Padavan takes oath

State Senator Frank Padavan took the Oath of Office from New York State Supreme Court Justice Robert Hanophy more than a month after his colleagues, after surviving one of the longest electoral disputes in State History.
An overflow crowd of more than 800 people packed the Auditorium of Holy Cross High School in Flushing to witness the event on Sunday, February 15, and gave a big hand Allison Padavan, who flew in from Spain to hold the bible at her father’s swearing-in.
The younger Padavan also took the trans-Atlantic flight to assist in the closing weeks of the campaign. “I couldn’t miss this event,” she said afterwards. “There were no Christmas presents this year, though – this is it.”
Padavan opened his remarks to friends and well-wishers, including many Democrats, with a quote from Mark Twain: “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
In addition to thanking several political supporters and allies, including State Senator Martin Golden, Queens Republican Party Chair Phil Ragusa, Conservative Party Chair Thomas Long and representatives of the Independence Party, Padavan also thanked “all of you here who supported me.”
Padavan called for applause for Britney Cheng, a fourth-grader at P.S. 203 in Oakland Gardens, an honorable mention winner of the latest Abraham Lincoln Essay Contest of the Lincoln Republican Club in Middle Village.
The audience responded enthusiastically.
Maria Collier, president of Concerned Residents of Jamaica Estates and Director of the Cypress Hills Child Care Corporation acted as Mistress of Ceremony; the invocation was delivered by Monsignor Raymond Chappetto of Our Lady of the Snows Roman Catholic Church in Floral Park; closing remarks were made by Rabbi Michael Ehrlich of the Oak Hills Jewish Center in Bayside.
Margaret Abel, wife of former City Councilmember Michael Abel, sang the National Anthem to open the ceremonies and Bayside activist and former Broadway baritone Mandingo Osceola Tshaka performed a musical interlude. Both were accompanied at the organ by Delroy Brockett, a fifth grader at P.S. 135, the Bellaire School in Queens Village.