Candidate Answers to JOLDC: Jo Anne Simon for NY Assembly District 52

Candidate Name: Jo Anne Simon

Office Seeking Election for: NY Assembly District 52

Website: https://simonforbrooklyn.com

With the possibility of Donald J. Trump winning (stealing) the next Presidential election and ending democracy and civil rights in the United States, it is more important than ever that we elect progressive, dynamic leaders to the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly.

1. Based upon your life experiences and accomplishments why should we believe you would be a dynamic, progressive leader who would stand up for Civil Rights and Democracy?

I have spent my entire professional life advocating for disability civil rights in one form or another – as a teacher, advocate fighting for inclusion and voting rights, civil rights lawyer and as progressive Member of the Assembly, where I have advocated for multiple voting rights and access bills, including one enacted last session and one I hope to pass this session A1363. I am a feminist and have demonstrated and marched in support of voting rights and Democracy on many occasions.

2. What is your involvement in the LGBTQ Civil Rights movement? What candidates have you or are you supporting who are openly LGBTQ? What legislation have you/do you support to further LGBTQ rights? Do you /will you have an LGBTQ liaison in your office? What LGBTQ organizations have you been involved with, either on a volunteer or professional basis?

I marched in the first Gay Rights parade in Washington, DC in 1978 or 79, have marched in NY’s Pride parades every year since I became active in politics in the early 2000’s; (b) Some LGBTQ New York candidates include Alan Fleishman, Jesse Pierce, Julio Pena, Jacqui Painter, Rachel Lavine, Judge Richard Montelione, Judge Debra Silber, Corey Johnson, Harley Diamond and Norma Jean Jennings for civil court, NYC Council Members Daniel Dromm, Rosie Mendez, Carlos Menchaca, NYS Assemblymembers Deborah Glick, Harry Bronson, Matthew Titone, and Daniel O’Donnell, Senator Brad Hoylman. I have also supported candidates in other parts of the country, including US Sen Tammy Baldwin, Ed Flanagan in VT, among others; (c) I have long been an ally of the LGBTQ community. I am a member of Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, the Jim Owles Board of Governors, and have been a member of Stonewall Democrats over the years. In the early 1990’s, I volunteered to draft wills for HIV positive clients of GMHC and won the first succession rights case in DHCR in 1992 for a man whose partner had died of AIDS, thus saving him from eviction. I have worked with Gays Against Guns on their gun violence prevention efforts and participated in their actions, and a now defunct an organization that provided meals to people living with AIDS. I also host a senior resource fair every year, and feature LGBTQ groups working in my district and the borough, including SAGE and GRIOT Circle. One of the panel speakers at town hall portion of the last such fair before COVID was Paul Nagle, Executive Director of the Stonewall Community Development Corporation; (d) I have supported all the LGBTQ supportive bills in the legislature, e.g.: I co-sponsored GENDA, a bill to legalize paid surrogacy, a ban on conversion therapy for minors, and a bill to prevent the use of a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity as an affirmative defense in an effort to reduce a charge of murder to manslaughter (“gay panic” defense). I also co-sponsored the bill to repeal the ban on loitering for the purpose of prostitution (a.k.a. walking while trans). I was also the lead sponsor of a major piece of gun violence legislation in 2019, the Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) or “red flag” bill, which prevents interpersonal gun violence and reduces the rate of suicide, which is particularly critical for LGBTQ+ younger people; (e) half my district office staff are members of the LGBTQ community, I have not actually needed a separate liaison; (f) I have been a member of various LGBTQ focused political clubs, including Jim Owles, Lambda Independent Democrats, Stonewall Democrats; in addition, I have secured significant funding for the

Rainbow Heights Club here in Downtown Brooklyn which provides affirming environment for LGBTQ+ people who experience mental illness, many of whom formerly abused various substances.

3. What demonstrations, rallies, and protests have you participated in support of LGBTQ issues, African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American Civil Rights, pro-choice legislation, criminal justice issues, and Resist Trump?

