His father, John Claxton, was the first person he had a conversation with after deciding to run against Councilman James Sanders (D-Laurelton) in September’s primaries. The elder, more introverted Claxton would lecture his son — the same man who bounced around during his 20 years on the police force because of his tendency to question authority — on the campaign.
He offered three pointers in Marq’s pursuit of the City Council’s District 31 seat. “Just don’t be personal, don’t be disrespectful,” he said, “but be brutally honest.”
John Claxton passed away more than a month ago, but in the race between Claxton, the ex-cop, and Sanders, the former Marine, the challenger has come out with guns blazing.
“People need to go and get a job, including the councilman,” Claxton said in reference to term limits. “Unless you can do effective representation, the people have said no, eight years is plenty. Now you need to get a job and experience what we have been experiencing during your whole tenure.”
Sanders said he has always been a proponent of three, four-year terms. But Claxton, a fellow Democrat, is “dying to hear” what changes Sanders hopes to accomplish in the next four years that he hasn’t already attempted in the past eight.
Like his father, he’s ready to challenge. “He taught me not to look at what’s before, but what’s behind what’s before you, and what could be on the other side of what’s before you,” Claxton said. “He believed those people in power need to be questioned on a regular basis. Relentlessly challenged.”
Claxton doubts Sanders can match him in a crime debate. He’s fought against drugs as an undercover officer and led an identity theft unit.
His first objective is to create a 116th Precinct, because the 105th, covering Queens Village, Cambria Heights, Laurelton, Rosedale and Springfield Gardens, is stretched to its limits.
“They have a large area to cover, and they just don’t do the job,” Claxton said.
Better response times would result, as would better communication between the police and community members, who often feel as if they live in a “police state” with unannounced increases in patrols.
Claxton’s plan to curtail the foreclosure crisis has already, in part, been written out for him. The author: Sanders.
The incumbent did author a bill in 2002 to prevent the city from conducting business with entities that participated in predatory lending practices. Nothing would come of the legislation. While many of Sanders’ opponents have been quick to condemn him for doing little to curtail the foreclosure crisis, Sanders said he will not accept blame for the bill being successfully challenged in court.
But Claxton does not like the incumbent using an incomplete action for his credentials, especially if Sanders did not rework the bill in the intervening years.
“He’s past prime,” Claxton said. “It has to be reworded and revamped. We need it now. ... People are losing their homes.”
Along similar lines, Claxton starts off by taking a page from Sanders when planning ideas for revitalizing southeast Queens.
He favors Sanders’ classes for entrepreneurs, but he wants the participants to be more than eligible to earn start-up grants. He wants a guarantee those who invest time in these programs will earn more than a diploma and a picture with the councilman.
Donovan Richards, Sanders’ chief-of-staff, said the councilman has invested $150,000 into these programs and participants are guaranteed a grant once an efficient business model is presented.
“We can’t have dead-end programs,” Claxton said, adding that training seminars should lead to entry-level employment or an apprenticeship in a union. “Now all we have are fully-trained unemployed people.”
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