From the Daily News:Former City Councilman Thomas Ognibene said he may challenge Queens County GOP leader Phil Ragusa at the upcoming organizational meeting.
"A lot of people feel the party can move forward. There are new opportunities in 2012," he said. "Real leadership can make a difference."
Queens Republicans are eager to harness the momentum created by newly elected Congressman Bob Turner's victory and grab back state legislative seats they lost in recent years.
"The county [party] adds nothing," said Ognibene. "They do not raise money and they do not provide expertise."
Queens GOP spokesman Robert Hornak said Ognibene's criticism was unfair and unfounded.
"If Tom feels compelled to run for county chairman, he's certainly free to do so," said Hornak. "If he had been more involved in the county organization over the past few years he would know our field operations and fund-raising has increased."
Ragusa was recovering from surgery and was not immediately available for comment.
Hornak said Ragusa has enough votes to be reelected.
41 comments:
"...and grab back state legislative seats they lost in recent years"
So they can better serve the landlords and stick it to working people.
Those recent losses are not some sudden occurrence, they are just the culmination of a longterm trend that is now reaching the critical stage.
Even in the so-called "silk stocking" district of Manhattan -once a republican holdout, the local elections now swing democratic -often by wide margins.
The statement I began with has finally sunk-in to NY'ers, along with huge demographic and education changes.
The gop will wither to a very regional factor over the next 3-5 cycles.
The party does has great opportunities and have demonstrated this with Rep. Turner. My suggestion is that O join and team with the organization or get out of the way. This is no times to be divisive.
G-d's Holy trousers!
These two fossils should be put on display at the American museum of Natural History!
In fact, I'll send in my donation to create a wing dedicated to the vestigial remains of the Queens Republican Party!
Picture it:
The great hall of mounted heads would feature examples of the party's other (soon to be vanished) species:
Dennis P. Gallagher; Councilman Peter Koo; Councilman Dan "hollering" Halloran; etc.
Ample space will be provided for future additions.
If Tom is eager to bring integrity to the QGOP why is he so closely associated with the Haggerty brothers?
The problem is fundraising. I love Tom but since he is on Bloomberg's shit list this can only hinder the county's fund raising.
GOP will get nowhere if they keep on talking about getting rid of Social Security or Medicare. Yea, scare off the seniors who vote!
Ragusa hired sexual predator Dennis Gallagher. Enough said.
Ognibene got Maltese on Bloomberg's bad list by insisting he be allowed to run for mayor, then he turned around and crawled inside Bloomberg's underwear plumbing and got the fool mayor to turn on Serf.
watch out the GOP in north queens
matt silverstein is taking over the hood.
matt silverstein for city council
vince tabone says
i did not fight hard against braunstein. i did not fight for padavan, however, i will fight hard for the county leadership
and you suckers will never know why
Maybe my lobbyist Uncle Brian Meara can buy me the Queens Republican Party like he bought me my Assembly seat!
Turns out Rick Lazio isn't a fan, either.
Matt Silversmith is the bigest ass-kisser to walk the planet. He's Stavisky's puppy dog and will never get anywhere....he is being used badly and he doesn't even know it.
Neither Ognibene nor Haggerty have a clue what it takes to run a large organization effectively, or do they have the perseverance to keep it going. They are just plain lazy and full of quixotic hot air. The puppies who are fooled by their promises have no real experience, depth or competence either. Ragusa's organization runs like clockwork, with no person irreplaceable, and someone always ready to fill in for one another.
Can we get someone younger than 70 to fill this position?
vince tabone says
it does not matter who kisses ass in the democratic party. this will always be a one party town as long as i hold the leadership hostage. there are bona fide right wingers handing out fliers in whitestone and douglaston for the democratic party and i have not done a thing to bring new people into the party.now thats the north when it comes to south queens fugghedabatit a whole new set of issues. queens county one county one party,
Turner's victory won't help other who want to run. His seat my become obsolete and he ran for a position that was vacated by a nation covered creep.
Other elected leaders wont have the same coverage or issues that took place in the Turner win.
re: #6 :"g.o.p. talking about getting rid of social security and medicare"
please detail where this was written or spoken by the g.o.p representatives ?
i think you are either misinformed or a propagandist for the democrat party machine.
both government programs (involuntary), are deemed to go broke by the 2020"s ,if not fixed soon by the congress and executive branches.