Dozens! You name it, I have been there marching and demonstrating in support of women and reproductive rights, the LGBTQ community, many BLM and George Floyd marches and demonstrations, marches for voting rights, rallies against Trump (including the women’s march in DC), marches and rallies against hate, including Anti-Asian hate, antisemitism, and Islamophobia, in support of immigrants and against Trump’s Muslim ban and family separation, have supported criminal justice reforms in NYS and rallied in support of them many times.

4. Do you support reparations to compensate African Americans for the history of slavery, Jim Crow, and systemic racism in this country?

Yes, and I was a co-sponsor of the recently enacted NY reparations commission bill as well as its predecessor bill.

5. What are your concrete proposals to address current systemic racism in terms of employment, housing, voting rights, and the criminal justice system in the U.S.?

I was a strong advocate for the Clean Slate Act which promises an end to perpetual punishment for all manner of offenses, making it possible for people to work, secure housing, to pursue a higher education, etc. I support permitting incarcerated people to retain the right to vote and paying the very subminimum wage paid to incarcerated workers. Availability of supportive housing to ease the challenges of transition to life outside of prison and for those with emotional disabilities who too often find themselves justice involved.

6. Will you advocate for elder parole where incarcerated individuals aged 55 and older who have serviced in excess of 15 years obtain parole hearings? Are you a sponsor of the Elder Parole Bill, Assembly 2035?

Yes, and I am a sponsor of A. 2035.

7. Do you sponsor the Earned Time Act, A awaiting passage in the Senate), better preparing those who are incarcerated for successful reentry upon release.

I have long supported the availability of TAP to those incarcerated so that they can attend college and earn a degree while incarcerated, access to high school equivalency diplomas; access to pre-apprenticeship programs in the trades. Fair and timely parole would encourage incarcerated people to take advantage of the programs available and to pursue career options.

8. Do you support ending the cruel punishment of solitary confinement, such as was recently mandated by the New York City Council?

Yes, and I was a sponsor of the HALT Act in the Assembly.

9. Do you sponsor Eliminate Mandatory Minimum Bill Act, which reduces excessive sentences and enables Judges to look at individual factors and mitigating circumstances?

Yes, I am a sponsor of this bill.

10. Do you sponsor the Second Look Act, which allows for reconsideration of prison sentences based on changes in law and circumstances?

Yes.

11. Have you participated, and will you participate in demonstrations and protests in relation to the issues of clemency and parole?

Yes, I have and I will.

12. Will you affirmatively seek to hire formerly incarcerated individuals?

Yes. I believe that everyone deserves a second chance. I will seek the best person for the job and if they are formerly incarcerated, that would not be a barrier.

13. Have you and will you visit incarcerated constituents to learn of their conditions?

Yes.

14. Do you support ending the cruel punishment of solitary confinement, such as was recently mandated by the New York City Council?

Yes, I was a sponsor of the HALT Act.

15. What are your proposals to facilitate individuals who have recently entered the U.S. to be able to live decently with employment and housing?

We need to process work permits more quickly and for more people, and advocate for TPS to be extended to people arriving from countries other than the ones we currently provide temporary protective status. NYS has an excellent resettlement program but having a work permit is key to successful resettlement.

16. What proposals do you advocate to combat the cruel and inhumane immigration policies that the Trump Administration commenced and which, to some degree, are still in effect?

I agree with Julian Castro’s immigration agenda found here: https://issues.juliancastro.com/people-first-immigration/. In the legislature, I have pushed for strong supports for immigrants in New York, including the NY State DREAM Act which gave undocumented students access to state.administered grants and scholarships for their higher education costs. I helped push through New York’s critical program for expanding access to care for lower income people ineligible for Medicaid and for those who were excluded from health insurance coverage due to immigration status - our state-funded Essential Plan for people living at up to 200% of the federal poverty level.

I was an active co-sponsor of the NYS green light bill and have supported the availability of driver’s licenses for persons who are undocumented since former Gov. Eliot Spitzer proposed it. I have actively supported the Legal Aid Society and Arab American Family Support Center which supports immigrants with education, training and legal services including immigration support.

