By Nathan Duke
Queens Democrats said they were not shocked at Republican City Councilman-elect Dan Halloran’s win over Kevin Kim in last week’s race to replace Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) as the representative for northeast Queens due to the district’s tendency to elect Republicans.
Halloran, a GOP attorney from Auburndale, defeated Kim, a Bayside Democrat who formerly worked as U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman’s (D-Bayside) deputy director of community affairs, with 53 percent to 47 percent of the vote during the Nov. 3 election.
“It’s exactly as I predicted,” Avella said of the election results. “There’s a Republican base vote in the district, so the Democrat has to work very hard to win.”
Prior to Avella’s election in 2001, Republican Michael Abel was the district’s representative. State Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose), who was first elected in 1973, also represents the district and is currently the only Republican senator from Queens.
“A candidate has to have a civic background,” said Evan Stavisky, a Democratic district leader. “Kevin Kim gave it a good shot, but we knew it was going to be a tough race.”
Ackerman said a larger than expected number of Republicans turned out in northeast Queens, benefitting both Halloran and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“It’s a district that has gone back and forth historically for Democrats and Republicans,” he said. “A lot of it was the function of getting the troops out. That takes nothing away from the fact that Dan won it. I called him to congratulate him on his win.”
Northeast Queens Democrats said they believed voters were disenfranchised that the race became increasingly negative.
“I think the race devolved from the issues to a mudslinging contest,” said Steve Behar, a Bayside attorney who ran against Kim in the Sept. 15 Democratic primary. “I think that ultimately detracted from the race and I think it came from both sides.”
Shortly after Kim won the primary, the Queens Tribune ran an article detailing Halloran’s participation in a pre-Christian pagan religion known as Theodism. Halloran’s team pointed out that the paper was founded by Ackerman and operated by Michael Nussbaum, who worked on Kim’s campaign.
In late October, Kim’s team blasted a Halloran campaign flier that superimposed a picture of the Democrat over downtown Flushing and accused him of having ties to developers. Kim, a Korean American, and his supporters said they believed the flier sent an underlying anti-Asian message.
Avella said he believed the Tribune article played a role in the election’s outcome.
“When I first saw that article, I thought, ‘This could backfire big time,’” he said. “I think it cost [Kim] the election.”
Early this week, Halloran came under fire from Astoria’s elected officials following a comment he made to the New York Post on his religion’s use of “animal blood sacrifice.”
He told the Post the practice was about “processing food in a specific way” that is “humane.”
“If a Christian goes to a Greek Orthodox lamb roast for Easter, there is nothing wrong with that,” he told the Post.
State Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) and Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) called on Halloran to apologize to the Greek Orthodox population of the borough.
“If Dan Halloran feels the need to explain his religious beliefs to the public, that’s his business,” said Gianaris, a Greek American. “In doing so, he should not mischaracterize the faith of thousands of his new constituents.”
Gianaris said Easter lamb roasts have “absolutely nothing to do with religious blood sacrifices.”
Halloran said he did not intend to offend anyone with the comment.
“During my campaign, I was constantly attacked for my faith in an unprecedented fashion,” he said. “Even after being elected, I continue to field inquiries from the media about my faith and culture that would previously have been off limits. Let me make it abundantly clear that I respect the religious beliefs of all my constituents, whether they are Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Hindi, Muslim or agnostic.”
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
