By Rich Bockmann
Queens Republican Party Chairman Phil Ragusa successfully fended off a challenge from former U.S. Rep. Bob Turner in the party’s internal election last week to keep hold of the reins of the borough GOP.
After a heated primary election, all eyes were turned to The Reception House in Whitestone Friday evening, where after six-plus hours Ragusa earned 52 percent of the party members’ vote to Turner’s 47 percent.
Every two years when voters head to the polls, they cast ballots for county and state committee members, who then elect a new slate of leaders in the party. This year 589 Republicans cast votes weighted by how many registered party members their districts represent. Ragusa ended up with 39,082 nods, while Turner pulled in 35,582.
“I am honored and humbled by the show of support given to me by Queens County Committee and State Committee members,” Ragusa said in a statement. “I will continue to lead the party honorably and faithfully and will work to unify the party so that the Queens GOP continues to grow and become even stronger in the future.”
Following several years of dissent and a corruption scandal earlier this year that marred the county party, Ragusa faced a broad challenge to his leadership in September’s primary races.
The party chairman had an acrimonious battle, which he won, against Whitestone resident Sal Bacarella for his state committee seat, and more than 100 county committee members faced primary challenges.
Ragusa had not confronted an opponent for his seat since he won it in 2007, and only six county committee seats were contested during the party’s last primary in 2009.
In 2012, Ragusa and the party backed Forest Hills lawyer Juan Reyes in an unsuccessful primary battle against City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) for state Senate. Ulrich won the primary but lost to Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach), and the disgruntled councilman is said to be one of the driving forces behind the party’s insurgent faction with which Turner, the former congressman from Breezy Point, is allied.
Earlier this year, he and two other GOP Council members exploited a loophole to oust the party’s pick for commissioner at the city Board of Elections’ Queens office.
Ragusa’s decision to back GOP mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis over Joe Lhota also ruffled feathers in Queens, but the party’s most public distress came in April, when former Executive Vice Chairman Vince Tabone was charged in a public bribery scandal and claimed that he, not Ragusa, ran the party.
Former First Vice Chairman Robert Beltrani, a Ragusa loyalist, was voted into the position left vacant when Tabone stepped down in Friday’s leadership election.
James McClelland, a member of the insurgent faction, was elected to the first vice chairman position.
Party insiders say Ragusa is mulling a retirement in the near future. If that were to come, Beltrani would be promoted to his chairman position.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