Immigrants bore the brunt of cruel and dehumanizing federal policies enacted under Trump. However, the dysfunction and gratuitous suffering at the center of the nation’s immigration system long pre-dates 2016. The system weaponized by Trump was constructed by prior administrations from both political parties, and funded and enabled by laws passed by Congress under both Republican and Democratic leadership. The unprecedented and ever-increasing scale of detentions and deportations squandered unprecedented billions of taxpayer dollars and devastated millions of families. These detentions and deportations also disproportionately harmed Black and Brown immigrants, reinforcing the racial hierarchies and racial injustices that pervade our society.

I have strongly supported immigration reform with a path towards citizenship. We also need to hire more immigration judges to handle the caseload.

17. Do you believe in the decriminalization of sex work?

Yes.

18. Do you oppose legislation that promotes the Nordic model?

I honestly don’t see either model going anywhere in the legislature. One big concern I have always had is trafficking and while neither model permits trafficking, it happens under our noses all the time; people being trafficked most often deny they are being trafficked because they are traumatized and they are in real physical danger. Accurately sorting between a person being trafficked and someone engaging in consensual sex work is hard to codify and I see that as a major barrier to passage of either bill.

19. What concrete proposals do you support to lift up women after four years of Trump being President?

The Biden administration has made some important steps, including his hiring many women in senior positions, his elevation of a diverse group of women to the federal bench (here’s to Ketanji Brown Jackson!), his support for abortion rights and access to the full panoply of reproductive health services. We desperately need to expand Title IX protections, codify Roe v Wade+, pass Sen. Mazie Hirono’s UPHOLD Privacy Act and her EACH Act which guarantees coverage for abortion care and ends the Hyde Amendment.

20. Do you support a single-payer universal health care system? Please elaborate.

Yes. I have been a sponsor of the NY Health Act since I first took office.

21. What have you done to facilitate reproductive rights, including access to contraceptives and abortion services?

Active member of BPCLC, engaged in legislative agenda and advocacy for expanding access to reproductive health care, sponsor of all relevant legislation, including the creation and funding of abortion access fund for women from states with abortion bans traveling to NYS for abortion care, have led the way in drafting comments on behalf of legislators to proposed federal regulations, have been a signatory to various amicus briefs in support of reproductive health care rights, including opposing the Dobbs decision. In 1979-1801, I worked part-time as an abortion counselor at a clinic in Washington, DC, so my experience in this area is broad and deep.

22. Will you refuse contributions from individuals or Political Action Committees representing the Real Estate industry, from police or correctional communities?

Yes, as I have historically.

23.

Will you refuse and refund any contributions from executives or corporations complicit in the Trump anti-American agenda?

Yes, as I have historically.

24. How do you propose that we address the current surge of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism?

We have to engage in difficult conversations, discover our commonality and educate, educate, educate about facts and historical context. I also carry a bill that would make it easier to prosecute hate crimes of all kinds, including antisemitism and Islamophobia.

25. Did you or would you have voted for the censure of U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib?

I think not.

26. Do you support an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East?

I believe in peace and a two-state solution. I am not sanguine that peace is forthcoming any time soon. Ultimately, the parties need to be willing; that does not appear to be the case right now. I think too much of the rhetoric that has been bandied about has been harmful to encouraging peace, which should be everyone’s goal.

27. Should we condition further aid to Israel? What conditions should we stress that Israel abides by?

I feel there should be conditions but am not sufficiently familiar with the details as to have a sense of what conditions might be applied and to what result. Obviously, Israel has to conduct its operations in a manner consistent with international law and its incessant bombing has caused way too many deaths of noncombatants, a disproportionate number of whom were children.

28. Will you refuse funds from Trump-supporting AIPAC?

AIPAC has never supported my campaign nor sought to.

