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Ellison reveals run
for State Senate on Web site
BY RICK BRAND
STAFF WRITER
November 2, 2005, 8:18 PM EST
Brooke Ellison, a quadriplegic who graduated from Harvard, has without
fanfare declared her candidacy for State Senate, according to her Web
site.
"I am fighting to bring a refreshing change to Long Island politics by
running for the New York State Senate," said Ellison, a Democrat, on
her Web page. Ellison, who turned 27 last week, said she wants to find
solutions to problems such as the lack of affordable housing and the state's
"failure to fund embryonic stem cell research."
Her likely opponent is telegenic two-term state Sen. John Flanagan
(R-East Northport). In the past several months, he has also expressed
interest in a place on next year's state GOP ticket.
Flanagan did not return calls for comment, but John McArdle, spokesman for
Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick), said, "She's been telling
people she is going to run, so this is no surprise." He said Flanagan, a
19-year Albany veteran, has been "re-elected resoundingly ... is extremely
popular and is looking forward to running again."
If Ellison were to win, she would become the first Suffolk Democrat
elected to a State Senate seat in more than a century. Her candidacy creates
a major battleground for the Senate's Republican shrinking 33-27 majority,
especially if it becomes an open seat.
Ellison, who has emerged as a national spokeswoman for the disabled and was
the subject of a TV-movie directed by the late Christopher Reeve, quietly
did her cyber announcement in mid-October. She formed a "Brooke For New
York" fundraising committee with the state Board of Elections in Albany.
Ellison, a doctoral student in political psychology, who is taking time
off to organize her campaign, declined to go beyond her statements on the
Web site or discuss how much she's raised "out of courtesy to those who are
running Nov. 8." She said she will formally declare her candidacy in a
public event, shortly after Election Day
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