Yesterday, Rep. Gary Ackerman, a Democrat who has represented Queens and Long Island since 1993, announced he would not run for re-election. According to his press release, "On the eve of the Federal Circuit Court’s approval of Congressional district lines that were seen to be extraordinarily favorable to Ackerman, and with the primary-free backing of the Democratic Party virtually assured, Ackerman has informed his family, staff, friends and party leaders that he will not seek a 16th term of office."
He said, "The residents of Queens and Long Island have honored me with their trust and support for the past 34 years, first as a New York State Senator, and for the past 15 terms as a Member of Congress. I’ve been truly privileged to have had the opportunity to fight for the beliefs of my neighbors in both the State Capital and in the halls of Congress. During my years in Congress, it has been my pleasure to address the needs of thousands of individual constituents and to influence domestic and global policy while serving on the Financial and Foreign Affairs Committees in the House. I am most thankful for the opportunity I’ve had to serve my country and my community."
Apparently Ackerman's news was a surprise, at least to Democrats. Like Assemblyman Rory Lancman who was thinking of running for Congress, but then he'd have to primary against Ackerman, so Lancman said yesterday that he wouldn't run. The Daily Politics reports, “Lancman was blindsided. He had spent 45 minutes with Ackerman earlier in the day and this never came up... Gary hadn’t given Rory any indication that he was bowing out today, and Gary called in chips to get other people to pressure Rory to bow out.”
Mr. Ackerman often baffled people on Capitol Hill during his 15 terms. Loud and gregarious, he was hard to miss in the corridors of Congress, always wearing a white carnation boutonniere and pulling up for work in a white 1966 Plymouth Valiant.
And unlike other lawmakers who live in apartments, hotels and houses during the week while Congress is in session, he lived on a houseboat called the Unsinkable II, a 42-foot vessel with one room, which was docked on the Potomac River, just miles from Capitol Hill. (The Unsinkable I sank in the Potomac in the mid-1980s.)
He was also known for an annual fund-raiser in Washington, a quintessentially New York affair catered with kosher deli food shipped in from the city, including corned beef, pastrami, matzo ball soup, sour pickles, stuffed cabbage, hot dogs with mustard and sauerkraut, and Dr. Brown’s sodas. It was a popular function, with lawmakers from all over the country trying to attend.
