Candidates Play Hardball in Howard Beach Debate by Lee Landor - Queens Chronicle

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(photos by Julie Court; design by Ella Jipescu)

Finally, a debate that lived up to its title.

The 32nd Council District special election debate held last Thursday at St. Barnabas Church in Howard Beach began like any other candidates’ forum: one-minute introductions and a simple question-and-answer session set before a quiet and attentive audience.

But diplomacy and courteousness eventually dissipated and were replaced ith a heated and acerbic back-and-forth between one candidate and the audience.

Rockaway Democratic District Leader Geraldine Chapey clashed with many of the nearly 200 community members in attendance over her campaign’s successful push to remove former contender Frank Gulluscio from the ballot and her refusal to answer a question about her nonprofit organization, Trinity Services.

It all started when each candidate was given the chance to ask another a question. Ozone Park Republican District Leader Eric Ulrich was the first at the podium.

Addressing the “800-pound gorilla in the room,” as he put it, Ulrich asked Chapey: “Why do you feel that Frank did not have the right to run for City Council?” Chapey’s campaign had challenged nomination petitions Gulluscio filed with the city Board of Elections, which found that he had an insufficient number of valid signatures.

Ulrich’s question riled up the audience, which immediately applauded and loudly cheered. As soon as Chapey started to speak, attendees began booing.

Chapey attempted to answer, but the audience’s jeering cut her off. “You could shout up till tomorrow, it doesn’t matter,” Chapey said to the rowdy crowd, noting that the Board of Election ultimately made the decision.

Some audience members did not accept Chapey’s response. “Answer the question,” one woman shouted from the back of the room. “Why challenge? Why challenge?”

The moderator of the debate, which was sponsored by the Queens Chronicle and The Forum, had to step in and ask the audience to quiet down.

The tension didn’t end there. Two other candidates, retired NYPD lieutenant Glenn DiResto and Rockaway Democratic District Leader Lew Simon, each asked Chapey questions that further incited the audience, evoking an uproar.

DiResto wanted to to know which employees of Chapey’s Trinity Services — an organization she founded to provide transportation for seniors — were on the payroll in the last year. It was a question that went unanswered during an earlier debate held in Rockaway, DiResto said.

Chapey evaded the question, never actually providing numbers in her response. Instead she explained to the rambunctious audience that the city regulates Trinity’s budget. Unhappy with her answer, the audience got loud, shouting down the Kingsborough Community College professor.

Unwilling to accept what she called disrespect, Chapey told the audience to let her speak and said “If you don’t want to listen, then please go outside.”

As things quieted down, it was Simon’s turn to grill Chapey. He asked, who pays Trinity Services’ rent and why does Chapey hold Democratic Party meetings in her nonprofit group’s office. Trying, once again, to speak over the unruly crowd, Chapey ended up shouting her answer: her husband pays Trinity’s rent and her office is open to everyone who wants to hold meetings there.

The candidates weren’t the only ones grilling each other — area residents had questions of their own for the five hopefuls, some that stumped the contenders and others that showed their community involvement.

When asked a question by Donna Gilmartin, president of the Locust Grove Civic Association, Mike Ricatto admitted that he didn’t know what Locust Grove is. He, Chapey, Simon and DiResto said they were not familiar with the Bernard Fineson Center’s recently released request for proposals.

Ulrich was the only candidate who could answer Ozone Park resident Pat McCabe’s question about the RFP in detail and who interacted most with Community Board 10 Chairwoman Betty Braton.

Rockaway Resentment May Tip Special Election to Republican in Queens by Nicole Turso - City Hall News

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With Democratic District Leader Frank Gulluscio out of the running thanks to Geraldine Chapey’s successful challenge at the Board of Elections, the momentum in the special election to succeed Joe Addabbo in the City Council that Gulluscio once commanded now seems to be shifting to Republican District Leader Eric Ulrich—not Chapey.

Much of this newfound support for Ulrich and seeming abandon of party loyalty has to do with distaste for Chapey’s brand of politics, and the long standing rivalry between mainland communities like Howard Beach and Ozone Park, and the Rockaway peninsula.

Even long time Democratic supporters have begun to sense a problem, perhaps most evident in last week’s debate. Chapey was heckled by the audience at St. Barnabas Church in Howard Beach for what they called “dirty” political tactics. Ulrich, meanwhile, was applauded for his defense of Gulluscio’s right to run for the seat.

