The Republican Party in New York City, already outnumbered 6-1 by a Democratic majority, is looking to change. The growing Orthodox community in Southern Brooklyn and the rising of new stars has given republicans hope to reclaim a two-party system.
But in that path to change, the party couldn’t be more fractured as it is at a crucial moment, ahead of the mayoral election.
In Queens, Both Phil Ragusa and former Congressmember Bob Turner have declared themselves winners in the election to head the Queens GOP on September 27, while in Brooklyn a faction led by state Sen. Marty Golden tried — and failed [so far] — to boot party chairman Craig Eaton.
Senator Golden (R–Bay Ridge) and his supporters wanted to replace Mr. Eaton with Timothy Cochrane — a former Conservative Party congressional candidate — claiming that Eaton had failed to enlarge the Republican base or challenge long-sitting Democratic electeds.
To unseat Eaton, Mr. Golden’s faction – named “Republicans for Change” – brought 565 proxies — signed affidavits from executive committee members not present at the convention allowing him to vote in their stead. But the party’s credentials committee — a four-person body appointed by Eaton to decide the legitimacy of proxies — threw out 295 of the affidavits before they could be counted, arguing that they were invalid because Golden had collected them before the convention was officially called on Sept. 24.
After a raucous 5-hour debate, voters in the room backed Cochrane over Eaton 66–20. But Eaton had 420 proxy votes with him — which trumped the 270 Golden was left with after the credentials committee’s decision, for a final tally of 440 votes for Eaton against 336 for Cochrane.
Cochrane and his supporters vowed a lawsuit against the party to force it to count the tossed-out votes, arguing that there is no rule against gathering proxies before the declaration of a convention, according to The Brooklyn Paper.
“I believe that I will be named the rightful Chairman soon,” Mr. Chocrane told YWN. “The party deserves leadership that is not self-serving and that will empower, unite and uplift its membership, not divide and suppress growth because it fears it members having an independent voice.”
Back in Queens, according to Party officials, Mr. Ragusa won re-election as chair by 52 percent to Bob Turner’s 48 percent of the vote.
But Councilmember Eric Ulrich said Turner in fact had higher tallies than reported and had the support of “a clear majority” of voters. There was no independent monitor in the room to count the votes, he said according to the Queens Courier, and the Party’s leadership had thrown out valid proxies.
“The county’s members are using fuzzy math,” Ulrich said. “Their attempts to disqualify the proxy votes of duly elected county committee members are shameful. When every single vote is counted, it is clear that Bob Turner is the chairman.”
Both Turner and Ragusa have submitted certificates of election with the state and city Board of Elections. Ragusa released a statement, saying he had been declared the “clear winner.”
“I am honored and humbled by the show of support given to me by Queens County Committee and State Committee members,” he said. “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.”
Turner told The Queens Courier he was confident court litigations over the next few weeks would find him victorious. “We know we won,” Turner said. “This is going to have to be solved at a different level.”
“There were elections in the Soviet Union conducted more fairly than this one,” Mr. Ulrich told Politicker. “From what I understand, our attorneys will be drafting paperwork to invalidate Phil Ragusa’s certificate.”
Asked to address the Party’s rift, ahead of the general election, Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota expressed his hope that it won’t hinder his chances of getting to the top, thus arguing that the Republican Party needs to rebuild.
“We need to build the Republican Party in New York. I don’t think it could decline any further,” Mr. Lhota told reporters following a candidate forum in Dyker Heights, Wednesday night. “We need to build it in all five boroughs. We have to get right leaders in the party. We gotta recruit the communities. We gotta take advantage of the fact that 40% of the voters didn’t live here 20 years ago. Let’s go talk to the people that moved here. Let’s talk to the various different communities that have come here.”
Meanwhile, while the two County committees are fighting over who heads their faction, polls show Bill de Blasio with a 50+ lead over Mr. Lhota and only one presumed winner in the race for City Council – David Storobin, who’s a favorite to win the 48th City Council race in Brooklyn.
(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)
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One Response
I like how there’s a little plug for Storobin hidden in the last paragraph there. Sneaky. “Presumed” by whom (other than Mr. Kornbluh, I mean)?
Moderators Note: Nice, no? (Quite frankly, no clue what you’re talking about. Real “sneaky”)