8 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 4, 2013 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com politics s LATEST ENDORSEMENTS City Council: The Working Families Party last week endorsed several Queens candidates for City Council. Five incumbents received the party’s backing, as did three candidates running for open seats. Incumbents: City Council District 21: Julissa Ferreras City Council District 25: Daniel Dromm City Council District 26: Jimmy Van Bramer City Council District 30: Elizabeth Crowley City Council District 31: Donovan Richards Opon Seats: City Council District 24: Rory Lancman City Council District 27: Daneek Miller City Council District 34: Antonio Reynoso New York City Central Labor Council endorsed Austin Shafran in the City Council District 19 race. Mayor: State Senator Serphin Maltese endorsed Republican candidate John Catsimatidis Borough President : United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1500 endorsed Melinda Katz for Borough President. BY MELISSA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com Disgraced ex-Assemblymember Jimmy Meng is halfway through his one month sentence, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The 69-year-old father of Congressmember Grace Meng has served two weeks so far in the low-to-minimum security Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He is slated to be released April 18. Following his prison sentence, Meng will serve four months of house arrest and two years of probation. He was also ordered to pay $30,000 in fines and serve 750 hours of community service. The former lawmaker was facing a maximum of 20 years in jail and a fine of $250,000 for scamming thousands from a state court defendant. He was caught on July 24 at his Flushing lumber yard accepting a fruit basket containing $80,000 cash in bribe money. City Council 20th District: Three more eye race BY MELISSA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com Three Flushing candidates with histories of failed bids for office are now eying another election. Democrat John Scandalios and Green Party candidate Evergreen Chou will try their luck at unseating incumbent Councilmember Peter Koo in the 20th District in this year’s City Council election. Republican Sunny Hahn, a retired city human rights specialist, said she is contemplating a run but has not decided. She is the only one so far to register a campaign committee with the state’s Board of Elections. “I was not sure what I was doing last year. So many things went wrong,” said Hahn, 60. “I really did not do my best. That’s what I realized afterward. This time, if I decide, I’d do everything I can and really try to win the election.” Hahn and Scandalios were among several candidates to lose their Assembly bids last year to Assemblymember-elect Ron Kim. Chou has had three unsuccessful runs for higher office, including his recent congressional loss to now-Congressmember Grace Meng. But the three say they have honed their campaign techniques. “I started thinking seriously that I could do this,” said Scandalios, 50, a former comic book store owner. “Frankly, I felt I get a lot of nothing from elected officials. We really need elected officials that work for the people.” Scandalios did not even make it to the primary in the most recent 40th Assembly District race. He had an insufficient number of signatures and was bumped off the September 13 ballot. Chou ran as a Green Party nominee in 2009 to replace then-Councilmember John Liu and also against ex-Assemblymember Jimmy Meng in 2002. The 53-year-old ultrasound technician said he wanted to see more affordable housing and jobs in Flushing. “These are basic rock-bottom issues that the people in Flushing need, and we’re not getting it from the major parties,” he said. “To me, it’s been like an ‘economic Sandy.’ We’re not helping the people that are in need.” James McClelland, Koo’s political advisor, said candidates were welcomed to join the race. “More people in the race give people more of a choice,” he said. “But the councilman is confident that his record and community support will allow him to be victorious in the primary and in the general election.” THE COURIER/File photos Sunny Hahn John Scandalios Evergreen Chou Maloney gets death threats over gun control BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA ctumola@queenscourier.com Several death threats were phoned into Congressmember Carolyn Maloney’s New York office on Tuesday after the media reported her support of a bill requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance, according to a statement from the politician. Interns working in the office answered the calls and were “understandably shaken” by the threats, she said. Law enforcement is investigating the threats. Maloney has also supported legislation against gun trafficking and straw purchases, and said the calls won’t deter her. But she is taking the threats seriously, particularly after the shooting of her friend and former Congressmember Gabby Giffords. “I am proud of my work to help curb gun violence. I strongly support the comprehensive package of gun reforms proposed by the Obama Administration and I have authored two common sense pieces of legislation aimed at keeping our communities safer,” said Maloney. “I take the threat of more gun violence very seriously, she added. “But it is not something that I will allow to stop me from doing my work.” After supporting a bill requiring gun owners to have insurance, death threats were called into Congressmember Carolyn Maloney’s New York office. Jimmy Meng nearly sprung File photo
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