26 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 27, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
primary results
Katz waits for vote recount in Queens DA race
Lasak’s loss sparks shock and alarm in his supporters
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th ough Melinda Katz refused to concede
the Queens district attorney race
to Tiff any Cabán on Tuesday night, urging
that all the absentee votes should be
counted, the results made one thing certain:
Greg Lasak, the moderate candidate,
is out of the running.
Lasak came in third with about 14.5
percent of the vote, winning a smattering
of northeastern and southwestern
precincts. His loss ends a campaign that
argued for prosecutorial experience over
radical reform, boasting 39 years of experience
in a courtroom, 25 of those in the
Queens DA offi ce.
Lasak left his job as a New York State
Supreme Court Judge in order to run in
the race. Th ose attending his vote count
party at Bourbon Street in Bayside – many
of them friends, family and former colleagues
– were shocked by the results,
which quickly showed that Lasak was no
longer in the running.
Oddly, when the NY1 feeds began
showing Katz and Cabán’s neck-and-neck
and well ahead of the rest of the fi eld, the
organizers of the party turned off the feed
on all the TVs in the room and put on
“Family Feud” instead.
“Th is just happened so fast. Th is is not
what we expected,” said James Preston,
who worked as a campaign organizer.
“I’m an event promoter. I just believed
in Lasak.”
Lasak himself did not arrive to the party
until around 10 p.m.. He beelined to give
his daughter a long embrace.
Lasak spent most of his speech thanking
his family members as well as his
campaign team and his former legal colleagues
for their support over the years.
“I am blessed with a beautiful family
and great friends. My wife Patty encouraged
me to do this,” Lasak said, trailing
off as his wife shouted that she was sorry
from her seat at the table.
Lasak went on to comment on the progressive
energy that led to his loss.
“We’re living in crazy times. Very different
times. Changing times. But we’ll
adjust to it. Because the good and the sensible
always prevail. Because this is the
United States of America,” said Lasak.
Judge George M. Heymann, a retired
Kings County Housing Court Judge who
worked with Lasak in the Queens DA
offi ce in the late ’70s, said that Cabán’s
perceived victory signals a major shift in
Queens Machine politics.
“I think if they had supported Greg,
they would have won. Greg has always
been an organization man. He was disappointed
that he didn’t get the endorsement,”
Heymann said.
Another colleague of Lasak’s from his
days in the Queens DA offi ce was David
Dikman, who said that he feared that the
prospect of a Cabán victory would disrupt
the offi ce.
“I worked with John Santucci, who
was the DA before Brown. I worked
with the late Queens District Attorney
Richard Brown, too. You want to have
confi dence in the chief law enforcement
offi cial that they personally know what
criminal prosecution and investigation is
about,” said Dikman.
With less than 50 percent of districts
reporting, another attendant at the
party, Frank Steele, past president of the
John Browne Regular Democratic Club
of Flushing, was already talking about
his plans to stem the progressive tide in
Queens County politics.
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is wrong for
Queens. We’re going to primary her. We’re
going to primary her out,” Steele said.
“We’re coming aft er AOC. You can quote
me on that.”
Asked about the Cabán victory at the
end of the party, Lasak declined to comment.
Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
Retired Judge Gregory Lasak consoles a supporter
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Queens Borough
President Melinda Katz
may be down in the
Queens district attorney,
but not out for the count.
Th e Board of Elections
(BOE) reported that Katz
received 32,724 votes
(38.30 percent) while DA
candidate Tiff any Cabán
received 33,814 votes
(39.57 percent). Th e borough
president said that
the race was not over until
all votes were counted.
“We always knew this
was gonna be tough, folks,
’cause if it wasn’t tough, it
wouldn’t be a race,” Katz
said to her supporters at
Banter Irish Bar in Forest
Hills. “I want everyone to
know right here, we are
doing a recount and God
willing, I’ll come out on
top.”Th e late Richard A.
Brown served as the
Queens DA for 28 years
and this was the fi rst election
to fi ll his post in nearly
three decades. Aft er a
vote recount, the primary
winner qualifi es for the
Nov. 5 general election
against Republican candidate
Daniel Kogan.
Congressman Gregory
Meeks, the chairman
of the Queens County
Democrats echoed Katz’s
sentiments about a revote.
“Th is thing ain’t over,
folks. Th ere’s a wonderful
thing about a democracy:
you have to count every
vote,” Meeks said. “And we
are so happy and so thankful
to have all of you in this
room because every vote
will be counted.”
Katz’s platforms during
her campaign included
putting an end to cash bail,
creating a conviction integrity
unit and closing Rikers
Island. Th ough she voted
against the mayor’s plan
for borough-based jails,
Katz said that more community
involvement and
planning were necessary to
create a more humane and
dignifi ed facility.
Photo by Jenna Bagcal/QNS
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz tells supporters on June 25 that she'll seek a full count of all ballots.
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