A crowd of several hundred friends, family members, political allies and supporters assembled at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights on Sunday, for the ceremonial swearing-in of Brian Kavanagh as the New York State Senator representing the 26th District which includes parts of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. (Because the Albany legislative session began several weeks ago, Mr. Kavangh took the legally required oath in a private ceremony in January.)
Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the leader of the Senate’s Democratic Conference led Mr. Kavanaugh through the recitation: “I, Brian Kavangh, do solemnly swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of New York, and to discharge my duties as New York State Senator for the 26th District to the best of my abilities, so help me God.”
Ms. Stewart-Cousins was one of chorus of elected officials who gathered to wish Mr. Kavanaugh well. Among the others were members of Congress Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, State Senators Brad Hoylman and Michael Gianaris, State Assembly members Deborah Glick (who served as master of ceremonies) and Yuh-Line Niou, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, City Public Advocate Letitia James, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and former State Senator Daniel Squadron (Mr. Kavanagh’s predecessor in representing the 26th District).
After taking the oath of office, Mr. Kavanagh said, “it does not make sense to do the work we do unless we have people from all part of our lives, from our communities, who invest in supporting us, sometimes nudging us to do things that haven’t thought about before.”
“My staff and I have tried to hit the ground running,” he continued. “We’ve introduced 79 pieces of legislation, working on issues like gun violence, affordable housing, the campaign finance laws, and protecting our environment.”
“We’ve worked with Assembly members Glick and Niou to push for residents of Battery Park City to have a real say in how their community is governed,” he added.
“We’ve begun a new budget process, pushing for funding of settlement houses and naturally occurring retirement communities and public housing,” he noted, “and we’ve joined with our partners in government to protect tenants in Chinatown who are experiencing a very difficult situation, having been displaced from their building for the last few weeks by some very unsafe conditions.” (This was a reference to the controversial evacuation of nearly 100 residents rent-stabilized apartments at 85 Bowery on January 18, when City officials determined that a staircase was in danger of collapse. Tenant advocates accuse the landlord of allowing the structure to deteriorate, because the building is worth more vacant than full of legally protected renters.)
“And we really are just getting started,” Mr. Kavanagh continued. “We are coming together today at a time when people are looking at what’s going on in Washington and in other parts of our country as well, and seeing an enormous crisis. Many of us have been inspired to resist to what we’ve perceived as dangerous actions from the White House or from Congress. I don’t envy my Congressional colleagues who have to face that every day in the chambers of our nation’s capital. Many are marching in the streets, many are getting involved in campaigns this year, some are even pledging to run for office.”
“And all of that new energy is a very positive thing in my view,” he observed. “But I also want to emphasize that it’s our role in government not just to criticize, not just to resist, but to take responsibility for our own role in envisioning a government that reflects our values and meets people’s needs.”
“We know that our most basic values are under assault,” he acknowledged. “And that there are people actively attempting and working to undermine our democracy. But democracy isn’t undermined just by active efforts to subvert the rule of law, or by leaders who demonize people based on their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion.”
“Democracy is also harmed when we failed to ensure that government meets its basic obligations,” he reflected, “when we fail to fund a transit system that millions of working New Yorkers rely on; when our housing laws don’t adequately protect tenants against predatory landlords; when our criminal justice system incarcerates huge numbers of people, often unjustly; and when our campaign finance laws allowed nearly unlimited amounts of money to flow into politicians’ hands with virtual anonymity — convincing many citizens that their votes don’t really matter.”
“When we fail to address these issues, we play a role in undermining our democracy,” Mr. Kavanagh emphasized. “While I know many of us in this room have been thinking about how to resist the president and his allies in Albany, which I’m trying to do, we also have to think about how to solve our problems here in New York. One of the most basic motivations I have for running for office, the reason I decided to run for office in the beginning, the reason I decided to keep running for office, is because I feel that our government should be responsive to people’s most basic needs.”
“This is not a new idea, and it is not a radical idea by any means,” he said. “But we need, in many ways, to remember that this is the notion that has come under question. While that may not be a radical idea, we probably should remember a time when that was a radical idea. And we should remember that it is not necessarily a given that our government will continue to reflect our values that we claim to represent, or to serve ordinary people. Our democracy is not just a good idea — it’s an institution that needs to be protected.”
“This simple, once-radical idea is the only way we’re going to transcend the crises we face today and prepare for the challenges of tomorrow. Today, I’m renewing the commitment to creating a fairer New York and to making government work for everyone.”