Kim, Halloran Contest Very Close In NE Queens

From all indications, the election for the 19th City Council District seat in Northeast Queens between Republican Dan Halloran, (l.), and Democrat Kevin Kim, (r.), on November 3 will not be decided until the final ballot is counted. From all indications, the election for the 19th City Council District seat in Northeast Queens between Republican Dan Halloran and Democrat Kevin Kim on November 3 will not be decided until the final ballot is counted. That’s how close the race figures in the district that includes Bayside, Whitestone, College Point, Douglaston, Little Neck and part of Flushing.

There is only one Republican in the 14- member Queens delegation, none in the borough’s Assembly delegation and only one GOPer—state Senator Frank Padavan—in the senate. Strangely enough, Padavan’s district includes the 19th Council District. Padavan’s victory last year over Councilmember James Gennaro was close, extremely contentious, and wasn’t settled until a month after the last ballot was counted.

A little while back, when Phil Ragusa took over the GOP reins in Queens, he vowed that his party would be competitive with the reigning Democrats, despite the Dems’ huge voter registration edge in the borough.

Ragusa and his second-in-command, Vince Tabone, made a diligent search for council candidates in this year’s elections and as a result their party has a fighting chance in several other contests that will be covered in separate stories in issues coming up to the November 3 elections.

Needless to say, Congressmember Joseph Crowley, who doubles as Queens Democratic Party chairman, and Michael Reich, the party’s executive chairman and chief election strategist, will be making a maximum effort to maintain their current level of strength in the council while trying to unseat Republican Eric Ulrich, who won the special election to replace Joseph Addabbo Jr. when he moved up to the state senate in last year’s elections.

Fittingly, both Kim and Halloran are making their first attempts to win public office, so there’s no incumbent advantage.

Kim is 39 years old, married and the father of a baby girl born earlier this year. He resides in Bay Terrace where he grew up, is of Korean ancestry, an attorney and has worked for the past three years as a deputy director of community affairs for Congressmember Gary Ackerman, who has warmly endorsed him for election.

When Kim announced his candidacy last August, he stated: “I am excited to follow in Congressman Ackerman’s footsteps by advocating tirelessly and effectively on behalf of working families on issues that are most important to them, including improving our education system, preserving property values, promoting small businesses, and ensuring public safety.”

On that day in August, Ackerman endorsed Kim, saying, “Very rarely have I ever come across a person of such intelligence, character, ability dedication and wisdom all in one person of such a young and dynamic age, as I have when I met Kevin Kim.”

The veteran lawmaker then boldly predicted, “Kevin is going to win the [the Democratic primary]. He is going to win because he is confident, cares about people, and he wants to give his life to serving his city and nation, and it is something that I find extremely admirable.”

In endorsing his young staff member, Ackerman was going against his county Democratic Party’s choice, Jerry Iannece, one of five candidates Kim would defeat in the primary to become the party’s candidate in the 19th District.

Halloran is 37, an attorney practicing in Auburndale, who resides in Whitestone. The Halloran family dates back 100 years in this area. Halloran’s father, a home builder constructed many of the houses in Bayside and Auburndale.

On March 19, Halloran was endorsed by the county organization to run for the 19th District seat. In accepting the nomination, Halloran listed his campaign core issues as efficient and transparent government, attention to the outer boroughs, taxes and quality of life issues.

He declared, “Northeast Queens is unlike anywhere else in the city. We are ethnically and culturally diverse, a mixture of urban and suburban homes, and the driving force in the economy of our city, yet our voice is seldom heard by the city council and even less so by the state Assembly.”

In mid-July, he was among the first to submit his nominating petitions. His volunteers came in with more than twice the number of petitions required for him to get on the ballot. Among those endorsing him was Senator Frank Padavan, an iconic figure in that area.

The campaign recently showed some volatility when the county organization executive vice chairman, Vince Tabone, accused the Kim campaign of making negative attacks on Halloran and charging that “naked ethnic appeals” made by Kim during the Democratic primary campaign helped him win.

Tabone also called on Kim to take a stand on Ackerman’s vote to support Congressmember Charles Rangel in an ethics inquiry into certain financial matters.

Calls to Kim and Ackerman for comment were not returned.

