Some post-petition praise of Sen. Jeff Klein

Dear Editor:

For the past several years, I have been fortunate enough to be represented by State Senator Jeff Klein. During this time, Mr. Klein has always been a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat with the record to prove it. Just last year, he authored and passed tough new gun control laws, raised the minimum wage and lowered income taxes for middle class families. That sounds progressive to me. So that is what makes this next part so confusing:

Right now, an interest group in Washington, D.C. is circulating an online petition urging former Councilman Oliver Koppell to challenge Sen. Klein in the State Senate. But having worked with Sen. Klein on issues important to Riverdale and to my Democratic friends, I cannot understand why anyone in our community would want to sign such a document. 

Further, it appears that most of the people who are signing the petition are not from our community at all. Most of the signers are people from places far from Riverdale, such as Rochester, Buffalo and even Texas. These are people who not only don’t know anything about Mr. Klein but they don’t know anything about Riverdale. I think we are lucky to have someone like Mr. Klein representing us in the capital and I look forward to working with him for another term.

Amy Moore