“There seemed to be a dynamic in the room that people were coalescing to Eric,” said Betty Braton, chair of Community Board 10 in Queens. “There is some undercurrent of feeling that Rockaway politicians don’t recognize issues that are important to mainland residents.”

Rockaway residents complain that because it is more densely populated with voters, Council members pay disproportionate attention to the mainland at the expense of the Rockaways. Addabbo and his predecessor, former Republican Council member Al Stabile, were both mainlanders themselves. But for those in the mainland communities, the problem rests with Rockaway politicians failing to reach out to those more populous communities.

Frank Dardani, a Gulluscio supporter and Ozone Park resident, said he has not seen an effort made by either Rockaway candidate, Chapey or Democratic District Leader Lew Simon, to connect with mainland voters.

Though he would not admit to supporting a specific candidate, he was quick to say political party would not influence his decision.

“I’ve voted for Republicans in the past if I thought they would do a good job—I would do the same today,” he said.

Rockaway residents seem to have the reverse reaction. Instead of sticking to peninsula candidates, they are also joining with mainlanders in support of Ulrich for the seat.

“Many favored Eric coming out of [the debate],” said Stuart Mirsky, founding member of the Rockaway Republicans Club. “I was surprised because he’s not a Rockaway boy, and people around here like to go for their favorite sons.”

Referring to Chapey and Simon, Mirsky said, “both have their following, but they also both come with some antagonism and strong antagonism from other groups in the community.”

Ulrich declined to accept his status as the new front-runner, but recognizes the voter shift—attributing it to Chapey’s political attack on the other candidates.

“I may not be in the same party, but I don’t think people are looking at the party labels right now,” he said. “The system has been used against them. People are very angry that the ball has been taken out of their court.”

Even if he wins the Feb. 24 special election, Ulrich’s time on the Council may be short-lived. In a neighboring, much more traditionally Republican district, Anthony Como got only five months in the Council succeeding Dennis Gallagher before being defeated in his rematch against Democrat Elizabeth Crowley.

And Gulluscio has already posted a message for supporters on his Facebook page indicating he is already looking forward to November:

“Frank Gulluscio is re-grouping so we can win in November,” the message read. “Expect to hear about the reinvigorated campaign real soon and thanks to all for your support.”

Ulrich said he has not planned that far ahead, but thinks he will have the advantage.

“I will have more than eight months to prove myself to the voters,” said Ulrich. “If I am elected, I intend to be re-elected.”

More Video from the CD32 Debate - Mike Riccato's Question to Eric Ulrich

CD32 Michael Riccato's question for Eric Ulrich, during a debate to replace Joe Addabbo in the New York City Council, on February 12, 2009.

32 CD Debate - Opening Statements

The Opening statements from the five candidates at the 32 CD Debate held at Saint Barnabas Church in Howard Beach, NY on February 12th. The debate was sponsored by The Forum South and the Queens Chronicle newspapers...

Video courtesy of LibertyAvenuePolitics

Personality, Not Policy Marks Debate in South Queens by Dara Miles - Gotham Gazette

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Candidates

• Geraldine M. Chapey
• Glen DiResto
• Mike Ricatto
• Eric Ulrich
• Lew M. Simon
  
  Click on a candidate name
  to jump to a short bio

Current Occcupant: The 32nd district council seat, currently vacant, was occupied by Democrat Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr.. In November, who won election to the State Senate in November.

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Four candidates (perhaps five, depending on the final outcome of a legal challenge) will be on the ballot vying to represent the 32nd district at City Hall. Although they largely agree on the issues of concern to south Queens, they have differed sharply as to who is qualified -- or who even has the right -- to represent the area.

Among those running are several candidates who claim years of service to their political parties and to their communities. The youngest contender, Eric Ulrich, is a Republican district leader who has been active in politics since his teens. Lew Simon is a Democrat district leader who claims a long tenure as a neighborhood activist. Geraldine Chapey, a fourth-generation resident of the district, touts her experience as an educator and as the founder of a non-profit organization that provides group transportation to south Queens seniors. That affiliation, though, cuts both ways; she has been under attack because she refuses to disclose how much, or whether, she makes any money from her contracts with the city.)

The field includes two newcomers to politics. Glen DiResto points to his leadership and managerial experience in the police department. Mike Ricatto, a successful entrepreneur, is hoping that voters will decide they need his business acumen at City Hall. His campaign was shaken up early on when the driver of a campaign van hit and killed a 9-year-old boy. More recently, his candidacy survived a legal challenge based on his relatively recent move into the district. Some of his opponents say Ricatto has no right to run in the 32nd, but the courts have ruled otherwise.