On the same issues, Halloran issued a statement stating, “I’m running to unite this district, not to divide it. People here have real concerns, as they want a discussion of the issues. I’m the only candidate offering a vision to cut taxes and spending and reinvest in our schools and our small businesses, and I’m the only candidate with real roots here in Northeast Queens.”

The “real roots” comment was a reference to charges Kim moved into the 19th District only last February and cast his first vote in the district in the September 15 primary.

Many factors will have to be considered in determining how the voting might go on Election Day.

When the city council was expanded to 51 districts under the new City Charter, which took effect in 1994, Queens went from eight local districts and two at-large members to 14 districts. In the first election in the 19th District under the new lines, Michael Abel, a Republican, took the district as Rudy Giuliani won the mayor’s office for the first of two terms.

Abel served for two terms, was forced out by term limits and succeeded by Tony Avella, a Democrat, who also served for two terms. Avella opted to run for mayor rather than for a third term this year, and Kim and Halloran became the candidates selected to run on November 3 to succeed Avella.

Under the present 19th Council District lines, a Republican was elected to serve in the district for the first eight years and a Democrat held office for the next eight years. It would appear a candidate from either party would have a chance to win the district in this election. Having a bearing on the party angle in the district race is the fact that a Republican incumbent, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, will be at the top of the Republican line and is favored to defeat Democrat William Thompson Jr.

As this factor applies to the Kim-Halloran contest, we would think Bloomberg will run very well in the district and could provide some help to Halloran further down on the GOP line.

On a broader scale, there is also historical evidence of the area’s conservative bent from time to time in the fact that Padavan, a Republican, is in his 36th year as Northeast Queens’ state senate representative. And in a 16-year period from 1981 to 1996, Republican Douglas Prescott held the Assembly seat covering Bayside for 14 years before being replaced by incumbent Assemblymember Ann Margaret Carrozza.

In contrast, Ackerman has been representing the greater Bayside area for the latter part of his 25 years in Congress, starting out as the late Benjamin Rosenthal’s successor in Forest Hills in 1984. For the five years prior to that, Ackerman was a state senator from Flushing. Carrozza has been in the Assembly since 1997.

The major factor in the voting promises to be how the various ethnic factions will vote.

The Korean-born Kim is, of course, assured of the Asian American vote, being the only member of that group on the ballot. There is some question, though, of how large a voting bloc will that group provide and will it be enough to give him a winning edge.

As to how large the Asian American vote will be, we can’t provide a number, but we think it will be the maximum he can get from that faction.

With Councilmember John Liu on the ballot as the city comptroller candidate, and considering that a victory for him will make him the first Asian American in history to hold a high citywide office in one of the leading cities in the world, every Asian American in the city, including in Queens, will be certain to get to the polls to cast a vote.

Also, no one from Liu’s ethnic group will be challenging him, promising no split Asian American vote. This same situation presents itself for Kim, and we expect whatever the proportions of the Asian American vote are in this borough, Liu and Kim will be the beneficiaries of it.

For Liu, it doesn’t matter what the actual number of votes are in Queens because while that might not be enough to make him a winner, he would surely be pushed over the top by the citywide tally.

In Kim’s case, a solid Asian American bloc may not be enough to make him a winner, even if it makes him competitive. As we see it, Kim will not benefit from the large Democratic vote in the district. For starters, this is his first time on the ballot as the Democratic candidate, and he was the first choice of the county Democratic organization. His sponsor, Congressmember Ackerman, challenged the organization’s choice in the primary, so rankand file Democrats may still be harboring some resentment against him on election day.

Add to this another ethnic factor, the Democratic Italian American voter that might bypass the Democratic line in this election. Two of Kim’s defeated opponents, Jerry Iannece and Paul Vallone, are members of this ethnic group with particularly strong connections to it. Both were considered favorites to win the primary, but Kim sprang a surprise victory. Partisans of both these candidates are being wooed by Halloran, who has been making a strong effort to get this sizable voting bloc in his corner.

Helping to make this case is the fact that Halloran’s wife, Cynthia Massimo–Halloran, is Italian-American, and he is also a partner in the Halloran-Palmieri-Castiglione law firm in Auburndale. Halloran, his wife and law partners all marched together in the recent Columbus Day parade.

Finally, one other factor that could affect the outcome of the contest is Kim’s close relationship with Ackerman. This could bring him some support from the lawmaker’s closest and strongest supporters but as we previously mentioned this may be offset by interactions that took place in the period leading up to the primary.