Fact : no senior over 55 years of age will have the benefits stopped.
Paul Ryan's reform plan is common sense, so far, to keep them in force for all ,in the future.
but the dems want to scare seniors with propaganda like"the ryan plan will throw seniors off the cliff".
Super Mario aka Stupid Mario aka Phil Ragusa is clueless. Dump him and Tabone and let's bring back some talent and intelligence back to the Queens County Republican Party.
Phonies, liars, cheats. That's all we get in Queens!!!
too late for, you all already lost everything and there is nothing left to fight for. It is now New Dehli Dominica saudia arabia
"...let's bring back some talent and intelligence back to the Queens County Republican Party."
Like the Haggertys and Ognibene? Really? Or you mean you? So step up to the plate, Anonymous!
Sexual predator Dennis Gallagher also "advises" Peter Koo!
Hey Vince, how many people did you have at your meeting last night? Twenty? Good job. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.
Obviously, there are a lot of detractors against Queens GOP chairman Philip Ragusa on this thread, but the facts are these --
1) his predecessor, Serf Maltese, was so incompetent and so BAD in running the organization that Joe Bruno, then Majority Leader of NYS Senate, had ordered him to step down from his post as chairman.
2) Phil recruited some candidates who actually won some elections. (see Koo, Halloran). THis never happened under Serphin Maltese. Recruitment and winning is the main function of the party organization.
3) Frank Padavan lost because the teachers union organized against him, he was old and stale, and Paladino and Vincent Tabone were albatrosses who discouraged republican voters from coming out.
and lastly, Phil is a self made guy who owns and runs his own accounting business. Bart, Tom Ognibene and the others are entitlement- minded individuals who think they deserve the spoils simply because they were either former big shots or because their relatives were important people in a bygone era. They know nothing about running organizations like Phil Ragusa does.
1) (Ragusa's) predecessor, Serf Maltese, was so incompetent and so BAD in running the organization that Joe Bruno, then Majority Leader of NYS Senate, had ordered him to step down from his post as chairman.
Comparing Ragusa to the self-serving former Queens GOP chairman Serf Maltese is too easy. Maltese was horrible. Ragusa is a not as bad but certainly has NOT demonstrated leadership or any political savvy. He listens to that loser Tabone and his ilk to the detriment of the party.
Tom Ognibene is bright and a forceful leader, he will get things done. Politically, Tom has no equal.
"...Ragusa is a not as bad but certainly has NOT demonstrated leadership or any political savvy. He listens to that loser Tabone and his ilk to the detriment of the party.
Tom Ognibene is bright and a forceful leader, he will get things done. Politically, Tom has no equal"
Thank you for responding to my post. No, he hasn't denonstrated to me that he will get things done because he had opportunities to do just that while he was executive director during Serf Maltese's tenure. He failed to make things better. I guarantee you it'll be "back to the future" and you'll yearn for the days when Ragusa was in charge. Back when Serphin was chairman, he hired mediocre, untalented and non-political hacks to run the show and the results were clear -- they kept losing seats. Something had to be done and you saw Phil Ragusa come in with a gang who were around back then but never were given any role to do things. Now, you've seen some electoral victories at a local level. As for calling Tabone a loser, yes, he may rankle a lot of people the wrong way with his vexingly undermining nature, but no one can argue that he is not a talented guy; he is, and his sly, insidiously duplicitous m.o has to be dealt with but I don't think anything can be done about it. They'll live with him.
So yes, I understand your position but I just don't think Ognibene and Bart Haggerty are capable of doing a better job; in fact, I think electing them to leadership roles would be a tremendous leap backwards.
Vince Tabone: He practices law as well as he wins elections.
Rob Hornak: Great spokesman for the Phil Ragusa. Ever see the movie Dumb and Dumber
Ask Ragusa what happened in Albany Tuesday, and then tell people the truth.
Ask Tabone tp provide his expert legal assistance to battered women who need protection against an abusive husband.
