By Dee Richard
It’s that time again — to send my column in, that is. The weeks are flying by so quickly it seems as though it were only yesterday I sent the last one in.
The Queens Democratic Party Caucus voted its choices last Tuesday. Most were as to be expected, but there were a few upsets, specifically the choice of city comptroller.
The party’s choice was City Councilman John Liu over Councilman David Weprin. David, if you recall, has been gearing up and working hard with the goal in mind of achieving the comptroller’s position. I have covered many of his fund−raisers and he has received impressive financial support and undoubtedly assumed he would have both the backing and endorsement of his party. What a devastating blow it must have been for him to learn otherwise.
But remember, David, it ain’t over till the fat lady sings. Since all the candidates are adept at raising money, the determining factor would seem to be which one can garner the most votes.
I attended the Brandeis Scholarship Lunch Sunday and your issue was brought up and discussed by some members. Apparently, a number of them say you can still count on their support. In any event, David and John, good luck to both of you, but don’t lightly dismiss Council members Melinda Katz or David Yassky. It’s a long time from now until September.
The Brandeis lunch was the group’s annual scholarship event and was held at the Rockwood Park Jewish Center in Howard Beach. It was held to benefit the Jerome Ginsberg and Moses M. Weinstein scholarship funds.
This year’s special honoree was the honorable Seymour Boyers. One of my favorite lady electeds, state Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn, presented Boyers with a lovely framed Assembly proclamation.
On Saturday morning, at 9 a.m., Mayor Michael Bloomberg breezed into Queens, stopping by the Reception House in Flushing for breakfast. According to Queens County Republican Chairman Phil Ragusa, more than 250 people attended the breakfast, for which the mayor picked up the tab. Way to go, Mayor Mike, as it’s always a good thing to feed people. The breakfast was a pep rally to kickoff Bloomberg’s re−election campaign and motivate the petition carriers, as the official start of the nominating petition gathering is June 9.
Bloomberg this past week has secured two important heads−up approvals. One from Randy Weingarten of the United Federation of Teachers and the other from U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman. Weingarten said she, as well as most everyone else, was impressed with the improvement in children’s math scores. Ackerman had a whole list of reasons for his nod of approval, among them Bloomberg’s admirable fiscal responsibility as well as his high performance rating on the security and safety of the city.
According to Bloomberg, it will be a tough race and will require much hard work from many sources. The original mayoral race was comprised of three candidates: U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, city Comptroller Bill Thompson and Bloomberg. After giving it much though, Weiner officially dropped out of the race — a wise decision on his part, as he is a rather young man and time is on his side. Why bankrupt yourself and your war chest on a questionable race? That leaves Bloomberg, Thompson and Councilman Tony Avella.
As far as the majority of the people are concerned, Bloomberg has already demonstrated he is capable of running and managing an almost impossibly unmanageable city.
Thompson is a great guy and he has a lot of support from his camp, but is that enough in the city, state and national crisis we find ourselves in to put him over the top?
Since everything seems to hinge on timing, perhaps his race is also a better “wait till next time race” as well as Weiner’s? Father Time, you are going to be one busy VIP.
That’s it for this week.
I look forward to hearing from you with information on people, parties and politics or gossip.
I like receiving your voice mails at 718−767−6484, faxes at 718−746−0066 and e−mails at deerrichard@aol.com.
Don’t forget to check out the Focus on Queens page.
Till next week, Dee.
