Tabone Files Petitions for "Taxed Enough Already" Line, Queens Democrats Go On Attack

From: http://online.wsj.com/...WSJ_NY_MIDDLETopStories

under the byline of Michael Howard Saul:

"The New York State Independence Party promised last month the immediate return of money allegedly stolen from Mayor Michael Bloomberg by a volunteer on his 2009 re-election campaign, but as of Monday afternoon Manhattan prosecutors had not received a dime.

More than six weeks ago, the party removed hundreds of thousands of dollars from its housekeeping account and forwarded it to the party's attorney, Vincent Messina, so that it could be "returned immediately," the party's chairman, Frank MacKay, told The Wall Street Journal.

Records filed with the New York State Board of Elections showed the party sent $260,000 to Mr. Messina on July 15, tens of thousands of dollars less than what Manhattan prosecutors have demanded be returned.

Mr. Messina confirmed Monday afternoon that he still has the money in his possession...

In what appears to be a stinging rebuke to the claims by the Haggerty brothers that Bart Haggerty shares the Chairmanship of the Queens GOP, NYS's Supreme Court and Appellate Court have both upheld Phil Ragusa as the sole and legitimate Chairman of the Queens GOP, and rejected Liz Berney's attempt to block a Wilson-Pakula issued by the State GOP to Dr. James Milano to run as a Republican in NY's 5th Congressional district.

The Wilson Pakula issued to Milano was approved at a bi-county meeting of the heads of the Queens and Nassau GOP, called for by the State GOP under their rules. Berney attempted to nullify the Wilson-Pakula based on Bart Haggerty not being invited to the meeting, as a purported Chairman of the Queens GOP. The Court found no basis for this assertion, stating that if Haggerty wanted to challenge the recognized Chairmanship of Ragusa, the only remedy would have to challenge it in court, as they had done unsuccessfully after previous elections of Ragusa as Queens GOP Chairman. That challenge is now time-barred, as the law required they file their action within ten days of the election of Ragusa.

From a release iisued by the Queens GOP, addressing the issue of Ragusa being recognized as the sole and legitimate Chairman of the Queens Party:

"Notably the court below stated that "other than Haggerty's obviously self-serving affidavit, petitioner has failed to adduce competent written proof that Haggerty is the chairman of the Queens Republican Party, or that Ragusa is not the chairman...By contrast,...Ragusa, who has no burden to prove the legitimacy of his claim to the chairmanship [nonetheless was able to do so] 

1) by providing the Affidavit of David C Previte, Counsel to the New York State Republican Committee/Party...[stating that] Ragusa is the only recognized Chairman of the Republican Party in Queens County; and

2) Ragusa was re-elected as County Chairman on October 3, 2009 and has served as Chairman to date; and

3) Ragusa attended the State Republican Convention where he was recognized as the Queens Chairman, "[c]redentialed.. as the only Queens Chairman and voted as the Queens Chairman..Petitioner's claim that Ragusa should not [be] permitted to issue a Wilson-Pakula... would ...require the Court to determine that Ragusa...[is not] the Chairman. In sum, the Petition...relies on a time-barred challenge to Ragusa's...election as chairman, itself fails to establish, by objective evidence, the validity of Haggerty's claim to the chairmanship.”

According to one member of the NY State Committee from Queens, "At the recent State GOP Convention Bart Haggerty sat in the Queens section, led by Ragusa, who was recognized by the Committee as the Queens Chairman and who spoke on behalf of the Queens contingent. Meanwhile, Haggerty only asserted his rights as a State Committee member."

The ruling by the Appellate Court is below while the original Berney pleading is after the break. 

Vince Tabone, the Republican candidate for the open seat in the 26th Assembly district, filed over 2000 signatures to create the "Taxed Enough Already" line. Known as independent nominating petitions, candidates can create a line under any name they like, but these lines appear at the end of the ballot, after all the major party lines.