And to the point, anyone who thinks that Ragusa and company selected and got elected the current slate of GOP Elected Officals should be reminded of a man called Jim Jones.
We stopped drinking the Kool Aid and it is time for action. Tabone, Hornak should all be given jobs in some other country. How bout Albania. Ragusa should just retire to Canada because anyone who still sports a mustache like that is an embarrassment. How many flees are hiding in that.
any organized opposition to a present one party dictator system is acceptable in Queens.
do you want Queens citizens to live as slaves such as they do in COMMUNIST, CUBA,VENEZUELA,NORTH KOREA,RUSSIA AND CHINA ETC,ETC?
when a freedom loving community enables incompetent or corrupt
politicians to control the society , they will no longer be free.
hopefully, Obama's throwing Israel under the bus,was NOT the only issue for their g.o.p. vote for Cong. Turner.
BTW, they got the message to the obama admin.
remember we live in a county with 5 registered democrats to 1 g.o.p voter. NY 9 showed that democrats are capable of wise voting ,for a change.
You guys make me laugh. Seriously. So many hurt feelings and crybabies. None of the writers here, myself included, have what it takes to run ANY organization. Those that can, do. Those that can't, make anonymous comments.
Ok, Tabone is a snake plain and simple.
Ragusa is a nice enough guy who really believes in the Party.
Halloran won because Vallone Fucked Iannecce when he primaried him splitting the Italian Greek vote causing Kim to win. So supporters for Vallone and Iannecce backed Halloran. The fact that Ackerman tried to focus on Hallorans "religion" mobilized the rest of the community who believed and fought for our freedom of religion.
Halloran is now Vallones bi*ch OCOnnor is Hallorans b*@ch! So what happens now? Tabone screws Ragusa like he did others in the past. Our neighborhood gets sold out to the likes of Mattone Markel Franco Barone Baccarella and the long list of developers salivating over the hood.
what do we do what do we do??????
HORNAK! golub. HORNAK! golub. HORNAK! golub. HORNAK! golub. HORNAK! golub. HORNAK! golub. HORNAK! golub. HORNAK! golub. HORNAK! golub. HORNAK! golub. HORNAK! golub. HORNAK! golub.
""Tabone is a snake plain and simple.""
"Ragusa is a nice enough guy who really believes in the Party."
I think I agree with the second statement that Ragusa is a nice guy ( I met him a few times) but why are people sour on Tabone? He has been a mainstay for the Republicans and has tried to get other Republican candidates elected. Why is he going to screw his friend, Ragusa? Can someone explain?
Both parties are clueless as to demographic changes. Politicians get lazy. Old voters are jealous of new voters. Founders devised reapportionment as better than term limits.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (1943) drives all voters. First they want food, then shelter, then family, then safety, the community. If you don't get food, shelter is irrelevant. No shelter, then family is irrelevant. And so on. South Koreans demanded democracy when they surpassed $350income/person. Rome gave up its freedom when security was no longer assured.
That's because Serf kept his word and voted for Marino vs Bruno in 1994. And Serf didn't vote for SONDA in 2002.
Bruno commandeered development to Rensselaer, which is why the Montagnier NYHQ-QC incubator collapsed; the CUNY Photonics CAT moved to Harlem from Queens; Sematech moved from Austin, Tx.
"Tabone is a ...."
Yea, that's why his house is paid off with the Mayor's money. That's why he drives a Cadillac. That's why his kids go to the best private schools in the city. You are a moron.
Vince let go PLLEEEEAAAAASSSEEEEEEE
this infighting is not good for the voters
Ragmuffins just launders political non profits and plays with scissors and scotch tape, he has no real profitabley clients.
Thanks to Bob Bishop who has planted Joe Dampowski and Gino Giondampo to do the real work that Ragmuffins signs off. They make sure anyhting Tabone tries to do ends in failure.
"Tabone screws Ragusa like he did others in the past. Our neighborhood gets sold out to the likes of Mattone Markel Franco Barone Baccarella and the long list of developers salivating over the hood."
He ain't gonna screw him. T-bone is really tight with Ragusa. Their fates are inextricably entwined and, if one falls, the other will too.
If you disagree with the above, I am open to a retort...
Post a Comment