Far from Manhattan

District 32 spans a spread-out handful of communities on Queens' southern reaches, from Woodhaven south through Ozone Park, Howard Beach and Broad Channel, and across Jamaica Bay to Rockaway. Once an enclave of working-class Italian, Irish and Jewish families, the district is now one of the most ethnically diverse in Queens.

While most of the district's residents live no more than 10 miles from City Hall as the crow flies, they like to imagine that their quiet, tree-lined neighborhoods with modest single-family homes are worlds away from Lower Manhattan's hustle. Yet, the psychic distance comes at a price -- they complain of being short-changed when it comes to getting their share of city services, particularly transportation.

That was the message the candidates got on Feb. 4 at the first of two debates where a large part of the discussion centered on the lack of reliable public transportation and the resulting strain on traffic and on-street parking. Residents worry that service will only get worse in the face of budget cuts. With the city's financial crisis rendering train or bus route expansions mere whimsy at this point, the candidates agreed that existing service must be maintained at the very least.

Rockaway and Broad Channel residents, separated from the rest of the district by Jamaica Bay, are also distressed at the specter of having to once again pay a toll to use the Cross Bay bridge. Currently, these residents get a rebate on tolls paid, but the Metropolitan Transit Authority is mulling an end to the program. The candidates agreed that Queens residents should not have to pay to drive from one end of their borough to another and pledged to fight the authority's proposed rollback.

In contrast to the first debate, where civility prevailed, a second debate a week later touched focused on less pressing matters yet was marked, in the waning minutes, by discord and vitriol.

Although seven candidates for Addabbo's council seat had filed nominating petitions with the Board of Elections by the Jan. 15 deadline, petition challenges knocked three out of the race before the second debate. One of the victims was Frank Gulluscio, a Democratic district leader and former Adabbo staffer who many saw as the heir apparent. Sam DiBernardo, failed to gather enough signatures to get his name on the ballot. DiResto, was eliminated too but is appealing the decision.

That left four survivors, Ricatto, Ulrich, Chapey and Simon, plus a hopeful DiResto, to duke it out before a nearly packed house in a Howard Beach church basement, with audience members throwing some verbal punches as well.

The evening started benignly enough, with all of the contenders reiterating their unanimity on the transportation, toll rebate and essential services issues. The candidates' differences were more a matter of style than substance as they explained how they would fix problems ranging from dead fish in the Shell Bank basin to shrinking manpower in police precincts.

Debate moderator and Queens Chronicle editor Peter Mastrosimone asked the candidates how they would solve the apparent disparity between police protection in Rockaway and the precincts to the north. Most candidates suggested manpower sharing or reallocation among the three precincts. "Allocating police officers is not rocket science," said former police lieutenant DiResto. "You look at the map, and you deploy the officers where they're needed -- where the crime is."

Residents complain that parking regulations and noise ordinances are not enforced. The candidates agreed change is needed, and Chapey invoked former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his tough-on-minor-crime policies. "As a City Council person, I would insist that we go back to that time," she said. "The police and other municipal services must be directed to deal with them."

Ulrich also favored a zero-tolerance approach. "If one of my constituents calls my line -- which I will have 24 hours a day -- and says that somebody is blasting that music at one o clock in the morning, guess what? The police officer's going to go there and not issue summonses, not give tickets, they're going to take that sound system and confiscate it and get it the hell out of there," he said.

Like the rest of Queens, the district struggles with "illegal conversions" -- home renovations, sometimes shoddy and unsafe, done so that more families can be quartered under one roof. The contenders agree that increased enforcement is needed, as well as more oversight of the city's troubled Buildings Department. Simon proposed to get one building inspector assigned to work with each community board, and tougher consequences for violators.

South Queens residents rely heavily on the city's forestry services for maintenance of the district's many trees. As Mastrosimone noted, district residents made more than a 1,000 calls last year to the parks department, usually for removal of dead trees or tree limbs. Most candidates agreed that it was hard to get a timely response from the department and pledged to get forestry to make the district a higher priority.

Ricatto disagreed. "We are in a fiscal, financial crisis right now," he said. "Forestry is the least of our worries at this point in time. I think what important is to keep our police on duty and our firefighters on duty and to keep the core of our services up and running."

Money -- or the lack thereof -- underpins each of the district's issues. When asked for one revenue innovation to help bridge the budget gap, DiResto and Uhlrich said they would push to reinstate the commuter tax, something that requires the approval of the state government. Chapey suggested tapping the federal stimulus package, and Ricatto favored stepped-up enforcement of small crimes to bring revenues from fines into the city coffers. Simon proposed a borough-wide Lotto, with each borough running its own game and keeping the revenues for its projects.

