By Dee Richard
Another busy week has gone by. Wednesday evening, John Farrell had his annual Queens Flag Day Dinner at Ricardo's By the Bridge in Astoria. Unfortunately, John was not there due to an automobile accident earlier in the week which demolished his car. He sustained injuries and required hospitalization. Our wishes for a speedy recovery. We all miss you.
Later that evening, we attended the Forest Park Republican Club's April monthly meeting. The guest speaker was former City Councilman Thomas Ognibene, who is running for his old Council seat. He is an excellent speaker and due to his previous experience is an interesting possibility for the seat. That race is one to watch. Anthony Como has the Queens Republican Party's endorsement while Ognibene has a satisfactory record of past performances in that position. We were under the impression the Forest Park group would support Tom. It is too bad both cannot be elected.
Tony Seminerio's (D-Richmond Hill) son John had tossed his Democratic hat into the ring for the same seat. Elizabeth Crowley has the Democratic Party endorsement and appears to have a lock on the slot. Then along came John, but he came along too late. It will be interesting to see if he obtained enough signatures to get on the ballot at this time for the special election. If not, we understand, due to the complicated process, he will have two more opportunities to run in the near future for the same spot. As always, good luck to all the candidates and may the best man or woman win.
On Thursday, the Queens County Bar Association held its annual dinner at Terrace on the Park. It was the proverbial who's who of Queens judiciary and legal luminaries. Queens elected officials attended in impressive numbers, too. A very nice, informal, fun party.
From there, we drove to Marina del Rey in the Bronx to attend the Bronx County Conservative Committee's annual dinner dance. If you have never been there, it is a gorgeous place in a beautiful waterfront location.
Bill Newmark, the committee chair, should be congratulated for providing a fabulous gala and producing one of the fattest journals we have seen. That is quite an accomplishment these days, since money from ads and donations seem to be shriveling up due to the questionable economy. You would never know it looking at that journal, which had at least 60 gold pages.
This year's honorees were state Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Glendale), Brian Hunt, Gregory Manning, Stephen Cassidy, Michael Sigault, Sandra Rossano, John Dunleavy, Jay Sexter, Tony Sayegh, Anthony Ribustello and Carlo Violetti for their work in advancing the conservative cause.
The committee was also pleased to announce that it will award the 2008-09 scholarships for $1,000 to the three students who write the best essays received. This year's subject is “Why I love America.” Essays must be 500 words to 1,000 words long and submitted by June 30. All high school students are eligible and entries should be submitted to the Bronx Conservative Committee, 943 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, N.Y. 10462.
In response to frequently asked questions about their preference in the current presidential campaign, the committee stated as a non-partisan, non-political organization that it does not endorse or assist any candidate or political party. While there, aside from Serf Maltese, we also ran into John Catsimatidis of the Big Apple Group, Mike Ricatto of Better Leadership America and Thomas Chen of Crystal Windows and Doors.
On Sunday, Henry McCoy and his United for Progress Democratic Club held their 14th annual dinner in Richmond Hill at O'Lavrador, a Portuguese and Spanish restaurant. The food was excellent.
This year's honorees were Dianne Glass Wilson and Borough President Helen Marshall. The master of ceremonies was Brian Simon, who we understand is running for City Councilman Leroy Comrie's (D-St. Albans) seat. Henry McCoy, Essie Lowry, Lemelle Sherod and the other club members should be complimented for producing an interesting event. Congratulations on a job well done.
That is 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 receiving your voice mail at 718-767-6484, faxes at 718-746-0066 and e-mail at deerrichard@aol.com.
Till next week, Dee.
