A few weeks ago, Andrew sat down with the editor of The L Magazine for a wide-ranging interview on everything from education to public transit to why Andrew has a pair of Joe Biden's cufflinks. The interview was published in two parts: Part One and Part Two. Here is an excerpt from part one:

When did you first decide to run against Marty Golden?
Last year I was looking around and I thought, no one's gone after Golden because he's been there for so long. You know, there was that candidate who ran against him less than two years ago, but he really didn't have much behind him: no money, no support, no volunteers, no anything. And I just think Marty's taken so many bad votes. Increasingly bad votes, year after year after year, and no one calls him out on it, no one holds him accountable. And if no one else is gonna run, well, I'll do it.

What "bad votes" in particular?
There was his vote against fair pay last year, which I thought was and still is completely ridiculous. And his excuse for it I find to be very offensive, frankly: "we can't afford to pay men and women the same."

Read the rest of Pt. I by clicking here.

(Brooklyn, NY) Earlier today, Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny and 45th District Leader Ari Kagan formally endorsed fellow Democrat and Brooklyn attorney Andrew Gounardes for State Senate.

“Since I came to this great country, I’ve built my life and my business here from scratch,” Brook-Krasny said. “Working with Andrew Gounardes in the legislature, I think we could help make that dream a reality for so many more people. He understands that we can invest more in our local economy and schools without raising taxes on hard-working families.”

"For years, I’ve worked to make southern Brooklyn a better place to live for immigrants, seniors, business owners and tenants,” said Kagan. “I have always said we need more Democrats that will listen to our diverse communities and bring new, original ideas to the table. Andrew Gounardes is doing exactly that, and I’d be proud to call him my State Senator.”

(Brooklyn, NY) Over the past week, voters in southern Brooklyn have heard State Senator Marty Golden tout an endorsement from the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG). There’s one problem: NYPIRG does not endorse political candidates.

During an October 11 candidate forum hosted by the Arab American Association of New York, Golden told the audience, “I’ve got NYPIRG’s endorsement. I got a whole series of endorsements.” 

At a debate two days earlier, Golden claimed that NYPIRG ranked him “among the state’s most productive legislators,” pointing to a July analysis of the legislative session. In reality, the NYPIRG report explicitly stated that it did not draw conclusions about individual legislators and that “legislative ‘productivity’ is more complicated...than simple numbers.”

In July, the Senator issued a press release quoting a NYPIRG employee and using the headline, “NYPIRG: Golden Gets Things Done.” No one at NYPIRG knew anything about it.

“There’s a clear pattern here,” said Golden’s opponent, Democrat Andrew Gounardes. “Since this report came out, he has been stretching the truth a little bit further each day, to the point that he seems to be making things up now.”

“Just weeks before that report, NYPIRG listed Marty as one of the top ten recipients of lobbyist money in the state,” Gounardes continued. “The truth hurts. That’s why Marty Golden is trying so hard to avoid it.”

The NYPIRG non-endorsement is not Golden’s only good government headache. It comes on the heels of a Daily News article that accused Golden of using taxpayer money to create campaign mailer prototypes and a NY Post article that showed that Golden accepted $1,237 worth of cigars as a gift for sponsoring legislation to cap cigar taxes.

(Brooklyn, NY) - In a recent campaign letter filled with dubious claims, Marty Golden told voters he co-sponsored the Women's Workforce Bill, a bill designed to make sure women are given information about all jobs, including jobs traditionally held by men. He did no such thing.

While the bill passed unanimously by the Senate, Golden's claim of being a co-sponsor is worse than dubious. It is outright false. 

Bay Ridge Attorney and State Senate candidate Andrew Gounardes said of his opponent's falsehood, "Sadly, this is nothing new for Golden. He's been saying one thing and doing another for a long time. The only difference now is that he isn't saying it in a closed room or to his inner circle. This letter went to voters all across the district and they know how to fact-check." 

Not only was Golden not a co-sponsor on the Women's Workforce Bill, he's notably absent as a co-sponsor on many other bills that address the issue of women in the workforce. Those bills include: Paid Family Leave, Discrimination in Employment, and Business Tax-Credit for Employer Provided Day Care.

Moreover, it is well-known that Golden voted against the New York Fair Pay Act in 2011, a bill designed to make sure women and men are paid the same wage for the same job. A year later Golden decided to "help" women learn to "sit, stand and walk like a model" at a taxpayer funded event at his family's catering hall. 

Gounardes, who has long been on the record with his support of the New York Fair Pay Act, said, "It's 2012. How are we still have this conversation? It's common sense that women and men should be paid equally for the same job. Anybody who thinks otherwise is just out of touch."

This is not the first time Golden has taken credit for something he did not do. He was recently called out in the Daily News for trying to take credit for MTA improvements.