However, the Queens Democratic machine and their candidate in this race, Ed Braunstein, is challenging Tabone's petitions, showing how much the Democrats fear the anti-incumbent tea party mood of the electorate. Braunstein is a legislative aide to Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver, and appears to be nothing more than a surrogate for Silver's failed agenda. So much so that some in the district are starting to call Braunstein a mini-me to Silver and his policies. 

Braunstein, who only recently graduated from law school, has been working in Silver's leadership office on lower Broadway, serving as a whip for Silver's agenda. This would appear to put him at odds with the current "throw the bums out" mentality of the voters going into the November elections.

In addition, Braunstein's uncle is Albany super-lobbyist Brian Meara, who is a close confidant of Shelly Silver. This should give Tabone the advantage he needs to pull off a victory, with many of the local papers already labeling him as the odds on favorite. Tabone's ability to avoid a Republican primary is also helping himto solidify his base of support while the Democrats head into what could be a very messy four-way primary in September.

The full Tabone press release is after the break....

George Gonzalez (great photo!) has been elected the executive director of the NYC Board of Elections by a 6 to 4 vote taken by the board's commissioners. As you all may know, every borough gets two commissions, one Democrat and one Republican.Bronx Republican commissioner J.C. Polanco provided the deciding vote for Gonzalez. There has been no commissioner for six months because of a stalemate.

According to Bob Kappstatter's account in the Daily News (second link above), Polanco wanted the job himself but the other Republican commissioners wouldn't support him. Apparently, they tried to get former Queens State Senator Serphin Maltese to come up from retirement in Florida to take the job and hold it for former Queens City Councilman Anthony Como, who is running against State Senator Joseph Addabbo, in case he loses. It appears that the job offer was some type of insurance to entice Como to run against Addaddo, who ousted Maltese in 2008. 

Apparently, Polanco was livid that he was spurned in favor of the 77-year-old Maltese, who "doesn't even know how to turn on a computer."

Additionally, as part of the deal, Bronx Republican and longtime BOE employee Dawn Sandow has been named to Gonzalez's previous job as the deputy executive director.

Both Polanco and Bronx GOP Chairman Jay Savino were subpoenaed by the U.S. Attorney's office, which is investigating the $50 million contract given to Election Systems and Software (ESS) to replace the old voting machines with computerized ones.  You-know-who publicly accused Savino and Polanco of "taking under the table payments" from indicted Westchester GOP lawyer Anthony Mangone, who lobbied for ESS, and gleefully predicted their downfall. In a comment posted in early July on of my older posts, "Reaganite" suggested that some Brooklyn Republicans were using these allegations to prevent Polanco from becoming the board's executive director. If what Reaganite alleged is true, it looks like they might have been just using these allegations to block Polanco and have some other Republican installed.

It looks like Republicans  in New York screwed themselves once again with infighting and petty bickering.

In a statement that can only be deemed "despicable", given its source, the Chair of the Democratic Caucus Immigration Task Force today called challenges to birthright citizenship  "an attack on the unborn."  This from a leader of the party that champions abortion on demand at any point up to the end of the second trimester, irrespective of the viability of the child. 

We have truly stepped through the looking glass.  We are now in a land where words and phrases mean whatever the speaker intends them to mean, irrespective of their plain meaning.  And some have left the realm of common human decency to advance their cause.

Imagine all the medical advances that have occurred since 1973 when the Supreme Court decided to arbitrarily set the term for "viability" of an unborn child at the end of the second trimester.  Yet Democrats hold to this arbitrary date as though set in stone; as though a day before or after makes one wit of difference in viability in a genuine "attack on the unborn"....

Dr. Harold Paez, Republican/Conservative candidate for State Assembly District 23 releases announcement on learning of the Independence Party's intention to support Audrey Pheffer this year despite having endorsed her Republican/Conservative opponents in the 2006 and 2008 Assembly races. He makes an appeal to the Independence party membership to see through the political ploys and vote their conscience...