By William Lewis
In the recently concluded Democratic Party primary election in the 11th State Senate district of northeast Queens in which incumbent Tony Avella won by 568 votes, not including proxy votes, the race had several important aspects to it.
If Avella’s opponent, John Liu, had won, it would have strengthened the political authority of Queens Democratic County Chairman Joseph Crowley, especially in regards to his influence with the other Queens Democratic state senators and how they voted on various legislation. It would have made Crowley a very strong county leader in terms of implementing county policy decisions.
By Avella winning the primary, however, it showed that incumbent officer holders can act independently of their party organization. In the case of Avella, he worked with the Independent Democratic Conference in Albany and became a member of the organization, which worked with Republicans in the state Senate.
The Democratic Party county leadership got the entire membership of its County Executive Committee present to vote in favor of a primary against Avella. It seems doubtful that the full Democratic County Executive Committee would vote unanimously again for another primary against Avella in 2016.
Most Democratic Party office holders in Queens, once elected, remain in office for a considerable length of time. There have been few primaries. In Avella’s case, he has served four years in the state Senate.
Before being elected to the City Council, Avella had served as chief of staff to state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky. He was a member of the City Council and ran in the Democratic primary for mayor before running for the state Senate in 2010 against Frank Padavan.
In making the race for mayor, Avella was able to increase his name recognition, build his campaign organization and gain fund-raising capabilities. All of these things helped him immensely in the 2010 state Senate run, where he won an upset race.
Avella has been active in politics most of his life and apparently intends to continue his career.
The Democratic Party in Queens currently controls all the elected offices except for one City Council seat. That means Democratic officials now occupy all the offices for U.S. Congress, state Senate, and state Assembly, in addition to borough president and district attorney.
The Queens Republican Party has been reorganizing since the unfortunate death of its county leader, Philip Ragusa. The new county chairman is attorney Robert Beltrani, who previously served as county executive vice chairman.
Although the Queens Republican Party only controls one elected office, nevertheless a significant number of members are optimistic about political opportunities in the future. They are particularly positive about winning the U.S. presidency and U.S. Senate in 2016. Many Republican Party activists believe that a strong showing in the presidency and Senate will help Republican candidates in local races.
Next year, 2015, will be an off political year with the only races for public office being for judgeships and county district attorney.
The Queens Republican Party next year will be having its convention of the county committee to elect county officers to lead the county party in the two-year period after that.
Next year will be the time to build and organize the county party structure in both major parties and the third parties as well, including the Conservative and Working Families parties.
It is hoped that interest in political campaigns will increase in 2016 and that there is more participation by the general electorate.
