By ROSS M. WALLENSTEIN

Earlier this year, I read the newsthat the legendary assembly-member from Queens, Nettie

Mayersohn, was retiring after 28years in the state legislature at the age

of 86.I had known her longtime chief of

staff, Michael Simanowitz, from myyears working for another Queenslegend, Representative GaryAckerman. When I heard aboutNettie’s retirement plans, I calledMichael and asked if I could run hisinevitable campaign to replace herin the Assembly. We began a con-versation and, by June 1, I hit theground running as his new cam-paign manager.

We knew that the governorwould call a special election. If not,Michael would have to run inNovember to fill the remainingyear of his boss’ term. The year wasdestined to be boring politically.But, by the end of June,Representative Anthony Weinerhad resigned, as did five moreassemblymembers from around thestate. The governor called the spe-cial election for primary day, Sept.

13. This meant that we had approx-imately 100 days to raise moneyand — through contact with votersand local media — make Michael’sname as synonymous to voters asNettie’s had been during her time

as their representative.Many political observers said

that the election was Michael’s tolose and that such a serious cam-paign was unnecessary. But we

had a Republican opponent onthe ballot and we were not goingto take anything for granted. Wemounted an aggressive fieldoperation.

Michael, the early favorite, couldhave stayed home at night with hiswife and four children, but insteadspent several hours each day(except Friday nights andSaturdays) knocking on doors. Heknocked on close to 1,000 doors perweek. He talked to voters through-out the 27th Assembly District,which stretches south from CollegePoint all the way down toRichmond Hill. He answered ques-tions on topics ranging from thestate budget to the redevelopmentof Willets Point. He was wellreceived everywhere he went.

The best part about managing acampaign for a veteran politicalstaffer like Michael is that he didnot need any training or preppingwhen it came to important policymatters. From his 15 years as chiefof staff to AssemblywomanMayersohn, he is very, very famil-iar with anything a potential votercould throw at him.

Every campaign deals with curve-balls along the way. Our curveballcame in the form of the hotly con-

tested race for Weiner’s former con-gressional seat, whose district over-lapped with ours. We contended withthe race — which received nationalattention — for press and financialcontributions.

But we persevered. We foundother sources of funding frompeople who knew Michaelthrough his years of service. Andwe got free press from reporterslooking to cover something inQueens besides the congressionalrace.

Elections in this country are gen-erally held on Tuesdays. Since

the 9/11 attacks, primary day oftenconflicts with remembrances in NewYork and around the nation. Thisyear posed a particular challengewith the anniversary coming outright before voters went to the polls.We decided early on not to campaignon Sunday, Sept. 11. That day,Michael went to as many memorialceremonies throughout the district ashe could, but he didn’t knock on anydoors.

Obviously, with an observantcandidate, Saturdays are out aswell. This meant that from lateFriday afternoon until Mondaymorning, my candidate was not ableto talk to any voters. We trusted vol-unteers to help get out Michael’sname at events on Saturday, Sept.10 and also were confident thatMichael had done a good job con-vincing voters that he was the rightchoice.

Monday, Sept. 12 was a verylong day. I was in the campaignoffice from early in the morninguntil close to 11 p.m. We had overa dozen dedicated volunteersmaking calls to voters until justafter 8 p.m. and I stayed late to set

up the office for the morning.Tuesday was — as expected — an

even longer day. I was up at 5 a.m.and in the campaign office by 5:45— ready for the hordes of peoplewho would be coming in and out forthe next 18 hours.

That last day, we coordinatedvolunteers (by then I had some veryexperienced hands pitching in dur-ing the last 48 hours) and executedour crucial strategy for ElectionDay visibility. We were able tohave multiple volunteers out with“Simanowitz for Assembly”posters at a majority of the 26polling places throughout the dis-trict. We even had several promi-nent elected officials, includingState Comptroller Thomas DiNapoliand other local legislators, standwith Michael in front of poll sites orbus stops to campaign.

We orchestrated a very well-runelection night operation, whereby wehad people help us “close the polls” (astandard practice of tallying votesfrom each polling place to ensure anaccurate count). There are 26 pollsites throughout the district. Twentyof them were staffed with very ablevolunteers who called into our head-quarters with the aggregate numbersfor each election district as they weretacked to the walls by Board ofElection workers.

At 10 p.m., after much hard workby everyone involved, we knew thatMichael Simanowitz would be thenext assemblymember from Queens.He had carried almost every part ofthe district. He did especially well inareas where he regularly knocked ondoors. When all the votes were tallieddays later, he had won 76 percent ofthe vote — a feat unheard of for anon-incumbent.

