Phil Ragusa
Tensions in the Queens GOP neared the boiling point this week, with a mayoral candidate and several former legislators issuing statements of support for the current Queens Republican chairman, Phil Ragusa, who Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) said is facing “overwhelming” pressure to resign in the face of the arrests of former Queens GOP vice chairman Vince Tabone and Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone).
Queens GOP spokesman Robert Hornak released two emails supporting Ragusa over the weekend – one from Republican mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis and another from former Republican state Sens. Serf Maltese and Frank Padavan and former Republican Councilmen Michael Abel and Anthony Como. Como’s name, however, was pulled from the document a day after the statement was released because he had not seen the email prior to it being issued.
A number of Republicans, including Ulrich, have called on Ragusa to relinquish his leadership position following the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s announcement on April 2 that state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) and Halloran had allegedly tried to bribe GOP officials, including Tabone and former Bronx Republican Party Chairman Joseph Savino, both of whom resigned from their most current positions not long after being arrested, to land Smith a spot in the Republican mayoral primary.
“For the good of the party, he needs to step down,” Ulrich said.
Serf Maltese
After the announcement of the sweeping federal probe, Ulrich, along with others, have said they want former U.S. Rep. Bob Turner to replace Ragusa – and Turner, who had represented the seat once held by former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner – has said he is amenable to the idea. Even if Ragusa does not step down in the near future, he could face losing his position in September, when the party will vote on a chairman.
The letter from Catsimatidis – for whose campaign Hornak and Maltese now work – lobbed a number of accusations at Ulrich, including saying the councilman “has been calling Queens district leaders, spreading disinformation in a cynical, self-serving attempt to take control of the Queens County Republican Party.” Ragusa is supporting Catsimatidis’ bid for mayor, while Ulrich is backing former MTA Chairman Joe Lhota.
Tabone had also worked as an attorney for Catsimatidis’ company, Red Apple Group, though he was suspended from that job after being arrested.
“Sadly, after what has happened over the past two weeks, the last thing our Republican Party needs is infighting,” Catsimatidis continued. “It ultimately is self destructive action that serves no real purpose other than to further cloud the public view of the GOP.”
Frank Padavan
Additionally, the Republican mayoral candidate said Ragusa “is a good and honest man” and that he spoke to State GOP Chairman Ed Cox about the matter. Catsimatidis wrote that Cox “shares my view that management by revolution is not the way of the GOP.
Cox’s son is married to Catsimatidis’ daughter, though Cox has yet to make an endorsement in the Republican primary.
Ulrich said he had no comment about the letters by Catsimatidis or Maltese, Padavan and Abel.
“We realize that there are some who have been trying to replace Chairman Ragusa almost from the minute he was elected chairman,” Maltese, Padavan and Abel said in their letter, which did not specifically name Ulrich. “We are appalled at their crass attempt to twist these unfortunate events into a tool to use to undermine Chairman Ragusa’s authority and to serve their own purposes and longstanding agenda.”
The former legislators said Ragusa has “shown great vision in growing the Queens Republican Party, recruiting a new group of active and dedicated members to lead our party into the future, and attracting talented and qualified candidates to run for office,” though other Republican leaders, such as Ulrich, have said Ragusa has presided over a time of loss for the GOP in Queens. For example, Padavan lost his long-held state Senate seat to now state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) in 2010, and Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) left the Republican party to join the Democrats in early 2012.
By Anna Gustafson
