District 32, meet your new Councilmember – 24-year-old Republican Eric Ulrich.
Ulrich won the Special Election to fill the seat vacated by Senator Joseph Addabbo with 3,426 votes or 47 percent, according to the Queens GOP.
In figures released by the GOP on Wednesday, February 25 – the day after the Special Election – Democratic District Leaders Lew Simon garnered 2,342 votes (32 percent) and Geraldine Chapey won 891 votes (12 percent), while Mike Ricatto received 652 votes (9 percent).
None were available for comment at press time.
“I’m ready to hit the ground running and get to work,” said a jubilant Ulrich. “I’m looking forward to doing my best to serve my constituents. The people have spoken.”
The race for the 32nd Council District Special Election was a long one.
Less than three weeks before Queens residents from Woodhaven to the Rockaways cast their ballots, the field of contenders was whittled down to four, from seven.
Conspicuously absent on polling lists throughout the district was Community Board 6 District Manager Frank Gulluscio, who was widely considered the favorite to win the council spot. But, his petitions for inclusion on the ballot – each candidate had to file 1,100 signatures by January 15 – were invalidated because they contained a star, an overt Democratic Party symbol, according to a bipartisan Board of Elections (BOE) committee. In the Special Election, all candidates were to run as Independents.
Also missing from voting registries was Sam Di Bernardo, a former teacher and real estate executive, who, at 74, was ruled out “on a technicality,” he said, after the BOE and a conflict of interest board voted that they could not determine from his petitions what district he was running in.
Retired New York Police Department lieutenant Glenn DiResto was also removed from the February 24 ballot after the name he created for his party – in special elections candidates must create their own party – was found to be too similar to the Working Families Party. He appealed in court on February 9, and was seemingly reinstated, though on February 20, the Appellate division upheld the BOE’s decision.
Ulrich, a Republican District Leader, ran with the strong backing of Queens County Republican Party Chairman Phil Ragusa and the Queens GOP organization.
Labeling his effort a "campaign for the future" and calling his tender age "an absolute positive," the former high school religion teacher underscored his ability to bring innovation and bipartisanship to City Hall.
“I think I’m paving the way for the next generation of public servants in New York,” he said.
During his victory speech to a packed crowd at Villa Russo in Richmond Hill, Councilmember-elect Ulrich thanked those assembled for their support.
“They said a Republican could never win, he’s just a kid. Well, we proved them wrong," he said.
Although the Special Election will not be certified until next week, Ulrich told The Courier that one of the first things he will do is to meet with his colleagues in the City Council and Council Speaker, Christine Quinn.
He also hopes to meet with Addabbo to discuss the district and any “unfinished business.”
“In a short period of time Eric did what he had to do as a candidate,” said Addabbo, who noted that Ulrich “faces a daunting task with the budget, but he’ll have to bring back as much to the district as possible.”
First on his agenda, said Ulrich, is improving the quality of life, addressing the lack of public transportation, graffiti vandalism and “working with all community groups to make sure the people’s needs are being met.”
“I’m a workhorse, not a show horse,” he said. “I’ll be right there in the trenches.”
He continued, “I won because I worked hard, and the people believed in me. I put my trust in the people’s hands and now I have to serve them.”
Ulrich will serve as Councilmember through the end of the year, but he will have to run again in November when all of the 51 Council seats are up for grabs.
Julissa Ferreras wins Council seat
BY CLAUDIA CRUZ
Julissa Ferreras, the chief of staff of former Councilmember Hiram Monserrate, has won her boss’s seat in the City Council after defeating Francisco Moya by a margin of almost 2 to 1 during the District 21 Special Elections on Tuesday, February 24.
“It feels amazing and no words can express how excited I am that the community came out and spoke out,” Ferreras told The Courier during a phone interview the day after the election. “It was a great show of solidarity.”
Now that Ferreras has been elected, she must work hard to keep her seat, since she will have to run again in September during the primaries for the November general elections when all 51 Council seats are up for reelection.
“I think that one of the things I am going to do is work hard and do right by my people and keep my promises,” she said. “There is no better campaigning than that.”
Unofficial numbers show 90 percent of the electoral districts reporting, Ferreras had received 2,030 or 46.1 percent of the vote, Francisco Moya obtained 1,068 or 24.2 percent, George Dixon won 749 or 17 percent and Eduardo Giraldo collected 553 or 12.5 percent.
With the endorsement of major unions and local politicians, Ferreras drew on the support of many volunteers. This helped her seal a victory that concluded an arduous campaign that began with six candidates but quickly narrowed to a field of four after the Board of Elections rejected the petition of Carlos Peña and found that Angel Del Villar had not followed proper petition procedures.
According to Ferreras her first order of business will be to meet with the Bloomberg administration and get updates on the Willet’s Point project. She also plans to meet with the Joel Klein, the Department of Education Chancellor, to discuss the occupancy of schools in her district. Further, she will write the Department of Transportation about adding and improving the lights on Roosevelt Avenue.
“For me, there was no point when I was cocky about the campaign. We always worked as if we were in last place,” said Ferreras.
In Southern Queens District 32’s Special Election, 24-year-old Republican Eric Ulrich became the new Councilmember after he defeated a slate of four candidates for the seat vacated by Senator Joseph Addabbo.
In figures released by the Queens GOP the day after the election, Ulrich had received 3,426 or 47 percent of the vote compared to Democratic District Leaders Lew Simon who garnered 2,342 (32 percent) and Geraldine Chapey who won 891 votes (12 percent), while Mike Ricatto received 652 votes (9 percent).
