Freelance filmmaker and former District 11 city council candidate, Kevin Pazmino, is, as reported, running on the Conservative Party ticket in the upcoming general election on Nov. 8 in Assembly District 81. The seat is currently held by incumbent assemblyman and Democrat, Jeffrey Dinowitz, and covers much of the Northwest Bronx.

 

The candidate ran unsuccessfully on the Republican Party and Conservative Party lines in the 2021 district 11 city council general election which was ultimately won by now Councilman Eric Dinowitz, son of the assemblyman. Pazmino did not avail of the public matching funds program when he ran for city office in 2021, and in response to a question by Norwood News about his financing for his current assembly campaign, he said he is “self-funded.”

 

Pazmino holds what many would arguably call controversial views. He previously told Norwood News ahead of the 2021 election that on social media he follows a wide array of people from all walks of life and opinions. “Some of them even identify as extraterrestrials. I have found many great ideas that I have used as plot lines in some of the scripts I have written.” Pazmino has also said he does not necessarily fact-check posts which may contain conspiracy theories before he shares them with others. He is opposed to vaccine mandates.

 

Of his latest election bid for assembly, Pazmino said this top-three campaign issues are government accountability, crime and housing. When he announced his run for assembly in May this year, he said, “Yes, I am running under the Conservative party line. I was going to be on the Republican line, but there was an issue with the paperwork.” The candidate said neither is he running finally on the Parent Party ticket in the general election but said he has been endorsed by the latter party.

 

On April 20, the national Parent Party introduced a group of “Parent Party Democrats” who took the “Parent Party Pledge,” to run in Democratic primaries in New York. The pledge had three components: “empowering parents (school choice), empowering citizens (term limits), and supporting local law enforcement (opposing ‘Defund the Police’ efforts).”

 

According to the party, political candidates who used the Parent Party fundraising platform could be registered Democrats, Republicans, Independents or other third parties, and candidates agreed to a “Parent Party Pledge.” This included supporting educational freedom and independence for parents by having their education funds follow the students based on their parents’ choice of schooling, and supporting a full audit (academic, financial, and personnel) of the education system and schools to provide parents and the public with full transparency.

 

On housing, Pazmino advocates for a 10-year up-zoning freeze in New York City with a focus on fixing infrastructure and quality of life, working with other assembly districts in upstate regions “to provide affordable housing and a fast commute to New York City, rent-to-own programs, and easing zoning to allow homeowners to rent out available rooms.” He said, “I will work with small landlords, corporations and private homeowners, and figure out a fair deal when building starts.”

 

If elected, Pazmino said he plans to work with other assembly districts and the Army Corp of Engineers to upgrade New York State infrastructure to better prepare the State for all possible disasters, rebuild and grow upstate cities to help provide affordable housing and grow the economy, and develop a fair deal between private homeowners, small landlords and larger corporate developers with a focus on maintaining the integrity and history of neighborhoods.

 

Pazmino also plans to reopen and optimize State prisons which he said were closed by Democrats, reopen and upgrade psychiatric hospitals which he said were also closed by Democrats, and which he said, “has caused a flood of mentally ill in our jails.” He also wants to maintain historical infrastructure for educational purposes that will be “ready to go in case of disaster.”

 

On his campaign issue of government accountability, he said he wants to see “audits of government agencies, tracking of tax dollars spent, [with] an itemized breakdown to each taxpayer of how their money is being spent, the introduction of term limits, and a recall mechanism [for elected officials].” The incumbent Democratic assemblyman in A.D. 81 has held the seat since 1994.

 

Pazmino told Norwood News, “I would say if people are unhappy with the Democratic Party’s leadership, they should vote for change.” He added, “The progressive left has taken over the Democratic Party and are pushing to destroy our constitutional republic. They continue to step on our civil liberties with unconstitutional mandates. Their irresponsible spending is destroying our economy. If they (voters) want to bring back accountability, they should vote for me.”

 

It is arguable as to whether any of these points by Pazmino holds any weight. In the June 2022 Democratic primaries, progressive Democratic candidates tended to fair worse than their center-left Democratic counterparts. Jeffrey Dinowitz, himself, won his June 2022 Democratic primary in A.D. 81 with 6,311 votes to, progressive candidate, Jessica Altagracia Woolford’s 3,797 votes. The latter is currently running in the general election on Nov. 8 on the Working Families Party line.

 

In Assembly District 82, incumbent, center-left Democrat, Michael Benedetto, saw off a challenge from progressive Democrat, Jonathan Soto. In Assembly District 78, the primary was won by challenger, George Alvarez, who was backed by, among others, center-left Democrat, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13). Indeed, many incumbent center-left Democrats in the State senate, State assembly and Congress, were not even challenged for their seats.

