By Dee Richard
Just whose ox is being gored here and why? You must have all noticed the proliferation of items in the newspapers about Mayor Michael Bloomberg giving money to the Independence Party and John and Bart Haggerty brothers.
I’m sure with the battery of high-powered lawyers and accountants employed by Bloomberg, the whole deal had to be kosher. How could it be otherwise?
Could this be all part and parcel of the Republican debacle as to who’s on first, pertaining to the official chairman of the Queens Republican Party? There are apparently two contenders for the title.
One is Phil Ragusa; the other is Bart Haggerty. Ragusa claims he was legally elected; Haggerty claims he did not file the papers in a timely manner. Judy Stupp, the Queens Republican board of elections commissioner, said that until there is a court hearing Queens has two Republican chairmen. Is that possible? Can you possibly have two popes or two presidents — and two Queens Republican chairmen?
What happens when a non-Republican seeking the party’s line requests a Wilson-Pakula? Who is authorized to issue it? Either or both? If that turns out to be a bone of contention, I guess at that point the court would be forced to render a decision as to who is really in charge here.
In any event, there seems to be an imminent turf battle gearing up on the horizon. Most of the muckraking seems to center around John paying off his father’s estate to purchase his family home. The insinuation being that John did this several days after receiving the Bloomberg campaign funds.
Unless this is an attempt to try and make Bart guilty by association, whether or not the insinuations are true, what on earth does that have to do with Bart claiming to be the Queens chairman?
The other local brouhaha seems to center around, much to the surprise of all local Republicans, an effort to draft City Councilman Dan Halloran to run for Congress — Democratic U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman’s seat, to be exact.
I asked Halloran if any of the rumors were true and, if so, why? How did it happen?
Dan said two weeks ago the Tea Party people and members of the Nassau County Republican Party were interviewing candidates from both Queens and Nassau who would be interested in running for the slot. Halloran was asked to do the introductions of all the would-be candidates.
Afterwards, those in attendance said he had handled himself so well and did such an excellent job with the introductions they asked him if he would consider running for Ackerman’s seat. He said he was flattered, but the thought had never occurred to him as he had recently been elected to the Council.
Apparently, some of those present were so convinced he would make an excellent candidate that they started a letter to the editor writing campaign to local newspapers — and some of them saw fit to print the letters, including our own TimesLedger Newspapers Feb. 24. By Saturday, there were over 150 requests on Facebook alone suggesting he should consider running. Now isn’t that an interesting turn of events? Who says Queens politics are dull?
Last Thursday evening, despite the horrendous snowfall, Dr. James Cervino discussed his environmental toxins report pertaining to the areas surrounding the Throgs Neck Bridge and its environment. It was held at the Holy Trinity Church gymnasium off the Whitestone Expressway. The other speakers were state Sen. Frank Padavan, Halloran and Paul Graziano.
It was well-attended by numerous groups from the communities, who expressed a great deal of interest in Cervino’s results. They are looking forward to receiving copies of his reports when the paperwork is available. All in all, it was an interesting meeting.
That’s it for this week.
I look forward to hearing from you with information on people, parties and politics or gossip.
I like receiving your voice mails at 718-767-6484, faxes at 718-746-0066 and e-mails at deerrichard@aol.com.
Till next week, Dee.
