By Dee Richard
Just as Councilman Eric Gioia thought he had amicably disposed of a serious potential rival for the 26th Councilmanic seat in the person of Joseph Conley, Community Board 2’s former chairman and now vice chairman, up pops Republican Patrick Hurley, president of the 30th Assembly District Republican Club.
Both men start out even with the endorsements of their county leaders. Democratic Chairman Tom Manton endorsed Gioia a few weeks ago, and state Sen. Serph Maltese, Republican chairman, recently endorsed Hurley. Gioia has the advantage of being the incumbent and has an impressive ability to raise money. In addition to that, there are more registered Democrats in Queens County than there are registered Republicans; I think the ratio is something like 4 to 1.
Under these heavily weighted odds, what does a challenger have to do? The simplistic answer is to change the odds by appealing not only to the Republicans in Maspeth, Woodside, Long Island City, Sunnyside and Astoria, but to the more conservative Democrats in the area, such as the working middle class, small-business owners, property owners and parents trying to secure a decent education for children, both theirs and everyone else’s.
This is the same group that is sick and tired of being taxed to death without ever having their needs and wants being addressed or even considered. If Hurley can convince a sufficient number of this group to cross party lines to vote for him, he might have a shot. In any event, this will be one of the more interesting races to watch.
On Saturday, June 14, the Ridgewood Democratic Club held its annual dinner-dance at Niedersteins Restaurant in Middle Village. The honorees were Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, “Woman of the Year,” state Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin, “Man of the Year,” and the Rev. Michael Ross, who received the “Community Service Award.”
It was a rather well-attended event. Some of the guests were state Sen. George and Athena Onorato, Juan Martinez, Councilman John Liu, Danny Dromm, Joan DeCamp, Joseph Conley, Judge James Grayshaw, Uma Sengupta and Greg and Brenda Murphy. Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan’s mom, dad, husband and son, Nicholas, were there to lend their support, and the guest list goes on and on.
Lois Marbach, Cathy’s campaign manager, said she and Cathy were pleased with the turnout and support Cathy’s friends and constituents gave her. I also had a few minutes to chat with Joseph Conley, a very decent, intelligent and sincerely caring individual for the betterment of his community.
The Northeast Queens Republican Club had its last meeting of the spring at the Reception House. Well over 100 people attended, which was phenomenal for a club meeting. The guest speaker was Randy Mastro — you all remember Randy — the former deputy mayor during the Rudy Giuliani Administration. He is now in private law practice and also serves on the Charter Revision Commission, which he is in favor of, but more about that next week — that’s a whole column in itself.
The other guest speaker was J.C. Polanco, assistant director to Charles Nesbitt, minority leader of the New York State Assembly. J.C.’s main job seems to be to instill lots of enthusiasm in the Republican Party and to try and develop electable candidates.
Speaking of Republican candidates, two approached Janet Malone, club president, and asked her if they could address the assembled group. The first was Jun Policarpio, who wants to run for Congress in 2004 for U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman’s seat.
Policarpio said he knows it will be a tough job, and that’s why he is starting out early. With him were his wife and four daughters, each young woman more beautiful than the next. Jun also has three sons who were unable to attend. He almost has enough members in his own and extended family to get elected.
The other candidate was Phil Ragusa, already mentioned in a previous week’s column. Phil is running against incumbent Democratic Councilman Tony Avella for the 19th Councilmanic seat. Lots of luck to all the candidates.
All in all it was a lively, informative, productive evening. I was sorry I had to leave early and couldn’t stay to network. I had agreed to meet two of my favorite contacts in a local Douglaston watering hole to discuss, plot and play gossip catchup about upcoming events (that’s how you find out what’s happening) — it’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.
Next week is going to be a busy, busy full week with lots of photos in “Focus on Queens” and lots of insider gossip in the “Dishing with Dee” column. Some of my friends who write columns say they often get stuck without enough material to fill up the allotted space; however, that’s not my problem. I often find I don’t have quite enough space to clue you in on all the fascinating happenings in Queens County.
When you have to cut down and condense due to space allocations, the column has a tendency to lose some of its flavor and become rather cut and dried. Oh, well, ce la vie!
On a personal note, Chet Szarejko tells us that Morshed Alam’s family was involved in a tragic accident in Bangladesh. The minibus they were riding in was struck by another bus. His mother and one brother were killed, another brother had a leg amputated and the remainder of the family remains hospitalized. Chet and Harbachan Sing are trying to raise funds to help out Morshed’s family. For additional information, contact Chet at 718-428-4369 or Harbachan at 718-468-8153.
If you care to share information, gossip, upcoming happenings or special events, call me at 718-767-6484, or fax me at 718-746-0066.
Till next week,
Dee
