Mill Basin, Flatbush, Flatlands and Sheepshead Bay.
Oberman, 37, is a personal injury lawyer and an administrative law judge for the Environmental Control Board. Before that, he served as the first Russian-American administrative law judge for the Taxi and Limousine Commission. He graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School, Brooklyn College in 1994 and New York Law School in 1997, and is married to Tanya Oberman, an accountant.
Click here for the complete report.
I would like to find out more about Mr. Oberman before I can offer an opinion on his candidacy. I am extremely interested in his public transportation views as well as his ideas to help solve the MTA’s funding woes in Albany. I will keep an eye out on Mr. Oberman as we get closer to the primary later this year.
xoxo Transit Blogger
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
[…] of April, I wrote an entry about how one of the “Fare Hike Four”, Sen. Carl Kruger was facing opposition in the Democratic Party primary election on Sept. 14. The opposition is coming from Brighton Beach […]