By Phil Corso
Tuesday’s general election will mark the end of a long and contentious campaign to restore the reputation of the northeast Queens City Council district after its city councilman was arrested earlier this year.
Republican Party-backed Dennis Saffran threw his hat into the race for the 19th Council District soon after Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) was arrested on federal corruption charges in early April. His Democratic Party-backed opponent in the general election, Paul Vallone, entered the race several months earlier and faced a long primary battle for the spot.
Vallone came out on top of the busy five-way Democratic primary in September, beating out Empire State Development spokesman Austin Shafran, urban planning consultant Paul Graziano, former state Assemblyman John Duane and former Halloran chief of staff Chrissy Voskerichian.
The race for the Democratic line revolved largely around preserving the character of the suburban northeast Queens district, which includes the neighborhoods of Auburndale, Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck and Whitestone and parts of Flushing.
His campaign has collected endorsements from noteworthy labor unions and political figures, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Bayside), state Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows) and former Rep. Gary Ackerman.
Saffran ran for the same 19th District seat in 2001 and lost by just under 400 votes to now-Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside). He said his near win 12 years ago showed how possible his victory was this election cycle. The Douglaston attorney also collected endorsements from Republican names like former Sen. Frank Padavan, but also one noteworthy endorsement from the other side of the aisle: Vallone primary opponent Graziano.
Vallone was put in the spotlight in the weeks leading up to the primary vote after Jobs for New York, a political action committee for the Real Estate Board of New York, started mailing out attack ads in support of the Flushing attorney’s campaign. All of his Democratic opponents decried the ads, and the issue carried over into the general election race after Vallone’s primary victory.
Both Saffran and Vallone met at a candidates forum earlier this month at the Bayside Historical Society and sparred over the negative campaign ads, which the Republican candidate actually featured in a mailer of his own to highlight former attacks.
A federal grand jury handed up the Halloran indictment after his April 2 arrest along with several others, accusing him of soliciting bribes to help install Democratic Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) into this year’s mayoral race on the GOP line.
Vallone and his Republican opponent Saffran kept the word “restore” a key part of their platforms, underscoring the 19th District’s hunger to turn over a new leaf since Halloran’s arrest.
Reach reporter Phil Corso by e-mail at pcorso@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