18 JEWISH WORLD • NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2011

continued on page 21

Simanowitz’s successful manager offers post-election view from the trenches

FIRST PERSON

Michael Simanowitz is sworn in after winning the special election to replace NettieMayersohn in the 27th Assembly District.

Running a politicalcampaign can be

extremely difficult,depending on thecandidate. I hadthe pleasure of

working for a manwho genuinelycares about thepeople he nowrepresents in

Albany.

Phot

o: O

ffic

e of

Ass

embl

yman

Mic

hael

Sim

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itz

in a lot of beautiful things onconsignment that people normal-ly wouldn’t let go.”

The two women have alsoopened a boutique in Southampton— Ava’s, at 71 Jobs Lane. Thoughthe shop has mostly new items,Calamita says, “We are taking onsome resale there — vintage jew-elry, clothing.” She explains,“Ava’s was named after my 5-year-old granddaughter. It openedon her birthday three years ago.”

The Clearing House414 First StreetGreenport631.477.3484www.tchx.netHours: Fri., Sun. 11 a.m.-5

p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.After three years in

Southampton, The Clearing

House has now been inGreenport for five. Aside fromcontinued business ties —through estate sales, for example— with the Hamptons, there arefamilial ties as well.

Co-owner Victoria Collete ismother to Tisha Collete of theSouthampton and Sag HarborCollette stores. Victoria’s part-ner, Nick Nicolino, jokes, “Wesay that whenever something issold on consignment on the EastEnd, there’s a Collette who gets acut of it.”

Of The Clearing House’s con-signment and liquidation busi-ness, Nicolino says, “We notonly service all of the East End,but New York City, New Jersey— basically the entire metroarea.”

The Clearing House has justliquidated “a 15,000-square-footestate in Sagaponack,” saysNicolino, “next door to IraRennert’s [who built the largestprivate residence in the U.S.].

“People want to move, theyhave furniture they don’t want,we clear it out.” He adds that TheClearing House also donatesmany appliances to charity, suchas Habitat for Humanity anddomestic violence shelters. TheClearing House also does onsite

estate sales, advertising throughsocial media and email lists.

As to the state of the economy,Nicolino reflects: “It can helpyou if you know what you aredoing. People are definitely sell-ing for less, whether it’s housesor furniture. Someone comes to

me with a sofa they paid $10,000for — they have to be preparedto get nowhere near that now.”

The Clearing House, whichNicolino ultimately described as“geared to do big projects,” hasbeen featured in Newsday andSmartMoney.

Lesscontinued from page 19

JEWISH WORLD • NOV. 25 - DEC. 1, 2011 21

The economy ‘has helped us a little, hurtus a little. We are certainly getting in alot of beautiful things on consignmentthat people normally wouldn’t let go.’

—Marjorie Scanlon, Around Again

That night we celebrated withmany of the assemblyman-elect’sfamily and friends as well as the vol-unteers and unionmembers whohelped us overthe course of thecampaign.

After a decadein politics, I’vebeen part of morethan a dozen cam-paigns. I can saythis without hesi-tation: nights thatend in celebrationare much, muchbetter than thosethat end with asullen candidateand a distraughtstaff.

Running ap o l i t i c a l

campaign is atough job. It requires a lot of timeand energy. The job can be extreme-ly difficult, depending on the candi-date. I had the pleasure of workingfor a man who genuinely cares aboutthe people he now represents in

Albany. Assemblyman MichaelSimanowitz wants to make his com-munity — and all communities inNew York State — a better place tolive. If I didn’t believe that, I would-n’t have put in the time to help himget elected. I take pride in knowing

that he will help bet-ter the lives of hisconstituents formany years to come.

Maybe one day,another lucky cam-paign manager willget a chance like Idid: to run a success-ful campaign toreplace the legendaryassemblymemberfrom the 27thAssembly District —but hopefully not forat least 28 moreyears.

Ross Wallensteinis a political andcommunications pro-fessional. He man-aged Assemblyman

Michael Simanowitz’s specialelection campaign this year andhas served as an aide toGovernors Eliot Spitzer andDavid Paterson and CongressmanGary Ackerman.

Campaigncontinued from page 18

We had severalprominent

elected officials,including State

ComptrollerThomas DiNapoliand other local

legislators, standwith Michael in

front of poll sitesor bus stops to

campaign.