Sergey Kadinsky

This story will appear in the Queens Tribune

Seminerio is facing serious charges, but fellow elected officials are not jumping the gun on his likely future. Charged with corruption, the 16-term assemblyman could face up to 20 years in federal prison. As he ponders a plea deal, no official contender stands to challenge him for his Assembly seat, which he has held since 1978.

“He is on trial and has not been convicted,” said State Senator-elect Joseph Addabbo, Jr. “The party has not commented on his future, pending results of the trial.” Much of Addabbo’s Senate district overlaps Seminerio’s Assembly district, in neighborhoods where Democrats and Republicans have recently faced off in tight contests for State Senate and City Council seats.

In contrast, Seminerio faced no opponents in his latest reelection on Nov. 4, two months after being charged with pocketing $500,000 in payoffs through a phony consulting company that offered favors to organizations doing business with the state. His candidacy was cross-endorsed by the Republican and Conservative parties. In contrast to his Democratic colleagues, Seminerio holds more conservative positions on topics such as abortion, capital punishment, and gay marriage.

Among the possible successors is lawyer Albert J. Baldeo, who narrowly lost to incumbent Serphin Maltese in the 2006 race for state senate. In early 2008, he ran again, but subsequently dropped out to support fellow Democrat Addabbo, who went on to defeat Maltese.

In his law office on Liberty Avenue, photographs show Baldeo shaking hands with a host of prominent elected officials, and awards testify to his experience in community leadership. For now, Baldeo has opted to wait out his options, pending the outcome of Seminerio’s trial. “I will answer the call if Democratic leaders call upon me to run at the appropriate time,” said Baldeo.

At the same time, considering Seminerio’s health and age, the prospect of imprisonment has garnered him some support. “An imprisonment for him would be much harder than for a healthy young man,” said his attorney, Ira Cooper, in an interview with the Daily News.

While the legal woes of an aging incumbent could be a godsend for a young upstart, Baldeo was having none of it. “My heart goes out to him and his family. He has a long serving record of 30 years. He is an institution,” said Baldeo. “I hope the allegations against him are untrue.”

At the same time, Baldeo reports that he has received numerous calls asking when he will declare his candidacy for Seminerio’s seat. “Some say that it is a natural seat for me, and that I am the strongest candidate for that seat,” said Baldeo. “I got 69 percent of the votes in Assemblyman Seminerio’s district when I ran against Senator Maltese in 2006, although Seminerio endorsed Maltese against me.”

Baldeo takes pride in receiving 25 percent of the primary vote against Addabbo even after dropping out, and using his clout to deliver the Senate seat for him in the general election. “That proves that I have a strong base in the district,” said Baldeo.

Should he run, he already has a head start in funding the potential race. “. I have the funds from the Addabbo race available to run against any likely competitors-over $400, 000,” said Baldeo.

“Many tell me that I will be the strongest candidate for this seat.”

This article will appear in the Jewish Press later this week.

Emanuel Aminov, the man killed last week as he delivered meals-on-wheels to the elderly at a Brownsville housing project, was remembered in very different ways in two communities on the day of his funeral.

In the Bukharian Jewish community of Queens, hundreds of mourners remembered the grandfather of seven, a modest family man who put his kindness to work delivering meals.

In Brownsville, Brooklyn, a neighborhood struggling to solve the murder, Aminov’s death underscored the challenges facing the low-income, crime-ridden area.

“I will make sure that the police leave no stone unturned,” said Charles Barron, the city councilman who represents both Brownsville and Starrett City, where Aminov, 55, lived.  He dismissed Brownsville’s often-tense relations with police. “If you don’t want to snitch, tell me and I’ll do it, ” he said at the funeral.

“He was making life better for those in need,” said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz to the mourners. “Each of you represents the very best in him.”

His family agreed. “He isn’t a business guy,” said his brother, Yosef Aminov. “He was a simple family person.”  Ironically, the family had fled war-torn Tajikistan in 1989 for New York where Emanuel Aminov worked hard to make a better life for his children and grandchildren.

Aminov wanted a better life for others, too.  That’s why he often filled in for other drivers to deliver food packages for the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged (JASA).  Last Monday morning, as he walked down the stairs of 341 Dumont Avenue, an anonymous black man confronted him, police said, and fired the fatal shot in his chest.

While his death brought city officials and rabbinical leaders to the funeral, the murder reminded Brownsville residents of the criminal in their midst.  “He may feel so guilty he will turn himself in,” said Terrell Jensen, 25.

Jensen didn’t sound as optimistic about security conditions in the Brownsville projects.  Unlike many of the city’s public housing areas, the Brownsville Houses project doesn’t have security cameras. Jensen wasn’t sure the cameras would have made a difference anyway. Across the street at Van Dyke Houses, Jensen said they have 200 cameras but they haven’t deterred two rapists.  “Cameras don’t work,” Jensen said. “The police only harass people, and cameras aren’t any better. People do stupid things.”

Back at the Schwartz Brothers-Jeffer Memorial Chapels in Queens, Yosef Aminov had a message for the murderer and anyone who knows where he is.   “You better sell him out,” he said.

Others reminded the mourners to remember the man. “In a tragedy like this, death can be overwhelming,” said Edwin Mendez-Santiago, commissioner of the city’s Department of Aging. “But in the coming days, I know you’ll focus on how he lived, serving the most vulnerable among us. Remember his life, passion, commitment to his family, and community.”

Aminov was laid to rest at the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Queens. A candlelight vigil at the site of his murder is planned after the completion of the family’s seven-day mourning period. “This is not just a loss for your family, but also for our community,” Barron said.

Rabbi Itzhak Abramov urged the mourners to take greater care of their children, a message that would resonate in both neighborhoods.  “We write in our hearts and souls to communicate with our children,” said Abramov. “Otherwise, they too may become killers. Children are our happiness and our future. Don’t let them become like this murderer.”