By Dee Richard
What a difference a week makes. This time last week we broke the news of former Queens Alternative publisher Joyce Shepard’s dissatisfaction with her area’s political representation, particularly in regard to the Assembly member she refers to as a phantom representative. Of course, I dutifully put all the gossip in my column to keep you readers up on the latest political scuttlebutt. Well, it certainly stirred up a firestorm.
Janet Malone, the Northeast Queens Republican Club president, said, “I think I’m interested. I’d like to give it a try.” She then called a group of friends who were very enthusiastic and said they would help her run her campaign any way they could.
But alas, there is always one dysfunctional malcontent running around who has nothing better to do than stir up potential problems. It seems Janet owns two houses, one in the 26th Assembly District and one in the 22nd Assembly District. For quite some time she has been transferring all the paperwork necessary in establishing her home in the 26th AD as her main legal residence; however, she ran into some sort of glitch involving something to do with the time element in the transfer.
If this were the case, that was not a sufficient amount of time. The election laws are what they are, the law. If the opposition had raised this issue, that is what the campaign manager is supposed to do. He or she is supposed to find a way to eliminate the competition. That is perfectly acceptable and to be expected.
The sad part is that a supposed friend from the Conservative Party threatened all kinds of legal action in a most arrogant, nasty way. Not exactly what friends are for. If Janet were about to embark on a mistake, the gentlemanly thing to do would have been to call her and explain what the errors were instead of going ballistic all over Queens. Shame on you.
Then again, the same gentleman had a Christmas party at a local watering hole in northeast Queens. The charge for the affair was $15. When Janet called him and told him that both she and I would be coming, he said, “If Dee comes, she has to pay $15 — the same as everyone else.”
This fellow is not exactly what you would call a rocket scientist. If I had come, he certainly would have gotten more than $15 in value by having photos of his party on my photo page.
As much as I had looked forward to attending this great gastronomical soiree, that undoubtedly must have been prepared by the head Chef of LaCerc. I had to respectfully decline. No point in starting a bad habit involving nonconforming trends. My dear, the press does not pay, ever, but they do sing for their supper by giving you media coverage. So much for being myopic and shortsighted. Well, we certainly have beaten that issue to death.
Joyce baby, does this mean you will seriously consider running? Has anyone else other than Janet Malone contacted you and expressed an interest or desire in running? By the way, when is the unveiling for the all-new you? Perhaps at the same time you can inform us as to what your intentions are. I was unable to contact you before press time. Call me or I’ll call you and we can kick around all your options. Let’s stir up the pot a little. Anything is better than another dullsville summer.
State Sen. Frank Padavan said he thought you would make an excellent candidate and he also said he would get you a Wilson-Pakula so you can run on the Republican line as well as the Democratic one plus whatever other support you can muster. The ball is in your court, my dear, so what do you say — yea or nay?
The big party this week was the celebration of the World’s Fair anniversaries — the 65th anniversary of the 1939 fair and the 40th of the 1964 fair. It was a huge party at Terrace on the Park and just about everyone was there including Mayor Mike Bloomberg, New York State Superintendent of Banks Diana Taylor and former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern.
Also there were Charles Millard, managing director of Lehman Brothers; Muss Development head Joshua Muss; Sens. Frank Padavan and John Sabini; former Board of Education President Carol Gresser and Larry Gresser; Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum; and state Sen. Serf Maltese and Connie Maltese.
Serf’s wife, Connie, is a famous artist. She did the artwork on the invitations and some of the artwork on the journal.
Also there were Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff; former Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington; former Borough President Claire Shulman and Mel Shulman; Borough President Helen Marshall and Don Marshall; former Mets stars Rusty Staubb and Tom Seaver; Queens Parks Commissioner Rich Murphy; Assistant Parks Commissioner Estelle Cooper and her entire family; as well as the Rev. Coleman Costello.
Not to be forgotten were City Council members John Liu, Hiram Monserrate and Melinda Katz; Crystal Windows and Doors owner Stephen Chen; community affairs director for Slattery Skansky Greg Murphy; Assembly members Ann-Margaret Carrozza, Michael Gianaris and Barry Grodenchik; Judge Joseph Dorsa and MaryAnn Dorsa; and Judge Joseph Golia and Rosalie Golia.
Vallo Transportation owner Linda DeSabato; Dolly DeThomas, head of personnel at the JFK Holiday Inn; Queens North Chief James Tuller and most of the board of directors of the Little Neck-Douglaston Parade Organization also were there. The list goes on and on. I’m sorry if I forgot or overlooked someone — there were just too many of you to keep track.
The raffle drawing for Officer Tommy Brophy was held Friday at the Knights of Columbus in Flushing. John Puma of the Knights donated the room and Vinny Coady of Cascarinos of Whitestone donated all the food. They raised close to $70,000 for Tommy. Good Luck, Tommy, we love you and miss you. You are in all our prayers. Get well soon.
The $2,000 first prize went to Arlene Adams of Bay Shore, L.I.; the $1,000 second prize went to Gary Tanger of Selden; and the $500 third prize went to Don Houston of New Hampshire. Kelley Glennon, head of the 109th Precinct Club, will replace Frank Seabrook as the community affairs officer.
Good luck, Kelley, in your new job and thank you for all the effort you put into making Tommy’s 10-13 (cop talk for “officer in trouble”) party a huge success. Congratulations to all the men and women of the 109th. You sure are a bunch of stand-up guys and gals.
Additionally I would like to thank all the readers who took the time and trouble to go to the 109th to buy raffle tickets.
As usual, time and space have run out. You can reach me by voice mail at 718-767-6484, fax at 718-746-0066 or e-mail at deerrichard@aol.com.
Till next week,
Dee
