By William Lewis
In a recent discussion with Queens County Republican Party Chairman Phil Ragusa, he expressed an optimistic view for the immediate future.
He indicated the Republicans have an excellent chance of taking back the 26th State Assembly District seat in northeast Queens from Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza (D-Bayside), considering the questions that have arisen about the possibility that she does not live in the district as well as her history of absenteeism from Assembly legislative sessions. Ragusa further said her Republican opponent, attorney Vincent Tabone, who has considerable experience in local civic matters, will make an effective candidate.
Ragusa mentioned that the year 2009 started out badly with the dispute over state Sen. Frank Padavan’s (R-Bellerose) election that was finally settled by absentee ballots in Padavan’s favor.
He pointed out that the Queens Republican Party fielded nine candidates for the City Council last year and won three of them. An important aspect of these Council victories was they gained a large number of campaign volunteers who stayed on after these races and have become active members of the Republican Queens organization.
Ragusa also indicated that the activities of the Tea Party movement in Queens and Nassau counties have been helpful to Republican and Conservative candidates. The county chairman believes there has been more interest in local politics at the grassroots level during the last two years than in the recent past.
“I am optimistic for this coming year in terms of our opportunities and the outstanding group of candidates that we are recruiting for various races,” he said.
On the evening of Feb. 17, a town hall meeting was sponsored by the leaders of the Nassau-Queens 9-12 Project, a Tea Party affiliate. The purpose was for the public to meet and question prospective candidates who are interested in running against U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) in the 5th Congressional District.
This was almost a unique function from the standpoint that rarely had there been such working together among residents of northeast Queens and northwest Nassau County for political purposes. It was held in Albertson, L.I., not far from the Queens border, but a significant number of people from Queens attended.
About 200 people came with six candidates present who were competing against each other for the opportunity to run against Ackerman as the Republican candidate with Conservative Party endorsement.
Two of the six candidates are from Queens. They are Phil Orenstein, who is active with the Tea Party and is also one of the leaders of the Queens Village Republican Club, and Don Galiano, a businessman from Bayside. From Nassau County, Elizabeth Berney, an attorney from Great Neck, was also present. She ran against Ackerman two years ago.
Another candidate was Jack Lipsky of Great Neck, who had worked in the insurance industry for many years. He has recently become a Republican after changing his registration from being a Democrat. The other two candidates were James Milano, a Democrat who is a physician at St. Francis Hospital Heart Center, and attorney Robert Unger, also of Great Neck. He was a radio talk show host who has written several books. All of these candidates were running for office for the first time with the exception of Berney.
They all made opening statements and fielded written questions from the floor about government taxes and spending; national security issues, especially the threat of terrorism; and immigration reform, particularly regarding illegal immigrants. They were also asked their views on social issues, including abortion and gay rights.
All of them seemed knowledgeable about the different subjects and expressed various degrees of conservative viewpoints. They were all united in their determination to defeat Ackerman. Probably in the last 25 years there has not been this much interest in a 5th Congressional District race as there is this year.