Heating Up

Sparks flew toward the end of the evening, when the candidates questioned each other. Ricatto faced cries of "Carpetbagger!" from the crowd until a loud voice from the back rose to his defense. Ricatto, the businessman, asked Ulrich, the young politician, how he was qualified to lead in hard fiscal times.

"There's a lot more to being a City Council member than being a businessman," Ulrich responded. "Politics is not business, and these are not your employees," he said, gesturing to the cheering crowd.

Chapey found herself in the cross hairs as well. Ulrich questioned her successful effort to get Gulluscio bounced from the ballot. Shouting down a pro-Gulluscio contingent in the crowd, Chapey said, "If you go into the pool hall, the rules are listed on the wall, she said. "If you want to run for election, you should know the rules."

Addabbo had endorsed Gulluscio and so far has not indicated whether he will endorse one of the remaining candidates. The Queens County Republican Party's Executive Committee is endorsing Ulrich.

The winner of the Feb. 24 special election only locks up the council seat for a few months. Next November, District 32 voters will go back to the polls again, and they may find Gulluscio's name back on the ballot.

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Biographies

Geraldine Chapey, 67: A Rockaway Park resident, she is a professor at CUNY in the behavioral sciences department and a Democratic district leader for Far Rockaway. She is the director of Trinity Senior Services, a non-profit transportation service for seniors living in southeast Queens. Chapey ran unsuccessfully for the state Assembly more than a decade ago; this is her first bid for City Council.

Glen DiResto, 38: He retired last year from the New York Police Department where he served as a lieutenant. A political newcomer, he lives in Rockaway Beach.

Michael P. Ricatto, 52: The Ozone Park resident is president of Ricatto Enterprises, a group of family-owned enterprises with interests in re-manufacturing, fleet maintenance, racehorses and real estate. This is his first time running for office.

Lew M. Simon, 49: He lives in Rockaway Beach and is a long-time community activist and the founder and chair of the Good Government Regular Democratic Club. He has been a Democratic district leader since 1994. He first ran for city council in 2002, but lost to Joseph Addabbo in the primary election.

Eric Ulrich, 23: A fundraiser for the Roman Catholic Church, he previously worked as a schoolteacher and a campaign consultant. A Republican district leader since 2007, this is the Ozone Park resident's first time running for City Council.

Campaign Finance Records

Geraldine Chapey
Glenn DiResto
Michael Ricatto
Lew Simon
Eric Ulrich

In Defense of Political Hardball in a Howard Beach Council Race by Azi Paybarah - Observer.com

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Getting your opponent knocked off the ballot has its practical benefits, but it won't necessarily make you popular, as City Council candidate Geraldine Chapey found out during a debate last night at the Saint Barnabas Church in Howard Beach.

Chapey filed a challenge and succeeded in knocking off the leading candidate in the race, Frank Gulluscio—an aide to Joe Addabbo, the councilman whose election to the State Senate created the current vacancy.

At last night’s debate, another candidate in the race, Eric Ulrich, asked Chapey, “Why do you feel Frank did not have the right to run for City Council?”

Chapey tried answering the question, and ended up getting shouted down the by the audience.

“You can shout up until tomorrow. It doesn’t matter,” she told them, saying it was the Board of Elections that ultimately made the decision.

Candidates Face Off in Howard Beach Debate by Lee Landor - Queens Chronicle

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City Councilman Joseph Addabbo Jr., left, and state Sen. Serphin Maltese shook hands after a debate hosted by the Howard Beach Civic Forum at St. Barnabas Church. (Michael O’Kane)

This was purely a topic-driven debate. Candidates were not to reference one another and audience members were to ask questions focused on the five topics only.

The Howard Beach Civic Forum set out these rules prior to the start of the debate it hosted between between City Councilman Joseph Addabbo Jr. and state Sen. Serphin Maltese, who are vying for the 15th Senate District seat.

A structured forum such as this, the civic members hoped, would make for better results by filtering out bickering, character attacks and discussion of subjects unrelated to the election. They were right.

Despite being a full house, the St. Barnabas Church in Howard Beach was quiet: only the candidates voices could be heard as they spoke quickly, fervently and respectfully, staying on all five topics — education, public safety and quality of life, economics, transportation and health care — the entire night.

Each was given three minutes to speak about each subject and then 90 seconds to answer questions from audience members, which were written on index cards prior to the debate.