 

Even in the most recent gubernatorial Democratic primary in June 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul saw off a challenge from progressive Democrat, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, while in last year’s Democratic mayoral primary, then candidate and now New York City Mayor Eric Adams, defeated progressive candidate, Maya Wiley who, as reported, was backed in that race by progressive Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14).

 

In her bid to win a seat in New York’s 17th congressional district, another progressive Democrat, State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (S.D. 34) lost out to center-left Democrat, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18). Similar trends in terms of the sway of center-left Democrats in elections were seen in the 2021 city council races.

 

Regarding Pazmino’s point about civil liberties, he was, doubtless, referring to Dinowitz’s stance on vaccination mandates, which the Conservative Party contender opposes vehemently. “The people need to be protected from elected officials who do not abide by their oaths of office,” Pazmino said. “When the actions taken by career politicians infringe on our constitutional rights, the people should not have to wait for a court decision. The sheriffs should be the peoples’ first line of defense.”

 

This is Pazmino’s stance despite health officials sounding a relatively recent alarm that polio, for example, an illness once considered relatively contained, is, once again, on the rise, as reported. In August, CBS News reported that NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) officials said hundreds of people had been infected with polio across the City.

 

In recent months, DOHMH announced that, according to their data, 13.8 percent of children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years in New York City have not been vaccinated against polio, and the agency is urging parents to ensure they get their children inoculated against what they say is a highly contagious viral infection. Meanwhile, COVID-19 has not disappeared and MPV is still on the rise.

Our new map shows polio vaccination rates for NYC children 6 months to 5 years old. According to our data, 13.8% have not been vaccinated against polio. Polio is highly contagious. The most important way to prevent polio is by getting vaccinated: https://t.co/HVfYyj35LN pic.twitter.com/JSe4pK9G90

— nychealthy (@nycHealthy) August 5, 2022

 

When it comes to guns, Pazmino said he wants to implement “constitutional carry,” despite the passage earlier this year of what many would call common-sense gun law reform in both New York State and in Congress, in the wake of a spate of early summer mass shootings across the country, including in Buffalo, NY.

 

As for the candidate’s remarks on “irresponsible spending” by Democrats, it is an oft-cited view by conservatives who tend not to acknowledge that inflation is high globally, not just in the U.S. under the Democratically controlled legislature and presidency, nor that it is caused, at least, in part by global supply-chain issues and the war in Ukraine. Neither do they acknowledge that recent government spending is, at least, in part, for the purposes of stimulating growth after the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, similar to what was done after any former economic crisis.

 

Republicans and Conservatives also routinely overlook that the U.S. was already on the backfoot when it came to issues like healthcare coverage, compared to most developed countries around the world, a factor which was plain to see during the pandemic when greater and wider healthcare coverage was needed than before by an even greater number of Americans. Recent spending in healthcare, particularly mental healthcare, is to a degree, therefore, redressing a historically underfunded sector of the economy. Pazmino, himself, acknowledges that more needs to be done to address mental health needs.

 

He told Norwood News his approach to crime includes the rolling back of “pro-crime” legislation, “the creation of jails/hospitals to handle crimes that deal with the mentally ill, and crimes committed while on drugs or alcohol, to make a distinction between organized crime and crimes committed due to mental illness and drug alcohol abuse.” All this, of course, requires money being spent.

Additionally, Conservatives argue that the president has not done enough to curb inflation, but it is the Federal Reserve, rather than the president who controls interest rates. According to bankrate.com, “When experts say the Fed[eral Reserve] is independent, that’s mostly because the central bank has the power to raise, lower or maintain interest rates without approval from the legislative or executive branches. This means that there’s nothing a president can really do to prevent the Fed from raising [or lowering interest] rates.”

 

Meanwhile, Biden did sign the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 which includes mechanisms to lower drug prices which, once again, compared to the costs of similar drugs in other developed countries, were exorbitant in the U.S.

 

During the credit crisis of 2008, Republicans and Conservatives ultimately voted, along with Democrats, to bail out the banks. Congress created the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to purchase toxic assets from banks at the time, despite reports of mismanagement and abysmal risk assessment by the top management of numerous impacted financial institutions, even while many regular Americans lost their homes.

 

More recently, other Conservatives such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14), who criticized the president for implementing student debt relief for some cohorts of low-income students, availed of government benefits, herself, in the form of PPP loan forgiveness. Conservatives also rarely question the hefty 14-15 percent of the federal budget that goes annually towards military spending, spending which is separate and distinct from the relatively paltry 3 percent allocated, by comparison, to veterans’ benefits and services.

