The New York Times Editorial Board endorsed Gus’s candidacy in the Democratic primary for the 76th Assembly district. Of the four candidates he was named “the clear leader in this race” and their unequivocal support is an enormous win for the campaign.

From the New York Times Article:

“In the race to replace the disgraced Assemblyman Micah Kellner, the leading candidates are Rebecca Seawright, backed by most labor unions and women’s groups, and Gus Christensen, a former investment banker. Mr. Christensen, who often says that ‘economic justice is just good economics,’ has the credibility to coax the financial community into accepting higher taxes and a better minimum wage. Ms. Seawright is a lawyer who runs the Feminist Press publishing unit at the City University of New York. The other candidates are David Menegon, a Xerox executive, and Edward Hartzog, a lawyer. Mr. Christensen is the clear leader in this race.”

Watch Gus Christensen win the recent 76^th AD debate on NY1. His main opponent stumbled badly on air, calling for New York to become a “Right to Work” state, which would fatally undermine some of the critical workplace protections that New Yorkers now have.

The debate began with host Errol Louis asking the candidates about two of the most important issues facing the district, the 91st St Marine Transfer Station and the Second Avenue Subway. Gus Christensen led the first round with a more substantive set of policy proposals than any of the other candidates. But it was during the second segment that the debate got fiery and one candidate in particular took a few spills. Please make sure you watch the entire thing – the NY1 video interface can be tricky. Just keep watching at the end of the opening segment and it will automatically segue into the second segment.

Gus’s vision for Roosevelt Island and the entire 76th assembly district was recently highlighted in articles by well known bloggers who focus on the island and on affordable housing. Both Malcolm Redfellow and the Roosevelt Islander blog picked up the recent New York Times article on Roosevelt Island in their own pieces.

Redfellow: “Gus Christensen and Co.”

          “I have to say, with his emphasis on housing and decent provision for schooling, Mr Christensen sounds like my sort of man…. I feel that Christensen, Reeves, Hunt, and Miliband are models of precisely the kind of caring, thoughtful progressives of which we need many more.”

Roosevelt Islander: “NY Times Spotlights NY State Assembly Candidate Gus Christensen in Roosevelt Island Affordable Housing Article”

        “Affordable housing was the subject of a NY Times article today headlined ‘Affordable Island in the Sun: Roosevelt Island Maintains Its Mix.’ The Big City column focused its first two paragraphs of a Roosevelt Island affordable housing story on one of the NY State Democratic Party 76th Assembly District candidates – Gus Christensen.”

Gus was featured in a DNAinfo article, “Trash Station Workers Ignored Safety Rules Before Chisel Broke Window,” that highlighted a recent safety violation with the construction of the 91st Marine Transfer Station, which resulted in the injury of an Asphalt Green employee. Incidents like this are why Gus is so vehemently opposed to the construction of the Marine Transfer Station, and why he was willing to get arrested in protest of it. The article highlighted a speech Gus recently gave describing his experience with civil disobedience:

“The time for being nice is coming to a close,” Pledge 2 Protect volunteer Gus Christensen told residents at the meeting. “We need to speak the language that today’s City Hall understands, and that language is civil disobedience.”

Gus was featured in the New York Times on June 20th in the article “Affordable Island in the Sun: Roosevelt Island in the Sun“.

“Mr. Christensen is running for the State Assembly in the 76th District, which runs east of Third Avenue on the Upper East Side and includes Roosevelt Island, a community that might be seen as a template for the kind of equitable and more economically integrated city that he and other progressives, fearing the eclipse of all but the wealthiest faction of the plutocratic class, want to see achieved.”