Queens GOP Endorsement Of Bloomberg, Late In Coming, Is Reportedly On The Way

Sources in the Queens Republican Party report that their party’s endorsement of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s re-election bid is expected any day now.

The borough GOP party chairman, state Senator Serphin Maltese, is reportedly closing in on several holdouts on the executive committee who have been reluctant to jump on the Bloomberg bandwagon because of their loyalty to former City Councilmember Tom Ognibene, who failed to qualify for the Republican primary ballot to challenge the mayor, but is on the Conservative Party line in the November 8 general election.

Also holding up the endorsement was Maltese’s preoccupation with an intraparty situation in the primary, also sparked by the Ognibene matter and encouraged by the mayor.

The latter incident involved an insurgent GOP group from Forest Hills that supported Bart Haggerty and Virginia Donnelly in a challenge to longtime regular Republican stalwarts Marguerite Adams and Richard Metzger, 28th Assembly District state committeemembers, otherwise known as district leaders.

Haggerty, who’s got a job in the Bloomberg mayoral administration, and his brother, John Jr., sparked the mayor’s successful challenge to Ognibene’s petitions that knocked him off the ballot. Ognibene’s defeat was a major favor to the mayor who didn’t want the embarrassment of an election he would have won easily anyway.

The Haggerty brothers are children of Jack Haggerty, a former Republican county leader who was unseated by the Maltese–Ognibene faction about a decade ago, establishing the Haggerty enmity toward Ognibene.

In the state committee fight two weeks ago, Maltese, Adams and Metzger prevailed. Afterward, Maltese issued a release in which he lauded a great effort by himself, Councilmember Dennis Gallagher and party member Anthony Como for the victory.

The release explained that while the regular organization met the challenge resolutely, “Mayor Bloomberg backed the losing candidates with his endorsements, not only on pamphlets and mailings, but also via the ‘prerecorded telephone calls’ that were made to district Republicans.”

Clearly, the Haggerty challenge was a major assault on Maltese, his organization and supporters, and if the reports of a Bloomberg endorsement by Maltese are revealed to be true, it will truly represent a major diplomatic effort by the veteran Middle Village GOP leader.

If the Maltese factions endorsement finally comes with only six weeks remaining until the election, the Glendale/Middle Village base of the county organization will be catching up with the Northeast Queens wing of the party, which endorsed the mayor about a month ago. The mayor opened his Queens election headquarters in that area recently at 36-36 Bell Blvd. in Bayside.

But Ognibene and his Republican colleagues in Glendale and surrounding areas may still gain a measure of revenge on the mayor on November 8. This entire episode, sparked by the former councilmember and the mayor’s rough tactics in beating it back could boomerang on Election Day and cost Bloomberg valuable votes in his Western Queens Republican stronghold.

FERRER HONOREE AT DEM DINNER: Queens Democrats, led by Party Chairman Thomas Manton, can be expected to make a herculean effort to fill every inch of the Antun’s of Queens Village fabled food palace on October 20 when they honor the party’s mayoral candidate, Fernando Ferrer, at the annual pre-election cocktail party.

These affairs, which serve as fundraisers for the organization’s election efforts, among other things, also are measured by how much support they can generate for the candidate. They usually bring in a respectable crowd, but in cases where the honoree is carrying the party’s hopes of regaining City Hall, you can be sure Manton et al. will bend over backwards to try to fill every seat in the house. Odds are, they’ll succeed, even at $250 a ticket.

The affair kicks off at 6 p.m. at Antun’s, the Queens Democratic partying place since the late Matty Troy’s heyday, about 40 years ago, is located on Springfield Boulevard, about a block north of Jamaica Avenue in Queens Village.

Although Manton and the county organization backed City Council Speaker Gifford Miller in the primary, Ferrer enjoyed the endorsement of many top Queens Democrats for his primary bid. Among those backing him were Congressmembers Joseph Crowley and Gregory Meeks, Assemblymember Catherine Nolan, former Congressmember Geraldine Ferraro, City Councilmember Hiram Monserrate and Assemblymembers Jose Peralta and Jimmy Meng, among others.

The cocktail party turnout might also be larger if Ferrer’s campaign catches fire by party time. Presently, the campaign, despite some major endorsements, still doesn’t appear to improve his chances against the mayor. The most impressive endorsement so far has been that of labor leader Dennis Rivera’s hospital workers union. It has a large membership and a reputation for helping a candidate get voters to the polls If the polls are to be believed, Ferrer must make major inroads on the mayor to make a race out of this.

GOLISANO SERIOUS?: There’s talk that Rochester billionaire Tom Golisano, who ran unsuccessfully three times for governor as the candidate of the Independence Party, which he founded, might be changing his party registration to Republican in order to seek the GOP line next year in the gubernatorial race.

This would appear to give this contest some glamour and interest and a chance to be competitive, considering that the governor’s office was Eliot Spitzer’s for the asking in 2006.

Spitzer was considered such a shoo-in that Governor George Pataki decided to pass up running for a fourth term and go for something easier, like president of the United States.

As the Republican candidate, Golisano would bring serious money into the race, since he’s a man who’s proven he’s not afraid to spend it. Also he’s proved himself as a creditable campaigner, getting enough votes to give the Independence Party the third line on the ballot.

He also fits the bill as a Republican candidate. He’s a fiscal conservative, he’s a born fighter, he reportedly dislikes Spitzer and he has the experience to stand the rigors of a long, hard battle.

We would take him in a minute if it were our choice.

WEPRIN FUNDRAISER: Councilmember David Weprin (D–Hollis) has scheduled a re-election fundraiser for Tuesday, October 11 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the City Hall Restaurant, 131 Duane St., in Lower Manhattan. Ticket prices are $500 (Friends), $1,000 (Hosts) and $2,750 (Sponsors).