Paul Newell is running for New York State Assembly to shake things up in Albany.

Albany is broken. Unchallenged for decades, Sheldon Silver has lost touch with our community. The New York Times calls Silver "a throwback to the clubhouse era: secretive, insular and too close to the powerful interests that sustain his majority." Sheldon Silver's backroom dealings have made New York's government the most dysfunctional in the country. For over 30 years, he has failed again and again to fight for New Yorkers. To take back our government, we must take on the culture of failure in Albany and the rivers of money that feed it.

We must begin to address the crises of skyrocketing rents, failing schools and congested streets. Paul Newell will put the concerns of real New Yorkers ahead of the developers, special interests and party machines. Only when our legislature answers to us will we see an affordable housing mandate and channel the energy in this state towards making it a more livable place for all of us.

A lifelong downtowner, Paul Newell is uniquely suited to this challenge. His roots in the Lower East Side run deep. His grandmother, Sylvia Tavshinsky, was born on Ludlow Street in 1906. A graduate of District 2 New York public schools, he currently lives in a rent stabilized apartment on Division Street.

Paul Newell has fought for over a decade for progressive values. Whether working to elect progressive leaders, preserve Yiddish culture or bring needed services to children orphaned by AIDS, Paul has always believed in working together to achieve real change.

We have a tremendous opportunity in 2008. We can end the culture of failure in Albany. Lower Manhattanites, and all New Yorkers, deserve no less.

Democracy Downtown. For a Change.