By Dee Richard
Michael Ricatto of Better Leadership America received the Businessman of the Year Award, presented by Philip Sica. CUNY trustee Jeff Wiesenfeld gave a special oral presentation, “The Poisoning of our Next Generation by our Academics Throughout our Nation.” The evening's keynote speaker was George Marlin, whose topic was “Is There a Future for New York Republicans and Conservatives?” The club had an excellent turnout for their awards dinner.The two main contests to watch in Queens will be the two Republican senatorial seats. In south Queens, Sen. Serf Maltese (R-Glendale) has two serious Democratic opponents. One, Joe Addabbo Jr., is well-known, and the other is Albert Baldeo. Baldeo came too close for comfort the past election, losing by only 700 votes and he has already raised an impressive amount of money this time around.To his credit, Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) has done well by his constituents during his past two terms as their city councilman – and let's not forget the legacy of his well-loved and respected father, Joseph Addabbo Sr. The Republicans are hoping that Baldeo and Addabbo will cancel one another out, but in reality, is that a reasonable assumption given the enthusiasm that the Democrats have shown in the presidential primaries?On the north shore of Queens, Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) will be challenged by outgoing Democratic Councilman Jim Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows). Keep in mind the intense pressure by the Democratic Party to win control of the state Senate, which they are just two seats away from. The real buzz is whether Padavan will face a Republican challenger in a September primary election.Another interesting Senate race to watch is that of Democratic Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Whitestone), who we understand is going to have a Republican challenger for her seat, namely Peter Koo of Starside Drugs. As far as we know, she has not had a Republican challenger since she was elected. All in all, this will be an interesting political year.Last Monday we attended a fund-raiser for Robert Hornack, the Republican candidate for the Council seat of Democratic Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), who will be term-limited out. The fund-raiser was held at the Women's Republican Club in Manhattan, which is a gorgeous palace to have a party. It was well attended, with some of the more notable guests being John Catsimatides, Niger Inness, Grant Lally and J.C. Palanco, as well as many others.Last Tuesday we went to the Austin Street Ale House in Kew Gardens to watch the Super Tuesday presidential results. The place was totally packed. Here in New York the Democratic winner was Hillary Clinton and the Republican winner was John McCain. With Mitt Romney dropping out, John McCain looks as though he will secure the nomination. The interesting question here is, if he is able to pull it off, who will be his choice for vice president? Will he try and balance the ticket by introducing a female Republican governor? On the Democratic side, Clinton and Barack Obama appear to be running neck and neck, too close to call. The winner of each primary gets all or a portion of the pledged delegates, depending on each individual state's election law. A Democratic presidential candidate needs 2,025 delegates to win the 2008 party nomination. Then there are the superdelegates. Voters don't choose the 850 superdelegates, who make up nearly 40 percent of the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.For those of you who do not know what a superdelegate, is they are ex-presidents, ex-vice presidents, senators, congressmen and party bosses. For those keeping score, there is one pledged delegate for every 10,000 votes cast. One superdelegate is equivalent to one pledged delegateAfter losing all five Democratic primaries events this weekend, Hillary Clinton replaced her campaign manager with the hopes of better results in the additional upcoming primaries. There are approximately 20 primaries left.That's it for this week.I always look forward to hearing from you directly with information on people, parties, politics or some plain old-fashioned gossip.I also like to receive your voice-mail at 718-767 6484, your faxes at 718-746-0066 and your e-mail at deerrichard@aol.com.Till next week, Dee.