29. What are your concrete proposals to prevent Trump and his cult from taking over this country and ending democracy?

Increase Democratic voter registration, push every lever for turnout among Democrats, Independents, and cross over Republicans, organize buses to battleground states to GOTV for Biden and Dems on the ballot. Support candidates for state and congressional seats in special elections around the country and support those vulnerable Democrats in Congress. We have to flip a bunch of state legislatures so elections are run fairly. First up: is campaigning for Suozzi and taking back that seat and diminishing the GOP majority by one more seat. We also need to turn out to support the constitutional amendment that will be on the ballot in November expanding equal rights to marginalized communities and pregnancy outcomes.

30. How can we combat the movement in this country to ban books, prevent colleges from discussing issues and demonizing intelligence as “woke”?

Keep calling them out as the ignorant hypocrites that they are and support efforts to provide banned books to teens. The Brooklyn Public Library has done outstanding work providing access to its collection to high schoolers across the country in states where books are increasingly banned. We also need to organize with local leaders to get Democrats elected to school boards. This is how the GOP did it and Democrats were asleep at the switch, in part because who would have thunk it?

31. As Christopher Columbus caused the death/slavery of thousands, should we replace the Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus Circle, and if so, what should replace it? Do you authorize the use of your name for such a purpose?

Have mixed feelings about the utility of this. None of the guys doing exploring in those days (700 years ago) were paragons of virtue and I think it can be a bit unrealistic to attribute today’s notions of morality onto people who reflected the mores of their times long ago times. They were all very racist and misogynistic. I don’t know why it was decided to erect a statue to Columbus in the first place. It may have been during a time of great anti-Italian defamation (which was a very real thing). On the other hand, I don’t have strong feelings that it should remain either. Whatever decision is made, I would like to keep the name Columbus Circle as to the location, because people will continue to call it that, like they do 6th Ave. As for what alternative should be chosen, I have no suggestions at this time.

32. As Edward I Koch caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people with AIDS and was blatantly racist, should we rename the former Queensboro Bridge? Do you authorize the use of your name for such a purpose?

I would not have named it for him in the first place.

33. What will you do to support nightlife in New York State? Do you commit to speaking with liquor license applicants and restaurant/nightlife industry representatives before taking a position on policies affecting their businesses?

Yes, but these requests for liquor licenses go through the community boards, a city body. We only learn about the requests from reading the CB agenda. That being said, occasionally there are suggested conditions for noise levels if the establishment in a residential area, but I can’t recall any local denials. I also can’t recall any requests for me to support a denial.

34. What is your opinion of Eric Adams as New York City Mayor? Are you involved in finding someone to run for Mayor of New York City?

I think the mayor has had some good initiatives, most importantly his efforts to address the needs of dyslexic children in the schools, science of reading aligned professional development and instituting evidence-based literacy practices in the classroom. Not surprisingly, this is new to everyone and there have been a few growing pains, but I have confidence in the overall effort. In other ways, the mayor is struggling. Managing NYC is complicated and somewhat tedious task, and he is on a steep learning curve during a time of heightened challenges both because of longer term COVID impacts to New Yorkers’ psyches, education, criminal justice, and business community, not to mention the stressor of the migrant situation, where I feel strongly NYC has walked into Greg Abbott’s cynical trap.

35. How can we mandate that every community do its share to have affordable housing and care for the recently arrived people?

While a mandate may sound good, it doesn’t ensure compliance. The better approach is to incentivize and make it beneficial for affordable housing to be built, which would also increase the number of people in decent affordable housing, which we are in great need of. Affordable housing requires a multi-pronged effort, starting with a viable plan. I have always fought for more affordable housing and more deeply affordable housing. Every time a large building is built with 20% of marginally “affordable” housing, black and brown people are displaced because the housing that is affordable isn’t really and 80% of what is built is market rate and luxury. At Atlantic Yards, 2,250 units of “affordable” housing was to be created by 2016, most of it at middle income. When community is in driver’s seat we get Hoyt Schermerhorn – which under my leadership as Boerum Hill president created 37.5% low to moderate income housing on 6.5 acres that used to be

parking lots, with density where the density worked. How do I know it worked? It’s fully built out and no one is fighting about it.

36. Are you a sponsor of Good Cause Eviction legislation?

Yes

37. Do you support allowing legal Immigrants to vote in local elections?

Yes