By Howard Koplowitz
A Queens Supreme Court judge put an end to the leadership dispute between warring factions of the Queens Republican Party last week when he ruled that Phil Ragusa is the rightful chairman of the party.
A group loyal to Ragusa fought with another group led by Bart Haggerty, who contended former City Councilman Tom Ognibene was the legitimate Queens GOP leader.
Queens Supreme Court Judge Phyllis Flug ruled last Thursday that Haggerty had no right to call a county party re-organization meeting at Villa Russo in Ozone Park in late September where Ognibene was elected chairman.
Meanwhile, a separate group re-elected Ragusa as chairman the same day.
Haggerty and Queens GOP member Janice Bar filed suit against Ragusa last month, claiming Ragusa was not the rightful chairman.
Flug cited Queens GOP bylaws that only the outgoing chairman — in this case, Ragusa — has the right to call such a meeting.
“Only Ragusa, as outgoing county chairman, was authorized to select the time and place of the party’s organization meeting,” Flug wrote in her decision.
Ragusa could not be reached for comment, but Queens GOP Vice Chairman Vince Tabone said, “we’re very pleased at Justice Flug’s decision.”
Flug said the meeting called by Haggerty and Bar was “designed to create confusion and disrupt the internal affairs of the Queens County Republican Party.
“Respondents Haggerty and Bar clearly lacked authority to notice and conduct an organization meeting of the party’s County Committee,” Flug said.
She wrote that the Villa Russo meeting in which the officers were elected “is void and without effect.
“Respondent Thomas V. Ognibene is enjoined from holding himself out as the chairman of the Queens County Republican Party for the period of September 2011-September 2013, as the purported election is void. All the individual respondents named herein are enjoined from holding themselves out as elected officers of the Queens County Republican party, as the purported election is void,” Flug wrote.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
