Howard Beach council race heats up

The race to succeed term-limited City Councilmember Joseph Addabbo for the 32nd district, a swath of south Queens from Woodhaven to Breezy Point, got a little more crowded recently when an independent candidate threw his hat into the ring.
Sam Di Bernardo, who ran for Congress against Addabbo’s father some 30 years ago, has declared himself in the race. “I’m running as a true independent candidate, not on the ‘Independence Party’ line,” he said, adding, “Though I’d welcome their endorsement.”
Billing himself as “Good Neighbor Sam,” the 73-year-old Korean War veteran and 57-year resident of Ozone Park and Howard Beach has declared education to be his “number one” issue.
“I’ve seen what’s happened to education in this city and I can speak from long experience,” Di Bernardo said, declaring, “The three most important things for your children’s life are education, education, education. Children should be nurtured in superior and safe schools.”
Di Bernardo is also passionate about protecting seniors, especially from landlords and co-op boards. “This is another issue on which I’m more qualified,” he declared.
“Good neighbor Sam” has been involved in a long-running dispute with his co-op board in the Lindenwood section of Howard Beach.
Di Bernardo doesn’t like the idea that the president of the co-op board has held the position for 14 years. “After a while, it’s like they think they own office.”
“A few of us who felt that the board was playing favorites, formed a committee and it was like they declared war on us,” he said. “I’ve been to court six times over my parking space - they’ve lost every time, but they keep at it.”
What got him “fired up” was that he contacted several officials, including Councilmember Addabbo’s office, “and they never got back to me.”
It particularly annoyed Di Bernardo when Addabbo endorsed the presumptive Democratic candidate, Frank Gulluscio, to succeed him. “It was like an anointment,” he said.
It was cozy political deal-making that first got Di Bernardo into politics.
“In the 1970s I went to vote for Congress, and there was Joe Addabbo’s (the father of the Councilmember) name on every line: Democrat, Republican, Right-to-Life, Conservative. I said to myself ‘what country am I in?’ So I started my own party.”
In 1976, Di Bernardo ran for Congress against Addabbo, on the “Bicentennial Party” ticket. “It was the country’s bicentennial,” he recalled.
He lost.
Two possible competitors to Gulluscio for the democratic nomination have been mentioned: Lew M. Simon, a Democratic district leader who lost to Addabbo in the 2001 primary, and John Patrick Larkin, a Rockaway civic activist Community District Education Council member and children’s sports coach.
Di Bernardo doesn’t see either as having a serious chance for the Democratic nomination. “They’re trying to pass down the office like it was a title of nobility,” he suggested.
He also doesn’t see much chance for the Republican candidate, 22-year-old Eric Ulrich. “This has always been a Democratic district, so it would take a miracle for a Republican to win here,” Di Bernardo, said.
“Besides,” he speculated, “Ulrich is young… he’s got plenty of time. This race is it for me.”
The former computer science teacher, department chairman, mortgage bank marketing manager and Notary Public has no illusions about his chances.
“It isn’t going to be easy - New York has the most difficult laws and procedures for getting on the ballot in the whole country,” he said.
“You have to get 900 petition signatures to get on the ballot for City Council, after which all your opponents send in the lawyers to try to disqualify them - sometimes on the most ridiculous technicality. It’s bizarre,” he said.
His campaign isn’t even off the ground, and Di Bernardo is already the victim of a smear campaign, he said.
“Someone has been putting up disgusting flyers in my building, with a doctored picture that makes it look like I’m stepping off the elevator barefoot and in my underwear,” he said. The flyer declares, “Elect Sam for City Council.”
Di Bernardo said, “It isn’t even a good job of computer retouching on the picture. One of my students could have done better.”
Although he’s angry that one of the flyers was taped to the door of a friend who has also had problems with the co-op’s management, he isn’t letting it get him down.
He insisted, “I’m all fired up - I’m in this race to win it, not as a spoiler.”