Education

Maltese, a 20-year veteran senator, said higher education and tuition assistance programs are matters to which he has paid great attention during his years in office. Maltese said he secured an additional $616 million for TAP in 2007 and about $646 million in extra funding in 2008.

In the last 10 years, the Senate has increased education funding for New York City by 97 percent, Maltese said, adding that the average student in the city receives $8,524 from the state for college.

When Addabbo was given his three minutes on the subject, he began by explaining how critical education is to a community: it is the reason people come to or leave from certain neighborhoods, and that causes fluctuations in property values and the local economy, among other things. His goal is to keep people in the district.

It’s important for parents to give input and get involved in their children’s education, Addabbo said. But school funding is a major issue. The councilman said he has secured $11 million for schools in his district since he was elected to office in 2001.


Public Safety and Quality of Life

In his commentary on public safety, Maltese touted his experience in the legal field: he was once an assistant Queens District Attorney and the deputy chief of the homicide bureau.

During his 10 terms as a senator, Maltese served as chairman of the Senate Standing Commitment on Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections. He has sponsored 239 bills that became laws, and has co-sponsored hundreds more. One of his “Maltese laws,” as the senator calls them, increased the penalties for driving under the influence.

He also cosponsored 24 pieces of legislation in 2006 that updated and strengthened Megan’s Law, creating tougher penalties and mandating community notification and GPS tracking of violent sexual predators.

Addabbo, who sits on the Council’s Public Safety Committee, said police departments are an integral part of public safety. He has worked to improve communication with area precincts and fought for a salary increase for NYPD rookies, which will likely increase recruitment and retainment rates.

Addabbo wants to see more police vehicles on the streets and more police officers in the precincts, which he said are understaffed. Of his proposal to start a sex offender registry notification e-mail system, Addabbo said, “We should have more access to who is in our community.”

Economics

During the finance portion of the debate, the two candidates had similar responses. While Addabbo called small businesses the “backbone” of the community, Maltese said the local commercial strips are its “lifeblood.”

Both said government should cut spending before raising property and other taxes. “We have to take in our belts,” Maltese said, adding that his work with small businesses in his district earned him an endorsement from the New York Federation of Small Business.

Addabbo said it’s time for the state Senate to reform programs like the Industrial Commercial Investment Program, which gives “big money” to large corporations, such as McDonald’s and Duane Reade. “Take away some of this money from big corporate and put it down to the small businesses where it would help,” he said. “It would help our local businesses and help our local people.”

Transportation

On the topic of transportation, the candidates agreed that improvements are badly needed and had similar approaches to obtaining upgrades.

Neither politician supported the proposed congestion pricing, which threatened to charge non-Manhattan residents — including Queens residents who work there — for driving into the borough during peak hours.

Maltese and Addabbo recognized that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s financial troubles contribute greatly to the poor conditions of many Queens subway stations and trains. But they both said increasing fares is unfair to commuters and will not resolve the MTA’s problem.

Addabbo’s advice to the MTA was, “Be creative.” He suggested the agency come up with innovative money raising methods that do not reach into commuters’ pockets. Addabbo also stuck to a promise he made during his first campaign for City Council in 2001: bringing a high-speed ferry service to Rockaway. That service launched in May.

Maltese, who got $2 million to renovate a rundown M train station in Middle Village, said the state Department of Transportation also plays a role in the city’s poor transportation and outdated infrastructure. He secured $1.2 million to renovate Eliot Avenue, a dangerous street in Middle Village that was in desperate need of improvement.

Health Care

The candidates both stressed the importance of accessible health care, particularly for seniors and area hospitals.

Addabbo said the state Senate must begin looking into preventive care to save costs on long-term care. It should also address Medicaid fraud, which is estimated to bilk the state of some $5 billion per year.

Maltese cosponsored a bill that created Healthy NY — a program designed to assist small business owners, uninsured sole providers and workers whose employers do not provide health insurance. He helped restore $59.1 million in the state budget to nursing homes and $16.9 million to Queens hospitals.

Closing Statements

Concluding their well-received presentations, each candidate shared his finals thoughts on why he deserves to be elected.

The veteran senator said he’s been doing a great job for almost 20 years and wants to continue serving his constituents. He has shown his capabilities to the public and truly earned his title, he said.

Addabbo’s closing statements boiled down to the concept of “out with the old, in with the new.” Calling himself a fiscally responsible and focused fighter, Addabbo said it’s time for a change. “We deserve better. We need better. We can do better,” he said.