 

The father of four and 1st assistant director with the Directors Guild of America (DGA) union, said he is running for State assembly to dethrone Dinowitz, who he characterized as “a swamp creature who has been in office for nearly 30 years.” He added, “I want to audit all State and City government agencies, investigate the handling of the COVID-19 emergency, remove all immunity from elected officials, [and] help NYS recommit to the U.S. constitution.”

 

He said, “I am looking to work to empower county sheriffs with the power to remove any elected official who doesn’t abide by their constitutional oaths of office, set term limits [for assembly members] and the implementation of a recall mechanism, remove all the mandates, and reinstate religious medical exemption.”

 

Pazmino’s other ideas include the implementation of a policy information resource, “so that all citizens are fully aware of what laws are being discussed in Albany,” with a system that allows the citizens to decide how they want elected officials to represent them, and “implementation of full disclosure of any and all government action, including anything considered ‘Top Secret’ as soon as any potential security concerns have passed.”

 

He also wants to form a New York State Militia/Guard, “tether State pensions to real world assets, and develop a crypto currency that gains value when spent inside the State.” He said this would replace the need for State income tax and fund New York State government spending. According to the Office of the New York State Comptroller, education and medicaid are the two largest components of the latest enacted 2022-23 State Budget of $220.5 billion, and they have also typically been the largest drivers of spending growth.

 

The point regarding healthcare spending was addressed earlier. When it comes to education spending, as reported, teachers have been crying out for months since the passage of the City budget when education spending was cut, saying they are unable to run many needed school programs.

 

Pazmino, himself, said in addition to his approach to crime, outlined further below, he also wants to “fix the educational system with added programs to keep youth engaged.” Nobody is arguing with the latter but presumably any additional programs would require more spending on education. Yet, the Conservative candidate has criticized the Democrats’ approach to government spending, for which, as above, education is one of the two largest components.

 

In terms of his wish for “programs to keep youth engaged,” as reported, the mayor recently visited Bronx Community College in University Heights in August to announce an $18.6 million federal grant for a new workforce development program. The program aims to place nearly 2,300 low-income New Yorkers on a trajectory to careers in what was described as two, high-growth sectors of the City’s economy, industry and construction, over the next three years. Staying on the education front, Pazmino also wants to ban critical race theory, and ban sexual education for Grade 6 and below.

 

On crime, Pazmino went on to say that he plans to repeal “all progressive legislation that is defunding our law enforcement. This includes the defunding of DA’s budgets for discovery.” As above, most Democrats who won their recent primaries are also opposed to defunding the police. The assemblyman who Pazmino is challenging has gone on the record with Norwood News on this very topic.

 

Dinowitz commended the anti-gun violence, anti-gang, and drug counseling work carried out by Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, based in Norwood. “I just got them a quarter of a million-dollar grant to work with teenagers,” he said. “It’s the things that we want to keep young people away from. I don’t think police are the answer to everything, but I think those who call for the defunding of police are way off base. I’m pretty sure I’m the only candidate running in this race that doesn’t want to defund the police,” he added ahead of the June 2022 Democratic primary.

 

For her part, Altagracia Woolford previously told Norwood News, when asked about the topic, that she was opposed to defunding the police. Pazmino said that if elected, he will look to overturn/repeal cashless bail and The Less is More Act. The latter is a law which aims to ensure NYC Department of Corrections and Community Supervision focuses its resources on helping people successfully complete community supervision, and avoid a return to DOCCS custody or supervision.

 

State officials said preventing such reincarcerations allows New York State to focus its limited resources on substantive parole violations. They say this promotes greater community safety and justice for families. Norwood News previously reported on a jobs and resource fair hosted by Democratic Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark in December 2021 to help those who were formerly incarcerated get back on their feet with access to training and employment opportunities in efforts to avoid recidivism.

 

Pazmino also wants to work with federal representatives to mandate that the IRS focus their efforts [in terms of monitoring tax revenue] on government, multinational corporations, and NGO spending, and not on individuals making less than 300K, and to implement the retroactive removal of any liability protection for pharmaceutical companies. “New York State has fallen to the Democratic Party. I am running to help save NYS from the grips of the Democratic Party,” Pazmino said.

 

Assembly District 81 includes some or all of the neighborhoods of Norwood, Kingsbridge, Van Cortlandt Village, Kingsbridge Heights, Riverdale, Fieldston, North Riverdale, Marble Hill, Woodlawn and Wakefield. Its borders were not affected by redistricting in the June 2022 primary election. New York State assembly district lines will be redrawn in time for the primary elections in 2024, according to a court ruling dated June 10, as reported.

 

Early voting is ongoing through Nov. 6. Election Day is Nov. 8. Check your polling site before going to vote.