Category Archives: Politics
Former Councilwoman Melinda Katz raised more money in the past two months for her Queens borough president bid than her opponents who filed their latest campaign finance reports as of The Forum’s press deadline, though she still lags behind Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Astoria) in total contributions. Katz, a Democrat from Forest Hills, reported raising $80,301 in the last campaign finance filing period, which ran from March 12 through May 11 – placing her ahead of Director of Community Boards and … Continue reading
Queens borough president candidate Melinda Katz and her partner, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, allegedly scammed one of Sliwa’s ex-wives out of about $400,000 to build a nest egg for them and their two sons as they carried out an extramarital affair, according to a $1.4 million lawsuit filed last week in Manhattan federal court. Sliwa’s ex-wife, Mary Sliwa, alleges in the suit that the CEO of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit and volunteer organization of unarmed citizen crime … Continue reading
State Senator John L. Sampson is no stranger to accusation. In fact suspicions about the senator have been in the air for years. But the senator took things to a new level, some say when he realized he was being watched by authorities. He attempted to get help from a friend that was working in the office of the United Sates attorney for the Eastern District. He wasn’t asking for much—just for the friend to get him all the names … Continue reading
Mayor Bloomberg presented his final budget last Thursday, a $69.8 billion plan he called balanced and said would maintain city services, but which drew ire from Queens elected officials and civic leaders who said it would force fire companies and libraries to shutter, decimate after-school programs and not add needed police officers. The proposed budget, which is slightly less than the 2013 plan and has to be approved by the City Council before being implemented, keeps spending flat and does … Continue reading
Supreme Court Justice Augie Agate spent some time talking to students in the 5-8th grades at the Ave Maria Catholic Academy on Wednesday morning. Having been invited in honor of Law Day, the judge detailed his career as a lawyer and then, subsequently as a judge, serving in both he criminal and civil courts. Although Law Day is not a government holiday, but many local bar associations hold luncheons on May 1st and legal professionals may visit schools to discuss … Continue reading
Reeling in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, people throughout South Queens dug into their pockets – into retirement funds, into savings for children’s college tuition, into all sorts of accounts that were never meant to be used for what they were: to replace roofs and heating systems, to rebuild basements once submerged in water, to begin to piece together unrecognizable houses and make them places that could, once again, be called home. Then, months later, there came word that, … Continue reading
Led by State Senator Tony Avella, a group of civic associations and park groups rallied on Sunday to send yet another strong message to the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to keep its hands off the parkland at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Avella, who is running for borough president, was joined at the entrance to the USTA by a number of community groups including the Queens Civic Congress, Save Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Juniper Park Civic Association, West Cunningham Park Civic Association, … Continue reading
Flanked by legislators, neighborhood leaders and family – including his 96-year-old grandfather – and armed with harsh words for tax increases and fines on small businesses, civic activist Craig Caruana officially launched his campaign for Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley’s (D-Middle Village) seat representing Council District 30 on Monday. “There’s so much going on in the country that, as just one person, you can fall into the trap of thinking there’s nothing you can do about it – but you can,” Caruana, … Continue reading
The four Democratic mayoral candidates at a Queens College debate last week made plenty of statements that garnered them applause from the more than 200 people packed into the Rosenthal Library, but it may have been Public Advocate Bill de Blasio who incited the loudest burst of laughter – and even a couple cheers. “There’s a profound evil facing New York City – and it is the Long Island Expressway,” de Blasio joked after traffic caused him to arrive late … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
When Ryan James Girdusky, a 25-year-old Maspeth resident and Republican campaign consultant, woke on the morning of April 2, he immediately noticed something was amiss – the day had barely begun and already voice mails were clogging his cell phone and emails flooding his inbox. Within minutes, Girdusky, the former vice president of the Queens County Young Republicans, learned the Federal Bureau of Investigation had just issued a statement on Twitter: “FBI arrests state Senator Malcolm Smith, (Councilman) Daniel Halloran … Continue reading
In an effort to both clean the environment in Queens and conserve energy, Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Queens) helped secure $3 million in this year’s state budget to upgrade the first of a number of antiquated high-emissions trains which are owned and leased out by the Long Island Rail Road to haul freight throughout the borough and beyond. Hevesi was backed by several other Queens’ politicians including Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) and Borough President Helen Marshall who recently wrote an … Continue reading
A quest to secure the Republican line in the New York City mayoral contest has instead sent NYS Senator Malcolm Smith hurtling out of the race and to jail. Smith, along with five co-conspirators— including City Councilman Dan Halloran, vice chairman of the Queens County GOP Vince Tabone, Bronx GOP chair Joseph “Jay” Savino, Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin and Deputy Mayor Joseph Desmaret—was arrested on Tuesday after a multiple count indictment from the US Attorney’s office was issued, charging … Continue reading
After months of exploring a potential run against Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), civic activist Craig Caruana said this week he is likely poised to soon make an official announcement that he is launching a campaign for the district covering the area in which he grew up. “We’ll probably make a decision within the next week or so,” said Caruana, 29, a Middle Village native. “I wanted to make sure I could raise the money to do it and that … Continue reading
U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) announced today that she will bring Congress to Queens by holding her first “Congress on Your Corner” event at the Middle Village Library on Wednesday, March 27 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The event will afford local residents the opportunity to meet one-on-one with their new Congresswoman. Constituents can have Meng address their problems, discuss their concerns and listen to their views. Or they can simply stop-by to say hi and shake her hand. … Continue reading