Queens GOP Leaders Back McCain's Primary Bid

Queens Republicans were squarely behind Arizona Senator John McCain yesterday as he pursued his party's presidential delegates in balloting held throughout New York state as part of Super Tuesday primaries in 22 states.

When the Gazette went to press late yesterday evening, the polls were still open (and would remain open until 9 p.m.), so as this column was being written, the ballots had not been counted and how McCain fared against former governors Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, and Mike Huckabee of Arizona was still unknown.

But McCain, whose campaign took off after his surprise victories in New Hampshire and Florida, was a heavy favorite to pull in New York's 101 delegates under the party's winner-take-all rules.

The 71-year-old lawmaker was also favored, according to the polls, to win primaries in other states that elect large numbers of delegates. Among these were California (173 delegates), Georgia (72), Illinois (70) and Missouri (58).

On board the McCain bandwagon was a host of Queens Republican Party leaders, including county chairman Phil Ragusa, his second-in-command, Vince Tabone, and state Senators Frank Padavan and Serphin Maltese.

On board the McCain bandwagon was a host of Queens Republican Party leaders, including County Chairman Phil Ragusa, his second in-command, Vince Tabone, and state Senators Frank Padavan and Serphin Maltese. Pictured are Maltese, Ragusa and Padavan.

When McCain won the Florida primary and defeated Rudy Giuliani (along with Romney and Huckabee), the Queens leaders who had formerly supported Giuliani, followed the former mayor's lead and endorsed McCain.

Maltese, who had chaired Giuliani's presidential campaign in Queens, will assume the same role in McCain's campaign if McCain wins yesterday's primary. 

He said he had told McCain's New York state chairman Ed Cox that the Queens Republican organization would welcome McCain at the top of the state ticket in November because he was the best candidate to win the November election, no matter who the Democratic candidate is.

Maltese added, "With John McCain leading our ticket this fall, the Republican state senate will maintain control of the upper house, but in addition, will increase the Republican majority with additional senate seats.

Of course, that's not the scenario Democratic party leaders see in the fall elections. They are confident either Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton or her present opponent for the presidential nomination, Barack Obama, will eventually be elected the next president of the United States and, in the process, will help elect enough New York state senators to give the Democrats control of the upper house.

In the November elections, Padavan (R- C, Bellerose) and Maltese (R- C, Middle Village) are expected to be challenged by, respectively, City Councilmembers James Gennaro (D- Fresh Meadows) and Joseph Addabbo Jr. (D- Ozone Park).

Meanwhile, Ragusa, of Whitestone, sees McCain as "the best candidate to lead our nation" because of the uncertain economy and the ongoing challenge of the war against radical Islamic extremism.

Padavan cited McCain's "noble and courageous service to our nation". Tabone also recalled the former prisoner of war as an American hero who has "the leadership skills and judgment that are so sorely needed during these trying times".

Meanwhile, Queens Democrats were busy yesterday pulling out as many votes as possible for Clinton, who they had endorsed. To repeat, the Gazette went to press before the voting ended at 9 p.m. so we didn't know the outcome of Clinton's battle at the polls against Barack Obama.

This columnist, along with other political observers, prognosticators and pollsters, expected Clinton to withstand Obama's challenge and win the lion's share of the 281 presidential convention delegates up for grabs.

Obama was expected to run strong among black voters throughout the city, but the Hispanic vote was seen remaining loyal to Clinton.

In the other 21 states having primaries yesterday, we expected the total effect of the voting, counted on a proportional basis by the national Democratic Party, to result in neither Clinton nor Obama scoring a decisive knockout punch. Their fight for the nomination will continue for several months more.

CLINTON APPOINTMENT: Marking the first time in history that a woman has been appointed by a leading presidential candidate, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has named Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis to head Greek- Americans for Clinton.

The new appointee, who is president of the AKT Development Corporation, is a leader in the Hellenic community nationally. She also tops the list of Democratic contributors to Senator Clinton in California.

Clinton and Barack Obama engaged yesterday in a very tight Democratic primary race for California's 441 presidential delegates. The winner of the primary was not known when the Gazette went to press late yesterday afternoon.

The announcement of Tsakopoulos- Kounalakis' appointment was issued by The National Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (NCEH) in Washington. She is the wife of Markos Kounalakis, publisher of the Washington Monthly and an author and journalist.

According to the NCEH news release, Tsakopoulos- Kounalakis and her father, Angelo Tsakopoulos, made a $10 million "independent expenditure" in support of the campaign of Greek-American Phil Angelides for governor of California.

VALLONE PRESSES HOMEWORK ISSUE: Following up on his call for less homework for public school students, City Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. introduced a council resolution last Friday asking for "reasonable guidelines" on the amount of homework for elementary and middle school children.

The resolution calls on the city Department of Education (DOE) to limit homework to 10 minutes per grade per night- meaning a second grader would get 20 minutes and seventh grader would get 70 minutes etc. He said this is a standard that has been recognized by many education experts. He also called for creation of a homework-free night.

Vallone (D- Astoria) stated, "Kids deserve to be kids. Homework can add to a student's education, but we should not pile heaps of it to replace solid learning in the classroom. This resolution will hopefully lead to a standard that can allow our children to be both productive and happy."

Vallone, who has two children in public school, said his resolution does not have the force of law, nor does it intend to dictate strict limits on homework, but he said he hoped it will encourage discussion among teachers and administrators about the appropriate amount of work students are assigned each night.